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juwi_uk
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| Joined: | Friday May 25th, 2007 |
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Posted: Wednesday Jul 4th, 2007 05:16 pm |
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Hi,
Leaving aside for the moment the CWM module and it's (non) availability right now.
Given an UCM/Ethernet card (principally used for Comfigurator access), what is the best way to get Internet Access to comfort so that I can operate Comfort and Home Automation?
I'm assuming here that I need to host a web server application on my PC that is running 24x7 and that base connectivity can already be made to this PC from the internet (ie static IP addressing, port forwarding on firewalls etc already setup).
I've seen the likes of Wizcomfort, Ace-Server, Homeseer, Yanza, MCE as possibilities but which one or others do you think is best?
Will anything allow me to build a pictorial floorplan of my house with indications of the state of sensors and Home Automation compoments and allow me to control?
I appreciate some advice from those "who've been there and done it"!
Regards
Julian
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jaenschw
Developers
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Posted: Monday Jul 9th, 2007 10:28 pm |
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Hi Julian,
I am about to embark on a similar project but I plan on writing the application myself. I have written a 'quick and dirty' application which talks to comfort through UCM/Ethernet and it works fine. Just need to find the time and write the application properly now. My plan is to run the application inside Vista Media Center since I like the idea of being able to access everything in one place, i.e. digital media etc. I also plan on writing an interface on my Smartphone/PDA.
In terms of the house plan, I would like to create a 3D plan similar to here: http://www.porterdavis.com.au/ click on 'Homes' then click on a house style, e.g. 'Windsor 47', it shows a 3D view of the house plan. Looks quite cool.
Warwick
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cgiltrow
Developers
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Posted: Tuesday Jul 10th, 2007 07:56 am |
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Hi Guys,
I have written my own interface to Comfort through an UCM/Ethernet.
I wrote it in Visual Basic Express - Easy and Free! My application has a floor plan where the rooms change colour based on there status (Green is No Movement, Red is Movement, Yellow is Trouble and Orange is Tamper). The whole back ground also changes colour based on the system status (Green is Idle, Red is Alarm, Yellow is Treouble, Organe is Tamper). The floor plan also has all the lights and appliances on it that the system controls, and by touching (I have a touch screen mounted on a wall) (or clicking) a light it will come on if it is off and off if it is on. The Light also changes to show whether it is on or off. I also have temperatue sensors and the temperatures show on the floor plan where they are physically located what the temperature is. My front gates also show on the floor plan. When I touch the gates they open and the gates change on the floor plan to show that they are open. My app talks TCP/IP and I have ADSL with a router that supports DynDNS so I can acccess the system from the application from anywhere across the internet. I have also written a network interface that allows multiple clients to connect to the same UCM/Ethernet at the same time. It is not perfect yet, but it works rather well. This allows me to connect multiple instances of my application from around the house using only one UCM. This even allows me to connect with my app and other apps like WizComfort at the same time.
My app also keeps a comprehensive log of what happens on Comfort and this has been useful.
I must say that the exercise was easier to do than I expected. I am not a programmer and I hadn't programmed or written VB in about 5 years and I managed to get back into it quite nicely.
The only difficult part was writing the network interface portion. A typical TCP interface was too slow and couldn't handle sending commands to Comfort and receiving status from Comfort at the same time. I got around this building a fast interface using assyncronous connections and multi-threading the handling of packets comming in.
I still hope to add more functionality to my app over time.
I am keen to share what I have done and my learning with others as I would like to benefit to from what others do and learn.
Cheers,
Clinton.
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jaenschw
Developers
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Posted: Tuesday Jul 10th, 2007 01:32 pm |
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Hi Clinton,
Well done, that sounds very impressive and its the kind of thing I had in mind. Actually in my c# app I also went down the async path which was the only way I could get sending and receiving commands from the UCM/Ethernet. It works quite nicely but I found that it was crashing after a while, it has been on my list of things to investigate for a while now and you have inspired me to revisit this issue! I will make time this weekend to look into it.
Regards,
Warwick
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slychiu
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| Joined: | Saturday Apr 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Singapore |
| Posts: | 939 |
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Posted: Tuesday Jul 10th, 2007 01:41 pm |
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For those who develop software and applications with or for Comfort, we would like to offer our support by providing some equipment for free to help in the development,eg UCMs and other modules, upgrades of frimware, or even a Comfort depending on what is being developed
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juwi_uk
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| Joined: | Friday May 25th, 2007 |
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Posted: Tuesday Jul 10th, 2007 02:42 pm |
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Clinton.
Wow, I'm impressed.
Perhaps we should have an OpenSource project in Comfort Forums where people can contribute code or solutions so these sorts of thing can get an airing and the recognition these deserve.
I think half the problem, and least from my perspective, is getting started and the creating momentum on these sorts of projects but once you are in and hooked these things inevitably gather pace.
Regards
Julian
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cgiltrow
Developers
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Posted: Wednesday Jul 11th, 2007 04:56 pm |
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Hi Guys,
I will put my publish source code here - just give me a little while to put it together in a coherent package.
In the meantime, attached is a screen shot of the system.
Cheers,
Clinton.
Attachment: Screenshot.JPG (Downloaded 217 times)
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palmlodge
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| Joined: | Thursday Dec 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 227 |
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Posted: Thursday Jul 12th, 2007 07:24 am |
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HomeSeer.
Extensive logging, great web support - why re-invent the wheel !
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juwi_uk
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Posted: Thursday Jul 12th, 2007 11:35 am |
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Yes, I agree Homeseer is powerful, it's just a shame I've so far failed to get to work on Vista (despite many hours of trying). I tried on XP and it at least installed but then I couldn't get the Comfort plug-in to work (the config tab didn't work in trial mode).
I don't want to spend $199 for HS2 plus incidental (ie plugin) costs when the software won't even allow me to try-before-buy. Perhaps it's just v2.2 and a later version will be better but so far I "aint impressed"!.
I contacted homeseer support and the Analysts' comment:
Vista has so many security checks that it's not a trivial task to get HomeSeer running on this OS.
Didn't inspire me with confidence. I tried the things he suggested ie turning of UAC, firewall, virus checking (basically expose myself to the world!!!) but didn't help and having spent many hours on this I can spend this sort of money better elsewhere.
Regards
Julian
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ident
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| Joined: | Wednesday Aug 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Singapore |
| Posts: | 286 |
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Posted: Sunday Jul 15th, 2007 04:32 am |
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We have started a new restricted forum for 3rd party developers or manufacuturers who which to develop software and interfaces for Comfort. Contact me to put you in the user group which can access this forum
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Howser
Developers
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Posted: Tuesday Jul 17th, 2007 05:19 pm |
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cgiltrow wrote: Hi Guys,
I will put my publish source code here - just give me a little while to put it together in a coherent package.
In the meantime, attached is a screen shot of the system.
Cheers,
Clinton.
That looks good Clinton, well done.
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cgiltrow
Developers
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Posted: Wednesday Jul 18th, 2007 09:16 am |
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Hi,
Here is the VB source code for my application. It was writtem using Microsoft Visual Basic Express 2005. You can download Visual Basic Express for free from Microsoft.
There is still a lot I would like to do with my application, but I think this is a good start and I would like to see what others do with it.
I provide this application and source code on an open source basis with the understanding that whoever uses it and develops its further will also provide the source code to their further developments on an open source basis here.
Enjoy,
Clinton.
Attachment: ComfortClient.zip (Downloaded 49 times)
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ident
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| Joined: | Wednesday Aug 9th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 286 |
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Posted: Wednesday Jul 18th, 2007 01:41 pm |
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I have moved this topic from "Questions on using Comfort" to this forum "Comfort Through Internet" (formerly called "Comfort Webserver Module")
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palmlodge
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| Joined: | Thursday Dec 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 227 |
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Posted: Sunday Jul 22nd, 2007 08:29 am |
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Julian
HS2 and the plugin do support a 30 day trial.
Here's the HS Vista forum - http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=868
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laundryman
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| Joined: | Thursday Dec 28th, 2006 |
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Posted: Sunday Dec 9th, 2007 12:08 pm |
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Juwi_uk
I started a similar project to what you want a couple of months back.
Google for 'Xpl' and you will find a really simple protocol for doing exactly what you want to do. You just download the relevant files (its free) and install it as a windows service. (I am using it on a MS server 2003 setup, but you can also install it on your desktop and host a website using IIS, which comes on the Windows discs).
You also download the Comfort Plugin (I also got the day/night plugin) which allows xpl to communicate directly with comfort. You can then start using the simple setup program, xpl manager, to set up your devices (Similar to the comfigurator program).
Once you've done this it is actually a simple process to knock up your own floor plan (using something like Adobe Fireworks and Dreamweaver to create the pages).
If you download MS visual web developer 2008 express (Free from microsoft) you can use AJAX to allow you to dynamically update portions of the web page for PIR alerts, temperature sensors etc so you dont have to keep updating the entire page to get your new information.
All this sounds complicated perhaps, but i'm a noob when it comes to stuff like this, so if i can do it....
All in all this will let you have what you want, ie internet access to your security system (Although i would recommend making sure the access is secure!!!
Glenn
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laundryman
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Posted: Sunday Dec 9th, 2007 01:25 pm |
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Just a quick update to my last post.
You can also get the xpl plugin for MCE and now also for zWave kit (if and when it ever hits our shores in the UK in any meaningful amount).
Anyone who is comfortable designing webpages should consider xpl (and also Xap, which can do more than xpl) as a good way of controlling and accessing Comfort. I'm finding out tons of stuff, just by experimenting.
Best of all, FREE is a lot cheaper than the web server UCL (Sorry Cytech).
Glenn
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admin
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| Joined: | Saturday Mar 3rd, 2007 |
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Posted: Sunday Dec 9th, 2007 01:48 pm |
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laundryman wrote:
Best of all, FREE is a lot cheaper than the web server UCL (Sorry Cytech).
Glenn
No problem, we hope to see more third party applications for Comfort
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wexfordman2
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| Joined: | Monday Jan 7th, 2008 |
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Posted: Monday Jan 7th, 2008 02:13 pm |
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Hi,
Just wondering if there was any indication as to when the CWM would be available ? Purchased a new comfort system today, and had ordered the cwm only to find out there is a delay witht he cwm. Dont mind waiting forthe cwm, will look at an interim solutution, but any guidelines as to when it will be available ?
Wexfordman
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admin
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Posted: Tuesday Jan 8th, 2008 12:32 am |
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The CWM is now out of sytock because the manufacturer of the embedded PC module discontinued it without notification. We have had to develop the product using a new hardware platform and it is taking a longer time than anticipated. The software is still being tested. We expect it would be a few months before the product is ready for production.
In the meantime perhaps you can consider other solutions lime the Everhome software, see http://www.comfortforums.com/forum27/845.html
cgiltrow has also developed a client for Comfort Internet access using the UCM/Ethernet see http://www.comfortforums.com/forum49/689.html
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wexfordman2
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Posted: Tuesday Jan 8th, 2008 07:43 am |
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Thanks for the reply.,
I will have a look at the solution cgiltro has (the other solution looks nice, but wont make much sense for me to pay for it, as I intend to go the cwm route when it is available again).
Regards,
Wexfordman
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