Plugin: InControl For SageTV/HomeSeer

[lamanmi]

IMPORTANT - UPGRADE PROCEDURE FROM 1.0.x:

• Close Sage (server/service) and do a backup of the entire Sage directory, should you need to return to the pervious verison.
• Close HomeSeer (server/service) and do a backup of the entire HomeSeer directory, should you need to return to the pervious verison.
• Access HomeSeer Updater and download/isntall InControl version 1.3.1.
• Go to Sage TV and update the UI Mod plugin for InControl to version 1.3.1 through the Sage Plugin options
• Select Control from the Sage main menu, you will be prompted to correct any settings that were not previously set.

Description:

InControl is a plugin for HomeSeer and SageTV. It provides a real-time interactive interface between SageTV and Homeseer. With InControl, you are provided with easy to use, graphical interface in SageTV to control and monitor any HomeSeer devices. In addition, you can use HomeSeer to broadcast messages to SageTV.

Features:

• Control and/or monitor Thermostats in HomeSeer from within SageTV
• Control and/or monitor any device in HomeSeer from within SageTV
• Advanced button configuration of your HomeSeer devices
• Send messages and alerts from HomeSeer to Sage with Events or Scripts
• Send any SageCommand commands from HomeSeer to Sage with Events or Scripts
• HomeSeer Devices for each of your Sage Server UI, Clients, extenders to monitor status and control directly from HomeSeer
• Web based remote control available from the InControl HomeSeer web page
• Custom graphic library included for SageTV
• Secure connection with SageTV via HomeSeer user id and password

Requirements:

• SageTV 7.0.8 or higher
• InControl For Sage Plugin (available through SageTV plugin library)
• HomeSeer 2.0 or higher
• InControl For HomeSeer Plugin (available through HomeSeer store and updater)
• HomeSeer and SageTV must be on the same PC or connected via a network

Installation:

• Be sure to download and install the InControl Plugin for HomeSeer first. It is available through the HomeSeer Updater and Store.
• Once InControl is running on your HomeSeer server, you can download and install the SageTV component through the plugin manager.
• Please be sure to review the links below for more information.

More Information:

• Installation Guide
• User Guide
• Screenshots within HomeSeer
• Screenshots within SageTV

Feeback:

• Enhancment Requests - There are many other features I am planning to add to this plugin. However, please feel free to post any enhancment ideas and I will do my best to add the capability.
• Defect Reports - Please post any bugs or issues in this forum.

Version Information:

1.4.0

New Features:

• Added support for thermostats. There are two types of thermostats that can bee added. (1) Thermostats Supporting the HomeSeer Thermostat API - this will automatically determine the thermostat capability and be pre configured. (2) Custom Thermostats (do not support HomeSeer Thermostat API) - this will require custom interfaces using Scripts to the thermostat.
• Added capability to customize and send any device control buttons to the client
• Within HomeSeer scripting, there are 2 new commands available, these will return the full path to the currently playing file:
  

  hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").GetSagePlayingByID "<Sage Device id>"
  hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").GetSagePlayingByName "<Sage Device Description in HomeSeer>"

• Changed send methed to use threads to avoid delay between events
• Fixed issue with configuration settings being saved in settings.ini instead of hspi_incontrol.ini
• HTML being sent as Device Strings was causing issues, added logic to strip out HTML
• Fixed event not being sent properly when activated by client causing event not to trigger
  

1.3.6

New Features:

• Within HomeSeer changed logic for sending updates to Sage to include only Sage devices that have logged in to correct delay when firewalls are involved or when a client is powered down.
• Within Sage, added property "lamansoft/incontrol/IgnorePing" when set to "true" in Sage.Properties, Sage will not ping for the HomeSeer Server. This will allow easier set up when firewalls are involved.
• Within Sage changed logic when first registering HomeSeer to ask if a Firewall will be used, if so, "lamansoft/incontrol/IgnorePing" will automatically be set to "true"
• Refined the Message display in Sage when images are sent to optimize the display.

1.3.5

New Features:

• Added "Stop" as a status that will appear for the Sage HomeSeer device and as an event to trap. NOTE, with this new status, the an idle device will be "On" until a program is watched and stopped, then the idle status will be "Stop".
• Fixed erronous triggers (Panel Trigger and Panel Trigger2) from appearing
• Fixed issue where "Stop" was triggering the Sage On event
• Fixed issue that caused the messages appearing on Sage to display internal system messages replacing the actual message
• Fixed issue where the HomeSeer device for Sage does not contain all of the values/graphics causing them to appear blank

1.3.4

New Features:

• Added "Paused" as additional status to the HomeSeer device for display and event triggering and its associated graphics
• Added ability for showing the title of the media file playing on the HomeSeer Device for Sage in the device status message
• Added ability to execute Sage API commands from Event Action Or HomeSeer script (http://download.sage.tv/api/index.html):
  a) hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageAPIByID "<Sage Device id or All Device>","<Sage API>"
  b) hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageAPIByName "<Sage Device Description in HomeSeer>","<Sage API>"
• Added EXPERIMENTAL ability to display a picture on the Messages sent to Sage (the path needs to be full path accessible by Sage):
  a) hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByID "<Sage id or All Devices>","<String message>","<Timeout in seconds>","<path to picture file>"
  b) hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByName "<Sage Description>","<String message>","<Timeout in seconds>","<path to picture file>"

1.3.3

New Features:

• Fixed bug where "TV" and "Temperature" were not showing as graphic options in the HomeSeer Device setup
• Fixed bug where Sage TV combo commands were not listed correctly (i.e. Channel Up & Page Up)

1.3.2

New Features:

• Added timeout (seconds) for how long messages sent to Sage will appear (0 seconds will keep message on screen until a button is pressed):
  Modified "Action" in HomeSeer event to allow entry of timeout
  hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByID "<Sage Device id or All Device>","<String message>","<Timeout in seconds>"
  hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByName "<Sage Device Description in HomeSeer>","<String message>","<Timeout in seconds>"
• Added "Channel Up" and "Channel Down" to the Sage Commands (for Events and Devices)
• Fixed bug where "Delete" a button on the HomeSeer Device was not working properly
• Fixed bug where "Right" from a location column with many buttons skipped over the devices column.
• Added UI control in Sage such that if a Location is "Selected" the focus will move over to the first Device
• Added Sage graphics for "Garage" and "Sprinkler" status

1.3.1

New Features:

• Enhanced HomeSeer Device creation and communication, including the ability to assign any SageCommand as a HomeSeer Device Button. Please note, you will need to manual remove the old HomeSeer Devices for Sage.
• Locations and devices are now sorted alphabetically.
• Within HomeSeer Device setup, now added the ability to send optionally the Device String or Device Value, instead of the Device Status. This will allow devices, such as temperature sensors or other similar devices to pass their status to HomeSeer. In addition, it will also send the default graphic properly.

1.3.0

New Features:

• Added "Sage Device" configuration in HomeSeer to allow for each Sage Device (Server UI, Client, Extender or Placeshifter) to have its own settings within Sage. In addition, to showing the basic configration, it will also highlight if the device is on/off and/or playing any media. Note, Sage Servers running as a service will NOT have a "Sage Device" in HomeSeer.
• InControl now allows HomeSeer to control Sage in the following ways:
  a) While in the "InControl" main web page, you can send basic commands to Sage (including Sending a message to Sage, Sleep, Stop, Extender On/Off, Exit-which will close Sage on a PC).
  b) While in the "InControl" main web page, you can bring up a Web Remote with most options to directly control the "Sage Device" of your choice.
  c) Within HomeSeer Event Actions, you can now select "Sage Command" to send most available actions to all or a specific "Sage Device".
  d) Within HomeSeer Event Actions, you can now select "Sage Message" to send a message to all or a specific "Sage Device".
  Each "Sage Device" can be set up with its own name and can be tied to a HomeSeer device
  e) Within HomeSeer scripting, there are 4 new commands available:
  

      hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageCommandByID "<Sage Device id or All Device>","<Sage Command>"
      hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageCommandByName "<Sage Device Description in HomeSeer>","<Sage Command>"
      hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByID "<Sage Device id or All Device>","<String message>"
      hs.plugin("InControl_Sage").SendSageMessageByName "<Sage Device Description in HomeSeer>","<String message>"

• While editing a "Sage Device" in HomeSeer, you may now allow it to create a normal HomeSeer device that will show a status of "On", "Off" or "Playing" for any "Sage Device" that is running InControl. This will allow normal HomeSeer Events to monitor the Change in its DeviceValue to trigger actions when Sage is turned on, off or contect starts playing.
• Added an InControl background to Sage

1.2.0

New Features:

• Added capability to Control Events with InControl. To select the Events that Sage will see, click on the "Events" link on the main InControl plugin page. The events will by default go to Sage with the group name being the location and the name of the event being the device. This can be changed to provide a more Sage friendly name. (HomeSeer and Sage)
• Significantly improved and added step by step progress indication as the Sage configuration is being performed. This will significantly assist in selecting the correct settings for HomeSeer and Sage to communicate (Sage)
• Added port to the Sage Server/Clients listing in the initial InControl screen Sage Listing (HomeSeer)
• In Options menu, will automatically try changed port if listner is not active, otherwise will prompt to restart Sage. This eliminates the need to restart Sage while trying to find an available port. (Sage)
• Added configuration parameter to set custom text for the button that appears in HomeSeer (HomeSeer)
• Added check for Client vs. Server to set RecPort to different numbers (to avoid conflict of Sage running as a service and running Sage Client on the server)

Bug Fixes:

• Corrected issue where plugin is being set up initially through an extender prevents the settings to be saved correctly for the server.
• Corrected issue where running Sage as a service and then starting the Sage UI on the same server as the service would conflict in the port they are using.

1.1.0

New Features:

• Reconfigured SageTV and HomeSeer Pairing process to eliminate false connections and multiple entries in HS
• Added capability in HomeSeer to clear all Sage connections
• Modified each Sage UI to access its own Sage properties fileAdded additional debug tracking capability

1.0.9

Bug Fixes:

• Added additional debug tracking capability

1.0.8

New Features:

• Initial version

[Moskus]

Originally Posted by lamanmi

1.3.1

New Features:

• Enhanced HomeSeer Device creation and communication, including the ability to assign any SageCommand as a HomeSeer Device Button. Please note, you will need to manual remove the old HomeSeer Devices for Sage.
• Locations and devices are now sorted alphabetically.
• Within HomeSeer Device setup, now added the ability to send optionally the Device String or Device Value, instead of the Device Status. This will allow devices, such as temperature sensors or other similar devices to pass their status to HomeSeer. In addition, it will also send the default graphic properly.

This... is... totally... awesome! Can't.. write... complete... sentences!

[Moskus]

Found the first bug:
Deleting buttons doesn't really delete buttons.


And what is the command for Next/Previous channel?

[lamanmi]

Originally Posted by Moskus

Found the first bug:
Deleting buttons doesn't really delete buttons.


And what is the command for Next/Previous channel?

Moskus,

Thanks....I found the delete button issue, will get that corrected in next version. For now, it would be best just to delete the entire device and re add the buttons.

For next/previous channel, you can use Up/Down or Page Up/Page Down. They should send the same command. I will add Channel Up/Channel Down next time around.

Michael

[Moskus]

Originally Posted by lamanmi

For next/previous channel, you can use Up/Down or Page Up/Page Down. They should send the same command. I will add Channel Up/Channel Down next time around.

That's what I thought. But Page Up/Down didn't work for some strange reason...

[lamanmi]

Originally Posted by Moskus

That's what I thought. But Page Up/Down didn't work for some strange reason...

Can you try just "Up" and "Down" also? You can also try to these with an event action "Send Sage Command" to see if it works there as well. I should have a new version with the official "Channel Up" and "Channel Down" by next week.

[lamanmi]

Originally Posted by Moskus

That's what I thought. But Page Up/Down didn't work for some strange reason...

Moskos,

I added Channel Up and Down to the option list in the new version. Can you give it a try?

[mbowling]

Originally Posted by lamanmi

Enhanced HomeSeer Device creation and communication, including the ability to assign any SageCommand as a HomeSeer Device Button. Please note, you will need to manual remove the old HomeSeer Devices for Sage.

I'm confused. What is this and how is it used?

[lamanmi]

mbowling,

Originally Posted by mbowling

I'm confused. What is this and how is it used?

Basically it lets you add a Sage UI (on the server, a client, or an extender) as a HomeSeer Device (see attached) that then lets you add your own buttons. For example, in the attached I added Play, Stop and Pause. Obviously you can control this from the InControl web page, events or scripts as well, but this allows you to gather all of your HomeSeer devices in one place.

In addition, I have not tried this, but I believe tools such as HSTouch will also pull these "buttons" directly as actions, making interaction with them utilize built in capabilities within HomeSeer.

Michael

[mbowling]

Michael,

I seem to have lost the "Temperature" selection in the "Default graphic" dropdown list. Yesterday, I had to restore an image on my server from about two weeks ago. This put me back to InControl 1.3.1. So I updated to 1.3.2 in the HomeSeer updater. I then noticed that the "Temperature" selection was missing. I tried reinstalling the plugin again doing a "Repair" from the HomeSeer updater, but it didn't help. How can I get the "Temperature" selection back in the list? Screenshot attached.

[lamanmi]

All,

See the first post for more details, but made some changes that should start to clear up issues with firewalls, I'm sure there will be more refinements required, but lets start with this version. You will need to update both HomeSeer and Sage.

Also, this should at least be the first step in fixing the delays when a client is shut down and/or a client is used in conjunction with a firewall.

The only other fix was a small fix to to continue to refine how Sage displays images sent via the message command. Still needs some refinements, but getting closer.

Let me know how it goes.

[pvrnorth]

Originally Posted by lamanmi

All,

See the first post for more details, but made some changes that should start to clear up issues with firewalls, I'm sure there will be more refinements required, but lets start with this version. You will need to update both HomeSeer and Sage.

Also, this should at least be the first step in fixing the delays when a client is shut down and/or a client is used in conjunction with a firewall.

The only other fix was a small fix to to continue to refine how Sage displays images sent via the message command. Still needs some refinements, but getting closer.

Let me know how it goes.

Michael,

So far so good! All of my clients can connect now. Also the delay updating sage Incontrol seems to be gone. Thanks!

So now for a feature request Is there any way for an event to show the status (in SageTV) of a device, or even better the 'or' of a group of devices, instead of just showing the script icon? For example on the main floor of my house, I have a group of four switches that all control individual lights in the same area (why the house was wired this way I have no idea...). I have an event to turn all 4 on and an event to turn all four off. It would be nice to either show the status of one light (or the 'or' of all four - ie if any one light is on, the status would show as on).

Thanks again!

[Moskus]

Ok, just installed the new version. But why in the world did all my client configurations disappear?!?


Now I have to set up all HomeSeer devices and struggle with HSTouch. Again!

[lamanmi]

Moskus,

I have not seen that behavior. Was it the Sage HomeSeer devices that disappeared or the individual Sage servers/clients/extenders (i.e. 1000_0)?

At the minimum, I will look into adding a "Backup Configuration" option.

Originally Posted by Moskus

Ok, just installed the new version. But why in the world did all my client configurations disappear?!?


Now I have to set up all HomeSeer devices and struggle with HSTouch. Again!

[tp4656]

Hi, I have installed your plug in on a WHS box. Both Sage and Homeseer are on the same server. I keep getting HSconnection: Not Set, but the sever setting are Valid. I've tried it from the Sage GUI on the WHS desktop and from two HD300 extenders. I've tried some of the previously posted tips and have attached my logs.

Tom

[Moskus]

Originally Posted by lamanmi

I have not seen that behavior. Was it the Sage HomeSeer devices that disappeared or the individual Sage servers/clients/extenders (i.e. 1000_0)?

The individual sage clients and extenders (1000_X) disappeared for some reason.

Well, I used scripts in my HStouch project... if it happens again, I just need to name my extenders/placeshifters like I did before.

[mbowling]

Originally Posted by Moskus

Ok, just installed the new version. But why in the world did all my client configurations disappear?!?

It appears that I have the same problem as Moskus. Today, I upgraded from 1.3.5 to 1.3.6 and all the HomeSeer devices have disappeared from the SageTV interface. I looked in the HomeSeer "InControl_Sage Plug In" page and there is only one client listed, "1000_0". In the past there was more than one listed on this page even though I only have one HD200. Unfortunately, I don't remember what was originally there. All of the HomeSeer devices that were initially checked as "Show Device in Sage" are no longer checked.

I restored an earlier HomeSeer database hoping to recover the original configuration, but it didn't work. Where are the InControl HomeSeer settings stored? I have a backup of everything. I just need to understand what to restore. I had a lot of custom names and locations configured that I don't want to recreate from scratch.

[lamanmi]

mbowling,

I found the issue with 1.3.6, the "INI" name setting was reset back to null (empty), which caused it to look for and save all of the ini settings in the HomeSeer settings.ini file. I will correct this with the next version.

However, I did some research and believe I found a way to correct the situation if you still have the HomeSeer device with the buttons, then you can follow the steps below:

1) Open up the hspi_Incontrol.ini and search for "buttonlabel" you should find the something like:

0_HSDevice=YES
0_Ref=7532
0_ButtonCount=2
0_1_ButtonLabel=Home
0_1_ButtonCommand=Home
0_2_ButtonLabel=Online
0_2_ButtonCommand=Online
...

2) Open up settings.ini find the similar the similar ID # under the [Contexts] section (i.e. in this case it is 0) then simply paste those lines after the last 0_ line then go back to the InControl plugin in homeseer and click on the device id (i.e. 1000_0). You should now see the buttons and they should work.

If you deleted the HomeSeer Device, let me know and I will see if I can find a similar work around.

[lamanmi]

pvrnorth,

Great to hear....I'll look into the Event Status idea you listed and add that to the enhancment list.

Originally Posted by pvrnorth

Michael,

So far so good! All of my clients can connect now. Also the delay updating sage Incontrol seems to be gone. Thanks!

So now for a feature request Is there any way for an event to show the status (in SageTV) of a device, or even better the 'or' of a group of devices, instead of just showing the script icon? For example on the main floor of my house, I have a group of four switches that all control individual lights in the same area (why the house was wired this way I have no idea...). I have an event to turn all 4 on and an event to turn all four off. It would be nice to either show the status of one light (or the 'or' of all four - ie if any one light is on, the status would show as on).

Thanks again!