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**Blade** · January 14, 2013, 03:12 PM

Very nice. Thanks for sharing

**Moskus** · January 15, 2013, 04:01 AM

Wow, fantastic!

I'll look into this.

I'm sure I will have questions...

**Sgt. Shultz** · January 22, 2013, 03:40 PM

I have made a couple small updates to the sample.

Version 1.0.0.1:

ftp://ftp.homeseer.com/updates/Beta/...IC_1_0_0_1.zip

Checkbox example has been updated to reflect code changes in the javascript. (Name is now returned when SubmitForm is True) This will work with the next build of HS3.

A new tab with a slider example was added.

**Moskus** · January 23, 2013, 03:39 AM

I took another shot by a plugin. I really like this sample. It's cleaner than the original sample plugin.

And there is ALOT of functionality in there. I like that!

(And it even works right out of the box.)

But I still find it somewhat confusing. There are very few comments in the code, and when they are, they are explaining something I don't understand (see "DeSerializeObject" as an example, I'll get back to that).

Here's an excellent opportunity to both add to the online help library and make a better sample!

For instance I had to look up the function "HandleAction" in the online help, to see if it was a plugin specific function or a HomeSeer "required" function (and I suspected the latter). I found it in the library here.

But here's the clue: There's no way of knowing what it actually does when you just open the sample code! It would be EXTREMELY nice if this was explained, and yet again I suggest the use of XML comments (just press ' three times and off you go):

Code:

    ''' <summary>
    ''' When an event is triggered, this function is called to carry out the selected action.
    ''' Use the ActInfo parameter to determine what action needs to be executed, then execute this action.
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <param name="ActInfo">An information string about the action to be triggered !??!???!!</param>
    ''' <returns>TRUE if the action was executed successfully, FALSE if there was an error.</returns>
    ''' <remarks></remarks>
    Public Function HandleAction(ByVal ActInfo As IPlugInAPI.strTrigActInfo) As Boolean

Look familiar? Most of it is "copy-and-paste" from the help file. But with just a little more efford in the plugin, you gain:
- Code that is much more readable and understandable (you can just hoover the mouse over a function to see what it is and what it does).

- A generated XML file ready to be parsed into the online help, where all functions are already written and documented.

(HandleAction does actually not only return False if it encounters an error. For that to happen, the Catch-EndCatch lines should look like this:

Code:

        Catch ex As Exception
            hs.WriteLog(IFACE_NAME, "Error executing action: " & ex.Message)
            Return False
        End Try

...)

... so let's get back to DeSerializeObject.
I actually had to look up "deserialize" in the dictionary to get started. The first thing I notice is that it takes bytes as input, and spits out an "Object".
But what else does it do? I have no idea.
I guess it returns True if something is a success, and False if not. But other than that the comment and the code really does not make sense to me. I don't even know why it is needed.

But still! I like that it is cleaner and and simplier. We are so close!

**Sgt. Shultz** · January 23, 2013, 09:45 AM

I'll give you a quick rundown on actions and trigger now, and add these comments to the sample when I get a chance.

Actions and triggers have four common parts, with actions having a fifth.

These are:

Build
Post
Configure
Format

The fifth part of an action is : Handle

The build is where you construct your UI for display in the events page.

The post is where you get your postback upon user submission.

The configure is a boolean response to determine if the action or trigger has been fully configured.

If that boolean returns false, then the build is run again.

If that boolean returns true, then the format code is run, and your action/trigger is complete.

Upon expansion of an action or trigger (minus sign showing), the process is started again, with the build and post being the only things run.

Upon collapse of the action/trigger(plus sign showing) configure is run.

If that boolean returns false, then the build is run again.

If that boolean returns true, then the format code is run, and your action/trigger is complete.

The Handle action is run when that action has been evoked, either manually, or by an event. It will not run while the action/trigger is expanded, or configure is false.

Okay, on to the Deserialize function.

I prefer keeping my data with the action/trigger. It frees me from having to keep track of any of it in the plugin.

If data is stored in the strTrigActInfo object, it must be in byte form. This is to allow a variety of data types to be stored there.

In the post of an action/trigger, the data object is serialized(converted to bytes) and stored in the strTrigActInfo.

When the strTrigActInfo is passed to the plugin from HS3 in any of the functions, the data held by that object must first be deserialized(converted from bytes) in order to be used.

**donstephens** · January 23, 2013, 05:10 PM

Anyone having problems downloading the sample?

Originally posted by Sgt. Shultz View Post

I have made a couple small updates to the sample.

Version 1.0.0.1:

ftp://ftp.homeseer.com/updates/Beta/...IC_1_0_0_1.zip

Checkbox example has been updated to reflect code changes in the javascript. (Name is now returned when SubmitForm is True) This will work with the next build of HS3.

A new tab with a slider example was added.

**rmasonjr** · January 23, 2013, 05:18 PM

Originally posted by donstephens View Post

Anyone having problems downloading the sample?

I was able to download it ok here - what message are you getting?

**donstephens** · January 23, 2013, 06:30 PM

No error message.... just stalls. Will try IE.

**Sgt. Shultz** · February 13, 2013, 10:07 AM

I have made a couple small updates to the sample.

Version 1.0.0.2:

ftp://ftp.homeseer.com/updates/Beta/...IC_1_0_0_2.zip

Listbox example has been updated to reflect code changes in the javascript.
(Entering a value with an apostrophe no longer crashes the object)
This will work with the next build of HS3.

Two new multi-select controls were added to the listbox tab.
A new size property was added to the multi-select control (this will work in the next build)

A new Selector control was added to the listbox tab.
The control had double click functionality added to the control.
The control had postback functionality added to the control.
These modifications will be available in the next build.

**SmarterControl** · February 27, 2013, 07:09 AM

Error 8 'ButtonPress' cannot implement 'ButtonPress' because there is no matching sub

is anyone else getting this error with the sample \HSPI_SAMPLE_BASIC_1_0_0_2

Error 8 'ButtonPress' cannot implement 'ButtonPress' because there is no matching sub on interface 'HomeSeerAPI.IPlugInAPI'. D:\HS3PLUGINS\HSPI_SAMPLE_BASIC_1_0_0_2\hspi.vb 137 92 HSPI_SAMPLE_BASIC

**wetlip** · February 27, 2013, 10:12 AM

i believe buttenpress is removed in the last version

**Sgt. Shultz** · February 27, 2013, 12:54 PM

I have updated the sample to take care of this.

Version 1.0.0.3:

ftp://ftp.homeseer.com/updates/Beta/...IC_1_0_0_3.zip

**SmarterControl** · February 28, 2013, 07:16 AM

Thanks

**bachelet claude** · April 15, 2013, 09:59 AM

Thread safe code

Originally posted by Sgt. Shultz View Post

I have updated the sample to take care of this.

Version 1.0.0.3:

ftp://ftp.homeseer.com/updates/Beta/...IC_1_0_0_3.zip

I am using this code as a base to a CS Plugin Sample ( My plugins are written in CS).
Works well for now.
Two things i have noted so far :

I get error messages about processor architecture : Warning 5 There was a mismatch between the processor architecture of the project being built "MSIL" and the processor architecture of the reference "Scheduler", "x86". This mismatch may cause runtime failures. Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project through the Configuration Manager so as to align the processor architectures between your project and references, or take a dependency on references with a processor architecture that matches the targeted processor architecture of your projecthttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...ollection.aspx
It could easyly be replaced by :

Public Class KeyIndex
Inherits System.Collections.CollectionBase
End Class

and add the Remove method :

Public Sub Remove(ByVal index as Integer)
' Check to see if there is a widget at the supplied index.
If index > Count - 1 Or index < 0 Then
' If no widget exists, forget it
Else
' Invokes the RemoveAt method of the List object.
List.RemoveAt(index)
End If
End Sub

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.71).aspx

Had to do this in CS.

Claude

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