McsxAP plugin for HS3

[Steve Q]

Michael, your mcsxAP HS2 plugin has the ability to send an xAP message from a HomeSeer event. Do you plan to add this capability to the mcsxAP HS3 plugin? I am not currently using this feature, so it is not something I really need. Just curious.

Steve Q


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[Michael McSharry]

The plugin has the ability as an action, but the approach is a little different. With HS2 the message components were constructed with text boxes in the event action. With HS3 I have elected to use an xAP Message Viewer file and the plugin uploads the text of this file for the message to be sent. There are issues with the ability to upload the file and I am communicating with Rich on this subject.

[Steve Q]

McsxAP plugin for HS3

Thanks, Let us know when it is working. I would like to try using it as a way to dim an x10 light.

Steve Q


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[Steve Q]

McsxAP plugin for HS3

Michael, what is the best way to reinstall the HS3 mcsxAP plugin. I accidentally "uninstalled" the HSPI_MCSXAP.exe file. When I copy the backup HSPI file that I had into the HS3 directory, it does not fix it. I get the attached error.

Steve Q


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[Michael McSharry]

My best guess is the HS3 dll's that HST moved to a different location somewhere in the middle of the betas. Some versions of mcsXap expects them in the HS3 root. Those on the E path in the attached is where I would look and put a copy of each in the HS3 root.

[Steve Q]

McsxAP plugin for HS3

Thanks Michael. I added 2 .dll files to the HS3 root that were missing but it did not fix the problem. But you gave me a clue with "some of the versions". This got me to check the ver of HSPI_xap.exe. The version I had copied was an older version. When I replaced it with HSPI_xap 3.0.0.23, HS3 loaded without errors and the plugin installed. All is working again! Thanks again.

Steve Q

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[Steve Q]

McsxAP plugin for HS3

Michael, I have been running HS3 ver 42 with your xAP plugin, hub, xap1wire, and xapdatabase for 13 consecutive days without any problem whatsoever. The overall stability appears to be much improved over HS2 ( about 7 days is the best I can do with HS2). Based on this, I plan to start moving all of my xAP stuff from HS2 to HS3. I will keep all of my HS2 devices and events and disable them as I migrate them to my HS3 Netbook computer.

I am leaning toward using a more modular approach to home automation. I will continue with HS2 for my legacy x10, z-wave, and analog security cameras. And I will use HS3 on a low power computer for xAP and IP cameras.

Steve Q


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[Steve Q]

HS3 version 3.0.0.96 appears to have fixed many of the issues discussed in this thread. Device last change information is now updating.

I have been running my xAP network on my HS3 Netbook computer for several months now. It is very stable. Much, much better than it was on HS2.

Steve Q


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[Michael McSharry]

Nice to hear it is working well. I run mcsXap with HS1 on HSPRO 1 and the last time it stopped was this past winter when the power outage exceeded the life of my UPS. I have a shuttle that runs most of the .NET applications and memory use growth requires me to take some action every once in awhile. When these things are left alone and software/patches/upgrades not performed then they seem to behave pretty well.

[donstephens]

Device Last Change question

Hi Michael:

Using 3.0.0.42 and noticed that the last change field is changing regardless of
an actual change. Seems to be changing all the time.

Is this a setting that I missed, or is there some way to reflect the actual change time?

Thanks.

PS I'm now seeing the following... perhaps this might be helpful.

mcsXap HSEvent Line 0 Index and length must refer to a location within the string.Parameter name: length

[Michael McSharry]

For the log message there is a tread trying to get to the bottom of it at http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=167620 The latest plugin version is located there for evaluation.

There is only one time the mcsXap explicitly uses the SetDeviceLastChange method and that is when a device is created so its last change date is initialized.

Every time an Accepted xAP message is received the following is used. The PED (Plugin Extra Data) will hold the State= key on or off.

hs.SetDeviceValueByRef(iRef, Value, True)
dv.PlugExtraData_Set(hs) = PED

if DisplayText= key is received then it will also
hs.SetDeviceString(iRef, sDisplayText, True)

HS3 will update the LastChange date on SetDeviceString with the True parameter set. I could first do a compare of the current devicestring with the new one and set the True/False appropriately. What is not documented in what HS3 does when the SetDeviceValueByRef has a True or False parameter. It is intended to trigger events, but don't know what the effect is on LastChange.

Are you receiving xAP messages where the data has not changed such as with xapbsc.info schema?

Attached here is what was posted on the other thread and the check for a Value and String change before recording xAP received messages.

[Steve Q]

Michael, my xAP setup on HS3 continues to work very well. In the past 6 months, I have not had any communication failures between HS3 and my xAP devices.

I am however seeing an increasing response time for some of my xAP devices. In particular, I am seeing a significant increase in the lag time between sending an On command from HS3 to DS2406 devices being used to switch on/off LEDs, and the actual time the LEDs turn on. For example, upon restart of my HS3 computer and all the HS3 software, the typical response time for an LED to turn On upon command from an HS3 event is 2-4 seconds. After a few days, this lag time increases steadily with time. At 3weeks, it takes about 5 minutes before the LEDs turn On.

The increase in lag time seems to parallel the increasing CPU handle count that is occurring. Upon startup the handle count is around 29K and increases to 800K after about 3 weeks. There appears to be a memory leak somewhere.

Do you have any suggestions on what I might try, short of restarting the computer every week? An auto restart of HS3 is quite difficult based on posts I have seen.
Would a restart of the plugin or mcsxap1wire help?

Thanks, Steve Q


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[Michael McSharry]

First step I think should be to isolate between the commanding side vs. the commanded side. Look at the xAp Message Viewer to see if you can see which side the delays are being introduced.

[Steve Q]

Thanks. In a week or two, I will post the xAP messages.

Steve Q


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[skaar]

mcs xAP: identify HS device

Hi,
I have just upgraded to HS3Pro and mcsXap 3.0.0.42.

Is it possible to add some information to the HS-device that states which xAP dev/uid the information is coming from?

Previously in the HS-device, under "Additional Information", there were for instance:
"Misc IO Settings mcs.OneWire.HaSrv2:xapmcs1Wire_Rack2.2700080154C93510.Temper ature"

Also, in the mcsXap plugin, you could see the HS-device name.


Currently with HS3, it is impossible to see which xAP-uid is giving information/updates to the HS-device, as there is no information connecting HS-dev with xAP-uid, visible to the end user.

Thanks!