Subject: From: Date:

RE: [ECS] Converted to ECS Web Interface Martin Terry Fri, 2 Jun 2000 06:52:48 -0700

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You mean the boxes around the icon itself, or to the right of it? If the
right of it, use the WIDTH and HEIGHT parameters of the APPLET tag to shrink
the applet to just the size of the icon. I check the icon size in a graphic
program then use these parameters to set the size.

Unfortunately I don't know of anyway to get rid of the grey background or
black hairline around the image itself, for example if the image is round,
it will appear in a grey box with a line around it. 




-----Original Message-----
From: donstephens@101freeway.com [mailto:donstephens@101freeway.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 9:33 PM
To: ECS List
Subject: Re: [ECS] Converted to ECS Web Interface


Hi Martin:

I was wondering if you could help me out a bit. So far I have gotten my web
page to update as items change state but I can't figure out how to get rid
of the rectangular box that comes with the stock state icons. Any
suggestions?

Thanks,

Don
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Terry" <Martin.Terry@mail.tribnet.com>
To: <ecs-list@netbloc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 9:45 PM
Subject: RE: [ECS] Converted to ECS Web Interface


>
> Sure Don,
>
> <Warning, long-winded post>
>
> I'm not doing any java myself per se, just using what Mark provides. I'll
> try to provide some insight, but I'm doing this on my laptop so I can't
copy
> and paste code.
>
> Here's how I got started:
>
> I created a new group in ECS, and added a single item - a light. I
selected
> the light bulb icon and left it the original size. Saved the group.
>
> Then I went to the browser and opened ECS's default page
> http://ecs:3000/main.htm. I then selected links to the "web test" group I
> created.
>
> The web page creates an item on the web page that looks exactly like the
> item does in the ECS group screen - icon on the left, name and state on
the
> right. If this doesn't work correctly for you, you have some kind of setup
> problem. review Mark's setup instructions.
>
> Once you have the web page, you should be able to click the state and get
a
> frame to the right that offers other states. Here you can select on, off,
> etc.
>
> Now personally I don't like this look/feel - but you don't have to stick
> with it. Click on the page just off of the item and select view source
> (however your browser does this - in IE it's a right click menu.)
>
> The source will give you a lot of insight to how the page works. In this
> case you will see some basic html and 3 java applets.
>
> The first applet, called ecs_msg, draws a text box across the top of the
> page. I don't know what Mark calls this thing, but it's the same line at
the
> top of the ECS window that logs ecs activity - saves, tts speech, etc. You
> can include this applet in your own pages by copying everything between
> <APPLET and /APPLET> into your own page. You can vary the width and height
> parameters to change the size of the text box. I have this applet at the
top
> of my custom html pages so I can see who is calling on the phone (anything
> spoken by ECS will appear in this line with a time stamp).
>
> The second applet you will see if you follow this example will be the item
> you placed on the group page. the DIV command places this in x/y fashion
on
> the page so you can specify the exact placement. If you move the item
around
> on the group page and redisplay the html, you will see the values of the
DIV
> command change. This applet has a bunch of parameters, especially if you
use
> a light as an example. Here are some basic ones I've figured out:
>
> SBS0 value="ECS Item" This will be the name of the item as shown in ECS.
>
> ICON_F value="1" - 1 displays the icon, 0 turns it off. (For the item)
>
> ICON_W value="?" I believe this is a scaling factor for the icon
> 100=original size, bigger numbers make the icon larger, smaller numbers
make
> it smaller. I don't think the icons scale very well, so if I want them
much
> smaller I usually make a smaller icon. In fact I'm not using any of ECS's
> stock images.
>
> NAME_F value="1" If 1 the item name is displayed, if 0 it is not. I always
> use 0. If I want to include the name I'll do it via html, much more
> flexible. With html you can put the name where ever you want on the page,
> with the java applet it's to the right of the icon, period. You also get
no
> control over the text style or color.
>
> STATE_F value="1" same as the name, but the state instead. This one I
> sometimes set to 1, but usually not. I let the icon indicate the state
> usually.
>
> TEXT_F value="0" Dang, I don't remember what this one is. :) A good
argument
> for taking notes.
>
> SUB_F and ADD_F value="0" When set to 1 these add little up and down
arrows
> next to the icon, which allow you to click on them to raise and lower the
> state values (dim/inc light, etc.)
>
> SUB_CHANGE, ADD_CHANGE value="x" Used in conjunction with SUB and ADD
above.
> Every click will inc/dec by "x" value.
>
> STATE_ICON:state value="path/image" I modify this alot, basically if the
> item is at "state" then "path/image" is used as the icon. If you use the
> light example you will get an image list for every possible state (a lot
of
> parameters). If you use a true/false item, you will only get 2 parameters.
> You don't actually need to provide a image parameter for every state, but
if
> you don't and the item is at that state, you won't get an icon at all.
>
> The last applet is an important one, but doesn't actually display
anything.
> It is called "Ecsio". If you don't include this applet on a page where the
> others are, they won't work. Simple rule of thumb - add this applet to the
> end of any page you use the others on, including frames. Leave the
> parameters as is. This allows ECS to actually display the item/state/icon
> and update it on the fly.
>
>
>
> So basically I get everything done with these 3 applets, provided by Mark.
I
> use the 2nd one extensively, with many mods to the parameters. Usually I
> will set an applet up to display only the icon, no text, no state. I
modify
> the size of the applet and image parameters to use a GIF I provide.
>
> It will look like this:        HTML Description    Icon
>
> For example:
>
> I have a security page showing the status of the alarm system. It is a
> digital-i/o item. In the html page I have a table, and in the first cell I
> have "Alarm status". In the second cell I have the applet from above with
a
> true image of "Armed" and a false image of "Disarmed". I only display the
> icon(GIF images) so when I load the page it will look like this:
>
>
>          Alarm Status:           Disarmed
>
> With "Disarmed" as a little button GIF. If I arm the security system, ECS
> automatically updates the page to display:
>
>          Alarm Status:           Armed
>
> You can click on the icon and this click will be passed to ECS as an
> ICON-CLICK1. So I have an event that says something like:
>
> If           Icon-click1       is now          DIO:AlarmArmed
> then      Flg:ArmAlarm   Invert           Flg:ArmAlarm
>
> This triggers an event that arms the alarm.
>
>
>
> OK, so this is the basics. I wish I had a full time connection, I'd let
you
> take a look. Maybe soon.
> If this doesn't make it clear as mud, maybe I can copy the html to a
floppy
> and upload it here.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: donstephens@101freeway.com [mailto:donstephens@101freeway.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 8:40 PM
> To: ecs-list@netbloc.com
> Subject: Re: [ECS] Converted to ECS Web Interface
>
>
> Martin:
>
> I've been banging my head against the wall with this. Could you share some
> parts of your Java stuff?
>
> Thanks:
>
> Don
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin Terry" <Martin.Terry@mail.tribnet.com>
> To: "Ecs-List (E-mail)" <ecs-list@netbloc.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 11:53 PM
> Subject: [ECS] Converted to ECS Web Interface
>
>
> > ECSers,
> >
> > Well, I took a 4 day weekend and took the plunge and converted my
> Automation
> > system to ECS's new browser interface. I previously had used ACE as the
> User
> > Interface for ECS.
> >
> > First off, Mark should be commended for the amazing transformation of
ECS.
> > The flexibility and power of the interface is pretty awesome!
> >
> > Here's a little bit of my current setup -
> >
> > ECS is running on a P133 in my garage. It's connected to an Ethernet
based
> > LAN in the house. It has a modem that does dial-up for internet access
as
> > necessary. My client machine is a P75 (!) in the Kitchen/Family Room
> > (previously running ACE) now running IE 4. It's about as quick as the
ACE
> > client was, so even with the low speed machines performance is not bad.
> >
> > I've spent some time over the last couple of weeks "dissecting" the web
> > pages that ECS generates automatically. Mark makes generous use of Java
> > applets, with numerous parameters that are passed to control the look
and
> > feel. I had a pretty good feel for how they work, boosted by HTML and
JAVA
> > for dummies books. :)
> >
> > I then setup some basic pages of HTML, keeping in mind what I currently
> get
> > done in ACE. I swiped a bunch of graphics from the web and coded all the
> > pages by hand, making generous use of frames.
> > I've done a little HTML prior to this, but I'm a novice at best.
> >
> > The result is that I have about 70% of what I had in ACE. It looks much
> > snazzier than ACE and can be whatever you want it to be. I intend to get
> all
> > of what I'm doing with ACE, then add some new stuff like integrating
> weather
> > reports, automatic page refreshes maybe even TV listings (but I'm
waiting
> on
> > this, I expect Mark is working on this now). I'm going to set up some
> pages
> > to be downloaded off line then integrate them into ECS's pages.
> >
> > OK, now the Pros and Cons:
> >
> > Pro - Flexible, colorful, and can have any look you want. Any of Mark's
> java
> > applets on the page automatically update states and so forth when things
> > change, without having to refresh the page - way cool. Can integrate any
> > data you can put in a web page. Can have links to the internet (if you
> have
> > a full time connection, I don't).
> >
> > Cons - Mainly a lack of documentation; no wimps here, you will have to
> > figure most of this out yourself. For example ICON_W=26 Who would have
> > guessed this is a percentage of the icon's size? Good luck.
> >
> > I tried some animated GIFs, but they wouldn't work - this could have
> easily
> > been me or the browser. I'm not a big fan of animated GIFs anyway. :)
> >
> > Suggestions/Questions for Mark -
> >
> > Mark, is there anyway to change the background color of the item java
> > applets? Mine always show up with a gray background. Also, is there a
way
> to
> > turn off the thin line border that surrounds the applet? I'd like to
ditch
> > it if I could.
> >
> > Also, the messages link (e.g. ecs:3000/Messages) always shows the single
> > line message applet on top of the message list, can we list the messages
> > without this line? I already have that applet on the page and I'm trying
> to
> > show the messages in a frame. Speaking of the messages, can we control
the
> > font and background? And can they list in reverse order (most recent on
> > top?).
> >
> > Anyway, thanks for the great update.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

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