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    Virtual Device Creation and Modification

    • So far in this thread we have covered how to create a virtual device in Post #1
    • We covered the Configuration and Advanced tabs in Post #2
    • We began to cover the Status Graphics tab touching on Value and Status pairs in Post #3
    • Then in Part 2 of Status Graphics we covered Status and Value pairs in Part 2 and how Control and Status could be separated in Post #4
    • In Part 3 of Status Graphics we explored control methods and button placement in Post #5
    • In Part 4 of Status Graphics we looked at more complex devices with multiple values and value ranges in Post #6
    • In Part 5 of Status Graphics we continued withtwo additional control types for value ranges and looked at how to assign graphics to values in Post #7
    • There are some special use devices described in Post #8

    To create a virtual device the first step is to click the sign at the top of the device manager.





    In most cases this will launch the Device Editing page like this, where you can enter the name of your new device.





    Under some circumstances you will not get redirected to the editing page, but the device will be created. The two locations of the new device will always both default to "Unknown" so all you need to do is to filter your device manager for those locations.





    After filtering you will see your new device in the device manager. You can simply click on the name "New Device" to get to the device properties page.




    The first thing you want to do is to name your device. Click on the Device Name: name and you will get a popup as shown above, where you can enter a new name for your device. Enter the new name and click "Submit"





    It is also a good time to edit the Locations of the device. Here I chose "Utility" and "Controls" for the two locations. You can use locations you have already created or you can create new ones.








    This will create a basic device with standard controls and graphics. It will have two controllable status' of Off and On with values of 0 and 100 respectively. In the following posts we will get into the great versatility and configuration flexibility of Virtual Devices.






    This would be a good time to visit the two locations available for HomeSeer devices. You will note in the screenshot above there are arrows to "Floor" and "Room" showing the names used in HomeSeer setup. If you go to Tools>Setup>Custom at the top of the HomeSeer web management page you can see the assigned names.





    In this screen you can change those names to suit your organizational structure. You might want to change them to names more appropriate for your system to make it easier to identify and filter your devices. Here I changed them to "Function/Room" and "Group".





    Now when you look at the new device in the Device Manager, the device belongs to the "Utility" Group and the "Controls" function.





    This will give you the ability to create a basic Virtual Device. These can be useful as Conditions in Events and can be the subject of Actions within Events. Through the use of normal Event Actions, simple scripting or plug-ins they can also be used as persistent Global Variables for use in Events. Virtual Devices are very useful, massively configurable and powerful tools to use wihin HomeSeer. In the following posts we will "dive into the weeds" of these devices and explore how they can be modified, expanded and controlled, tailoring them to your own specific needs.
    Last edited by randy; September 29, 2018, 08:52 AM.
    HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

    #2
    Configuration

    The scope of these posts is limited to manual device management, we will not cover scripting calls for creation or modification of Devices. We will cover some simple scripting to control an existing device.

    This post will go into the Configuration and Advanced tabs. The configuration tab is where you entered the Name and locations of the device in the post above. There are a number of items on this page that are of interest and some we will just touch on briefly. Since HomeSeer only has one editing page, shared among Virtual and physical devices, there will be some items that will have no bearing on a Virtual Device. The easiest way to understand it is that all HomeSeer devices are "Virtual", whether it be X-10, Z-Wave, Insteon, etc. Behind the scenes plug-ins create a link between the Virtual Device you see and the physical device it controls. For the purpose of this thread we are only going to cover using these as stand alone devices.





    Code: This is a legacy from X10 controls, based on "House" or "Letter" codes and has little use in virtual devices. There are scripting calls that can reference the device by this code, but the preferred method is by Address or Reference ID. I prefer the Reference ID, but we will cover that later. The code can be populated by using the drop downs to the right. The first is a letter and the second is a number. HomeSeer will provide you with available choices.

    Address: This is the code used for the address of the device. It will be shown on the Device Manager page if you have that column enabled in setup. Plug-ins will populate this address - Z-Wave will populate it with an amalgam of the home ID, Node ID and a "Q" code for child devices. If the "Code" above is set, it will be appended to the address in the Display Manager. Scripting and Replacement Variables can use the full address to reference a device. These addresses should be unique if you use them or the device cannot be referenced by it. This address is purely optional and does not have to be populated. A device can always be referenced by its Reference ID, which is a unique and sequential number assigned by HomeSeer as the device is created. These numbers are not re-used, if you delete a device and create it again, it will be assigned the next available sequential Reference ID. More on that later.

    Status Only Device: Use this check box if this device is only to be used to display Status and is not to be used as a control. A Status Only Device will not show up under event actions, but it can be used as a Trigger or Condition. A Status Only Device must be control ed by scripting (either a full script or an immediate script) and can be controlled by some plug-ins.

    Is Dimmable: Another legacy configuration. It really doesn't seem to matter whether this is checked or not on a virtual device, you can create a "Dimmable" virtual device, just by creating a value range on the Status Graphics tab, which we will begin covering in the next post.

    Hide device from views: When this box is checked, the device will not be seen on the device manager unless "Show All" is selected and will not show up in the default HSTouch projects. This is useful if you want to create a device that is manipulated by events, but is not to be directly controlled by users.

    Do not log commands from this device: Checking this box will prevent control of this device from being shown in the HomeSeer log.

    Voice command: This is used with HS voice control, whether from a client on host computer, an HSTouch Client or the new Alexa skill. Checking this box will allow this device to be controlled by voice, if it is not selected it cannot. You can read a little more in the help here.

    Confirm voice command: Another Voice Control configuration, allowing HS to respond when a device is controlled, as configured under the Voice page in the system setup.

    Include in power fail recovery: HomeSeer has the ability to "catch up" after being down for an extended period. It can only catch up on certain time related events and only when the event and the controlled device has power fail recovery enabled.

    Use pop-up dialog for control: This determines the type of control provided in the Device Manager. If this box is checked, you will simply see a "Control" button in the device manager. When you click on it, you will get a pop up with the actual controls. If it is not checked the device manager will show buttons and/or sliders for all controls.

    Here is what it looks like with a pop-up dialog





    Here is what it looks like without



    Do not update device last change time
    if device value does not change:
    This one is important. In HomeSeer a device's value can be "Set" or "Changed". A device that is On can still be set to On and the "Last Change" date and time will be updated. When this box is checked, the "Last Change" date and time will only be updated when the value of the device is changed.


    User Access: This allows you to control the access to this device on a user by user basis. This is useful if you want to provide limited access for certain users. This works on the Device Manager as well as HSTouch clients. I have not found a way to make it work with MyHS access. Administrator accounts always have access to all devices.

    Notes: This is a handy pop-up where you can store notes on the device. Use this to remind you of the purpose of the device, events you use it in, etc. It is a free form text entry box and is only seen here.

    At the bottom of the page are buttons to "Delete", "Select Device Image" and "Done". "Delete", as its name implies, will delete the device entirely. This is not reversible. "Done" will take you back to the Device Manager screen. Like most HomeSeer pages, there is really no "save" button, changes are automatically committed when they are made.

    "Select Device Image" will provide you with a dialogue to pick an image for the device that will be shown in the left most column in the device manager and in the image field on the Configuration tab. These images must be stored in the HomeSeer HS3/html directory structure. There are some images there and you can create your own folder of images if you desire. A large image will be shown on the Configuration page, with a thumbnail on the Device Manager (if enabled).

    Here is a custom image for the device



    Here is the thumbnail in the Device Manager



    Advanced tab




    This tab is more informational than anything else. There is one field of value and another that can be edited to help you identify the device. At the top is Reference ID, this one is number 43. This is the arbitrary number assigned by HomeSeer when the device was created. It can always be used to identify the device and is the way all Events identify the device. It is also a good way to identify the device for scripting, because it never changes. You can change the name and/or locations of the device, but this number remains constant. If the device is deleted and created again a new Reference ID will be assigned. Any Events looking to the original device will be broken.

    There are three different variable fields for all devices, Status, Value and String:
    • Status=The text that is assigned to any value in the Status Graphics tab. This is only for user interface, it has nothing to do with the inner workings of HomeSeer control and events. When you control or trigger based on a Device's Status, HomeSeer internally looks up the numeric value assigned to that Status. A value within a range is addressed by the value.
    • Value=This is the numerical value assigned to the device which HomeSeer uses for control or Event Triggers and Conditions. This is the only thing HomeSeer cares about of the three.
    • String=A string of characters that can be assigned to a device. This can contain HTML, images and other data. If there s a string assigned to a device, it will show in the device Manager instead of the Status Text. It will remain until changed, regardless of what the device's value is. The data stored in the String is only for user interface, it has nothing to do with the inner workings of HomeSeer.

    The editable field is Device Type (String). This is useful because it is a filterable field in the device manager. I assign "Virtual" to this field so that I can filter all of my Virtual Devices. You can use any identifier you want here and even use different identifiers for different types of Virtual Devices. This is another useful feature to break your devices down into manageable groups.
    Last edited by randy; September 4, 2019, 12:40 PM.
    HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

    Comment


      #3
      Status Graphics tab part 1

      Now it is time to get into the real meat of Virtual Devices - the Status Graphics tab. This is where you configure the Device and set it up to be useful for your control and events. If you remember from the first post, we created a simple On-Off device with the default Values, Text and Graphics.




      It is probably best to get some understanding of terms and how HomeSeer uses different items on this page. It is important that it be understood that HomeSeer really only cares about the Value in its function. The rest is for the operator. The Values of the device above are 0 or Off and 100 for On. Those are the default values assigned when the device was created. They can be any pair of different values, HomeSeer only looks to the defined values to function. You could use 0 for Off and 1 for on, 2, for Off and 1 for On - it simply does not matter. The numerical values assigned can be changed and have a very wide latitude of positive and negative numbers. Here I have edited the device to have a new Value for ON, yet it remains functionally identical to the default device.

      It is also important that HomeSeer evaluates only the value for Triggers and Conditions. When using operations like xxx device is greater than or xxx device is less than, HomeSeer only looks at the numerical value. If 0=off and 100=on, then on is greater than off. If you made 0=on and 100=off, then off would be greater than on. Greater than or less than is only based upon the numerical value and has nothing to do with the Status text assigned to that value.

      Values are arbitrarily assigned by the plug-in author or by you if it is a Virtual device you create. These numbers can be positive or negative and need not be whole numbers. All of these are functionally equivalent
      • 1.00008=off, 1.00009=on
      • -1=off, 1=on
      • .00=on, .01=off
      This could go on and on, but the point is, what matters to HomeSeer is the values or value ranges that are assigned to that device. The Status Text is only a means of representing that value in ways that make sense to the user.




      Assigned to each Value is the Status text. For this device it is Off and On. You can use any text you want for the device, because it is only for user interfaces, the Value is all that HomeSeer cares about. This Status text is used on control buttons and is displayed as the Status for user interfaces like the Device Manager and HSTouch. Here I will change 0 to "Disabled" and 1 to "Enabled"







      You can see that the Status displayed and the Control buttons now have the new text, yet the device functions the same. This same status text is used in Events for Triggers, Conditions and Actions.







      HomeSeer only uses the values of a device, so whatever text you choose is for the user, but the Events still look to the numerical value. We will skip the next three items "Row", "Column" and "Column Span" for now. They have to do with the Control Display and we will get to those a little further down. The next three buttons give you the next level of flexibility in devices. The choice for each line is "both", "control" or "status". The default configuration is for a Value and Status pair to be "both", meaning it is used for control as well as status. I have edited the device to function the same as before, but now have separated the "status" and "control", you will notice that the text and values remain the same, but now there are two pairs for each value.




      Here is the Device in Device Manager Disabled



      and Enabled





      As You can see, it is functionally identical as when the Value Status pairs are set to "both".
      Last edited by randy; June 18, 2016, 03:12 PM.
      HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

      Comment


        #4
        Status Graphics tab part 2

        Above we separated the Control and Status lines of the device. Separating them gives you some new flexibility. Here I have edited the Status text for the Status line, but left it the same for the Control line.





        In the Device Manager screen you now still have Enabled and Disabled as controls, but the status of the device is "Fred" for Disabled



        And "Wilma" for Enabled




        While it does add some flexibility, it can make Event structures a little confusing, since the Trigger and Conditions will use the device Status, but the Actions will use the Control text.






        There are times you might want to use different Status and Control text, but it will be more likely you will keep them similar, if not the same. Next we will talk about a device with more than two values. Later we will show how it could be useful to use different Status and Control lines in the device.

        Here is a new device called "Occupancy", which we can use to let events know what the occupancy status of the house is. Here again is the default device configuration.

        We are going to use three values for this demonstration - "Vacation", "Home" and "Away". This device can be used to control lighting, HVAC, power and other events and it can be controlled by motion sensors, geofencing or other devices that detect whether you are home or not. You can set it to "Vacation" to put your home in "Standby" while you are away.

        First, we edited the Value and Status to 0=Vacation and 1=Home





        Then clicking on the "Add New Single Value" button we got a new line. It already had a value of 2 assigned and all we needed to do was add the Status text "Away" and we have our device. We will leave the Status-Control as "both" for this device. You will notice that we have also deleted all of the Graphics for this device. We will cover the usage of graphics a little further down.




        Now here are Device Manager views of the Device set to all three values. You can see we have three controls to set the value of the device and it shows all three as the Status of the device when selected. You can also see that the Control buttons give an indication that they have been selected by underlining the text on the control button.







        Another interesting thing to note is that graphics are automatically assigned to the Status text we chose for each of the three values. HomeSeer will use a graphic with the .png extension if the Status matches the image name. In this case there are default icons vacation.png, home.png and away.png in the status icon folder. The match is not case sensetive, so Home=home, etc. The folder these icons are in is on your (Windows) server under the HomeSeer root at \HomeSeer HS3\html\images\HomeSeer\status. We will discuss Graphics files in more detail later on, but I wanted you to know that there are some behaviors that are automatic.


        Next we will bring more of the status and control together in a very specialized Virtual device as well as to go into the different methods of control that can be used.
        Last edited by randy; June 30, 2016, 08:13 AM.
        HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

        Comment


          #5
          Status Graphics tab part 3

          Now we'll talk about control types and button placement. When we built the device above for Occupancy, there were three values with three associated Statuses (or is that Stati )



          If you recall there were three settings for each line. Those settings are "Row", "Column" and "Column Span". While the function may be obvious to some of you, we will go through them.





          They all have to do with the button placement in the Device Manager as shown in the first screenshot. If all three settings are "0". HomeSeer will attempt to put them in the order they are on the Status Graphics Page.
          • Row will assign a row position in the "Control" column of the Device Manager. They are numbered from the top starting at "1". If we changed all rows to 1 the placement of the buttons would not change. If we make them 1, 2 and 3 respectively the buttons will not be one over the other, because HomeSeer attempt to keep the devices from growing any taller (more screen real estate from top to bottom) than is necessary.
          • Column will assign a column position, starting from 1 from left to right. We can use this to rearrange the placement of the buttons on this three value Device. You can see that the order was changed from Vacation, Home, Away to Away, Home, Vacation.





          • Column Span will determine how many columns are occupied by the device. The button will still only be the width of the text, but the full Column Span space will be allocated to the right of the Button. Setting the Column Span to 3 will allow us to stack the controls, since the dfault width for the Control Column is 3.







          There is another option for control as I pointed out on the Configuration tab above and that is "Use pop-up dialog for control:. That moves all the buttons to a popup, with a single "Control" button on the Device Manager Control column. When you choose a pop-up, the buttons will all be stacked from top to bottom, by default.






          You can make the buttons appear in a single row, but you have to assign a row number to each.




          There are all sorts of possibilities, but be aware that HomeSeer will override some choices when they just will not work. You can also arrange them in ways that are unusual. It is best to experiment so you can see what works for you.



          Last edited by randy; June 5, 2016, 11:22 PM.
          HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

          Comment


            #6
            Status Graphics tab part 4

            Here is an example of how Paul Huddlestone used a pop-up control for the Interval device in his excellent PHLocation plug-in. If you look at row and column placements, you can see how the pop-up control was created.







            Here is a device I created to set the domestic hot water temperature for our house. The reason I am using this example is that it employs much of what we have discussed so far in this thread. We like really hot water, but when the grandchildren are going to come over we reduce the temperature the night before. While we could have been good with two settings, I wanted to give more flexibility, including turning it off altogether. Initially I created a value range device (we'll cover that next), but to make it easier to use for other household members, and for potential voice control later on, I changed it to off and five temperatures such that the Device Manager device looks like this





            It could also have a popup control.





            Just for a clean control layout, we wanted the button text to be as brief as possible, but wanted the status text to show the temperature as well. To do that, there are different status and control values for each setting except for Off. Here is the Status Graphics page showing how that can be accomplished.





            You can see that there is different status text and control text for each value, except for Off which uses the same for both.

            This brings to our next device type, employing a range of values. To illustrate this I am going to use our hot water setback temperature Virtual Device which is essentially the same as the hot water temperature control but offers a value range instead of multiple values. It also has a single value for Off. Here is the device in the device manager. You can see it has a single button and a drop list.





            Here is the Status Graphics Page for this device.





            You can see in the screenshot above there is a single value of 0 for Off and then a range of values between 80-150. To create the device you start with a simple Virtual device as we started this thread with. Then delete the 0 (Off) and 100 (On) values so there are no values assigned. To delete any single value or value range, simply click on the "Delete" button at the far right side of that value or range - just to the right of "Both". For some reason Value ranges must be put in first before any single values on new devices. Multiple value ranges can be added, but the higher values should be entered first. Multiple value ranges also make the control a little confusing, so it is best to place all the selectable values within a single range. Click on the button "Add New Range Value" to get your new entry, then edit the Start and End Values to be 80 and 150 respectively.





            Click on "Add New Single Value and it will add a new value of 0 with the text "Change Me". Change the text to "Off" and you have the complete device with "Off" and a range choice of 80-150. Adding single values in addition to a value range is suitable for some controls. In this control we are adding an "Off" value in addition to the temperature range.





            There are also some new options for the status text and control type for the range. From the top you have Prefix, used for any text you want to precede the value in the Status text or control text. Just like a single value, you can have the range values for Status, Control or both. Then you have the Suffix for any text that follows the value. For my temperature device I used " F", be sure and add the leading space so the suffix in separated from the value. You can also set the decimal precision of the values, but this has no effect on Virtual Devices as they only deal with integers. Since it is an Integer it can be positive or negative, but must be a whole number. The decimal points setting is for setting the display of high precision numbers from devices like temperature sensors. If the value for such a device was 78.98765432, setting it to 2 decimal places will truncate the Status to 78.98. At the risk of redundancy, be sure to remember that "Value" is always a number and is what HomeSeer works with for Triggers, Conditions and Actions. "Status" is only for the user interface - making it easier for the user to understand what is being controlled or represented.

            The "Include Values" checkbox is also not much use for a virtual device. If this box is not checked the value will not be part of the status text, only the prefix and suffix. "Has Additional Data" and "Has Scale" are reserved for script created devices and also have no bearing on a manually created Virtual Device. "Value Offset can add or subtract from both the Status and Control values for a device. I cannot immediately see a use for this in a virtual device, but if you enter 10 then the Status and Control values of the device would be 70-140, while the actual value of the device would be 80-150.

            Last edited by randy; August 27, 2018, 01:54 PM.
            HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

            Comment


              #7
              Status Graphics tab part 5

              Next you have control type. My Hot Water Setback temperature device above uses the drop list. You can also chose a slider, which is a better choice for dimmers in some circumstances, though I always prefer a drop list. There are also choices for Text Box and color picker. Here is what my setback temperature device would look like with a slider.





              Or with a Text box. With a text box, you enter the value and click "Submit"





              Now, lets talk about graphics. Just as the Status Text looks to the value to determine what to display for any single value or range of values, graphics can be assigned to a single value or group of values. If you assign an image to a value of 0 it will display on the Device Manager when the value of the device is 0. Above it was stated that HomeSeer looks at the Status Text and tries to match it to a .png image that is stored in \HomeSeer HS3\html\images\HomeSeer\status. If the Status Text for a value of 0 is "Off", it will display the image of off.png if it is in that directory (folder). You can override the default graphics by assigning your own or even another HomeSeer status image.


              Before we start adding images, let's cover a few particulars of how HomeSeer handles device Status Images. The images can be .png, .jpg or .gif images. When HST introduced its new image format last year they chose a 200x200 pixel size .png as the standard. They are resized in the Device Manager to 32x32 pixels. The move to 200x200 as the standard was motivated by the feeling that a larger image rendered better when resized to the default of 32x32. The new set is called "Contemporary". While .png is the new graphics standard there are some (25-30) of the new icons with a .gif extension for legacy compatibility.





              With these new icons there also is a mechanism for choosing icon sets. Provided with HomeSeer are the "Contemporary" and "Classic" sets. You can create your own as well, for my system I created a set "My Custom" where I placed all the Contemporary icons and where I put all of the custom icons I add or create. All of them are stored in the \HomeSeer HS3\html\images\HomeSeer directory.





              You can select the icon set under the "Custom" tab of HomeSeer setup. Here you can see all three.





              There are a several important things to understand about this mechanism
              • If you create a custom icon directory it must have a one line text file named setname.txt. In this text document is only one line that names the set. For My Custom that line is just My Custom. The directory name is unimportant, HomeSeer looks to the text file for naming the icon set.
              • When you select a new icon set, all of the items from that directory are copied to the status directory and will overwrite any icons with the same name. None are deleted.
              • If you install a new version of HS3 it will overwrite the Contemporary icons and set Contemporary as the current set. You will have to change it back to your custom icons if you use them. You have to remember to set it back after the update. The good news is that since no icons are deleted, your custom icons will still be in place, unless you have changed the style of any of HomeSeer's default icons. If you have created your own icons to replace any of the HS defaults, they will be overwritten when updating.
              • If you change the icon set you use, you will have to clear your browser's cache so that the new icons will be used.
              Last edited by randy; June 6, 2016, 11:33 AM.
              HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

              Comment


                #8
                Special use devices

                Now lets look at a couple of special use devices. The first example is a device you might use to initiate a goodnight routine for your house. For this device we will create a virtual device with only one control value. We don't want any status text or graphics to show when the device is at "0" so we deleted 0 for off and changed the graphic to a 1 pixel square transparent graphic named spacer.gif. This is useful when you want to populate a graphic so that nothing will show. That image is attached to this post. We renamed "On" (100) to "Initiate". Then we changed the graphic for the value of 100 to a green check mark. The Status Graphics look like this:





                So now you have a device that has a single control and value of "Initiate". It will look like this when "idle"





                And like this when the "Initiate" button is pressed.





                As was stated at the top of this thread, you can only control a device through events when you have provided a "Control" function for that value. There is a way around this. Even though a device may not have controls, its value can be set by an immediate script. This event does just that:





                Then the devices Status is set to "Initiate" (value=100) the trigger is true and the event will run. Put a short "Wait" in the event to allow enough time for the graphic to show up so you know that the device was set. Then use an immediate script to set the value of the device back to "0". Here is the script:

                &nhs.SetDeviceValueByRef(6206, 0, True)

                The &nhs.SetDeviceValueByRef says we are going to control a value of a device using its Reference ID. 6206 is this device's ReferenceID, the "0" is the value we want to set it to and "True" just closed the statement and commits the change to the device. This simple control is good for Virtual devices, but CAPI must be used on devices that control other technology.

                The last thing we do is to call anther event that turns a group of lights off in the house.



                The end result is that when we click on Initiate, the device gives visual confirmation that it has been set, then we reset the device to 0 with no text or graphics and run an event that shuts the house down.

                Understand that this would be accomplished differently in HSTouch, this is just a exercise to show different ways devices can be used.
                Attached Files
                Last edited by randy; June 18, 2016, 06:12 PM.
                HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

                Comment


                  #9
                  This thread is now open for discussion. I created a couple of placeholder posts for future additions to the thread as I have a little more to add. I added a table of contents to the first post and a link in the Event Clinic table of contents.
                  HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Manually control a Counter?

                    I've tried to change the controls of a device created as a Counter to be able to allow manual control of it in the Devices page. I want it to be a counter to be able to control it in events like a counter including increment, decrement etc. When I try changing the Status-Control to both and specifying a Control Type a Control never appears in the Device Manager page. When I build a Virtual Device from scratch with all the same configuration I get the Controls as expected in the Device Manager. The only difference I see between the two is on the Advance tab the Misc Settings includes "Show Values" on the Virtual Device but not on the Counter. Is it possible to add controls to a Counter? The attached image is the device created as a Counter but which displays no controls.

                    Also, I might have missed it but what exactly does the "Control Use" drop down do on the Status Graphics tab? I'm not sure what the different values in it like On Alternate mean.

                    Click image for larger version

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                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by jhearty View Post
                      I've tried to change the controls of a device created as a Counter to be able to allow manual control of it in the Devices page. I want it to be a counter to be able to control it in events like a counter including increment, decrement etc. When I try changing the Status-Control to both and specifying a Control Type a Control never appears in the Device Manager page. When I build a Virtual Device from scratch with all the same configuration I get the Controls as expected in the Device Manager. The only difference I see between the two is on the Advance tab the Misc Settings includes "Show Values" on the Virtual Device but not on the Counter. Is it possible to add controls to a Counter? The attached image is the device created as a Counter but which displays no controls.

                      Also, I might have missed it but what exactly does the "Control Use" drop down do on the Status Graphics tab? I'm not sure what the different values in it like On Alternate mean.

                      [ATTACH]55029[/ATTACH]
                      Counters and timers cannot be controlled by the devices that HomeSeer creates for them. The devices only report the status of the counters and timers, there is no control linkage between the devices HomeSeer creates and the actual counters and timers.

                      Any device created by a plug-in (or in this case by HomeSeer core) is subject to the linkage rules created between the HomeSeer device and the actual device.

                      The "Control Use" drop down is something I have not finished adding to the posts. It was added for UI functions, currently with Alexa, but is available for other UI designers to use. With Alexa it lets the API know how to treat the control. I think there is more documentation available for plug-in developers, but the setting has only to do with the Alexa integration at this time.
                      HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by rprade View Post
                        The "Control Use" drop down is something I have not finished adding to the posts. It was added for UI functions, currently with Alexa, but is available for other UI designers to use. With Alexa it lets the API know how to treat the control. I think there is more documentation available for plug-in developers, but the setting has only to do with the Alexa integration at this time.
                        Hi Randy, just a minor point, but I believe this was originally used for IFTTT integration, which predates the Alexa integration.

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

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by sparkman View Post
                          Hi Randy, just a minor point, but I believe this was originally used for IFTTT integration, which predates the Alexa integration.

                          Cheers
                          Al
                          And HSTouch, HSTouch will let you toggle a device on/off if it finds two control pairs for on/off. They were never really truly explained as to their significance and the SDK is still outdated but they were described as;

                          This property is valid only if the ControlStatus is set to Control or Both, and is used to indicate, most appropriately for lighting control devices, which control pairs are for On, Off, or Dim control of a light. An option exists for On_Alternate so that devices supporting multiple "On" methods may indicate secondary On control values. The "Dim" ControlUse value should be used on any/all pairs which are levels between fully on and completely off.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by sparkman View Post
                            Hi Randy, just a minor point, but I believe this was originally used for IFTTT integration, which predates the Alexa integration.

                            Cheers
                            Al
                            You're probably correct, but Rich explained to me that the choices were expanded during their Echo implementation process. Rich said they were there for any UI developer to use, so it makes sense that HSTouch and IFTT would use them as well. When I have time to finish this thread, I plan on writing about their impact on HSTouch and Echo control. I just haven't finished that post. There is a placeholder for it
                            HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by mrhappy View Post
                              HSTouch will let you toggle a device on/off if it finds two control pairs for on/off. They were never really truly explained as to their significance and the SDK is still outdated but . . .
                              I have yet to figure out how to use that feature. I find it much more reliable to create an event with a manual trigger and an EasyTrigger toggle action, then have my HSTouch button run the event.
                              Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
                              HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

                              HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

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