Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] DDE interfaces anyone Dan Hoehnen Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:22:40 -0500 (EST)

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I wrote a HA program called ACE that I think can do what you want.  It 
has many more features, but I think it can function as you wish.  ACE 
supports a command file interface.  This interface works by you telling 
ACE a file to look for.  When ACE finds it, ACE reads each line and 
treats it as a command.  ACE then delets the file and starts looking for 
it again.  So, if you can put commands in an ascii file, 1 line per 
commad, ACE can handle it.

ACE supports ECS and knows what to do with each command by the command's 
header.  Appropriately, the header for ECS is "ECS:".  Thus, if you 
create a file with the following line, ACE will send everything after the 
"ECS:" to ECS.  

  ECS:some text

All you have to do is setup your ECS schedule to be looking for "some 
text" and then do whatever you want when it is received.

You could also send an ECS "I" packet.  These are commands that tell ECS 
to change the state of an item.  This command is documented in ddecln.c 
which should be in your ECS directory.  An "I" packet to set an item 
named "MyTestValue"  to 23 would look like this:

  ECS:I,MyTestValue,,SET,,23

Of course, you can also send commands from ECS to ACE.  Since ACE is 
network aware, you can run ACE clients on other pc's and access their 
resources from ECS (tell ecs to send a string out a serial port on 
another pc, for example).

There are ACE/ECS users on this list that can also answer questions.  The 
url for ACE is in my sig below.

On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Mitch wrote:

> I can't seem to get the list-server to send me the FAQ, so if anyone has
> it, could you please pass it this way?  Thanks.
> 
> Also.  I was wondering if anyone has any DDE interfaces to ECS?
> Specifically I'm looking for one that is like a command line interface.
> So that I can do things from perl, both query and send to ECS. For
> example:
> 
> send.exe item-name on
> send.exe a 1 off
> send.exe bedroom-light 10%
> send.exec event movie-time
> ---
> pull.exe a 1
> pull.exe item-name
> 
> It's been a few years and don't have much working knowledge of C
> anymore...or a compiler anymore.
> 
> I am not familar with perl on windows95, so I will also look into seeing
> if there are any good modules that have DDE support.
> 
> I'm just trying to cover all the bases before I plunge into buying the
> full ECS.  I wonder if Mark gives starving college students a discount.
> Heheh.
> 
> -Mitch
> 

Dan Hoehnen                            
dhoehnen@infinet.com                   
He who dies with the most toys, wins! 
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