Discussion for Family Status Manager Script

[GenevaDude]

You are quite right. My kids like having the weather as well as the phone messages announced. ("You have 3 phone messages") Whatever they want, it can probably be done. The script is just a "front end" to a limitless array of oportunities.

regards, :d

GenevaDude

[ldragon99]

Genevadude,

I was wondering a couple of things. First off I was wondering if I can have the same script run two house codes. In other words have N1 DevOn,N2 DevOFF,N3 DevOn do one thing and then have A1 DevOn,A2 DevOff,A3 DevOn do something else. Is that possible or does it have to be the same house code. If so what needs changing?

Also I see from you last post that you have your script anounce how many calls each of you faimly members has in there mailboox. Is that voice messages? If so how did you do that? I have searched ad have found nothing. I have four mailboxes and want to do the same thing.

Thanx in advance

[GenevaDude]

Kirk,

Since you need an Event to trigger the script, then you will need another event to trigger the second housecode.

Now you have two options. You could simply edit the code in the script you already have to include the new housecode, or you could just copy and rename the script to use with the new event. The you would have an easier time trying to debug and maintain it. In fact, this is probably the only solution because the script does filter out other housecodes, although you could modify the code to get around that.

Hope this helps...

regards,

GenevaDude

[Mike]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I hear that one of the new Lexus auto's has some sort of detection by using your key fob. All you need to do is approach the car and it unlocks. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Corvette had that years ago. It was called Passive Keyless Entry. Too many problems I think and they don't use it anymore.

Hmmm, I wonder if one could modify an eagle/active eye to fit in a smaller package and hang it on a keychain. I'm sure in the process of unlocking the door it would transmit at least once.

[Jroberts]

I was checking out some Blue Tooth phones this weekend. They have some exciting software interfaces even beyond caller id. My thought was to incorporate a Blue Tooth phone into the script... That way when I come home with my Blue Tooth phone, HomeSeer sees me on the network and knows that I'm home.

Of course...I'm only wishing I had that Blue Tooth phone at this point.



Jim

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

[Blade]

Just stumbled upon this thread. This sounds awesome

What are people using to have homeseer speak throughout the house. Are you using speakers, etc?

I am curious about this as this would have great WAF.

I think I just wowed her yesterday by writing a script that she can trigger from palm pad beside the bed. We live in Ontario and the script checks the status of the school bus for the kid's school and if it is not on time, it will turn on her night table lamp. I think she thought it was cool not to have to get out of bed.

I am very curious at what people are using to have homeseer speak throughout the house.

Thanks
Bob

[CFGuy]

My goal with whole house audio was not to pipe music. There is no music style that the whole family would want to listen to.
So for us, my goal was strictly for HS to be able to speak. I use it for Calendar Reminders, Weather, Daily Scripture, HSTV announcements, Medicine Reminders and Kids Bedtime Announcements.

I used an Elk amp to a AB8SS speaker switcher, then ran cat5 to each room and used Elk speakers.

Here is pictures of my wiring room and links to the hardware.
http://www.c-website.com/wiringroom.asp

Jeff Farmer
HomeSeer user since March, 2000

[GenevaDude]

I have been using the $19.95 computer speakers for several years. I ran thin RadioShack audio cable - 2 conductors with shield wires through the ductwork to the basement. There I simply soldered the wires to terminal posts, and soldered the branches to them. Yes, I know it;s not exactly Kosher, but it does work. There is some loss but not enough to matter. I adjust each set's volume to the room. Right now I have three sets installed and will add more.

In the beginning I used X10 lamp modules to turn the speakers on or off. I'm not doing this at the moment, they are always on, since I don't really need to switch any particular room on or off individually. But the lamp modules do work, and there is no hum, and they don't seem to care if the load is a wall-wart, so it is a better solution than using an appliance module because you don't get the click from the relay.

When I get time to setup the bedrooms, I'll start using the lamp modules for them because there is no need to speak at all hours anyway, and these would be used for special needs. However, I don't allow any speech during the wee hours, and on the weekends, I further delay any speech so if my kids have stay-overs, they don't get disturbed if they are camping out in the Family Room or Den. Eventually, I intend to setup virtual devices with which I will set a value for speak or no speak, depending on the time and day of week. Then my scripts will just refer to the virtual device to determine if speech is to happen. As an alternative, I might just install the lamp modules on all speakers and control them that way.

I saw a post a while back regarding radio transmitters that you connect to your computer. These broadcast on AM or FM (don't remember). You would then use a receiver for each speaker set tuned to the broadcast frequency. This eliminates running wires, and from what I recall, the transmitting range is more than sufficient for home use. I don't remember the discussion group it was posted in, but it might have been the General Discussions thread.

regards,

GenevaDude

[Blade]

GenevaDude,

Thanks for the reply.

Wires are not an issue for me because I ran an extra CAT5 (4 pair of wires) to every room in the house for future use. Apparently I have now discovered my use for them

Are you using one speaker in each room or are you using the pair of speakers. I am just wondering because usually computer speakers are joined together and only one of them is AC powered.

I would really only want to use one speaker, but I do not know if this is possible with the setup of computer speakers. If it will work, can you recommend some speakers?

By the way, what voices are the best to use in Homeseer. The default voices seem to computer like for my liking and are sometimes hard to understand.

Thanks
Bob

[GenevaDude]

I'm using my speakers in pairs. Sometimes I play (stream) music on them for background ambience. As far as recommending speakers, like I said, I buy the cheaper ones, at about $19.95 or so. Certainly for less than $25 you should be more than satisfied. My last set was JBL, but I might have paid around 24 dollars for them.

The second speaker can be remoted. All you need to do is cut the wire and splice in some appropriately dimensioned zip cord. As a remote in another room, polarity won't matter.

The voices I use are the AT&T 16 bit voices. I like Charles for his accent, and use Claire as she seems to sound more authoritarian or dignified.

regards,

GenevaDude

[GenevaDude]

Kirk,

Sorry for missing your question. I am using the attached script to announce calls.
To call the script, add this line to each member:
hs.RunEX "Phone Messages.txt","main","Dennis"

The attached script is not entirely original but it is signifcantly rewritten for my needs.

enjoy!

regards,

GenevaDude

[ldragon99]

Genevadude.

Thanx for the script. that is just what I was looking for.

[ldragon99]

Genevadude,

I finally got around to getting your addition for HSP up and going. I keep getting a file not found error. I am sure I am missing something small.

I put the Phone Messages.txt file in my script folder. and added the hs.RunEX "Phone Messages.txt","main","Kirk" to my home section in my KirkStuff of my script.

Is there something else that I should be doing?

[GenevaDude]

Kirk,
Be sure the file is in the scripts directory. Also, make sure the name is excatly the same in your script. "Phone Messages.txt" One way is to go to the file, press F2 to edit it then copy the name and paste it into your script.

Let me know if you are still having problems.

regards,

GenevaDude

AutomatedHome.org

[ldragon99]

Genevadude.

I have most of your Phone_message.txt script working.

I am getting a script error:

424:Object required: 'hsmb' in line 37.

I am not sure of the flow of this script, so I am not sure what it is looking for.

I have attatched my script to this if you have tome to take a look, that would be great.

By the way I have this script doing so much upon my return or anyone else in my faimly. The response is great from friends and faimly.

Great script