Premise jQuery Mobile MiniBrowser UI - Preview

[123]

Yes, you can use the Class Wizard to quickly create a skeleton of a driver for whatever device you need. The resulting driver will bind to the appropriate Home object (thermostat, TV, etc).

You'll find that the Thermostat object will not be rendered by MiniBrowser unless it is bound to a driver. If you check the code you'll see it confirms that BoundObject exists before rendering the UI. I suspect one of Premise's developers thought that it was pointless to display a UI for something if it wasn't bound to a driver. It the object is not bound to a driver, the UI simply displays a message to that effect. It's a sound design decision but, with the notable exception of Thermostat and MediaZone, it was not implemented for most objects

 

[w84no1]

I have started on the thermostat. This might be a little tricky.

 

[123]

Looking good! Be sure to take a peek at how the thermostat looks in AutomationBrowser. It displays a bit more info and the User Hold feature which I never included in the MiniBrowser version. For now just consider where this may go in the UI in the future.

 

[w84no1]

Yeah, that is what I am working on now. I wish I had a thermostat so I could actually test it B)

 

[w84no1]

Tweaked the thermostat a little.

 

[samgreco]

You must have some really big AC compressors....

 

[w84no1]

I hate being Hot!!

 

[chucklyons]

This UI is absolutely fantastically awesome!!! ray:

This really brings Premise mainstream! Where have you been all of our lives????

Keep up the good work!!!

 

[Timoh]

-459.... It must be summertime in Canada.

W84... We should probably chat at somepoint.... I have a couple days of proof of concept testing left to do for my Ui framework. There could be some interesting pieces both ways.... You may be interested in my event message bus/subscribe/notify + websocket components, and I may be interested in widgetizing your jquery UI components.

Tim

 

[w84no1]

-459.... It must be summertime in Canada.

W84... We should probably chat at somepoint.... I have a couple days of proof of concept testing left to do for my Ui framework. There could be some interesting pieces both ways.... You may be interested in my event message bus/subscribe/notify + websocket components, and I may be interested in widgetizing your jquery UI components.

Tim

Sounds good to me. Let me know when you are ready to chat.

 

[samgreco]

I think I am starting to feel glad I never jumped ship Now if I just ...

a ) Could code
b ) Had more time
c ) Had more money

Meanwhile, I am very happy to see so much action here.

 

[123]

Hmm, I had a look at my MiniBrowser Thermostat yesterday and confirmed I've forgotten more than I've learned. I did include Hold and the other info found in AutomationBrowser's Thermostat like HVAC status (is heat currently on and is it running in scheduled or hold mode).

Don't forget that Premise's Temperature Property class stores values in Kelvin. You have to use its Fahrenheit and Celsius methods to display the value. The end-user's preferred Temperature Scale is specified in Session Preference. I read the preferred setting and then display the temperature accordingly. I also use the setting to determine the increment for the Up and Down buttons. If Fahrenheit then the increment is 1 degree. If Celsius then it is 0.5.

BTW, technically speaking it is not "Temperature Mode". Those buttons determine which HVAC system is engaged and so "HVAC Mode" is more apt. Controlling the "Temperature" is actually the "SetPoint" which is governed by Up, Down, Run, Hold which ought to be together and not apart.

Have a close look at Thermostat in MiniBrowser. I laid out the controls based on how most people read and use a physical thermostat. Whatever is used most often appears at the top and the least at the bottom. You normally set HVAC mode once and forget about it so it appears at the very bottom. You look at the thermostat to determine the interior temperature so it is shown at the top (plus exterior temperature, if available). The next common thing is to tweak the temperature or override the schedule so Up, Down, Run, Hold appear next. Tweaking the Fan comes next and last of all is HVAC.

I did not have buttons that could show they were activated so I had to display the current selection as text. This takes more screen space. You have the luxury of using smarter buttons, that indicate they are selected, and can save space. Nevertheless, current HVAC status is important because, when used remotely, the UI reports/confirms if the furnace or AC are on or off.

 

[123]

FWIW, when I helped etc6849 create a zWave driver for the VRC0P device, I did not own one. I created a simple VRC0P emulator in Premise that responded to the driver's commands and queries. Where there's a will, there's a way.

After the basics were in place, such as a prioritized queuing mechanism, support for lighting and thermostats, I bowed out and etc6849, and others, kept running with it. For the record, I don't own any zWave equipment but I have written, or helped write, drivers for several devices I don't own. Revising MiniBrowser was my contribution to allow Premise to be usable on non-Windows devices and remain a relevant HA product. I don't even own a smartphone (my wife does) but I am eager to help you succeed with this project because most people will want to interact with Premise in this manner. Whatever grows the community is welcome.

 

[w84no1]

BTW, technically speaking it is not "Temperature Mode". Those buttons determine which HVAC system is engaged and so "HVAC Mode" is more apt. Controlling the "Temperature" is actually the "SetPoint" which is governed by Up, Down, Run, Hold which ought to be together and not apart.

I used the same terminology that was used in Automation Browser for "Temperature Mode". I agree that the run and hold needs to go with the up and down buttons.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[w84no1]

FWIW, when I helped etc6849 create a zWave driver for the VRC0P device, I did not own one. I created a simple VRC0P emulator in Premise that responded to the driver's commands and queries. Where there's a will, there's a way.

After the basics were in place, such as a prioritized queuing mechanism, support for lighting and thermostats, I bowed out and etc6849, and others, kept running with it. For the record, I don't own any zWave equipment but I have written, or helped write, drivers for several devices I don't own. Revising MiniBrowser was my contribution to allow Premise to be usable on non-Windows devices and remain a relevant HA product. I don't even own a smartphone (my wife does) but I am eager to help you succeed with this project because most people will want to interact with Premise in this manner. Whatever grows the community is welcome.

I actually like how the new interface looks in a standard browser. This UI will replace the need for AB in my house as I use chrome on my machines.