Problem with Generic Serial Interface Hardware Definition

vcruz77 · Post by **vcruz77** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:50 pm

I just bought a DSC security Panel and want to develop de interface with Housebot.

I am having a problem when creating the Hardware Interface with the Generic Serial Interface module. After creating it I am creating a new Hardware Definition (none shows in the definitions list eventhough I see the Generic one in the Config/GenericS... directory) I create the new hardware definition and then when I select the command configuration option is just shows an error that I have to select first a hardware definition which I just did. I restarted Housebot after creating it to see if a .HDF file was created but no. I even created a file manually in the directory with the .HDF extension to see if housebot will show it in the hardware definition list but no.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Victor

BTW: If somebody has developed already the hardware definition for a DSC PowerSeries panel and would like to share it or sell it I would be very interested.

vcruz77 · Post by **vcruz77** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:58 pm

When trying to configure the commands of the hardware definition I am getting this error in the log

"Unable to retrieve XML definition for the Generic Serial Interface. Reason unknown."

Post by **ScottBot** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:54 pm

If you select the "Configure Generic Serial Devices" from the main "Settings" menu, do you see all of the definitions including the one you created?

Not sure why you wouldn't be able to see them in the Hardware Interface configuration, but it definitely sounds like the interface can find the HDF's.

Also, what is the full path name to the directory where you HDF's are stored?[/list]

vcruz77 · Post by **vcruz77** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:24 pm

Scott, thanks for the quick response. From the "Configure Generic Serial Devices" menu I cannot see Hardware Definitions just the Device definitions. I can create a new device definition and it will save it in the "C:\Program Files\Housebot\Config\GenericSerialDefs\" directory and when I create a new device it shows the device definition I just created in the options, but I haven't had any luck creating a new hardware definition and much less configuring it.

The exact path is "C:\Program Files\Housebot\Config\GenericSerialDefs\"

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Victor

Post by **ScottBot** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:06 pm

Oops. Sorry I was confusing the device defs with the hardware defs.

The generic serial hardware interface simply looks in the Config\GenericSerialDefs\ for all HDF files and displays them in the selection. Now it does have to open the HDF file and read it in, but other than that, there's not much to it. Unfortunately, if it has an error reading the file, it doesn't generate an error message. I might suspect the new HDF that you have created, but that wouldn't explain why you wouldn't see the stock "Sample Definition" in the list.

The only other think I can think of (but it seems like it would cause other problems to) is that the root directory defined in the registry is not quite right. If you are comfortable with RegEdit, see what the value for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CeBotics\HouseBot\General Settings\Root Application Directory is. Make sure it ends with a backslash.

vcruz77 · Post by **vcruz77** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:36 pm

Scott, I re-installed HouseBot and that solved the problem. Now I am having problems with making it work but it is definitively the learning curve so I won't bother you guys unless I hit a brick wall. I will try to look for answers in old posts within the forum.

Thanks a lot.

Victor

Post by **ScottBot** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:57 pm

Victor,

Good to hear the problem was fixed. Very strange problem, so I'm not really sure what the issue was.

If you run into problems, definitely search through the posts on the forums. There's a fair amount of helpful information deposited here. But always feel free to ask if you need help.