Announcement

**Rick Tinker** · August 10, 2004, 01:40 PM

Scott,

Look at the description of the plug-in in the updater. The conversion was addressed in the beta release comments which Alan has been maintaining with each build.

This is not new!

This is now the way we want it to work. The plug-in needs to manage the devices directly.

Just replace your "T#" codes with hs.GetDeviceCode("Family Room Heat Setpoint") (or whatever the name of the device is)

**sbessel** · August 10, 2004, 03:21 PM

This *is* new.. and my bad for not reading...

But it does screw everything up and it is *NOT* just a simple replace.

Here was my old plan:

Tstat 1 = T1
All supporting Tstat 1 devices were in the T10-T19 range

Tstat 2 = T2
All supporting Tstat 2 devices were in the T20-T29 range

This made programming in scripts real easy... If I needed the cool setting for Tstat 1 I passed in T1, I then did an & "6" I got device T16 - the same calc worked on the second tstat...

this new 'feature' completely removes that ability.

The new plan just numbers in sequence that makes no real logical sense.

I hate to see how this is a 'feature'

I don't mind the plug-in handling the device codes, just make better sense of how they are assigned, and then later don't reassign them when things change.

This change is going to cost me many hours of work, and make management of code in the future much harder, especially if I add another thermostat.

If this attitude is the direction we are taking then 2.0 scares the h_ll out of me....

**sbessel** · August 10, 2004, 06:11 PM

on a side note, this device code rename lost me ALL of my temp related events and temp triggers, along with all scripts... so my house is now fully manual...

If you want a quick way to take your WAF in the the negative numbers quickly destroy all temp controls during the week of 100+ deg days with a 5 month old baby...

I am hearing things like "Rip this stupid thing out" and other things I cannot repeat here...

This change should not be taken as a small trivial item.

**Skibum** · August 11, 2004, 04:02 AM

Scott-

This IS new, and I feel your pain.
There ought to be a big red msgbox warning you of these substantial, and system altering changes.

IMHO, of course (oft. ignored )

I am particularly concerned over your loss of scripts. How could the scripts themselves get lost, or are they just non functional?

Have you any usable backups?

**Rick Tinker** · August 11, 2004, 07:58 AM

Scott,

Big question here: How did you answer this question when the updater presented it to you: <span class="ev_code_GREEN">Do you understand that this HAI RC Thermostat Plug-In is BETA software and that it MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY? Do you wish to proceed anyway?</span>

If you had waited until the released version, you would have gotten only the plug-in managed devices.

Please don't complain about the hours of time for scripts and events built upon beta code. I know it is hard not to do that when the betas are long, but this is exactly why we have the warnings such as the one posted above.

**sbessel** · August 11, 2004, 11:35 AM

First off I want to say that Alan has been incredible in getting functionality into the plug-in that gives me the ability I need to reference/find these device codes. Alan has really gone the extra mile and then some... Alan and his plug-in are the reason I use HS and will continue to use HS.

So my scripts are back working, I had to modify how I reference the device codes, but now these will work if the device/house codes change in the future. And I still get my easy of referencing 2 tstats and in the future going to 3 thermostats. will be completely painless and require little if any work. I rebuilt my events with the missing devices and these are back as well.

(I would be more than happy to share what I did to make this work and the functions I used)

My WAF is slowing going back.. THANK YOU ALAN!!!

[SoapBox mode = ON]

Now as far as Beta goes, I have been beta on the plug-in for months now, in fact I may have been one of the first to actually use this plug-in so I have gone through many changes and never had this trouble. my warning was for others so they understood the seriousness of answering 'Yes' that was all. And yes I still think people need to be prepared if they let the plug-in manage their device codes.

I have gone through the early times when the plug-in and it's com port usage would completely lock up my system... but logs, many changes and updates, working closely with Alan solved all of these issues and in my mind has made an extremely solid plug-in.

Now my only complaint is the attitude I have received from 'Tink' personally telling me it is beta and I should have answered no is a crock and actually pissed me off more than any loss I might have incurred. This is a beta forum and is the place to post things like this.

If you didn't have beta people then you wouldn't have 1/4 the functionality currently in HS, and it's plug-ins, you also would have a much buggier program and I am sure featureless and bug ridden plug-ins.

I am allowed to complain if a change causes me tons of work, especially if it is not for functionality or features... and I think some allowances should be made for people doing the beta... A better warning should have been in place for the change. If this post saved others from the same surprises then I feel it is worth it. I no way bashed the plug-in, HS or anything related. I stated simple facts.

An official response form HS telling me to 'go pound sand' is unbelievable and in fact seems to go against everything that this forum stands for and how HS releases software and updates. Of course I answered yes, the same as I did for the other 5+ versions that I installed without troubles... not to mention the countless others installed before there was an official 'updater' version.

This 'official HS attitude sucks and should be revisited. I for one will seriously reconsider doing any more beta's if HS is officially involved. Which is sad as I know for a fact that I have found many small bugs and have made suggestions that have become enhancements that have helped this product. I know of many functions added to other plug-ins that have helped their functionality as well. Loosing people like me will be what slowly kills products like this.

[SoapBox mode = OFF]

**Skibum** · August 11, 2004, 01:18 PM

Scott

Don't let one persons attitude and demeanor sour you on Homeseer. I try not to.
The "real" folks at HST are great!

**rjh** · August 11, 2004, 01:33 PM

All I can say here folks is that we are doing our best to create the best product we can with the resources we have. Beta periods may be longer than you like. We will do our best to assist you in migrating any required changes to a new beta. But some changes are bound to happen during a beta, and some might be major. We use the term "beta" maybe too lightly. Some things should really be called alpha, as we are assuming that during beta we can make any kind of change we want. Some consider beta as a close to final product. I will take this under advisement for future betas and make sure that every one understands our position on the particular release.

-Rich

**sbessel** · August 11, 2004, 01:56 PM

I have no complaints over the beta, it's length or such... in fact the plug-in is great. Right now my only issue is the amount of 'attitude' I was given by 'Tink'

I simply posted a warning to others so they would not feel the same pain. I then worked directly with the author to fix the issue. There was no complaint about the beta or the plug-in in the original message.

But then to be insulted with comments like "This is not new" and "Big question here: How did you answer this question when the updater presented it to you:" were direct shots, and cheap ones at that. Shots at someone who was helping to make a better product.

These were uncalled for and in my mind an official apology is in order. Or has HS gotten to big for us 'little people' ???

Announcement

HAI 0.8.1 - BEWARE

HAI 0.8.1 - BEWARE

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