| Posted: Saturday Oct 16th, 2010 01:07 pm |
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juwi_uk
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All,
This thread is for forthcoming version 2.1.1.x of the ComfortClient, due for release soon.
Following the last 1.21.1.x release I had planned the next to be a minor release, but spurred on by your feedback and some of my own long term wishes for the product, I decided to make some major structural changes. As a reset I believe this warrants uplifting it to “Version 2.x.x.xâ€.
So what’s coming?
The focus for this release has been threefold:
1. Improved Performance
a. The ComfortClient and Floorplan Editor both have completely new rendering engines, introducing support for new Floorplan Objects developed from the “ground up†for better performance and functionality.
b. Code improvements (refactoring) to make better use of new features of Visual Studio 2008 and as a result of (1a). I estimate that 20 – 25% of all code in this release has been updated and tweaked for performance.
2. Greater Functionality
a. New dedicated Floorplan Objects (rather than inherited base .NET controls) now enable the Client to support features such as transparency and opacity and also in future features such as Object rotation. Overall a much improved visual experience.
b. Support for new font and border properties across Label and Gauge Objects.
c. New Gauge previous allows you to visualise a gauge design on-the-fly as you build it.
d. Enhanced selection of Objects in the Floorplan editor using any combination of rubber-band or Object click methods.
e. Further integration options for the Modbus plugin within the ComfortClient UI.
3. Better Organisation
a. Support for multiple ComfortClient configurations via desktop shortcuts.
b. Installer samples are now kept separate from the main installation so you can run your normal environment or switch to play with the samples.
c. Better separation of files within the ComfortClient folder structure using a standardised folder structure.
In addition to the above, all known bugs have also been fixed.
The above are already complete and running in the Beta version and I may add some further smaller pieces of functionality before final release.
When’s it coming?
Around Mid-November; giving time for the Beta to settle down and for Ingo and I to identify and iron out any minor bugs.
I’d be pleased to answer any questions or hear from you with any feedback you have on the ComfortClient.
In the meantime, more will be posted to this thread in the run up to the release.
Regards
Julian
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| Posted: Saturday Nov 6th, 2010 01:20 pm |
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2nd Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi everyone,
For anyone interested in the ComfortClient here's a quick update of the changes/fixes in the currentBeta which Ingo and I are testing.
What's Fixed/New in version: 2.1.1.47
Bug Fixes/Changes
- The Set Comfort Date Time menu item would throw an exception when in a disconnected state.
- ComfortClient Configs, Floorplans & Logs (files) are now relocated from the application root folder to separate named folders respectively. The installer upgrades the folder structure accordingly.
- Selecting Floorplan Editor when there are no Window Tabs added now enters Window Manager automatically (OK) or not (CANCEL) when selected respectively.
- Opening Floorplan object properties in Floorplan Editor threw an exception if the object type was Modbus, a Modbus mapping was selected, but the Modbus plug-in was not installed.
- In Floorplan Editor, selecting the Modbus object type in Floorplan object properties threw an exception if the Modbus plug-in was not installed or if installed but had no mappings configured in Modbus Manager.
- Error during copy of images to the images folder in the Floorplan Editor if the file was already open (locked).
- Floorplan sizes on each panel were incorrectly calculated based on the size of the full Floorplan Editor Window size rather than the size of the used workspace. Unnecessary scroll bars could display as a result. Scrollbar visibility is more intelligent for the selected window tab.
- Filter Conditions were not tested when processing incoming Flag responses.
- Alarm State responses would not correctly set the Floorplan background colour alert if a Floorplan background image was defined as this image took precedence over the background colour. It did partially work with background images (tiled) which had a transparent element.
- Exception during Floorplan load, in the ComfortClient and Floorplan Editor, if the Floorplan background image file was missing from the images folder.
- All objects now support the same border property; previously Label and Gauge border properties used differing strategies and no borders were supported for Picture objects.
- Custom Tab dropdown lists were blank following FastStart and until ComfortClient was restarted.
- Improved rubberbanding and object selection in the Floorplan Editor. You can use any combination of rubberband and click to select/deselect.
- ComfortClient now prompts for CCLX file on start-up if the CCLX file specified in the Client Configuration file cannot be found or opened.
- Aborting an Event Log fetch no longer clears the results panel, but instead displays the results panel so far plus an appended “abort fetch†message. On a complete fetch, a message is now shown appended to the results to indicate the read has completed successfully.
- Connecting to Comfort is now around 10 times faster when the Comfort address field uses an IP address instead of DNS name as the ComfortClient does not need to do a DNS lookup to find the IP address. This typically saves around 5-6 seconds.
- The Monitor Log panel now displays entries colour coded as per snapshot window.
- Improved menu option lockdown based on current selection & editing contexts.
- Output to the Floorplan Activity (Tab) Logs is now supressed for initial logon and manual refresh.
- On exit from the Floorplan Editor the ComfortClient now checks all loaded Floorplans for changes and refreshes them if necessary.
- Splash screen fade-in simplified to improve start-up message readability.
- ComfortClient and FloorplanEditor command line arguments are feature aligned. You may need to update some of ComfortClient Windows shortcuts that used the old format arguments; principally the “-F†no fade-in switch.
- Opening the Modbus Console (Modbus plugin) from the Status bar or main menu now longer asks for UAC confirmation.
- System Information refresh is now requested from Comfort on entry to the window. The System Info window is not available whilst a full Refresh is in progress (logon or Refresh button).
- Setting the Activity level to zero also supresses the Activity Tab Log entries; previously it only supressed the Tab icons.
- The minimum size of a resized object in Floorplan Editor is now 4 points. The sizing grab handles are intelligently placed to facilitate this; outer corner handles disappear as necessary on smaller objects.
- The Refresh, Sound and LockUI Buttons are moved from the main form to the Application Menu.
- The Floorplan Editor Floorplan workspace now resizes (to recover freed space) as the Ruler and (new) Toolbar strips are hidden or restored.
- Improved memory footprint for all applications.
- Other miscellaneous minor & cosmetic UI fixes.
New Features
- New Floorplan rendering engine for both the ComfortClient and Floorplan Editor. Floorplan objects are now constructed from the “ground up†allowing for some great new features, included (below) in this release (opacity, transparency) and in future releases (auto scaling, rotation etc.).
- Floorplan Editor is now separated from the main ComfortClient application and can either be started from within the ComfortClient or as a standalone application.
- New Toolbar (icon) strip in the Floorplan Editor.
- Support for Picture, Label and Gauge object opacity (0 – 100%) in the ComfortClient.
- Support for Picture, Label and Gauge object background transparency in the ComfortClient.
- Better separation of installed samples in the ComfortClient environment; they now use a separate Configuration file and dedicated shortcuts on the Desktop and Start menu.
- Gauge preview (including GaugePack Styles) now allows you to view Gauge designs as you build them or browse existing designs available in GaugePacks.
- Support for multiple configurations. New command-line argument that can be used in shortcuts to launch the specified configuration; -C={ConfigFilename}
- Current Floorplan size (W/H) is shown in Status Bar in Floorplan Editor and updates on resize.
- A Modbus actions menu is now available from the status bar Modbus LED indicator area.
- Gauge and Label Fonts now support underline and strikeout properties.
- Align Objects (Left, Centre, Right, Top, Middle, Bottom) is now available in the Floorplan Editor.
- Undo (last step) is now available in the Floorplan Editor.
- Save button on the Monitor Panel or Snapshot Panel respectively now allows save to Word 2007 (docx)**, Rich Text (rtf) and Text (txt) files. Saved files are now automatically opened by the associated editor once save has completed. ** Note: Docx (Open XML) is enabled when the optional DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll file is copied to the ComfortClient’s root folder.
- New Alert Buttons for Panic & Fire in ComfortClient.
Regards
Julian
Last edited on Friday Dec 17th, 2010 07:32 pm by juwi_uk
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| Posted: Sunday Nov 28th, 2010 02:06 pm |
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3rd Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi Everyone,
Just a quick update on the ComfortClient.
I've update the "What's Fixed/New" list post to show what's in the current 2.1.1.33 build that Ingo and I are testing.
This build is looking good and stable. I have the Help file to update and the Installer to update.
Other than that this build is feature complete. Looking at the "What's Fixed/New" list it doesn't look like much has changed but my sanity levels will attest to the fact that a lot of work has gone into this release.
I'm a bit behind where I wanted to be in calendar terms, but stay tuned, it'll be released shortly (December).
Regards
Julian
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| Posted: Friday Dec 17th, 2010 07:36 pm |
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4th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi everyone,
Later than planned I know but I'm please to release the next versions of both the ComfortClient (2.1.1.47) and Modbus Plugin (1.0.2.4). Also included are refreshes of the sound installers and the OpenXML dll.
They can be downloaded from this link:
http://www.comfortforums.com/forum65/1948.html
Fixes and new features are listed at the top of this thread.
Any comments/errors etc let me know.
Onwards to the next phase now.
Regards
Julian
Last edited on Friday Dec 17th, 2010 07:40 pm by juwi_uk
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| Posted: Monday Dec 20th, 2010 07:38 am |
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5th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi Everyone,
I'll be posting a maintenance release later this week. Having posted the main release at the weekend, Ingo and I have been doing a lot more testing and updates to the Help file now we have more free time and I'll be posting some of these fixes and tweaks shortly.
Regards
Julian
Last edited on Monday Dec 20th, 2010 12:15 pm by juwi_uk
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| Posted: Wednesday Dec 22nd, 2010 01:31 pm |
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6th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi Everyone,
As promised I'm pleased to release 2.1.1.50 which can be downloaded from:
http://www.comfortforums.com/forum65/1948.html
and has the following fixes:
- If a Floorplan image was not found on ComfortClient load the full path rather than the relative path would be written to the monitor and Event logs.
- ComfortClient incorrectly tried to request a refresh from Comfort during FastStart mode, producing a subsequent error in the ComfortClient log file.
- Pressing Cancel to exit the Object Properties window in FloorplanManager would cause the Toolbar icons to reset to the no object selected state even though the object was still selected.
- Minor change to ComfortClient response handler to trigger Floorplan render only once all requested refresh responses are received (logic moved from DT to S? response).
- In Floorplan Editor selecting all objects, when all are unlocked should show a grey bounding border around all objects rather than Orange one (which is only where at least one object is locked).
- Added Ctrl+Alt+L/Ctrl+Alt+U key support for Lock/Unlock UI menu option.
- Improved usage/consistency of cursor type (icon) when navigating User Interface.
- Improved WaitCursor icon logic on System Information form.
- Save button on Eventlog Tab is now enabled for Fetch events where the cancel button is subsequently pressed. Previously only when fetch was completed in full.
- Cursor now changes to “hand†when over CCLX item in status bar in ComfortClient and FloorplanEditor.
- Minor spelling corrections on Connection Tab.
- Updated Help file.
Merry Christmas
Julian
Last edited on Wednesday Dec 22nd, 2010 01:32 pm by juwi_uk
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| Posted: Thursday Dec 23rd, 2010 01:12 pm |
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7th Post |
Ingo
UCM Pi Users
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I think Julian deserves a big hand for developing such a nice interface for Comfort all by himself even with me throwing spanners in the works ALL THE TIME.
Well done on yet another great release and for those who haven't experienced ComfortClient, in it's fullblown configured state, you are missing out.
What started out as something on the side of my existing Home Automation system has now changed to the Main Interface I use. My other home automation software has now been pushed to the background and is only used as a sanity check.
I (sortoff) know where the Client is going and it's only going to get better and better. If anyone else is toying around with it, enjoy and have fun.
Ingo
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| Posted: Sunday May 1st, 2011 03:55 pm |
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8th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi everyone,
Just FYI, I'm close to releasing a new version of the ComfortClient. Fix list so far in Build 65, the release candidate, is:
Bug Fixes/Changes
- Panic or Fire buttons would incorrectly set the minimum size of the ComfortClient if the UI was not locked at the time the button was pressed.
- Save modified (dirty) flag was not set when objects were moved using arrow keys in Floorplan Editor.
- In Floorplan Editor checking “IsTemperature†property checkbox in Object Properties would error (recoverable) for type SENSOR.
- Temperature conversion (Celsius <-> Fahrenheit) properties (on Labels and Gauges) did not read/save correctly in Floorplan Editor.
- Changing the Smartfit counter mappings now forces a counter refresh as a background thread/task on exit.
- Update Floorplan Editor Tooltip help and layout on Object Properties window.
- Conditions did not calculate correctly with some criteria types.
- Ruler and Status bar X/Y coordinates now update when using arrow keys to move single objects.
- Lock/Unlock in Floorplan Editor with immediate exit did not set the modified (dirty) flag.
- New UCM Type 19 (Universal) name now identified correctly.
- Unhandled exception in ComfortClient when selecting a Floorplan tab or with alarm state changes if that tab does not have a valid Floorplan reference/name in Window Manager.
- Improved validation of Image types inserted into Floorplan either via menus or drag-and-drop. The following types are explicitly supported; bmp, gif, ico, jpg, png, tif.
- Improved text rendering for gauge dial numbers.
- Change ClickResponse hover text did not set the modified (dirty) flag.
- Modbus plugin: Help file did not correctly open in Modbus Manager if the latter was opened indirectly from the ComfortClient main or status bar menus.
- ClickResponse Type field was blank instead of “<None>†for newly created objects in Floorplan Editor Object Properties.
- In Floorplan Editor, objects can now be aligned if the “Reference†object (last selected object in the set) is locked and no other “Slave†objects are locked.
- Border properties on Gauges in Floorplan Editor Object Properties were not set correctly when created from GaugePack templates.
- Save GaugeStyle would cause an exception in Gauge Preview if that Gauge was the first saved to the Gauges folder and then subsequently chosen as a template for another created Gauge before leaving (same edit session) the Floorplan Editor.
- In Floorplan Editor opening a new file from the FILE menu did not update the windows header description.
- In Condition Manager moving focus to the condition tree caused the condition items to refresh.
- On starting ComfortClient the focus is now correctly placed in the password field to help keyboard users. On logout the input focus now also returns to this field.
- The ESCAPE and END keys can now be used to logout or disconnect (the RETURN or ENTER keys used to connect or login).
- Disabled conditions are not now checked during runtime condition processing.
- Renaming condition name in Condition Manager did not update corresponding Floorplan or System filter reference(s) respectively.
- ComfortClient connection buttons are now re-enabled when the maximum connection retry count is reached.
- A key press which moved the cursor out of the Floorplan area when a ClickResponse was highlighted did not reset the highlighted object and the ClickResponse was still actioned.
- The CCLX file can now only be changed in ComfortClient when you are logged out and disconnected from the UCM.
- New conditions added in Condition Manager are now given a unique default name; this stops the unique name constraint checking from firing if successive ADD’s occur without renaming them.
- Deleting a filter in Condition Manager now also checks for filter references in ComfortClient as well as Floorplan Editor. Also where references are found, the “No†button now correctly aborts the delete rather than deleting the condition but NOT the references.
- In Condition Manager, the current condition was not correctly reselected after sort operation.
- Highlighting the condition name or description text and pressing delete in Condition Manager, would incorrectly delete the condition rather than just the selected text.
- Selecting all Condition Criteria Items in Condition Manager via the title bar (“Select Allâ€) checkbox would select all lines but would not clear if individual lines were them unchecked. Also if ALL individual lines are now checked the title bar checkbox also now selects.
- Additional changes in Condition Manager UI to improve performance and usability. Criteria Item table toggle button is removed.
- Tree selection changed in Window Manager and Condition Manager; now supports hot tracking.
- The default sound of an object was always incorrectly announced when activating a ClickResponse on that object.
- Other miscellaneous minor & cosmetic UI fixes.
New Features
- Conditions can now be applied to Static Images (*Image*) and Labels (*Label*). Mirror Sounds can now also be defined for these Object Types.
- Phone Ring is now added to System Sounds and configurable.
- Sound state is now shown in the status bar and can be toggled via this icon.
- Support DST flag in date/time stamp, enabled from UCM 5.228 but not yet supported by Comfort.
Known Issues
- Animated GIF’s are not currently supported in the 2.1.1.x stream.
Regards
Julian
Last edited on Thursday May 12th, 2011 08:44 pm by juwi_uk
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| Posted: Friday May 13th, 2011 06:08 pm |
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9th Post |
| Posted: Friday May 13th, 2011 06:17 pm |
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Ingo
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Guys,
As always, while Julian is adding features and doing fixes for ComfortClient so have I been toying around with the Gauge options when not testing new builds. I have designed a new 'Home Energy Management' panel which is now my main panel I use every day to keep an eye on consumption.
Here is a design I did using the transparent, opacity and custom font features. I hope you like this and will inspire you to post your own designs.
Regards,
Ingo
Attachment: ComfortClient - Pilot Theme.jpg (Downloaded 54 times)
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| Posted: Saturday May 14th, 2011 05:37 am |
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11th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hey Ingo,
One word...wow!
Think you should create a GaugePack bundle for this and post.
Julian
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| Posted: Friday May 27th, 2011 09:00 am |
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hendy
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Hi Juwi,
This Aaron from Cytech. Currently I am testing C-Bus using Comfort Client. But everytime I start Client. I've tried with different cclx file and connected to Internet with UCM/Ethernet. Then got hang like the attached image.
Regards,
Aaron
Attachment: ComfortClient.jpg (Downloaded 30 times)
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| Posted: Friday May 27th, 2011 09:15 am |
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juwi_uk
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Hi Aaran,
Looking at the splashscreen it looks like there is no ComfortClientConfig.xml file in the "configs" subdirectory and it's therefore trying to create one instead and hanging. I'd like to get to the bottom of this as I havent seen before so I'll do some testing on startup with NO config file to check how mine works (or doesnt!). 
If you have a config BUT you've called it a different name then you MUST startup the client using the commandline parameters that select the correct config file name. It needs to be in the "configs" folder though.
Open the ComfortClient.chm file and in the help it'll show you the command line switch to use.
Regards
Julian
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| Posted: Friday May 27th, 2011 06:00 pm |
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bs85
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Julian,
Have the same problem with comfort client.
I have found out that if you dont install the samples the config directory is not created and the program will hang.
If you look carefully at the image there is an error box underneath
"Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
Hope this helps
BrianAttachment: Screen shot 2011-05-27 at 18.47.09.png (Downloaded 27 times)
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| Posted: Friday May 27th, 2011 06:27 pm |
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15th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi Brian,
Thanks for that; it lead me straight to the issue and I can confirm as you say the Configs folder is missing if you dont choose to install the samples.
So as a workaround please either:
a) Install the samples.
B) If you dont want the Samples then dont install these BUT before you start the ComfortClient for the first time, create an empty folder in the same folder as the main application (ie default is C:\Program Files (x86)\ComfortClient) called Configs. Once you've created this empty folder then all should then be OK as you start the application.
It's an installer issue so I'll look to release a revised installer over the next few days.
Sorry about that.
Julian
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| Posted: Friday May 27th, 2011 10:55 pm |
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16th Post |
juwi_uk
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Hi Everyone,
I'm pleased to release 2.1.1.66 of ComfortClient to resolve some issues that Aaron, Brian and Ingo have found recently. IT can be downloaded from:
http://www.comfortforums.com/forum65/1948.html
and has the following fixes:
Bug Fixes/Changes
- Added Event Log decodes for Event Codes 27 – 33 as added in a recent firmware update.
- In Floorplan Editor Object properties, the “image layout type†for a gauge with background image defined did not populate the dropdown list correctly.
- Saving a gauge design to a GaugePack in Floorplan Editor, incorrectly added the “Images\†folder path to the gauge background image file name saved in the file. This created an exception if the gauge was then used again during the same editor session. Note: If you created any GaugePacks in version 2.1.1.65 which also include background images then you need to edit the file manually correct these or else the Image will be ignored at load; i.e. if the entry reads BackgroundImage="Images\myImage.jpg" then change to BackgroundImage="myImage.jpg".
- Installing ComfortClient without samples did not create the “Configs†folder in new installations.
Regards
Julian
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