HouseBot

Hi Scott



No pressure at all, just wondering how Ver2 is going, any idea when we will see it?



But as i said take it at your own pace!





Regards,





Gary

Gary,



It's coming along nicely. I've made a significant dent in my list, and I'm not adding as many items to the bottom of the list anymore.



I'm hoping (don't hold me to this) to have a beta version in about three weeks. I'll post a link here in the forums for anyone who wants to help test the new version.



There are a handful of new features, but mainly the changes are to improve usability. It's very difficult to make this thing easy to setup and configure, due to the flexibility and plugin model. I'm hoping the 2.0 will at least give users enough help that they can get a basic configuration up and running. There will still be room for usability improvements beyond this, but I'm wanting to stage the development.

Hi Scott,



Your doing well!



In my opinion, its the usability that is the problem, i was doing some work with it today and I still find it hard to remember what links to what



Any chance each "project" can have its own folder with all the associated files, tasks, devices etc contained in that folder?



Or does that complicate things for you?



Regards,





Gary

Yes, usability is the big bug now with HouseBot. It's tough to remedy, since it fails in so many different areas and is still constringed by the plugin architecture.



I didn't have any plans on changing the organization structure in this version, although I'm open to ideas. Can you give me more info on what you would regard as a "project"?

Hi Scott



A "project" may be for example, "my house that is controlled by X10"



another may be "controlling winamp" etc





It would be more logical if i had a folder with:



"House X10" with All tasks, devices in that folder

"Winamp" with All tasks, devices in that folder



Then if you wish to delete winamp for example, just click on that folder and select delete, so deleting all files in one action



Also you could select folder and back up all of winamp folder in obe action



etc





Regards,





Gary

I get it. I could use this in my own configuration as well. I think maybe just top level (no nesting) groups/projects that contain Modes, Tasks, and Devices would work for me.



I'll think about it more, but I like the idea as long as it doesn't confuse more than help.

Hi Scott,



Thanks for considering it, I am surprised no one else has suggested it before.



I came to your software as a novice, I just found it so hard to remember what linked to which task etc!



Having all in the same folder would simplify things!



As an example, when you come back after a few months just want to adjust something in HouseBot, but which task etc works with which device. Especially if you did not give them very descriptive titles in the first place





Regards,





Gary

In most cases there are one or more panels that are tied to a device. It would be nice to be able to save merge a complete device environment. For eg X10 would be a folder that had the x10 device definitions, X10 tasks, panels with graphical room layouts and a room menu. This would, I think make it easier for the Novice as he/she is started from a pre-configured setup that one only has to go in and tailor rather than starting from scratch. This has been the appeal of programs like myHTPC and XLobby, everything is there preconfigured, one only goes in and changes rather than builds from scratch