We are pleased to announce the release of our official plugin SDK for HomeSeer HS4. The new SDK has been designed to simplify and streamline the entire plugin development process so that it more intuitively integrates with the HomeSeer platform and deals directly with the components that users expect to be interacting with. It also takes advantage of modern UX design patterns so that every plugin has a similar look and feel as the rest of the platform, drastically improving usability and scalability across all screen sizes.
Some of our goals include:
Please be aware that this content is currently in an Alpha state and some components are still a work in progress.
As stated above, HS3 plugins will be supported in the new release, but they will not be able to take advantage of some of the new features. We strongly advise that you update your plugins to the new architecture as soon as possible. We have done testing to ensure that existing HS3 plugins will work as expected without any modifications. If you are encountering issues with the functionality of an HS3 plugin, please let us know. Once HS4 is officially released, we will not be able to prioritize fixes for these plugins; so please let us know sooner than later.
Additionally, we will be expanding our own selection of HomeSeer branded plugins to support products & technologies that we identify as strategically important for our competitiveness and growth. At the moment, these new plugins will support the following products and will be provided at no charge to new HS4 users.
We do understand that this effort may impact developers who are also currently supporting these products; however, this does not preclude them from continued development and upgrades to their existing plugins.
Getting Started
You can download an installer for the HS4 Beta here: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...dy-for-testing
This build of HS4 is an alpha version and is for plugin development purposes only. Please do not share this build outside of the plugin development community in this forum.
Also, please note that you should install HS4 to its own directory. Do not install overtop an existing HS3 instance, and please do not run them at the same time.
These HS4 installations will only work with a trial license for the time being. You can request one here: https://shop.homeseer.com/products/h...eloper-license
PluginSDK
The new PluginSDK is available for download through NuGet: https://www.nuget.org/packages/HomeSeer-PluginSDK/
We have produced some sample plugins that demonstrate how to use the new SDK. These have been published to GitHub.
We are also beginning to migrate our documentation to a new platform. Here is a getting started guide for using the new PluginSDK on a new plugin. We will be publishing additional documentation in the coming days to go over many of the other aspects of plugin development, including a guide on how to migrate a legacy plugin to the new architecture. Inline XML documentation is also available through IntelliSense in your IDE.
Support
If you have any questions about the PluginSDK or the HS4 Alpha, please post in this forum. (HS4 Development)
Build Changes
See here for release notes for each build:
https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...-sdk-on-github
Some of our goals include:
- Enhance the user experience through a more intuitive, modern interface.
- Update the structure of devices and their relationships so that they more closely adhere to user expectations and represent the real world more accurately.
- Establish common plugin design patterns to eliminate "searching" or the need for users to read through the documentation to figure out how to use plugins.
- Reduce the need to write "boilerplate" code when trying to accomplish many common tasks within a plugin.
- Decouple the SDK from the core code to allow for more flexible update schedules.
- Full backward compatibility with all currently published HS3 plugins.
Please be aware that this content is currently in an Alpha state and some components are still a work in progress.
As stated above, HS3 plugins will be supported in the new release, but they will not be able to take advantage of some of the new features. We strongly advise that you update your plugins to the new architecture as soon as possible. We have done testing to ensure that existing HS3 plugins will work as expected without any modifications. If you are encountering issues with the functionality of an HS3 plugin, please let us know. Once HS4 is officially released, we will not be able to prioritize fixes for these plugins; so please let us know sooner than later.
Additionally, we will be expanding our own selection of HomeSeer branded plugins to support products & technologies that we identify as strategically important for our competitiveness and growth. At the moment, these new plugins will support the following products and will be provided at no charge to new HS4 users.
- Tuya
- Philips HUE
- Harmony Hub
- Ecobee
- Chromecast
- SmartThings
- Enhanced Zigbee
We do understand that this effort may impact developers who are also currently supporting these products; however, this does not preclude them from continued development and upgrades to their existing plugins.
Getting Started
You can download an installer for the HS4 Beta here: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...dy-for-testing
This build of HS4 is an alpha version and is for plugin development purposes only. Please do not share this build outside of the plugin development community in this forum.
Also, please note that you should install HS4 to its own directory. Do not install overtop an existing HS3 instance, and please do not run them at the same time.
These HS4 installations will only work with a trial license for the time being. You can request one here: https://shop.homeseer.com/products/h...eloper-license
PluginSDK
The new PluginSDK is available for download through NuGet: https://www.nuget.org/packages/HomeSeer-PluginSDK/
We have produced some sample plugins that demonstrate how to use the new SDK. These have been published to GitHub.
- C# example: https://github.com/HomeSeer/Sample-Plugin-CS
- VB dotNET example: https://github.com/HomeSeer/Sample-Plugin-VB
We are also beginning to migrate our documentation to a new platform. Here is a getting started guide for using the new PluginSDK on a new plugin. We will be publishing additional documentation in the coming days to go over many of the other aspects of plugin development, including a guide on how to migrate a legacy plugin to the new architecture. Inline XML documentation is also available through IntelliSense in your IDE.
Support
If you have any questions about the PluginSDK or the HS4 Alpha, please post in this forum. (HS4 Development)
Build Changes
See here for release notes for each build:
https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...-sdk-on-github
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