Control from Powerpoint

[david.delano]

I have need to control lighting from a Powerpoint presentation. All I need is to be able to trigger events when a slide is active. It looks like the JSON interface might work.

Anyone have experience with this?

Also, I can't seem to get the JSON interface to work. All I get are timeouts. I have JSON on, and am using the default port. I'm sending the URLs from a different computer. Do I need to use https? user and pass? Nothing I've tried so far works.

The requests that I've tried are getstatus, which I assume would generate some output back to the browser window, and runevent, which is attempting to trigger an event I set up to test that will send me an email when triggered.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm also open to using some other interface/API that would work from Powerpoint.

David

[Rupp]

So you have Remote Control Settings > Enable control using JSON checked on the network tab? What version of HS3 are you running? How are you formatting the url? Are you using the ipaddress of the HS3 server or the server name?

[mrhappy]

Different as in remote network? If so it could be trying to authenticate and failing (I don't use powerpoint often enough to know whether you can do basic auth on it) and I would imagine the only option is to then use the MyHS interface. The JSON page in the SDK has an example command connecting via connected.homeseer.com and putting the username/password in the URL string - that is a HTTPS connection.

[david.delano]

I'm not even to Powerpoint yet. I'm just trying to get JSON commands to work from a browser window.

JSON is enabled, and I'm using the latest version of HS3 on a PC (though the real application will be on a Zee). I'm using the IP address.

From a Chrome tab I'm submitting:

https://192.168.0.xxx:11000/JSON?request=getstatus

I've also tried

https://192.168.0.xxx:11000/JSON?use...uest=getstatus

Both say they are connecting to the server, but both terminate with a response timeout.

David

[mrhappy]

I've just had some odd behaviour I can't quite put my finger on, I've tried getstatus and it behaved the same as you and just hung and timed out. I then tried getevents and it gave me my events list. I then tried getstatus again and it worked fine, I don't believe you need the port number either that is for the ASCII control interface not the JSON interface.

[cheeryfool]

http://192.168.1.xxx:xxxx/JSON?request=getstatus

This format works for me with my custom HomeSeer port, not the ASCII port.

[david.delano]

Now we're getting somewhere!!!!

I was falsely led to believe the port 11000 was for JSON, too. Using the normal port works! Nothing came up at first, but then the output started working, like it had to warm itself up first, but after the first command, the responses were almost immediate.

What is the ASCII interface? Would there be any benefit to exploring that?

And I'd assume that if the https port is turned on, that would work, too, with authentication?

I was able to run:

http://192.168.0.xxx:xxxx/JSON?reque...me=JSON%20Test

and received the test email within 30 seconds.

So, now how to get this command to run from Powerpoint, and is this delay of the first command going to be an issue??? Hmmmm.....I read elsewhere about command terminators and just brushed over it. I wonder if JSON doesn't know the first command is finished until it receives a second? Then again, nothing is delayed after that point. It's almost as if the JSON handler has to be "loaded" when it receives the first command.

Thanks, all!!
David

[david.delano]

I can put a hyperlink into a presentation, and that works, but there are a few issues.....

The link has to be clicked on, though I think it could be moused over. I really need the command to run with the slide. Is there an animation I can do? Anything else?

Also, the command causes the web browser to pop up for the JSON response. Is there any way to mute this? This still might work, if I can get it to pop up on the monitor with the notes, and not the presentation monitor. I'm at home, and don't have that setup to test with.

David

[Pete]

Here in the middle 2000's I was involved in capacity planning for an enterprise network.

The primary tool of network designs were Visio. Using the designs we did create a support tool for operations for the enterprise global network. What I wanted was a live dynamic view of the visio designs which sort of worked. IE: drill down was a satellite picture of the location, high level view then a drill down to a specific communications closet and equipment anywhere in the world. It was a very quick way for operations to do a visual and way ahead of its time at the time.

Getting Started with Visio 15 - Create and use Hyperlinks

[david.delano]

Thanks, Pete......the Hyperlinks still need to be clicked on. I want the link to run automatically, since what I'm trying to do is control the room lighting.

I found some into that an OLE object might work. However, it might also pop up a dialog box that would still need to be clicked on.......

[reidfo]

I've never tried this myself, but you can use VBA macros and scripts within powerpoint. You can probably create a short script to call the URL and run that from a macro.

http://notes.indezine.com/2007/11/us...owerpoint.html

[david.delano]

I might have to try a script.

For now.....I can create a shortcut to the URL on the desktop. I can drag that shortcut to Powerpoint, which creates an OLE object (I haven't figured out if this is portable yet).

From Animations, there is an OLE control, and the OLE object can be activated. The default is on mouse click (anywhere), but that can be changed to load with the slide. Then there is a warning popup that I can't seem to get rid of. Clicking OK brings up the web browser (not ideal). Also, when I load it with the slide, for some reason it wants to run twice.

I'll try running in a multi-monitor setup this afternoon to see how bad this really is. If the popup and browser can be managed, that might be okay. It's still better than having to tell someone to push a button on the presentation. These presentations run without the viewer seeing anything like that.

David

[vasrc]

I might have to try a script.

For now.....I can create a shortcut to the URL on the desktop. I can drag that shortcut to Powerpoint, which creates an OLE object (I haven't figured out if this is portable yet).

From Animations, there is an OLE control, and the OLE object can be activated. The default is on mouse click (anywhere), but that can be changed to load with the slide. Then there is a warning popup that I can't seem to get rid of. Clicking OK brings up the web browser (not ideal). Also, when I load it with the slide, for some reason it wants to run twice.

I'll try running in a multi-monitor setup this afternoon to see how bad this really is. If the popup and browser can be managed, that might be okay. It's still better than having to tell someone to push a button on the presentation. These presentations run without the viewer seeing anything like that.

David

Instead of accessing the browser directly, you might try using the Powershell Invoke-WebRequest (need PS 3.0+). That still gives a Cmd shell popup, but it closes upon completion of the command.
Only used it as an Action, not an animation, so not sure if you'll have other issues.

For the Action I used, Run Command:
PowerShell -Command "& {Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://192.168.1.x:xx/JSON?request=runevent&group=ggg&name=eeee'}"

I don't use it anymore, it turned out easier to just have someone in the audience stand up and flip the light switch

Z

[mrhappy]

I think Powershell or perhaps Curl/Wget if you could investigate whether it could be launched with a no window option may just do what you are after and be fairly transparent in terms of you not seeing anything.

[david.delano]

I tried the Powershell option, and that seems like it might work. I'll have to test it in the multi-monitor layout. If the shell window pops up on the presenter screen and goes away on it's own, I can live with that.

I tried adding -windowstyle hidden, but that doesn't help much. It does seem to make the window disappear more quickly.

I also have to change a security setting to allow the command to run without a security prompt. I have this same problem with the URL solution. For some reason, Windows thinks the web location is NOT part of the local network, so it uses the internet security settings.

I tried to add the IP as a trusted site, but for that to work, SSL is needed. So I tried to enable the SSL port, and HS3 had issues running. I also never successfully connected as the browser said the SSL was out of date. So I disabled that and rebooted HS3 and it's back to normal.

David