HS4 - Graphing and analysis capabilities

[Automate]

Hello,

Could someone familiar with the HS4 features please let me know if there will be graphing capabilities included? Not just for energy, but for any device variable. I expect this would be a core function of any platform, and hoping it's included with a robust set of graphing capabilities.

Jon00 has developed a great un-managed plugin for HS3, but I'm expecting this should be included in the core functions of HS4.

[Michael McSharry]

HS4 is described at https://homeseer.com/hs4-smart-home-...tion-software/

For the most part think of it as HS3 with the HS Mobile UI.

Different people have different needs for charting and analysis and a variety of packages have been available for use with HS to support these needs. I did mcsTemperature for HS and HS2 and have the same capability via xapChart and xapDatabase that I continue to use. I also put charting capability in mcsMQTT plugin which is primarily an analysis tool.

Data collection is not difficult, but the presentation layer is hard to generalize. Creating eye candy takes work no matter what the underlying graphics package is. I think it is smart for HST to not get involved in this realm other than as it support specific use-cases that have wide appeal such as energy.

InfluxDB and Grafana are now in vogue on both Windows and Linux platforms and much has been discussed on this forum of using them with HS. ChartDirector was popular in the prior decade. The .NET DataVisualization has been used since its availability in VS2008 in some HS plugins. It is better to let the user take advantage of the graphics that best suits their needs rather than latching onto some technology that will loose favor over time.

[Automate]

Yeah, I have see the current feature descriptions on the Homeseer page, but there isn't much detail. the only reference to any added graphing capabilities are:

"Timeline View for Devices
Easy to view log & graph of device, event, and system changes with dates & times."

Which is great, but why not have the ability to graph any device variable, with any other device? It would seem like a straightforward add using existing .NET graphing capabilities. For instance I could graph my energy usage, while overlaying the on-off cycles of one (or multiple) of my devices. Easy way to identify issues. Or graphing network activity and room motion to look for patterns there. Lots of great possibilities for analytics.

Anyway, fingers crossed and we'll see what comes out. Hopefully this feature is as flexible and powerful as it could be.