Some basic questions

[cmcjo]

Hi,
I have been reading and searching the threads alot. But I'm still trying to figure out a few of the basics. Maybe someone with a few minutes can either point me toward a newbie FAQ or provide some hints on the following:

How does one create these cool Homeseer webpages? Does the Homeseer software itself have this capability? And how do I seperate rooms on the webpage,(like a nice organized section for "KITCHEN" FAMILY ROOM" "SECURITY" "WEATHER" "NETWORK" etc.. Each section with the coresponding light switches for that specific room. is that a seperate location as indicated in the Homeseer software?

Is a script someone elses complete Homeseer configuration file? I downloaded the HACT script, and extracted to the c:\homeseer folder, but I don't notice any difference. Is there a specific extraction procedure?

I would like webpages that show "weather" "motion" "network status" as well as X-10 device status, like others have. Is there a template available to try different layouts? Or perhaps someone elses work that I can modify to suit my needs? How does one get this?

Any information will be appreciated, thanks for your time.

[shill]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>How does one create these cool Homeseer webpages? Does the Homeseer software itself have this capability?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

HS includes it's own webserver and cgi application, so most of the pages are available right out of the box. That being said, the HS web server supports ASP and will serve traditional HTML, so you can create all kinds of additional pages, as a lot of the "cool" HS webpages have been.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>And how do I seperate rooms on the webpage,(like a nice organized section for "KITCHEN" FAMILY ROOM" "SECURITY" "WEATHER" "NETWORK" etc.. Each section with the coresponding light switches for that specific room. is that a seperate location as indicated in the Homeseer software?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The built-in devices page provided by the HS webserver uses the "Location" property you enter when you setup a device to populate a dropdown at the top of the page that you can use to filter your views by room. But with ASP, many others have created their own mechanisms for doing this, and one of the most popular is UltraView, which provides a floor plan with icons representing your devices.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Is a script someone elses complete Homeseer configuration file? I downloaded the HACT script, and extracted to the c:\homeseer folder, but I don't notice any difference. Is there a specific extraction procedure?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A script is a single function (typically) provided for HS to run in response to an event being fired. Scripts can be found in your \HomeSeer\scripts folder, and are associated with an event through the "Scripts/Speech" tab.

HACT is actually not a script, but a collection of web pages and graphics in a zip file. If you unzip it to your HS directory (and tell it to use directories) it will expand a bunch of things into your \HomeSeer\HTML subdirectory, where it will be accessible through the webserver (i.e., "http://localhost/movies.asp"). There is a readme.txt file that has some instructions and links to other sites where you can find out more about HACT.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I would like webpages that show "weather" "motion" "network status" as well as X-10 device status, like others have. Is there a template available to try different layouts? Or perhaps someone elses work that I can modify to suit my needs? How does one get this?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you've seen something you like, your best bet is to ask that person what they're running, since there are tons of methods for displaying that information. HACT does have some of those functions, but is designed more for touchscreens than general use, I believe.

The best way to handle motion sensors is through Jim Doolittle's Motion Detector plug-in, which provides tons of added functionality.

I believe Hunter Green's network status stuff is one of the more popular choices for network monitoring, but there are many others.

But as far as templates go, I'd suggest finding something you like, then editing it to do things just the way you like it.

[cmcjo]

Many thanks for the very informative reply.

I have found some pages I like already, I'll try to make contact.

JOE