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Weather forecasts and news like HAL?

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    Weather forecasts and news like HAL?

    I am making the move from HAL2000 to HS, and I have most of the devices now set up and basic lighting events working, as well as answering machine functions and basic voice control of lights and such.

    But how do I get HS to answer questions by voice for things like "What is the Weather forecast for friday?" and reading news headlines to me, etc...?

    Is the a Hal2000 to HS conversion FAQ that I missed somewhere?

    Thanks,
    Frob

    #2
    For the weather part you need to download the Weather XML script from the updater. You will have to follow the instructions and set up an account with http://www.weather.com to get the XML feeds. You will then be able to say "What is the weather forecast for Friday" through an event set up by Weather XML.

    I haven't used any news feeds that do something similar. I'm sure somebody has come up with something before.

    There isn't a FAQ for switching from HAL to HS that I've every seen.

    -Shane

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks. After setting up an acct with weather.com, I try and run the local setup through the browser and get this error:

      Script error: Object doesn't support this property or method: 'hs.CreateStringClass'
      if hs.GetINISetting ("header.asp","useMenuRow","","includes.ini") <> "1" AND hs.WEBLoggedInUser = "guest" Then
      Response.Send "Guest access not allowed."
      Else
      Response.Send MenuRow("weathercom_xmlsetup.asp")
      Response.Send weathercomsetup
      End if


      Looks like something is messed up...

      Thanks,
      Frob

      Comment


        #4
        Looks like you are running an version of HomeSeer from before the StringClass was added.

        It was added in version 1.6.93
        --
        Jeff Farmer
        HS 3, HSPhone
        My HS3 Plugins: CFHSExtras, Random, Restart, Tracker, WeatherXML, PanaBluRay
        Other Plugins In Use: APCUPSD, BLOnkyo, Device History, EasyTrigger, HSTouch Server, PHLocation2, Pushover, RFXCom, UltraGCIR3, UltraMon3, UltraPioneerAVR3, X10, Z-Wave

        Hardware: GoControl Irrigation Controler, Schlage Lever Lock, Schlage Deadbolt, Way2Call Hi-Phone, RFXCom RFXrec433 Receiver, WGL 800, TI-103, Z-Net, Pioneer 1120, Pioneer 1021, Pioneer LX302, Panasonic BDT-110, Panasonic BDT-210 x2

        Comment


          #5
          Interesting, I am running what I think the most recent non-Beta HS release 1.6.0.0. Is there another production release that the updater isn't showing me?

          Thanks,
          Frob

          Comment


            #6
            1.6.0 is the latest production. Several of the developments over the past year have utilized features only available in beta versions of homeseer. I try to use only released capabilities in my plugins, but it is easy for something to be overlooked.

            Comment


              #7
              Interesting. When is the next HS release supposed to be out?

              Thanks,
              Frob

              Comment


                #8
                Thanks very much for helping an HS newbie...

                Zip file on it's way...

                Thanks,
                Mike

                Comment


                  #9
                  frobnitz
                  If your not using the latest HS beta you are missing out on more new additions to the software than since the software was first released. In addition the beats are much more stable than the 1.6 delivery which had quite a few bugs.
                  💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Frobnitz,

                    Welcome to HomeSeer. I have welcomed many other former HAL users and they are all very happy I am glad to say.

                    To answer your specific question, there is another release of HomeSeer coming out very soon - we hope by tax day. It will be version 1.7. Until then, we have the beta releases and tend to try to keep at least one fairly stable beta release in the updater.

                    When you run the updater (Help... Updates...) you will see a HomeSeer Beta package, as well as a HomeSeer Beta -1 package. The "-1" package is version 1.6.150, which was a pretty stable release. It was before Z-Wave support was added but should have most of the features that WeatherXML is looking for. We also added a feature to the updater so a package can look for a specific version of HomeSeer and warn the user, but as that was added recently, it has not been implemented in many packages yet, so I apologize for your installing it without being told it required a certain version.

                    I think you can install 1.6.150 safely, but it is your decision.
                    Regards,

                    Rick Tinker (a.k.a. "Tink")

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Thanks - I upgraded to the beta and it seems fine. I'll see if that fixes weather and a couple of other items.

                      Thanks,
                      Frob

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Ok, well, I upgraded to the latest beta (the HS phone beta doesn't work with Beta-1), and no more script errors with weatherxml! I followed the directions for setting it up, getting an xml feed from weather.com, etc... But for some reason all I get is an old forecast for lawrence kansas...

                        Is there some way to tell if the weather-xml is talking to the weather.com xml feed? It looks like it's setup ok, but just not connecting right.

                        Any ideas? I can see HS is VERY powerful, but it's a lot of work to get it to do the same thing that Hal did with very little configuration. Thanks for helping a newbie.

                        A HAL conversion utility or FAQ would be of great help to folks thinking about converting.


                        Thanks,
                        Frob

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Frob,

                          Part of the issue is that with HAL, you have things being developed only by HAL. HomeSeer is quite open and so users and 3rd party companies develop scripts and plug-ins, and so you get a wide variety of ways to accomplish things.

                          Lawrence, KS is the signature location of one of the people who worked on that particular script! If you look in your HomeSeer CONFIG directory, you will see the file weathercom_xml.ini where the information is stored on what weather to download, what image maps to display on the ASP pages, etc. I think you can modify some of this yourself, but if you look in your DOCS directory, you will see a directory under it called weathercom_xml, and all of the information on how to get it going is there.

                          I hope this helps!
                          Regards,

                          Rick Tinker (a.k.a. "Tink")

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Rick, thanks, I got help from another thread and now have it running. I think I'm getting to understand the general way that HS works.

                            My point about a FAQ or conversion document is that I think many people who run HAL 2000 now would have quite a time migrating to HS if they were dependent on the VR capabilities that HAL builds in. I still only have implemented about 25% of the functionality I used to have in HAL with VR. It's my most important 25%, but still, it's a lot of work to just equal what I had before (albeit on a much stronger foundation).

                            HS is much more flexible, but takes a lot more work out of the box to equal what HAL does out of the box. Which is why I think HS and AL are aiming at two different segments. If HS really wants to compete with AL, I think it needs at least a conversion document that tell you what all scripts are needed, and even better would be a "distribution" that included all the needed plugins with an easy to configure settings page to change them.

                            While it's great that there are so many ways to get things done, just as with linux, people have found the best way to get folks to use it is to package up some of the more popular apps into a distribution with a common settings or management utility that makes it all work. You could always add or subtract items from it and customize it, but most users would benefit by not having to do that themselves.

                            Also, on the updater, how do I remove a package after its installed? Both windows and Linux package managers also let you add packages and automatically resolve dependencies, but also remove them as well. I figure there must be some way of doing this, but I can't seem to figure out how.

                            Thanks,
                            Frob

                            Comment

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