This list details changes in HouseBot since version 3.0. Click on a version below to jump to the updates for a particular release.

Version 3.56

• New HotKey Device Plugin.
• Updated the MQTT Hardware Interface to use the latest mqtt support files.
• MQTT: Now will automatically reconnect if the connection is lost.
• Fixed an issue where task conditions with substitution values may be replaced with actual values.
• Fixed an issue where non-existent mode referenced in task blocks would cause the prior item to be duplicated.
• Add a client control options for 'Always on Top' and 'Not Always on Top'.
• Increased the receive buffer size for Node-Red.
• Fixed issue when adding ‘temperature’ properties to a device.

Version 3.55

• New Support for Bond Bridge Fan Controller.
• New Web View Theme control for displaying websites on Software Remotes.
• New New Theme control button type for controlling the Web View (Forward, Backward, Refresh, Stop, Zoom In/Out)
• Minor ZWave fixes.

Version 3.54.10

• Fix for Theme font character set issues with symbol and international fonts.
• Fix for task issue where deleting a Property Value change from a Task list might cause the Task to hang.
• Fix of Theme configuration issue where background and transparent colors could get set incorrectly.

Version 3.54

• New Support for Node-RED integration.
• New Support for dynamically changing the text color of Button, Text, and Edit Software Remote controls.
• When inserting new Panels in the Theme editor, the new panel is now added after the currently selected panel.
• New Property type for Color (RGB).
• New Voice Service setup now splits Alexa and Google (Assistant) into separate configuration tabs.
• New Google Assistant types supported:

  Blinds, Lock, Door, Light, Curtain, Television

Version 3.53.03

• New Script commands for getting the last change date (and time) for a Property.
• Fixed issue where a Tasks Else If condition could run from a Property Value change even though a prior condition should have prevented it from running.
• Fixed crash associated with user adding a time Property to a Device.
• Fixed Script Device issue when trying to load a script from the Device in the editor.
• Fixed Device Log View issue when trying to load a log.

Version 3.53

• New Theme option for property edit control text alignment (left, right, center).
• New Theme button option to use a Device Property value for the button text.
• New Added option to specify the IP port in Windows Software Remote settings.  (e.g. 192.168.1.10:5016)
• Fixed UTF character issue in the External Control Client.
• New Added option for the Execute Task device to not have a task selected.
• Kodi Device Changes:
  • New Added Alpha List Property for Movie Genres.
  • New Added Command Movie Filter Genre ID Property to allow filtering movies by Genre.
  • New Added Alpha List Property for Movie Actors.
  • New Added Command Movie Filter Actor Property to allow filtering movies by Actor name.
  • New Added Command Filter Movie Year Property to allow filtering movies by year.
  • New Added Jump to options for the Kodi Input Command Property:
    • Jump to Music
    • Jump to Videos
    • Jump to Pictures
    • Jump to Programs
    • Jump to File Manager
    • Jump to Settings
    • Jump to TV Channels
    • Jump to TV Recordings
    • Jump to TV Guide
  • New Added the following options to the Kodi Execute Command Property:
    • GetMovieGenres to populate the new Movie Genres Property.
    • GetMusicGenres.  This replaces the old GetGenres option.
    • GetMovieActors to populate the new Movie Actors Property.
    • Update Video Library.
    • Clean Video Library.
    • Update Music Library.
    • Clean Music Library.

Version 3.52.04

• New Added Google Assistant support for Blinds/Curtains.
• Fixed sleep timer to persist remaining time between HouseBot restarts.
• Doubled the size of the ZWave hardware interface receive buffer.

Version 3.52

• New Activation and Deactivation Tasks to Mode setup.
• New JScript anguage option for the Script Device and all HouseBot scripting.

Version 3.51

• New system time property for 'Time and Date without Seconds'.
• New new Trace Device. This device will reflect the last trace message information.
• Fixed theme issue of duplicating control IDs when buttons were duplicated.
• Fixed Task UI issue with 'will trigger task' setting that was causing the task condition to not show disabled in task UI.
• Fixed ZWave Hardware Interface issue where the ZWave interface would be reset and not recoverable if bad node data was received.
• Fixed the ZWave Parameter Configuration Device when setting multi-byte values.
• Fixed potential ZWave Hardware interface issue/crash when using the ZWave Controller Device.
• Added support for the ZWave ALARM command class to trigger the binary sensor device.
• Fixed issue with Script Device if a long trace message was logged.
• Fixed GC-100 Hardware Interface serial command assignment issue.
• Updated MQTT Device to the latest mosquito library.

Version 3.50

• New database. HouseBot will automatically convert the existing database it uses to store all of its configuration information to a newer and more stable SQLite database.
• New system view that shows status of Devices, Tasks, and Modes.
• New option for software remotes to refresh all property values periodically.
• New Property Value setting to persist value between restarts.

Version 3.45

• Updated Alexa API support to version 3.
• Improved Google Assistant support.
• Voice Service Setup dialog now allows configuring whether Modes are exposed to voice services (as scenes).
• Intermediate/running Task states now show in the Tasks property view to help diagnose task issues.

Version 3.44

• New:Google Home / Assistant support.
• New:MQTT Support. Basic publish and subscribe.
• New:Theme buttons can now configure "long press" action.
• New:Theme buttons can now be hidden.
• New:Theme option to restore popups on Software Remote startup.
• Better support for remote orientation changes.

Version 3.43

• New:Belkin WeMo device support (switches and plugs).
• New:TP-Link device support (plugs)
• New:Sleep Timer Device has new Pause Property.

Version 3.42

• New:Voice Service (Alexa) setup dialog for configuring Devices and Properties that respond to external voice services.
• New:Software Remote client action for showing and hiding wait cursor.
• New:Added duplicate Device feature.
• New:Dynamic image coordinates for Software Remotes.

Version 3.41

• Added Task condition option for triggering task evaluation.
• Added auto-close timeout option for popup panels.
• Fixed and improved serial port lists shown in Hardware Interfaces.

Version 3.40.01

• Fix for Amazon Echo (Alexa) device discovery.

Version 3.40

• New: My HouseBot.com web portal.
• New: Amazon Alexa (Echo) support. See the Alexa page for more details.
• New: IP Socket Device
• Wink Hardware Interface now supports notifications through My HouseBot.com.

Version 3.31

• New: Wink Hub support. New Hardware Interface and support for several popular Wink Devices.
• New: Kodi support. New Device to interface HouseBot to Kodi.
• External Control Device: Now supports control via HTTP commands.
• Email Sender Device: Fixed issue where device would crash if it was trying to output an error message.
• Email Sender Device: Fixed potential issue with authentication if authentication isn't needed.
• Added support for loading dynamic images from a URL (e.g. http://path-to-image/image.png). This makes it convenient to display images in Software Remotes that are stored on a Webserver/Internet.
• Windows Software Remote: Changed location of stored data files to Windows ProgramData path to work better with security settings in newer versions of Windows.
• Software Remotes: Fixed edit controls to honor character set values saved in Theme.

Version 3.30.03

• Added support for downloading missing font files. This support is only for Android devices.
• Resolved issue in POP3 Device where it would check for mail if device wasn't enabled.
• Fixed crash in Software Remote related to image controls.
• Resolved issue with list and directory controls crashing if control focus management is used.

Version 3.30.02

• Resolved issue in POP3 Device where connection error would prohibit downloading of mail.
• Resolved issue where right mouse clicking on a transparent button in the Theme Editor would not display popup menu.
• Added a 'Transparent Click-Through' option for buttons to resolve an issue where transparent buttons would not work.
• Resolved issues with SlinkE support.
• Resolved issue with the Girder Bridge Device where a "RunAs" Prompt would popup asking for user account selection on Windows XP.
• Resolved issue when creating Tasks, the "And-Or" setting gets reset when selecting properties from the list.
• Resolved Status Request issue with PowerLinc V2.
• Resolved issue where the battery level display problem on non-Windows CE platforms was not working.
• Added feature to the txt2speech device to select an output device.

Version 3.30.01

• Added 'all lights off' and security code command recognition for the W800 plugin.
• Added support for 2-byte Z-Wave sensor response.
• Fixed Property Value substitution for Devices with names that contain periods.
• Resolved issue where the Property Value list would not scroll in the Property Manager.
• Resolved issue of hanging Tasks. Task item execution will now timeout if not completed within a reasonable time.
• Improved multi-state button update performance.
• Improved Insteon address validation.
• Resolved issue where Software Remote would timeout and blank screen if started and never given focus.
• Resolved issue where external control Device did not require password re-authentication even after the connection was reestablished.
• Resolved issue where Software Remotes would not be able to reestablish their connection to the server.
• Resolved issue where nested views may cause assertion on startup.
• Improved Software Remote connection retry logic to try less frequently over time.
• Resolved issue where Software Remote would sometimes unblank the screen when it should.

Version 3.30

HouseBot Server Changes:

• Upgraded the graphics support. Although this doesn't address any particular issue, there were many graphics related problems that were resolved in the update.
• Upgraded the core system support to use newer Microsoft system libraries. This update improves speed and reliability.
• Resolved issue where the server would not auto-lock if it was left on a screen that updated automatically.
• Added the name of the theme XML file to the Theme Properties dialog.
• Resolved issue where updates to the title of a List Control were not being updated in the Theme Editor.
• Resolved issue when creating a new Device where the Property Values were sometimes not requested.
• Configuration Import improvement to prompt the user whether to create new or use existing Hardware Interface if importing over an existing Hardware Interface of the same type.

Software Remote Changes:

• New support for non-rectangular buttons. Transparent areas of buttons are no longer clickable and will click through to the button below.
• Buttons and images can now be inter-layered allowing for images to reside on top of buttons, and buttons to be stacked on top of other buttons.
• New Software Remote support for Pocket PC 2003, Smartphone 2003, Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone.
• Upgraded the core system support to use newer Microsoft system libraries. This update improves speed and reliability.
• Windows Software Remote is now contained in a setup program for installing on other machines.
• Resolved issue where the panel context was not getting set for Windows CE remotes.
• Resolved issue where the status of the remote would always be displayed as "Initializing" after a server restart and reconnect.
• Changed the default setting for the "Movement Locked" option to NOT locked.
• Improved internal handle checking for handle references passed to the server from plugins. Without this, a crash could happen if the user deleted a Property from a Device while running.
• Windows CE based Software Remote binary files are now packaged as CAB files as well as EXE files. This resolves an issue where ActiveSync would sometimes corrupt the EXE on transfer.
• Added new Task action, VBScript command, and External Control command to allow 'unblanking' of the SWRemote screen.
• Added new option to the Directory List control to omit the file extension.
• Resolved issue where the last file was not getting displayed in the Directory List control.
• When Control Focus Management is enabled, the cursor keys on the Software Remote Device can now be used to move the focus.
• When pressing a panel change button for a panel that is currently active, if button uses a panel context is different than the active context, the panel will re-initialize with the new context.

Plugin Changes:

• Playlist Manager: Resolved issue where the Playlist Manager wasn't correctly deciphering non-ASCII characters.
• TV Listing Device: Resolved issue where TV Listing Device would crash due to initial setup problem.
• GC-100: Resolved issue where the initial destination device setting of "All" wasn't getting initialized properly.
• GC-100: Added Receive Terminator character sequence configuration option to trigger end of received data stream instead of using a timeout value.
• GC-100: Added logic to recover from lost network connection.
• Generic Serial Interface: Added Receive Terminator character sequence configuration option to trigger end of received data stream instead of using a timeout value.
• External Control: Enhanced command set for the HB_Control.EXE command line program to include all supported External Control options.
• External Control: HB_Control.EXE can now run as a CGI application and manage requests between a web server and HouseBot.
• Resolved issue that could crash the server when plugins needed to trace error messages.
• Script Device: Increased maximum line length from 256 to 1024 bytes per line.
• Generic Serial Device: Added 'Received Hex Data' Property that formats the received data in hex format.
• POP3 Device: Minor updates to not update Properties if a message is not received correctly.
• Insteon Devices: Resolved issue where changing the Power State Property to On would cause the Property to change twice.
• Z-Wave (all): Improved Z-Wave Device retry logic on failure.
• X10: Changes to X10 Security Devices to facilitate sensor address learning.
• Sleep Timer: Added "Time Remaining" Property.
• Insteon: Improved response for Dim Level property when state changed from switch.
• WinAmp: Resolved issue where fast forward and fast rewind was not updating the track position counter.

Version 3.20

HouseBot Server Changes:

• Theme Editor will display controls with invalid Device/Task/Mode associations differently to indicate the configuration problem.
• Task conditions can now test for text that 'Begins With' and Ends With'.
• Task actions that control Software Remotes now have the option to specify a particular remote.
• Configuration Import/Export can now modify an existing export file.
• Log files now enclose all data in quotes for better CSV formatting.
• Licensee name displayed on main screen.
• Configuration Import/Exports can now specify a folder name for Devices and Tasks to be imported to.
• HouseBot and Software Remote can now run under a limited user account.
• New Script command 'SetWhichRemotesToControl' to target Software Remote controlling within scripts.
• New Script command 'OnOpenRemotePanelAndSetContext' to set panel context when opening a panel on a Software Remote.
• Resolved issue in Theme Editor where font was not getting applied to text controls when selecting control from a skin.

Software Remote Changes:

• Panel context option for panel change buttons to use current context for new panel.
• List column names can now be defined by a comma delimited list of header titles.

Plugin Changes:

• New Plugin: AOL Instant Message (AIM) Plugin. Interact with HouseBot using AIM.
• New Plugin: Log File To Alpha List. This Device will read the contents of a CSV log file and update an Alpha List Property with the contents of the file.
• New Plugin: POP3 Email Device. This Device will retrieve messages from a POP3 email account.
• IR Property Value associations can now include delay values in IR code list.
• WinAmp plugin has a new Property to repeat a playlist.
• WinAmp plugin now supports Fast Forward and Rewind.
• WinAmp plugin has a new Property to repeat a track.
• Playlist plugin has a new Property to shuffle the playlist.
• Resolved issue with international characters in the Playlist Manager.
• Improved logic for HBInterface export. If an interface isn't exported, but HBInterface is, the server will still expose the interface (to allow devices to configure) and just call the HBInterface for the missing export.

Version 3.10

Plugin Changes:

• Fixed logic for Ocelot Timer and Variable Devices to work correctly with the latest Ocelot firmware.
• Resolved issue in the Girder Bridge Device when running under Vista.
• Added support for Girder version 5 to the Girder Bridge Device.
• New Z-Wave Devices
  • Thermostat Device
  • Configuration Parameter Device
  • Motion Sensor Device
  • Multilevel Sensor Device
  • Motor/Blind controller
• New Z-Wave Hardware Interfaces
  • Intermatic HA22
  • ACT HomePro ZCU - USB series of controllers
  • ACT HomePro ZCS - Serial series of controllers
  • Wayne Dalton WD HD-10 USB controller and all brandedversions of this device.
• Resolved issue where Hardware Interface could crash server if changing a property value before property view was initialized.
• SDK/Plugin development. Dependent DLLs will now be loaded from Dlls directory in Devices and Interfaces directories.
• Resolved issue in CM11 Hardware Interface where it could crash the server if enabled, disabled, and then enabled again.

HouseBot Server Changes:

• Resolved issue where nested group names were sometimes not created correctly.
• Resolved issue where 'Allow Same Value Changes' was only used when changes were made from the HouseBot server user interface. This setting is now used for everything, including changes from Tasks and Devices.  Important Note: This change may affect the behavior of existing configurations. If unwanted behavioral changes are noticed, be sure to suspect this change and examine the Device Properties that are in question to make sure this setting is set correctly.
• Resolved issue where Property Value substitution in Tasks with negative number would not property perform the replacement.
• Resolved Theme import problem when duplicate Themes were encountered. Resolution now renames imported Theme definition file if needed to prevent it from overwriting existing Themes.
• Resolved issue when removing text overlay from image control in Theme editor. Overlay text now clears when removed from the property window.
• Resolved issue where Task running script device would sometimes hang the server.
• Resolved issue where some colors/pixels would be transparent for control images that were NOT using transparency in the Theme editor.

Software Remote Changes:

• Resolved issue where some colors/pixels would be transparent for control images that were NOT using transparency.

Version 3.02.01

HouseBot Server Changes:

• Resolved issue where it was possible to create duplicate Group names.
• Resolved issue when changing a property value with a property value button using a substitution string would crash the server.
• Resolved issue that would corrupt time and timespan values when moved up/down or duplicated in a Task.
• Resolved issue when calling SetModeState in VBScript from a Task would use the inverted state.

Software Remote Changes:

• Resolved issue where enlarged buttons with color adjust set and NO transparent color set would cause the button not to display correctly.

Plugin Changes:

• Corrected labels for Front and Right zones in USB UIRT configuration.

Version 3.02

HouseBot Server Changes:

• Resolved issue where property value substitution fails sometimes for time/date property values.
• Resolved issue where pressing cancel on the settings dialog would sometimes crash the server.
• Theme Editor: Unselecting the Device selection in the list control double-click option is now possible.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where property tabs were not initializing to same tab name when switching between panels.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where Mode button did not allow changes to the color adjust color.
• Resolved issue where changing the server startup type in the configuration dialog was not actually making the change.
• Resolved issue where the time values in the System Time Device would sometimes drift and fall behind the actual time of the computer.
• Resolved issues where Date type property values would sometimes not properly assign to other values.

Software Remote Changes:

• New: Sizeable Button and Indicator controls.
• New: Control mask image for color adjustments.
• New: Slider, Gauges, and Dials now allow color adjust on both images that make up the full control. Important: This change will effect the default color adjust colors configured for existing slider, gauge, and dial controls. Color adjust colors may need to be updated.
• New: Option to increase the controls transparency.
• New: Option to change sliders by just clicking on the desired location on the slider background.
• New: Option for sliders and dials to send property value changes as the control is being adjusted (instead of waiting for the button to be released on the drag).
• New: Dial control will no longer wrap from the min to max (and max to min).
• Resolved issue where popup panel would not close if closed from the server when the server is minimized.

Plugin Changes:

• Resolved issue where X10 Unit codes received by Ocelot were sometimes reported incorrectly.
• New: Support for the Insteon PowerLinc Modem (PLM)
• X10 Controller now has new "Received Composite Property".
• New: Module Parameter, Variable, and Timer Devices now supported by Ocelot hardware interface.

Version 3.01

HouseBot Server Changes:

• New: Password protect server.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where modifying an item in a Panel exit list crashes server.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where duplicating a property label twice would create static labels instead of property labels.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where color adjust and transparent colors were not getting applied to a background when selecting new background image.
• Theme Editor: Resolved issue where Panel scroll bars may not provide enough scrolling to move to the end of the panel or even clip the panel tab-bar.
• Theme Editor: New: Controls that are placed outside the panel area can now be selected and moved back into the panel.
• Resolved issue where pressing cancel on Property Value substitution dialog would insert empty macro in Task Action value field.

Software Remote Changes:

• New: Windows CE 5.0 SWRemote
• New: HP/C Pro 2.11 SH3 SWRemote
• Resolved issue where new theme files were always getting downloaded to the SWRemote.
• Resolved issue when multiple SWRemotes were accessing the same file.
• Resolved issue where background images were sometimes shown as black.

Plugin Changes:

• Script Device: GetPropertyValue() and SetPropertyValue() script commands no longer require device name when referencing the current device context of the script Device.
• Insteon Devices: Resolved issue where Insteon Device dim level was not set correctly according to the Power State.
• New: support for Global Cache GC-IRE.
• GC-100: New: Added support for the Global Cache GC-100 to use the GC-IRE.

Version 3.00.01

• Program fault when dynamicproperties were accessed. Noticed mostly in the TV Listing and Playlist Manager Devices.
• X10 RF and power-line echo issues. This was resolved by adding a feature where Hardware Interfaces can restrict their notification messages. See the Restricted Notifications topic of the Hardware Interfaces page in the HouseBot on-line help for more information.

Version 3.00

Software Remote Changes:

• New option to color adjust images. This option significantly simplifies the effort to use controls of various colors.
• New 3.0 Theme. This Theme uses gray tones for all images to help leverage the new color adjustment feature.
• New support for running multiple SWRemotes on the same machine.
• New keyboard shortcuts for controls.
• New "context" option for panel change buttons that allow popup panels to specify different Device and Property values depending on which panel change button was pressed to open the Panel.
• New option for images to keep aspect ratio.
• New option for doubleclick of list control to set second property.
• New "Minimize to tray" option.
• New "Start minimized" option.
• New command line option for initial X & Y (left and top) screen coordinates.
• Hard button support for PC Enter key (maps to Cursor Enter button).
• Improved Image control to handle same named image files but from different directories.

Plugin Changes:

• New Civil Sunrise/Sunset Properties were added to the System Time Device. These work similar to the current Sunrise and Sunset properties, but are calculated using civil twilight times.
• New ASCII protocol for External control plugin.
• Insteon Improvements. It is now possible to programmatically link devices. This allows linking to groups to control individual buttons/lights on the KeypadLinc.
• The Insteon plugin is now included in the main HouseBot setup package.
• New NetCallerID plugin.
• Added two new properties to the IR Devices Device plugin for controlling setting a fixed numeric code length for the numeric pass-through property, and a property to set the inter-code delay.

HouseBot Server Changes:

• New method to send numeric IR codes from a Property without having to configure every possible numeric property value.
• Task conditions can now test text to see if it 'contains' a portion of text in addition to the existing Equal, Not Equal, < and >.
• New Task Action for "Execute Script". This can be used to easily invoke a script from a Task without having to create a separate Script Device.
• Auto compact and backup the main HouseBot database once a month.
• New backup option backup (and zip) entire config directory.
• New option to specify the initial server window state. Can now be set to start minimized or maximized in addition to the default last state setting.
• Log file time/dates now use HouseBot configured formats.
• Error messages that are displayed in the status line are automatically cleared after a period of time.
• Improvements to maximum lengths of Property Values.
• New option for Task conditions to further restrict condition by the source of the change.