HouseBot

Hello,



I want to run HouseBot on a computer that is not connected to a network. The server and software remote applications will run on the same PC. The PC will act as a universal remote to control a variety of AV equipment. It will have standard computing functions but will not be connected to any kind of a network or have any connection to the Internet.



Can this be done?



If so, how do I set it up....the SWRemote asks for an IP address?



I am not all that technically savvy, but have done pretty well on getting this setup. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.



Kevin M. Flerlage

k_flerlage wrote:If so, how do I set it up....the SWRemote asks for an IP address?

Specify 127.0.0.1 for the IP address when connecting.

That's what one of my engineers suggested.



Thanks so much.

I tried using an IP address of 127.0.0.1. When I open SWRemote, it says, "connect failed, No connection could be made because the target marchine actively refused it."



It continues to run through this until I hit cancel. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.



Thanks,



Kevin M. Flerlage

What OS are you running?



It may be that if the workstation service isn't running on the machine, it won't accept connections even locally. I'm not really sure, as I've not had a non-networked machine in quite a while.

I am running Windows 2000. I tried changing it to 127.0.0.1, but it does not work. Is there a help line that I can call, because I really need to get this working ASAP. The software using the USB-UIRT module is a perfect fit as long as I can open the SWRemote.



Thanks,



Kevin M. Flerlage

Kevin,



I think you will need to install the Microsoft loopback adapter (dummy network connection).

1. Select Menu: Start --> Settings --> Control Panel, and then
   double-click Add/Remove Hardware.
2. Click [Next] to proceed into the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard.
3. Choose Add/Troubleshoot a device, and then click [Next].
4. Select Add a new device, and then click [Next].
5. Choose No, I want to select the hardware from a list, and then click
   [Next].
6. Select Network adapters, and then click [Next].
7. In the Manufacturers box, select Microsoft.
8. In the Network Adapter box, select Microsoft Loopback Adapter, and
   then click [Next].
9. Click [Finish].

Set up the new loopback 'device'

1. Select Menu: Start --> Settings --> Control Panel, and then
   double-click Network and Dial-up Connections.
2. Right click on Local Area Connection X (where X is the highest
   numbered Connection available) and select Properties.
3. Verify that this dialog relates to the Microsoft Loopback Adapter
   by checking for that phrase in the Connect Using: field. If You do NOT
   see the words Microsoft Loopback Adapter, then you have selected the
   wrong Local Area Connection; go back and try another one.
4. Select TCP/IP protocol and then click on Properties.
5. Choose Use the following IP address:.
6. Set IP Address: to <some static address0> and Subnet mask: to
   "255.255.255.0". (Default gateway need not be set.) Other values do not
   need to be changed from their defaults.
7. Click [OK].

Okay, I may need to do that. But, I noticed that the default Root Application Directory is \Program Files\SWRemote. When I looked in that location, nothing was there. I reinstalled the software and again, that directory was not there. I changed it to Program Files\Meedio\Meedio HouseBot.....



This seemed to work. It looks like the problem was not the IP address. I still don't understand why this directory was not there. I installed the program on two other PCs and that directory was there.



Oh well, its working. Thanks.

Hello,



Once I changed the root director, it worked. I made some changes to my theme, added some device, etc and now when I open SWRemote, it does not work. I can figure this thing out.

The SWRemote.exe file does not need to be in the Root Application Directory , but it can be. That directory is where all of the Theme files will be stored when they are downloaded from the HouseBot server.



You say it doesn't work now. Can you give me some details on what it is doing or not doing? Also any error messages would be helpful.

Okay, when I installed the software, the root application directory defaults to \Program Files\SWRemote. I do not have this directory on my computer. So, I changed it to the location of the SWRemote.exe. I have also setup with the loopback settings as you instructed.



I have two directories for Themes, the file paths are listed below:



C:\Program Files\Meedio\Meedio HouseBot\Config\Themes

C:\Program Files\Meedio\Meedio HouseBot\Clients\Winx86\Config\Themes



I have tried both of these directories for the root application directory and I still have problems. Below describes these problems:



When I open SWRemote, it repeatedly says, "Error loading button image" and "Unable to initialize button named []."



Thats it. The program seems to be exactly what I need, but I can't ever get it to open correctly. I appreciate any guidance that you can supply.



Kevin M. Flerlage

Kevin,



It's OK that the root application dir points to \Program Files\SWRemote which doesn't exist. It will create the directory and all subdirectories it needs once it connects to the HouseBot application. You DON'T want to point to your C:\Program Files\Meedio\Meedio HouseBot\Config\Themes directory.



The problem still sounds like it is related to the network. Until the Software Remote can connect, it can't download the themes and communicate with the HouseBot application.



Be sure to try the loopback connector suggestion I made earlier.

have you installed tcp/ip networking? if you haven't, there's the problem, the ip address doesn't exist because tcp/ip isn't active.



erie

Kevin,



The "Error loading button image" message indicates that at least one of the theme images is missing.

Open the theme from the HB server, and watch the status bar at the buttom. It should indicate the same problem. I think that if you look at the system error log you will see what files are missing.



Regarding the connection problem, are you running a firewall? If so, try to disable it and see what happens.



Yoram.

I realize this thread is almost a year old, and maybe these issues have been resolved on another thread that I did not find, but just in case someone happens upon this thread searching with the same error message I and the original poster received (something close to "connect failed, no connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it"), I thought I would share what appears to have been the solution for me (as best as I can tell without a complete "one variable at a time" re-tracing of my steps anyway):



It appears that the main problem for me was that I was at least sometimes exiting out of the HouseBot program on the main computer before trying to run the SWRemote.exe, and this prevented the directory and files from being installed on that computer and produced the misleading message about not being able to connect (leading me to initially experiment with all the networking issues I could think of -- to no avail).



I, like the original poster, experimented with changing the path, which seemed to solve the problem at first -- but only temporarily -- I'm not sure if it was because I listed a path that already existed or if I happened to leave Housebot running that time (?).



"Anyways"-- I was happy to get my problem solved with the indirect help of this previous post so thought I would try to return the favor to any who might make the same mistake I did. My apologies if this issue has already been dealt with over and over in other posts since this original one 10 months ago (I'm a newbie to Housebot so am not yet familiar with what has and has not been addressed on the forum). And it is possible that my issue is different than the original poster since I am using a network -- but I did have the same problem and same message installing the SWRemote on my main Housebot computer AND the networked computers -- and both seemed to be fixed by leaving Housebot running while executing SWRemote (now admittedly, my path on the main computer is still changed to \Meedio\something or other... and since it is working I'm leaving well enough alone, and I do see that a \Program Files\SWRemote directory has also now been created, but I am guessing that these facts are only incidental).