Xap & Slimserver

[Ritchie]

Kevin
Thanks again for a clear and informative reply - it does help to get these in that fashion

I will put some time by and try to get to grips with what you have described and the mcs plugin - free is not an issue, I am happy to pay for the software.
I guess I can contribute a little by documenting from a novice perspective how to pull all of this together.

I don't have a lot of experience with HS, this whole thing started out because I didn't have control over my drive lights and gates the way I wanted and I couldn't find any off the shelf (translate to DIY store) products that gave me that. I found Home Easy, then RFXCom and Homeseer, I looked at xPL too.

After getting into it all and persuading my other half that it would be OK even if it is running on a PC, I have added in controls of interior lighting for mainly security purposes but also some effects etc.

I have Slimserver devices all through the house - Silly bit now is I fancied tying in some mood lights with music for the relaxing bathtime experience, without the hassle of 240v in the bathrrom !!
So that is where I am right now - it's not mission critical, but I am getting a littel past the 'asembly code programming ' stage that I used to be in 25+ years ago - I just want to plug and play as they say

So, my next plan of attack is to seek out some docs for mcs, make sure I install it correctly and then see what sense I can make of it, based on what you have said and what I accomplished with the other plugin.

Watch this space

[CouchPotatoe]

I would like to test the version.

Hi Jakob.

Just to let you know... Edward is on holiday this week, so it'll probably be next week before you hear from him...

K

[Ritchie]

OK - Progress is being made
If I relate back to your first explanation, I believe I have the system working according to that:

This is .net version of mscXAP (I got that to work so I stayed with it)



These are the HS devices as a result:


Strange that HS thinks they are lights (I beleive I can change the icon somewhere) but - the Dim% value represents the volume that has been set and the off/stopped/playing/pause status is always shown correctly. The ON/OFF buttons have no effect on a player at all.

How do I now link this into HS events and also change the status of the Slim devices ?

I found the MI4 xap Conduit to be extremely simple in this respect, as it has all the right tabs for this. I can't see any way to do that in mcs.

Simple scenario - the one I have got to work in mi4:
Turn on a light, dim to preset level (one command in HS/RFXCom) turn on the Slimplayer, set to a specific playlist (last part I didn't do in mi4 yet, other than I had already assigned a playlist to the device)
Really cool would be to send voice commands for volume & playlist to the SlimPlayer (remember wet soapy hands cos it's in the bathroom !)

How do I send a command to display text messages on the Slimplayers:
I setup a novelty one for my wife when I open the gates on arriving home (shan't say what the message is)

I must admit, I have found the mi4 xap Conduit to be a lot better suited to me and what I want to do, but it looks like James has lost contact with the product as it is labelled beta 2 and released in 2006. I can't see any contact detail for him - does anybody know of it ?

Thanks

[CouchPotatoe]

OK - that's looking good - the single device representing the three attributes of the SlimServer (transport state, power on/off and volume) is what I meant. Please send me a copy of a xAPBSC.event message being sent from a particular player and also the xapbsc.cmd message that is sent by the mcs plugin when you press the on/off button in the HS interface against that player. These are visible in xAP Viewer (or xFX Viewer). We might be able to get that on/off and volume dropdown working.

To link this in with HS macros you use the on device change triggers of HomeSeer to onwardly do whatever you want in a script.... . This creates a script that runs based on a xAP change Make sure you trigger on the correct value change. Using this script ( or others triggered by other aspects eg you coming up the driveway) along with the methods/properties exposed by the xAP object you can build and send any xAP message eg to display messages on the Slim displays. I will try and get you an example of how to do this but the the mcs forum is the best place to get ideas on this for outgoing messages - there are a few threads there.

You should also try enabling the non BSC schema in the mcs plugin and then you will be able to display which tracks, artists, albums etc the particular Slim player is playing. ("Show other xAP received xAP schema" in your screenshot). Make sure you choose 'event' messages and not 'info' messages.

All of James's xAP work is on his website at http://www.mi4.biz and you can email him there too. Make sure you also visit the xAP website at http://www.xapautomation.org and look through the posts in the main xAP support Yahoo groups - there is one for users and one for developers... A post to this group will raise James...

K

PS I know you like J's plugin so if you're happier there then stay with it - but I wouldn't expect any new features or enhancements. I also believe it's possible (but not recommended) to run both the mcs and mi4 plugins at the same time...

[Ritchie]

I also believe it's possible (but not recommended) to run both the mcs and mi4 plugins at the same time...

Tried that - 100% CPU utilisation

Thanks for the reply, I'll digest it then come back over the weekend.

[CouchPotatoe]

Hmm OK. I know it has been done before but maybe with older versions. Was there a loop of xAP traffic generated by any chance ?

The 'not recommended' comes from the fact that each plugin is responding to xAP and hence you get peak cpu needs generated in both plugins at the same time causing poor response. The mi4 plugin is also an adaption of the plugin from the older HS v1.7 code , running under a compatability mode and not a new version written in .Net for v2 of HomSeer .

K

[Ritchie]

Hmm OK. I know it has been done before but maybe with older versions. Was there a loop of xAP traffic generated by any chance ?

The 'not recommended' comes from the fact that each plugin is responding to xAP and hence you get peak cpu needs generated in both plugins at the same time causing poor response. The mi4 plugin is also an adaption of the plugin from the older HS v1.7 code , running under a compatability mode and not a new version written in .Net for v2 of HomSeer .

K

I didn't check for the loops - it took me forever to get the machine under control !
I found out the hard way too about the compatibility mode, that remains running even when the HS service is stopped and the file is kept open - can't delete it, I had to terminate the process.
It would be good if James released the old code, that would be a nice winter project translating it into .net, perhaps someone could persuade him to let it out.
I got curious and delved into the HS SDK, as there are some annoying bits in both plugins and HS itself that I would like to see ironed out or done slighty differenty.
And I thought I had given up programming

[erspearson]

xAP Plug-in for SqueezeCenter now available

Following many months of beta testing, a xAP plug-in for SqueezeCenter v7.x is now available.

xAP Plug-in v2 for SqueezeCenter is a second generation, pure-Perl implementation of a xAP connector for this platform. The previous version, released in 2006 supported server software v6.x (SlimServer) and followed on from the original .Net version. This version has been revised to work with v7.x SqueezeCenter software, features significantly enhanced message display functionality as well as numerous other enhancements and bug fixes. And documentation!

The xAP plug-in for SqueezeCenter supports messages from these xAP schema specifications:
* Basic Status and Control (BSC) v1.3
* Audio and Media Control v2.2 with SqueezeCenter-specific extensions
* On Screen Display (OSD) with SqueezeCenter-specific extensions.

The plug-in provides two-way xAP communication for SqueezeCenter with the following main functions:
* Player power and volume control with xAP BSC
* Player transport control
* Player mixer control
* Player message display
* Playlist management
* Server control
* Access to low-level remote button and IR codes.

The plug-in can be found at:
http://www.erspearson.com/xAP/Slim/slim_main.htm

There is online documentation at:
http://www.erspearson.com/xAP/Slim/Manual.html

The primary place for support of the plug-in will be on the Slim Devices board for 3rd-party plugins at:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4
starting from this thread:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=52645

A big thanks to the beta testers over the last few months!

Edward Pearson
ersp - design, London.