Indigo 5 Beta Available

[jaymartin]

Indigo 5 Beta Available

We're extremely pleased to announce the immediate availability of Indigo 5 Beta. Indigo 5 has been in the works for quite a long time and we're very happy to finally be able to ship the beta.

New features:

• (Pro Only) Added plugin functionality that allows us and other developers to add functionality to Indigo without needing to release a whole new version (check out the plugin development docs in the Technical Documents section of the wiki if you're interested in building a plugin for Indigo). Plugins can add devices that will integrate directly with the various Indigo User Interfaces (UI), events that show up in the Trigger UI, and actions that show up in the Actions UI. Shipping with this version of Indigo are the following plugins (expect more to ship with GM):
  • iTunes Plugin - this plugin allows you to create iTunes Server devices. These devices can be used in Device State Changed triggers, in Actions to control iTunes, and on Control Pages to show state and to control iTunes natively. It's built to support either local or remote iTunes application instances. (iTunes control used to require scripting)
  • EasyDAQ Relay Card Plugin - this plugin allows you to define and control the EasyDAQ USB relay cards directly from Indigo. Using Indigo you can control the digital and relay output channels, execute actions when a digital input changes, and inspect all input and output channels remotely via Control Pages.
  • Growl Plugin - This plugin adds a native action to the Actions UI that allows you to send Growl notifications. (Sending Growl notifications used to require scripting)
• A new Condition Editor for Triggers and Schedules is now standard. The condition editor works much like the Mail rules editor: you can have multiple rules using ANY, ALL, or NONE as the operator on the compound condition. Check out the Condition Editor documentation for details.
• Added new keyboard shortcuts: in most places, CMD-D now duplicates the selected items and the Delete key will delete the selected objects. CMD-N now creates a new item based on whatever your looking at - in the Main window it's whatever view is selected (Device, Trigger, etc).
• (Pro Only) The Control Page editor now supports Cut/Copy/Paste between control pages as well as drag and drop. You can drag and drop page elements between pages and drop devices on a control page to add them. See the Control Page Editor section of the overview for details.
• (Pro Only) The Control Page list in the Home Window will allow you to drag Control Pages out to the Finder for easy sharing. See the Control Page Editor section of the overview for details.
• Right (control) clicking on any table now shows you a contextual menu with options appropriate for the item. All items now have a new "Copy ID (123)" menu item that will copy the item's internal database ID to the clipboard. This ID is required when using new Python scripts so that they will continue to work even after you change the name of something.
• The Help menu has been expanded and now points to the official documentation that's stored in our wiki system and available through Web browsers.
• (Pro Only) Added Refreshing Image URL control type to Control Page editor, which can show realtime updating images on Web pages or Indigo Touch (great for SecuritySpy).

Other General Improvements:

• Added support for iMeter Solo INSTEON module.
• Added Device state tracking of individual INSTEON KeypadLinc LED buttons (not just main load). The Indigo UI and Indigo Web server will show current Watts in use as well as accumulative kWh used from a user resettable time.
• Added Turn On/Off Keypad Button actions to control the LEDs on KeypadLincs (requires extended message compatible PowerLinc and KeypadLinc).
• All tables now have customizable columns - by right clicking on the header you can show/hide each column using the resulting menu (a la iTunes). A bunch of new columns have been added.
• Added "Remove Delayed Actions" action to delete any delayed actions created by auto on/off actions and/or delaying actions via the UI in the Actions tab (previously could only be done via AppleScript so only Pro users could do it).
• (Pro Only) Added support for INSTEON Thermostat Rev2 temperature, humidity, setpoint, and mode updating without polling.
• (Pro Only) Added support for INSTEON Thermostat Rev2 equipment state tracking (cooling on/off, heating on/off).
• Added Device option to disable Indigo communication (sending and receiving commands) for all device types.
• Added Enable/Disable Device actions.
• Changed some terminology - "Time/Date Actions" are now referred to as "Schedules".
• Modified UI to ensure that all user interfaces had defined tab order - you should be able to navigate completely from the keyboard.
• Right (control) clicking on the database name in the title bar now shows path to the file (only when the client is running on the same computer as the server).
• (Pro Only) The Scripts menu has been replaced with the Plugins menu. This menu reflects the new plugin architecture. See the documentation for more details.
• Added Beep Device action to remotely beep some newer INSTEON modules.
• Added ability to interactively skip asleep INSTEON modules when performing a batch sync.
• Added ability to remotely set KeypadLinc backlight brightness (requires extended message compatible PowerLinc and KeypadLinc).
• Added ability to remotely set KeypadLinc 6 or 8 button configuration (requires extended message compatible PowerLinc and KeypadLinc).
• Interfaces are now treated individually - INSTEON/X10 PowerLine, X10 RF, etc. Each is configured separately, and enabled/disabled separately. The status area now shows the enabled/disabled/error states separately for each interface.

See the Beta 1 announcement for more details (and keep an eye on the Announcements forum for announcements regarding new beta releases).