Basic connection to run a remote script

[galoobus]

I am trying to establish a connection to HS3 from a remote system so that I can run basic script commands from the remote machine. I have been successful in creating a "Mock Plugin" to establish a connection, however 95% of the code involved is completely unnecessary for what I am trying to do.

All I need to do is:

1) Establish connection to HS3 from the remote system
2) Run a basic script command, like: hs.TriggerEvent("EventName")

What would be the easiest way to establish a connection without having to initialize a plugin every time?

[mrhappy]

You will need an application of some sort, a console app being the easiest. The easiest way I have found is to open HSPI_SAMPLE_BASIC and remove everything except for main.vb. This vb file will handle all of the communications with the new HS connection interface.

You will end up with a couple of errors but get something like this, I have removed any ability to specify command line arguments but you may want to do that if you want to pass the event name in by command line.

Imports Scheduler
Imports HomeSeerAPI
Imports HSCF.Communication.Scs.Communication.EndPoints.Tcp
Imports HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client
Imports HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Service

Module Main
    Public WithEvents client As HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client.IScsServiceClient(Of IHSApplication)
    Dim WithEvents clientCallback As HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client.IScsServiceClient(Of IAppCallbackAPI)

    Private host As HomeSeerAPI.IHSApplication
    Public callback As HomeSeerAPI.IAppCallbackAPI
    Public hs As HomeSeerAPI.IHSApplication


    Sub Main()
        Dim sIp As String = "127.0.0.1"

        Console.WriteLine("Connecting to server at " & sIp & "...")
        client = ScsServiceClientBuilder.CreateClient(Of IHSApplication)(New ScsTcpEndPoint(sIp, 10400))
        clientCallback = ScsServiceClientBuilder.CreateClient(Of IAppCallbackAPI)(New ScsTcpEndPoint(sIp, 10400))

        Dim Attempts As Integer = 1

TryAgain:
        Try
            client.Connect()
            clientCallback.Connect()

            host = client.ServiceProxy
            Dim APIVersion As Double = host.APIVersion  ' will cause an error if not really connected

            callback = clientCallback.ServiceProxy
            APIVersion = callback.APIVersion  ' will cause an error if not really connected
        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("Cannot connect attempt " & Attempts.ToString & ": " & ex.Message)
            If ex.Message.ToLower.Contains("timeout occurred.") Then
                Attempts += 1
                If Attempts < 6 Then GoTo TryAgain
            End If

            If client IsNot Nothing Then
                client.Dispose()
                client = Nothing
            End If
            If clientCallback IsNot Nothing Then
                clientCallback.Dispose()
                clientCallback = Nothing
            End If
            wait(4)
            Return
        End Try

        Try
            ' create the user object that is the real plugin, accessed from the pluginAPI wrapper
            callback = callback
            hs = host
            ' connect to HS so it can register a callback to us
            'host.Connect(IFACE_NAME, "")
            Console.WriteLine("Connected, waiting to be initialized...")

            hs.WriteLog("TestRemote", "This is only a test connection...")

            Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)

            hs.WriteLog("TestRemote", "I'm off sorry...")

            'Do
            'Threading.Thread.Sleep(30)
            'Loop While client.CommunicationState = HSCF.Communication.Scs.Communication.CommunicationStates.Connected

            ' disconnect from server for good here
            client.Disconnect()
            clientCallback.Disconnect()
            wait(2)
            End
        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("Cannot connect(2): " & ex.Message)
            wait(2)
            End
            Return
        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub client_Disconnected(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles client.Disconnected
        Console.WriteLine("Disconnected from server - client")
    End Sub

    Private Sub wait(ByVal secs As Integer)
        Threading.Thread.Sleep(secs * 1000)
    End Sub
End Module

[galoobus]

That totally worked. Thanks for your help mrhappy!

I'm not really a programmer so I was having a heck of a time reverse engineering HSPI_SAMPLE_BASIC to not add all the plugin stuff. This can probably be streamlined still but it's plenty to get me going right now.

[galoobus]

For anybody else who might want to do this, I streamlined the code a bit.

Just add the following in a file named HSConnection.vb in your favorite development environment:

Imports Scheduler
Imports HomeSeerAPI
Imports HSCF.Communication.Scs.Communication.EndPoints.Tcp
Imports HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client
Imports HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Service

Module HSConnection
    Public WithEvents client As HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client.IScsServiceClient(Of IHSApplication)
    Dim WithEvents clientCallback As HSCF.Communication.ScsServices.Client.IScsServiceClient(Of IAppCallbackAPI)

    Private host As HomeSeerAPI.IHSApplication
    Public callback As HomeSeerAPI.IAppCallbackAPI
    Public hs As HomeSeerAPI.IHSApplication


    Sub Open(ipAddress As String, Optional displayStatus As Boolean = True)
        Dim sIp As String = ipAddress

        If displayStatus Then Console.WriteLine("Connecting to server at " & sIp & "...")
        client = ScsServiceClientBuilder.CreateClient(Of IHSApplication)(New ScsTcpEndPoint(sIp, 10400))
        clientCallback = ScsServiceClientBuilder.CreateClient(Of IAppCallbackAPI)(New ScsTcpEndPoint(sIp, 10400))

        Dim Attempts As Integer = 1

TryAgain:
        Try
            client.Connect()
            clientCallback.Connect()

            host = client.ServiceProxy
            Dim APIVersion As Double = host.APIVersion  ' will cause an error if not really connected

            callback = clientCallback.ServiceProxy
            APIVersion = callback.APIVersion  ' will cause an error if not really connected
        Catch ex As Exception
            If displayStatus Then Console.WriteLine("Cannot connect attempt " & Attempts.ToString & ": " & ex.Message)
            If ex.Message.ToLower.Contains("timeout occurred.") Then
                Attempts += 1
                If Attempts < 6 Then GoTo TryAgain
            End If

            If client IsNot Nothing Then
                client.Dispose()
                client = Nothing
            End If
            If clientCallback IsNot Nothing Then
                clientCallback.Dispose()
                clientCallback = Nothing
            End If
            If displayStatus Then Threading.Thread.Sleep(4000)
            Return
        End Try

        Try
            ' create the user object, accessed from the pluginAPI wrapper
            callback = callback
            hs = host
            ' connect to HS so it can register a callback to us
            If displayStatus Then Console.WriteLine("Connection successful.")
            hs.WriteLog("RemoteApp", "Connection Successful")

        Catch ex As Exception
            If displayStatus Then
                Console.WriteLine("Cannot connect(2): " & ex.Message)
                Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000)
            End If
            End
            Return
        End Try
    End Sub
    Public Sub Close(Optional DisplayStatus As Boolean = True)
        ' disconnect from server for good here
        hs.WriteLog("RemoteApp", "Disconnected")
        client.Disconnect()
        clientCallback.Disconnect()
        If DisplayStatus Then
            Console.WriteLine("HomeSeer Connection Closed")
            Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000)
        End If

    End Sub
    Private Sub client_Disconnected(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles client.Disconnected
        'Console.WriteLine("Disconnected from server - client")
    End Sub
End Module

Be sure to have HomeSeerAPI.dll, HSCF.dll, and Scheduler.dll on the remote machine and add those as references to your Visual Studio (or other IDE) project.

Then, you can use these two commands in your script to open/close the connection to HS:

HSConnection.Open("your HomeSeer IP address")
HSConnection.Close()

By default the status of the connection will display in a console window. If you prefer your script to run silently, then add "False" as an optional parameter like so:

HSConnection.Open("your HomeSeer IP address", False)
HSConnection.Close(False)

Here is a very simple example of how a Main() sub might look:

Module Main
    Sub Main()
        'Open Connection to HomeSeer server
        'Use HSConnection.Open("ipaddress", False) to prevent console window messages
        HSConnection.Open("192.168.0.100")

        'Your script here
        hs.WriteLog("RemoteApp", "Your Script is now running.")

        'Close HS Connection
        'Use HSConnection.Close(False) to prevent console window messages
        HSConnection.Close()
    End Sub
End Module

Disclaimer: I am more of a hack than a programmer so I can't really tell you everything that is going on here. Thanks to mrhappy for making this possible.

[mrhappy]

Nice work, one thing I am wondering whether you might want to convert HSConnection.Open into a function rather than a sub. You could return a boolean value depending on whether the HS connection attempt was successful or unsuccessful, the only reason I think behind that is if you connect and it fails and then try and use the hs. object I am wondering whether it will crash or at the very least error?

[majstang]

Hi!

I was controlling all my devices on HS2 remotely by script before (from the same PC Homeseer was installed on) and it worked great. Now with HS3 everything seems to have changed. Im trying to call HS3 using the vb.net code (from a VBScript) mrhappy and galoobus provided, but I can't simply connect to HS3. I've copied HomeSeerAPI.dll, HSCF.dll, and Scheduler.dll into the same folder where the remote script resides. I get error messages on row 8 (baloobus) "end of instruction are expected". Maybe the dlls aren't loaded ok. If so how to do that?

Please I need help!

/Majstang

[jon00]

I have a basic remote script connector for HS3 on my site if you are interested.

[majstang]

Jon00, you are a lifesaver That works very well. Now I can begin the big re-write of the scripts.

[skavan]

Old but useful thread! Thanks.

mr. happy / galoobus - how do we extend this framework to get events from hs3 working.

i.e. I wish to capture:

1. device events
2. device added/deleted events
3. event events
4. event added/deleted events

Must be a way! Thanks.

[mrhappy]

Old but useful thread! Thanks.

mr. happy / galoobus - how do we extend this framework to get events from hs3 working.

i.e. I wish to capture:

1. device events
2. device added/deleted events
3. event events
4. event added/deleted events

Must be a way! Thanks.

Can you explain a bit more of what you are after? Do you mean be able to from an external program determine whether or not there have been new devices/events added/remove from HS?

[skavan]

Can you explain a bit more of what you are after? Do you mean be able to from an external program determine whether or not there have been new devices/events added/remove from HS?

So - Using the above scaffolding, I have built a vb.net app, that connects to Homeseer, Requests Devices, Transforms said devices into easier to manage objects and lets you edit data en-masse and post it back.

But my app's (which may end up as a plugin) real purpose is to act as a bridge between a number of IP controllable devices (that Homeseer doesn't have plugins for)...such as Smart AC's and so on.

Once my app (through a tcp client/server) receives messages, it parses them and will send out actions or event requests to HS3.

But I need to tie into Homeseer Events so I can detect devices being updated or added and see other events that I might want to act on.

Like I said, eventually, I will probably roll this into a plugin, but for now, I just want to get as much event info triggered by HS3 as possible.

s.

[skavan]

Just to add to my own post!
To be explicit, I am trying to implement:

RegisterEventCB(Enums.HSEvent.LOG, ????, ???)

In a standalone exe.

I can connect to HS using a derivative of the code above....but I don;t know how (and if its possible) to subscribe to events without being a plugin.

If it is possible --- how!?!?!?

[mrhappy]

Just to add to my own post!
To be explicit, I am trying to implement:

RegisterEventCB(Enums.HSEvent.LOG, ????, ???)

In a standalone exe.

I can connect to HS using a derivative of the code above....but I don;t know how (and if its possible) to subscribe to events without being a plugin.

If it is possible --- how!?!?!?

I'm not sure you could, when you register the callback it will call back into the HSEvent routine in a plugin. You could try and implement a similar sub (Public Sub HSEvent(ByVal EventType As Enums.HSEvent, ByVal parms() As Object) Implements HomeSeerAPI.IPlugInAPI.HSEvent) however I don't know if there is something that it is expecting to send it to a particular plugin name that your solution will not have (or any other sort of API type bits).

The way of connecting in this thread really isn't advertised as something supported or advised by HS (they would probably advise where possible to talk to HS through the JSON interface) hence the method is likely viable only for certain functions outside of a plugin.

[Duomi8]

Dear Mr Happy,

Having spent some time looking at information on how to connect to HS3, this was just what I was looking for, 5 years after you posted it(!)

The intention is to develop C# code in a 3rd party dev tool such as MonoDevelop, even if it ends up being cut and pasted back in to the event (minus the hs object instantiation which is automatically injected).

Having to write and test code from within HS3 would kill me. So far only managed to connect to HS and write to the log. Will provide a C# version of your code if it is useful to anyone.

Many thanks

Dom

[autobot]

Dear Mr Happy,

Having spent some time looking at information on how to connect to HS3, this was just what I was looking for, 5 years after you posted it(!)

The intention is to develop C# code in a 3rd party dev tool such as MonoDevelop, even if it ends up being cut and pasted back in to the event (minus the hs object instantiation which is automatically injected).

Having to write and test code from within HS3 would kill me. So far only managed to connect to HS and write to the log. Will provide a C# version of your code if it is useful to anyone.

Many thanks

Dom

Providing that C# example wouldn't hurt. I know I am personally much more comfortable with C# over VB.