Web Service API

[prbrambi]

Hey, I'd like to build a web app that interfaces with HomeSeer, but before I get too far along, I'm just wondering if there are any existing public interfaces, specifically web services already built into HS.

I know this is going to sound kind of dumb, but I'm thinking about creating a Facebook application allowing only Facebook friends to turn on/off a specific light. Then, someday maybe I'll hook up a webcam or something so you can see that it's on or not.

The reason I'm thinking of using Facebook as the front end instead of a simple public web app or HS itself, really comes down to security. I don't want everyone to have access to this, only people I"ve authorized as my "friends".

I apologize for the basic question, hopefully there's already something built in I can use.

Thanks!

[GatorEye]

Note that the HS Webserver does not support web services. I put in a help desk request but it didn't seem it was going to be implemented. As a start if you are going to use web services, it looks like you are going to need to run IIS or basically something else besides the standard HS web server.

[Rupp]

HomeSeer can do asp and aspx applications so unless you want a true web server that supports SOAP and WDSL then you should be able to create web apps that will act as a web service.

[RegForte]

Agreed. I'm adding what amounts to a web service. Not using SOAP, but a roll your own xml based protocol.

[jasv]

HomeSeer can do asp and aspx applications so unless you want a true web server that supports SOAP and WDSL then you should be able to create web apps that will act as a web service.

I created an HS aspx web page that I am accessing remotely to get some HS info. The vb.net function I use is below. My problems are
1) I have to execute it twice to be able to login. It fails with an error and I immediately execute it again it works without fail. I think that this is similar to having to login twice into HS remotely.
2) Eachtime I execute the script my login user number on HS goes up. This the user you see on the login screen something like Homeseer1 or Homeseer34, etc. Eventually HS freezes and I have to restart it.

Anyone have any example vb.net code to login to HS without these issues?

    Private Function GetWebPageData(ByVal URL As String, _
            ByVal UserName As String, _
            ByVal Password As String, _
            ByVal IsWindowsAuthentication As Boolean) As String

        Dim request As HttpWebRequest
        Dim response As HttpWebResponse = Nothing
        Dim reader As StreamReader
        Dim result As String = String.Empty

        Dim address As New Uri("http://" & URL)

        Try
            ' Create the web request
            request = DirectCast(WebRequest.Create(address), HttpWebRequest)
            request.KeepAlive = True

            If IsWindowsAuthentication = True Then
                ' Add Windows Authentication to request
                request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential(UserName, Password)
            Else
                ' Add Basic Authentication to request
                ' Note: To pass both the username and password in basic mode, the values
                ' need to be colon delimited (e.g. usernameassword) before the values
                ' are base64 encoded.
                Dim encPwd As String = String.Format("{0}:{1}", UserName, Password)
                encPwd = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(encPwd))
                request.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " & encPwd)
            End If

            ' Get response
            response = DirectCast(request.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)

            ' Get the response stream into a reader
            reader = New StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream())

            ' Read the whole contents and return as a string
            result = reader.ReadToEnd()
            If Not reader Is Nothing Then reader.Close()
        Catch wex As WebException
            ' This exception will be raised if the server didn't return 200 - OK
            ' Try to retrieve more information about the network error
            If Not wex.Response Is Nothing Then
                Dim errorResponse As HttpWebResponse = Nothing
                Try
                    errorResponse = DirectCast(wex.Response, HttpWebResponse)
                    result = String.Format("Error--The server returned '{0}' with the status code {1} ({2:d}).", _
                    errorResponse.StatusDescription, errorResponse.StatusCode, _
                    errorResponse.StatusCode)
                    hs.WriteLog("Get_rs_temps.vb", "GetWebPageData()-error = " & result)
                Finally
                    If Not errorResponse Is Nothing Then errorResponse.Close()
                End Try
            End If
            hs.WriteLog("Get_rs_temps.vb", "error = " & wex.Message)
        Finally
            If Not response Is Nothing Then response.Close()
        End Try

        Return result

    End Function

[Want2BACustomer]

Maybe I'm oversimplying but for the web service I created I've created a function that handles the connection. Through IIS I have it setup so that the web service will only respond to to 127.0.0.1. Here's the function:

Private Sub ConnectToHomeseer(ByVal sHSServerIPAddress As String, ByVal sHSServerUserName As String, ByVal sHSServerPassword As String)
Dim Result As String

Try
'* Attempt to connect to Homeseer
If Not blnHomeseerConnectionOpen Then
'* No connection open yet so open it now.
oHomeSeer.SetHost(sHSServerIPAddress)
Result = oHomeSeer.Connect(sHSServerUserName, sHSServerPassword)

If Result <> "" Then
Throw New Exception("Homeseer Connection Failed: " & Result)
Else
hs = oHomeSeer.GetHSRef
blnHomeseerConnectionOpen = True
End If
End If

Catch ex As Exception

End Try
End Sub

[jasv]

I hadn't tried that approach. Will give it a try. Thanks for your post.