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    Grocery Management

    Many moons ago here someone was working on a grocery management app. While I am sure that it is long gone, I would think that we should re-bring up this concept.

    The use case is to create a plugin/app/whatever that would manage the grocery list such that it is simplified when going to the grocery store.

    Something like a scanner mounted somewhere in the kitchen where the user would just swipe by the scanner and it actively create a listing of what needs to be purchased the next time.

    Who is in designing this and potentially writing the app? I can participate.

    First, what type of scanner would work? How would that be interfaced to HomeSeer hardware? I personally would prefer either a RS232 or ip based scanner.

    Any interest?
    HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

    #2
    Do you see any advantage to integrating with HS? One option I looked at before is the hiku (http://hiku.us/), but still seems to not be available in Canada so haven't gone beyond the idea stage. There is a way to share the grocery list, so there might be way to incorporate that into HS.

    Cheers
    Al
    HS 4.2.8.0: 2134 Devices 1252 Events
    Z-Wave 3.0.10.0: 133 Nodes on one Z-Net

    Comment


      #3
      The Amazon Echo is pretty good at managing it:
      "Alexa, add milk to my grocery list"
      "Alexa, what is on my grocery list?"

      From there, you just open the alexa app on your phone while shopping.

      Not sure how you would benefit of having this in HS though...
      HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
      54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
      Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

      HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

      Comment


        #4
        If I could easily add stuff and have it remove it from the "inventory", then I think there could be great benefit for this. However, it depends on people being very proactive about scanning stuff in when you use it and when you stock it.

        You could probably do it with RFID, but I'm not sure. Maybe "one day" the Amazon Go tech will be able to go into your kitchen so it knows when you take something and use it. Then next time you're at the store it could "remind you" that you ran out of milk and eggs

        For now though. I think it would be too time consuming to track what I have in stock. For the grocery list, I would stick to the Alexa one (and hopefully Google Home will have something similar).

        Comment


          #5
          VR would get too old. It would also be inaccurate. I personally think scanning would be better and more reliable. I do not think that I would do a inventory, just more or less a shopping list.

          Anyone have any ideas about whether the upc codes for products can be searched for on the internet?

          I see that scanners are relatively reasonable.
          HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

          Comment


            #6
            I've used Grocery IQ for iPhone/iPad for several years. It also has a web client, but I've found little use for that. The list syncs between all devices logged into the same account. It has UPC reader/identifer built in.
            One thing I've thought about that would be nice is some kind of a sensor system that would alert when some key item is running low. Toilet paper, for instance ...

            Comment


              #7
              I did something with HSTouch some years ago with respect to grocery scanning, I believe someone in France was doing something similar. After all of the programming and messing I did I pulled it out.

              Because of the makeup of where I was living at the time I couldn't run a serial cable so built myself a serial to bluetooth transmitter, the serial protocol for these scanners essentially just is the moment a code is scanned it transmits the numbers. One thing about the RS232 scanners from Symbol is that they have a very odd 10 pin RJ45 style connector and then it should go into a serial box with an option to have a power supply plugged in. I don't know whether I researched it or not but as you can see on this image I connected one of the pins to power and it seemed to work just fine.

              On HS I had a script that was listening for the serial port and then when it got a code it made a lookup to one of the various UPC websites out there, it then tried to find the data and if it found it then it would present a quantity screen to the HSTouch screen. Pressing the quantity and add to list would then add it to an SQLite database of the current groceries and give a list in HSTouch. Using the iTextSharp library I then produced a tabled PDF document of the shopping list, using a very old version of Acrobat (I bet you might be able to do it differently now - this was 2011) you could get it to print instantly just passing a set of command line arguments to it.

              All in all it was a useful waste of my time to develop it but a good proportion of UPC codes were not available in the UK so I then had to present users with an option to manually input the item which remembered the UPC codes and data for the future. I found it a bit tedious really and that's why I gave it up, for all of these ridiculous ideas I have sometimes a pad of paper and pen in the kitchen is just as powerful and easier to use.

              This is a script I never updated from HS2 that picked the stuff based on input UPC codes, there must have been another couple of scripts that went with this as by default all this does is update a few HS device strings.

              Code:
              Imports System.XML
              
              Sub Main(ByVal Parms As Object)
              
              'Our XML API service is located at the following URL:
              'http://www.upcdatabase.org/api/xml/APIKEY/CODE
              
              Dim Code As String = "01506860"
              Dim APIKey As String = "ce32f905ca83eb5c4e2b04ec"
              Dim URL As String = "http://www.upcdatabase.org/api/xml/" & APIKey & "/" & Code
              
              Try
              
              Dim UPCXML As New XmlDocument
              Dim UPCXMLNodeList As XmlNodeList
              Dim UPCXMLNode As XmlNode
              
              UPCXML.Load(URL)
              
              Dim nsmgr As New XmlNamespaceManager(UPCXML.NameTable)
              nsmgr.AddNamespace("def", "http://www.upcdatabase.org/")
              
              'UPCXML.Save(hs.getapppath & "\test.xml")
              
              UPCXMLNode = UPCXML.SelectSingleNode("/def:output/def:valid", nsmgr)
              
              If UPCXMLNode.InnerText.ToLower = "true" Then
              'we have found the barcode, send out the data
              
              UPCXMLNode = UPCXML.SelectSingleNode("/def:output/def:description", nsmgr)
              hs.writelog("UPCData", "Description: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              hs.setdevicestring("Q70", "Description: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              
              UPCXMLNode = UPCXML.SelectSingleNode("/def:output/def:price", nsmgr)
              hs.writelog("UPCData", "Price: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              hs.setdevicestring("Q71", "Price: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              
              UPCXMLNode = UPCXML.SelectSingleNode("/def:output/def:number", nsmgr)
              hs.writelog("UPCData", "Number: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              hs.setdevicestring("Q72", "Number: " & UPCXMLNode.InnerText.Trim)
              
              'start to log them in a local database 
              
              
              
              ElseIf UPCXMLNode.InnerText.ToLower = "false" Then
              'no such barcode in the system
              hs.writelog("UPCData", "No Such Details Held")
              hs.setdevicestring("Q70", "Description: No Data")
              hs.setdevicestring("Q71", "Price: No Data")
              hs.setdevicestring("Q72", "Number: No Data")
              
              End If
              
              Catch ex As Exception
              
              hs.writelog("UPC", "Error: " & ex.message)
              
              End Try
              
              End Sub
              Last edited by mrhappy; December 28, 2016, 03:18 PM.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Krumpy View Post
                VR would get too old. It would also be inaccurate. I personally think scanning would be better and more reliable. I do not think that I would do a inventory, just more or less a shopping list.

                Anyone have any ideas about whether the upc codes for products can be searched for on the internet?

                I see that scanners are relatively reasonable.

                Give VR a try. I think you will find it works much easier. I have put an Echo Dot on top of the refrigerator. My wife and daughter actually use it. They just tell Alexa to add something to the shopping list. All I have to do is check the list on my phone and I know what has been requested.

                It has been several months now and it is working great.

                We used to keep a piece of paper and pen next to the frig but it rarely got used. Alexa is being used many times each week to add things to the grocery list.
                --
                Jeff Farmer
                HS 3, HSPhone
                My HS3 Plugins: CFHSExtras, Random, Restart, Tracker, WeatherXML, PanaBluRay
                Other Plugins In Use: APCUPSD, BLOnkyo, Device History, EasyTrigger, HSTouch Server, PHLocation2, Pushover, RFXCom, UltraGCIR3, UltraMon3, UltraPioneerAVR3, X10, Z-Wave

                Hardware: GoControl Irrigation Controler, Schlage Lever Lock, Schlage Deadbolt, Way2Call Hi-Phone, RFXCom RFXrec433 Receiver, WGL 800, TI-103, Z-Net, Pioneer 1120, Pioneer 1021, Pioneer LX302, Panasonic BDT-110, Panasonic BDT-210 x2

                Comment


                  #9
                  Most of our phones can read bar codes, and use NFC, so why couldn't they be the readers? Gary

                  Comment


                    #10
                    We use OurGroceries app. Lists are shared with whole family and it has an Echo skill.

                    If stocks of an item are running low, just say "Alexa, tell OurGroceries to add milk to Kroger" or "Alexa tell OurGroceries to add iPad Pro to Christmas."

                    I tried to sell my wife on a bar code reader a few years back and was flatly told NO.

                    This has been excepted by everyone.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Hey Jeff... Long time...

                      I already have tried Alexa. I just get tired of saying:

                      Alexa, put xxx on the grocery list.
                      Alexa, put yyy on the grocery list.

                      One should just be able to speak the list of things without having to say the attention word each time. Gets old. Plus, she is not perfect at understanding all items.

                      Would much rather take the product and scan it so that I know exactly what to buy. For example, if I was to tell her that I need Orange juice, then there are many kinds of orange juice. In our household we have three or four different orange juice types as each family member seems to like different product/mixings. Orange juice versus Orange Pineapple, versus Orange Pinapple Mango... If you understand what I mean.

                      I dunno... Thinking that scanner would be better.

                      Thanks for all of your ideas.... Also appreciate every one elses ideas.




                      Originally posted by CFGuy View Post
                      Give VR a try. I think you will find it works much easier. I have put an Echo Dot on top of the refrigerator. My wife and daughter actually use it. They just tell Alexa to add something to the shopping list. All I have to do is check the list on my phone and I know what has been requested.

                      It has been several months now and it is working great.

                      We used to keep a piece of paper and pen next to the frig but it rarely got used. Alexa is being used many times each week to add things to the grocery list.
                      HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Thanks - I'll check some of these out. Appreciate it.



                        Originally posted by jbbtex View Post
                        We use OurGroceries app. Lists are shared with whole family and it has an Echo skill.

                        If stocks of an item are running low, just say "Alexa, tell OurGroceries to add milk to Kroger" or "Alexa tell OurGroceries to add iPad Pro to Christmas."

                        I tried to sell my wife on a bar code reader a few years back and was flatly told NO.

                        This has been excepted by everyone.
                        HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Out of the bin thinking?

                          I once envisioned a ringed barcode reader mounted above the waste bin. As you throw an item in/thru the ring to the bin it is scanned and added to the list.
                          Then I imagined myself throwing something away SEVEN times until the scanner read it just to get it automatically on the list.
                          Then like a previous poster I got a pen and paper.
                          Now that I have an Echo and a Dot I am going to revisit the concept of a grocery list.

                          Sans the OCD scanner of course.

                          Terry(late to the thread)Tman

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