[Plugin] X10 Home Automation (2 Viewers)

[bodiroga]

Update....

Well, I am officially dissapointed. I have worked for the past two weeks trying to get something to work that is not possible with X10.

Since I am new to X10, I have been learning what is possible and what is not. My issue is, if you manually turn on a light, the CM15a does not get the new status from the device, unless it is a 2-way device. Unfortuantly, NONE of my devices are 2-way. I have read many, many forums where people say that it can be done, but I have yet to find a way to do it. Maybe this is not critical to others, but I feel it is very important that plugin show the correct status of every device, weather or not it is turned on through the controller or manually.

Any thoughts?

Ouch, those are very bad news, I'm sorry WileECoyote!

If you want, you can contact to Sk3wby, Patrick or Kaoh and ask them if they know something about being able to do what you are asking for, although I don't know if they are already interested in Mediaportal or not. Do we (you) lost something trying it?

Anyway, you can (provisionally) upload what you have done since now and we can investigate (reading different forums) what can be done to incorporate that function to the plugin. For example, in my opinion is not so necessary that the plugin recognize the module status, but I understand that with all the work you have done, it's frustrating not achiving it.

Regards,

Aitor

 

[Sk3wby]

Hi WileECoyote,

Unfortunately my X-10 device are not 2-way either. I currently control the lighting changes (during watching TV/movie) when pressing play/stop/pause through my Harmony895 remote. This is capable of conditional macros, so i set it up to only put the light on when stop is pressed if it is night-time.

e.g.

macro to turn lights on:

if STOP is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then turn C1(light) ON


macro to turn lights off:

if PLAY is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then turn C1(light) OFF


macro to turn lights to 50%:

if PAUSE is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then send command 50% brightness to C1(light)


Not ideal, i know, but it doesn't rely on knowing the devices current state and it does stop the lights being turned on & off during the day.

Sorry i can't be of more help.

 

[WileECoyote]

Anyway, you can (provisionally) upload what you have done since now and we can investigate (reading different forums) what can be done to incorporate that function to the plugin. For example, in my opinion is not so necessary that the plugin recognize the module status, but I understand that with all the work you have done, it's frustrating not achiving it.

No worries, I'm not going to abandon the plugin. But my excitement for how it should/could work has diminished

Hi WileECoyote,

Unfortunately my X-10 device are not 2-way either. I currently control the lighting changes (during watching TV/movie) when pressing play/stop/pause through my Harmony895 remote. This is capable of conditional macros, so i set it up to only put the light on when stop is pressed if it is night-time.

e.g.

macro to turn lights on:

if STOP is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then turn C1(light) ON


macro to turn lights off:

if PLAY is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then turn C1(light) OFF


macro to turn lights to 50%:

if PAUSE is pressed AND "TIME"="NIGHT" then send command 50% brightness to C1(light)


Not ideal, i know, but it doesn't rely on knowing the devices current state and it does stop the lights being turned on & off during the day.

Sorry i can't be of more help.

Hey Sk3wby,
No worries, you guys have been a lot of help. I think I will change the direction of the plugin to be more of a 'action control' rather than a general X10-Control Center. I think most here are interested in this plugin to control some kind of action, rather than control all their X10 devices. Although it can still be used as a control center, the main focus will probably be on performing actions (or macro's.)

Luckily with this change the server will not need to be changed at all, but I think I want to go back and revisit the Client side. I am getting a build together for bodiroga to test his CM11, is anyone else interested in a test?

Thanks,
Wile E.

 

[WileECoyote]

X10 Home Automation Test Version

Here is the first Test version of the X10 Home Automation plugin. This version is intended to be a test only, to see what controllers are going to be compatible with this plugin. Below are the installation instructions. Please follow them closely...

The functionality that works with this plugin are "View By Devices", "All Lights On" and "All Lights Off". When you select "View By Devices" it will show you a list of devices you added on the server. If you scroll through the list, then arrow over to the "On/Off" icon and select it, it should turn the device On/Off. If it is a light it will also show the arrow up and arrow down icons for you to dim or brighten.

Again, this is the first version so please provide some feedback... Not only if it works or not, but also how you envisioned the plugin working.

Thanks,
Wile E.


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Download the MPE1 Package to a Temp Directory
2. Click Start->All Programs-> Team MediaPortal -> MediaPortal -> MediaPortal Extension Installer
3. Click Install Local Extension button
4. Browse to the location of the downloaded X10 Test.MPE1 file
5. Follow instructions to install
6. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the "C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10" folder (NOTE: Leave this Windows Explorer window open, you will need it in step 11)
7. Double click the InstallService (Either x86 or x64 depending on which you have installed)
8. Enter a Service Username and Password (Administrator account)
9. Open Services and scroll to the bottom of the list to X10 Home Automation Server
10. Start the Service
11. Double click on X10_Configuration.exe
12. Add Rooms First
13. Add Devices
14. Open MediaPortal Configuration
15. Enable the X10 Home Automation Plugin
16. Configure the Plugin (Enter the IP address of the server)
17. Close the configuration and open MediaPortal

NOTES:
1. If you decide to uninstall this plugin, be sure to UNINSTALL the windows service by double clicking the UninstallService.bat file in the "C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10" folder.
2. If you are using StreamedMP or MediaStream please remember to add the menu entry in the respective configuration.


Supported Skins for the test...
MediaStream
StreamedMP
XFactor

EDIT: The forum wont let me upload an MPE1 file, so I have posted the file here -> Downloads - mynetflix - Project Hosting on Google Code

 

[Tophicles]

Still waiting....

.... hey Wile E.

I'm still waiting on my effing switches to arrive, so I'll have to hold off testing until then. I'm looking forward to trying it out, don't get discouraged, you've really come a long way!

Cheers,

Km

 

[dobyken]

Tried Installing plugin but got an error installing the x10_service file.
I entered my XP username and password which has admin rights.

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The account name is invalid or does not exist, or the password is invalid for the account name specified

The Rollback phase of the installation is beginning.
See the contents of the log file for the C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10\X10_Service.exe assembly's progress.
The file is located at C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10\X10_Service.InstallLog.

 

[WileECoyote]

Tried Installing plugin but got an error installing the x10_service file.
I entered my XP username and password which has admin rights.

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The account name is invalid or does not exist, or the password is invalid for the account name specified

The Rollback phase of the installation is beginning.
See the contents of the log file for the C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10\X10_Service.exe assembly's progress.
The file is located at C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\X10\X10_Service.InstallLog.

Hey dobyken,
Try putting the machine name in front of the username... "machinename\username"

That should allow you to register the user...

 

[bodiroga]

WileECoyote, I have only one question. Can I install and configure (just to see it) your plugin in a computer without any X10 module? I'm now on holiday I don't have my CM11 here, so I don't now if it's necessary for the configuration of the plugin.

Thanks for all your work, I will leave a message when I arrive at home and try the plugin with the CM11.

Regards,

Aitor

 

[dobyken]

Hey dobyken,
Try putting the machine name in front of the username... "machinename\username"

That should allow you to register the user...

That worked for installing the service but could not start it.

Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start request in a timely fashison.

Did a reboot and it just said "Starting" then the error again.

 

[WileECoyote]

That worked for installing the service but could not start it.

Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start request in a timely fashison.

Did a reboot and it just said "Starting" then the error again.

Hey Dobyken,
Can you try to start the service again and see what errors show in the Event viewer?

Thanks

WileECoyote, I have only one question. Can I install and configure (just to see it) your plugin in a computer without any X10 module? I'm now on holiday I don't have my CM11 here, so I don't now if it's necessary for the configuration of the plugin.

Thanks for all your work, I will leave a message when I arrive at home and try the plugin with the CM11.

Regards,

Aitor

Hey Bodiroga,
As far as I know it should install just fine, and even run just fine. It will just fail if you try to issue any X10 commands...