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Author Topic: XTBR Programmer  (Read 7871 times)

mike

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XTBR Programmer
« on: March 20, 2021, 12:57:47 PM »

Someone had written a great XTBR programmer interface for windows that used the x10net api (I think).

Now  that many of us are on pi with HG instead of AHP, we can no longer easily interrogate or modify the XTBR repeater.

A way in HG would be great, or perhaps just someone porting the windows programmer over to pi would be possible?
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Tuicemen

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2021, 05:17:17 PM »

I don't have a XTBR to play with creating a XTBR programmer for the pi or Linux in general.
However quickly looking over the documentation for programing the XTBR, creating a tool that works with HG should be possible by simply programing the x10 call strings.
http://jvde.us/xtb/xtbr_modeoptions.pdf
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toasterking

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2021, 08:05:26 PM »

Someone had written a great XTBR programmer interface for windows that used the x10net api (I think).
If you mean the utility available at http://jvde.us/xtb/xtbr_programming.zip, I wrote that using AutoIt 3 and the X10Net API.  It depends on the X10 Network Service and its COM classes, which you can install from the ActiveHome Scripting SDK.  It also requires Windows XP SP3 or later and a XTB-232, CM15A, or CM11A attached.

I wrote the utility for my own use and I provided the source code and all rights and liberties to Jeff Volp in case it was useful to him.  I see that he no longer distributes the source code with it in the archive.  However, as Tuicemen mentioned, there are no "secrets".  Everything someone needs to write another one (besides some basic programming or scripting skills) is in the linked Mode Options document.  The language I wrote it in is very locked to Windows, though it should work fine with Wine on Linux; but again, you'll also need the X10Net bits, which may or may not work.  I personally am not interested in rewriting it in a different language.
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mike

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2021, 08:19:05 PM »

How great you saw this toasterking!   And thank you for writing that!  I have cc on multiple computers still!  As Tuicemen said, it should not be too hard to make a version for use with the HG API.  Others have shown me how to write lines to send to the HG API in a web browser to send certain x10 commands, and the list of what to send for each parameter change is indeed listed.  When I have to, I program arduino and use to code in machine language & fortran, but those days are way behind me.  If I was truly retired I would make this interface but just no free time to speak of yet.

If you saw fit to attach the source code to a reply, I would love to see it and it might encourage me to try writing a small HG program.

Thanks again for your reply!
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toasterking

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2021, 08:32:06 PM »

I would share the source code if I felt it were still mine to share, but I handed the reins over to Jeff Volp and I believe he made some modifications.  I will defer to him as to whether it still can be passed around.
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bkenobi

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2021, 10:23:14 PM »

If you have the code available then converting that back to pseudo code would be the first step.  Once you have that, you have a simple framework that can be used to recreate the code in any language and syntax needed.  I had a code I wrote in AutoHotKey (which is very similar to AutoIt) and it worked fine.  I decided to move away from Windows and AHP and on to HG with a RPi.  With the Pseudo code in hand from my first program, I adapted it to work with HG and called it Advanced Smart Lights (building on the basic Smart Lights code Gene originally wrote).

With the proper desire and a very basic programming methodology, you can pretty quickly recreate the XTBR programmer in any other language that has support for the hardware.  If HG does, I'd recommend considering Python as the language since it is so useful on all platforms.  C# is fine, but it's not nearly as wide spread for this type of application so unless you do other things outside of home automation, you might not see it as useful.

Brian H

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2021, 06:43:38 AM »

Jeff also has a XTB-523 version. To set the options for an XTB-523.
Looks like it was based on your program.
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JeffVolp

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2021, 01:16:42 PM »

I would share the source code if I felt it were still mine to share, but I handed the reins over to Jeff Volp and I believe he made some modifications.  I will defer to him as to whether it still can be passed around.

As I recall, the mods were to support the ability to disable repeating selected house codes at the 2.0 Firmware upgrade.

Sure, you can distribute your source code.  The files I have are dated 11/16/14, and can email them to you if you don't have the latest.

Jeff
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mike

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2021, 02:55:19 PM »

Thanks Jeff!  I am anxious to see the source code to see if I can fiddle them to work with HG or its API!
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toasterking

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Re: XTBR Programmer
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2021, 10:23:55 PM »

Thanks, Jeff!

Mike,

Here is the source code as of the last time I touched it on 5/1/2013.  Seems like binaries and archives aren't allowed, so I added filename extensions for the text files and didn't include the compiled EXE.

It's already pretty close to pseudocode as it is.  This was an extremely simple application since the X10 API already provided the abstraction and AutoIt already provided the GUI support.  If you worked with assembly and FORTRAN before, this hardly even counts!
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