HCA Suggestions, Take two.

[KHarms]

I’ve distilled down all the suggestions and here is the list. Not in any order.

Make HCA (or some part of it) run as a service

Improve Insteon network read and write. I made a long post on this as to why there are inherent problems and frankly I don’t know how we can do better.

Add diagnostic views to flag devices that don’t ack commands, or reply to status polls, or have any problems HCA can detect.

Have HCA program Insteon devices for their local ramp rate and on level

Support touch screens for general user interaction with HCA. I remain hazy about what this means since Touch pads in this application are sort of just glass keypads.

Support Windows media center

In addition to log/no-log for send and receive on a device-by-device basis, allow the ability to pick and choose which commands log and which don’t.

Anything else not on this list?

[jhendric1]

Any future support for Z Wave? I have read their motion detectors window/door sensors are much better that x10 and insteon.

[KHarms]

Z-Wave....

This is a hard one. We looked into it and decided to go wth getting great support for Insteon and UPB. All deceisions are subject to review but for now we are standing by it.

[auger66]

Support touch screens for general user interaction with HCA. I remain hazy about what this means since Touch pads in this application are sort of just glass keypads.

Support Windows media center


A strong second vote for Media Center.

And a fully customizable screen interface like HSTouch or Charmed Quark. Even better, for touch screens and the iPhone/iTouch, too.

Orrrr, add a ISY-99i hardware interface and the other stuff is mostly done already.

[mjl]

Orrrr, add a ISY-99i hardware interface and the other stuff is mostly done already.

This is an interesting idea - having HCA be able to program and understand other controllers. I've set up a configuration with two HCA controllers and fudged it a bit so that each thinks the other is just a dumb controller, but it would be cool if HCA could understand other controllers and possibly even configure them remotely (or at least understand what they are).

[kmuromot]

Sorry if this is not the correct place to post this (Newbie :)) I can't seem to be able to open mulitiple Windows - ex: view the log while editing using Visual Programmer. Would be great for debug, etc.

[jhendric1]

I would like to be able to use webcams and use them as trigger. EX; someone walks past the webcam, it snaps a pic, turns on the lights, sends an email, etc. There is stuff out there that does this(except triggers of course), but it would be nice integrated into HCA.

Voice control.

[KHarms]

hello kmuromot...

There are two log viewers. One is a tab in the troubleshooter. The other is opened from the View menu. Everything in the View menu is a non-modal dialog. You can have them open on the screen while you work with the HCA UI.

[bpsmicro]

I'd like to be able to include Flags in the display tabs. Right now flags are reasonably useful in programs to control certain operations, but I'd love to make them more useful by being able to see their status (and control same) from the main display window (including custom icons).

Brad.

[mjl]

Regarding running HCA as a service, you might want to check out this:

*WARNING* - this is considered a hacking tool, so it will most likely trigger your antivirus and/or antispyware software.

http://www.inguardians.com/pubs/servifythis/

*WARNING* - this is considered a hacking tool, so it will most likely trigger your antivirus and/or antispyware software.

I haven't used it, but it was recommended to me by someone who should know to be used for running a process as a service.

I don't know if it can safely be used without triggering A/V software.



Make HCA (or some part of it) run as a service

[korey]

A nice web interface / app for the iPad & iTouch.

Remote Keypadlinc led dimming, so the LED brightness can be turned down at night.

[biomech]

+1 for a beautiful, mobile friendly, app for the iPhone/Droid. I believe this would really increase sales of HCA.

[jhendric1]

The test element needs a timer function. Ex; If a trigger or a flag changes state, then after XX seconds do XXX. If a door opens, start a counter. When the counter equals XX and door is still open then do XXX.

There may be a way to do this already using the compute element, I just haven't figured it out yet.

[ewelin]

I think you can pretty much do what you're looking for. There is a delay element which will delay continuing with the program until the time you configure passes.

[jhendric1]

Yes, there is a delay element but that won't test when something occurs until after the delay is over. I want something to happen when HCA receives the trigger. I suppose you could use, lets say a 2 second delay and then test for a flag condition but there is not a simple way to test if when 10 seconds passes, did this happen? if yes do this, if no do this instead. I'm sure there are creative ways of doing this, I'm just not there yet.

I'm just suggesting simplicity. I enjoy HCA because it's simple but it can be challenging if I choose to try something challenging.

[ewelin]

Well I guess I'm not following what you're asking for... can you give an example of how exactly you'd want the test performed?

[jhendric1]

Ok. I thought again about what I wanted to accomplish and was able to use the delay element in conjunction with the "Restart the program from the Start Here element" located in the advanced tab. Thanks for the tip ewelin.

I'd like to post it to the Program Repository but it says I don't have permission. Any ideas?

[ghostt]

Greetings:

I have two small suggestion that has been bugging me for a long time, but never enough to say anything..

1. Allow special characters in device/program/group names. I like to name things based on category, then specific name. For instance, I have programs named "Motion Sensor Bedroom". I would like to be able to name it "Motion Sensor - Bedroom" (note the dash), to get around this I've been naming stuff thusly "Motion Sensor...Bedroom". Looks kinda blech. :)

I realize HCA has grouping capabilities, and I use it to a degree. However the way I layout my home design is to separate "types" into folders, rather than "rooms". So for instance, I have a folder called "Programs Motion Sensors", and within that folder are all the programs that are triggered by motion sensors. There are times when I would like to disable all motion sensor programs. I realize that I can simply add all motion sensors into a group, however I tend to be dynamic, especially right now. I've been spending the past 4-6 months building a new home, so I add things here and there. I don't always remember to put that new motion sensor program into the 'motion sensors' group.

What would be amazing would be the ability to take action on a folder in HCA, such as "disable all items in folder". Extra bonus points if it could be done via a visual programmer tool.

I'm a super-happy HCA user and have been for many years, these two things don't break it for me, just minor annoyances I'd love to see changed some day. :)

Thank you for coming to the customers for feedback, its rare these days for companies to take their customers suggestions seriously! :)

[ewelin]

I think most of the special characters that are not allowed are due to the way HCA is coded. I personally like to use > when naming devices so I end up with something like Build In > Light or Built In > Outlet. I know since I started using HCA I had to remove some of the characters I once used in different updates.

[rdunaway62]

How about better expression support for VWS. I would like to be able to get the _weatherHigh() for my Soil Moisture and Soil temp. sensors for the past 3 days. :)


Currently HCA doesn't support this for these sensors High history, I run an external PERL script to accomplish the compiled data need, then have HCA read it in to a flag. It would be convenient to have this done in HCA itself. :D More support for ET in VWS would be a great help also for some of the water in of programs I run. :)

Thank you :)

[mjl]

I still would like some easy way to get HCA events to my syslog server. I cannot use a log tailer on the HCA log file because HCA requires exclusive access to the file, and I don't want to write a special VP just to do syslogs via vbscript or whatever.

As one option, you might want to ask the developers to check out this article http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/20050212.asp and see if it applies or can be applied to HCA to provide a syslog option for the HCA event log. The log could still go to the local file, but could additionally (optionally) be forwarded to a syslog server.

Alternatively, if HCA could write events to the windows event log, that can be forwarded to a syslog server, so a separate syslog function is not required if there is an option to send HCA event log data to a windows event log.

As a third, less optimal option, if HCA simply did not require exclusive access to the log file, my syslog app (Datagram syslogger) could tail the HCA log file and forward events. I don't know why HCA locks the log file - this is the only application I use for which I cannot tail the log file to syslog.

Finally, the above methods are for sending the HCA log to another log, however it would also be handy to have a syslog and/or SNMP VP element similar to the e-mail and SMS element. In fact, if I had a syslog or SNMP element available, I might not need the event log to go to syslog (but it would be nice to have both).

[Morkai]

It would be really nice if we could create manual insteon links and/or remotely activate a device's linking mode. It would make working with hard to reach devices a lot easier.

[jhendric1]

How about intergrating Twitter? Getting a tweet when a trigger occurs would be great.

[kwilcox]

How about adding support for the Insteon IRLinc 2411T Transmitter? HCA already supports the 2411R receiver, but the transmitter doesn't work unless you use its X10 mode.

[orcusomega]

How about the ability to import from Active Home Professional (X10's desktop control *cough* software)?

I don't trust the stability of the company, and I have a lot of their devices in my home - and it will take forever to recreate everything into a new installation of HCA.

Thanks!

Bob

[orcusomega]

OK - How about the ability to auto-save whenever a change is made?

HCA just crashed on me and lost a good hour and a half of work I just did (!!!!!!)

[Edit: just found the option - how about making a Hint about it way up front when you start? LOL - guess I own this issue :) ]