| ECS-L Home Automation and Security Archives |
| Subject: From: Date: | RE: [ECS] ECS Web Interface Martin Terry Wed, 17 May 2000 20:09:22 -0700 |
Mark, I can't really make the suggestion below work for me. Most of my group items are set NOT to have icons. I turned one on to test. If I resize the item in the group window to hide the name, the corresponding "applet" shrinks in the web page, but splits the control and still shows the name and state, just clipped at the top and bottom (you have to look at this to see what I mean) This also skews the icon so it's unrecognizable. For a test, I made the item "control" very large on the group screen, and the web applet got very large as well, but in the windows group the item control had the same text size as before, just with a large grey space below it. In the web page, the text resizes to fill the whole control size until it's very large. I performed this test on ECS 4.4.002. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:omnip@usit.net] Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 5:20 AM To: ecs-list@netbloc.com Subject: Re: [ECS] ECS Web Interface No problem - See the CLICK Item Type: When you click the Item's Icon (in either ECS or web-page), your Event can take any desired action(s). And you can hide the name/state/icon fields by resizing that Item's window (in the Group). -- Mark Gilmore Omnipotence (ECS home automation software) http://www.usit.com/omnip 423-745-0026 Hours: Mon-Sat, 9AM-8PM/EST Martin Terry wrote: > > Hi Mark, > > I agree that ECS is certainly superior in reference to the page updates and > so forth. > > As for the Group Screen, I guess what I am talking about is the just the > Group Windows in ECS itself. Here is an example. (All of these refer to the > ECS Windows Interface) The Item for messages I have is called SYS:PhoneMsg. > This name makes it easy for me to reference it in the code, but is not the > best name to present to the rest of the family. Also, in the Group Screen I > can right click the drop down menu next to the item name and select any > other item, which I don't want to be available for the rest of the family, > it will just confuse them if they click it accidentally. Next there is a > drop down menu for the states, listing every possible state for an item. I > only want the "speak" state to be available when the family uses the > interface, again to limit confusion. > > This goes back to the statement I made in the second paragraph below that > confused you. The current web pages that are generated by ECS use an applet > that gives the item name and state, and clicking on the item or state gives > you other options. I actually want something like this: > > (excuse my crude ascii drawings) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------- > _________ > There are new phone messages | Play | > ----------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------- > > or a page that says: > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------ > There are no phone messages. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------- > > based on the state of the item SYS:PhoneMsg > > I don't want to see the name of the item, or see any other states, other > than the ability to trigger "play" with a button. > > The current java applet in the group screen produces something like this: > > -------------------------------------- > | SYS:PhoneMsg | > |------------------------------------| > | 2 | > -------------------------------------- > > When I click on the item name I get a list of all item names. When I click > on "2" I get a list of possible states. (Very neatly done in a frame to the > right I may add). > > But I don't want that. I DON'T want to be able to click on the item and see > other items, and I DON'T want to be able to select any state, I just want to > build a page with a button that says "Play" and when I press that button the > messages are played. > > Let's say I have a light item called Lgt:Bedroom. Can I create a html page > using the new interface that looks like this: > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > The bedroom light is On. > > ---------------- > | Turn Off | > ---------------- > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > The "is On" should be based on the current state of the light. Is this > possible? What would the code look like? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:omnip@usit.net] > Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 9:26 AM > To: ecs-list@netbloc.com > Subject: Re: [ECS] ECS Web Interface > > Hi Martin, > While his pages ARE well-organized, they require a > REFRESH to get state updates (BAD!). And the user can > always organize his Groups in a similar fashion. > In fact, I don't see much difference btw his and ours > (buy maybe I'm missing something). > > Regarding the "weakness" of the ECS Group Screen, > I always welcome criticisms, but they are of little > use without specifics. And are we talking the Group > windows or the Group pages ? How are they weak ? > > The 1st sentence of your 2nd paragraph (below) also confuses me. > You can create custom pages, uses the ECS-generated web pages > as working examples. Granted, we DO need to find an HTML "editor" > (possibly "Front-Page" ?) to assist users in creating these pages > (who don't know HTML). > -- > Mark Gilmore > Omnipotence (ECS home automation software) > http://www.usit.com/omnip > 423-745-0026 > Hours: Mon-Sat, 9AM-8PM/EST > > Martin Terry wrote: > > > > Mark, > > > > Take a look at the link http://house.protowrxs.com/ I think this is the > > future of what ECS could be, an interface that is infinitely customizable > by > > the end user. Do you think we will be able to achive this kind of > interface > > with ECS? > > > > I much prefer the ability to get and change the status of items within a > > custom web page than to duplicate the group screens of ECS, in fact > (please > > don't take this personally) I think the group screens are the weakest > > feature of ECS. > > > > You've made tremendous strides with an already great program in the past > > year. If you look at the work that Steve Nolan put in to achive the site > > I've pointed out above, you can see that ECS could do all this, including > > the things he hasn't yet implemented, in one system, with much less effort > > than he had to put into it. > > > > This kind of change would also open up the possibility for you to generate > > revenue by creating these custom interfaces for people that can't do the > > html coding on their own. I think it's a great opportunity.