How to control my Vera over my LAN/WLAN?

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Hi all,

I wonder if someone can point me in the right direction here please?

I am thinking of re-using a Windows Mobile device that I have, as a custom controller for switching scenes and switches on my Vera Lite.

I am fully versed with writing C# apps for Windows Mobile, but wondered what I need to actually send over the network to my VeraLite in order to control scenes and switches?

I could packet sniff my own network and try to re-engineer something, but I am guessing there must be a more official documented approach?

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Thanks

Gizmo

2

Have a look at wiki.micasaverde.com. There is documentation on how to communicate with Vera via the api both local and remotely. Also do a search on the forum as there are many topics discussing this.

For starters:

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/UI_Simple

  • Garrett
3

Thanks Garret, I had tried searching, but sometimes you have to know what you are looking for, and my search results just weren’t relevant.

Anyway, your link is spot on and just what I was looking for.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Gizmo

4

You might want to borrow a friend’s Android phone and an Android tablet to see how the Google App “Home Buddy” works with your Vera as a starting point. It seems to detect the User Interface and adapts appropriately. It has two pull-down menus – one for scenes and the other for individual lights. Both menus are organized by room. It follows an organization that is quite natural for my small townhouse.

Notice that Homebuddy can work over cellphone or Wi-Fi inside of my house.

From here, an improvement might be to be able to upload pictures of the rooms in your house. This would make it easier for someone like me to remember which outlet or light to turn on. Instead of “Outlet 1, Outlet 2 and Outlet 3, Lamp 1, Lamp 2, Ceiling light, Fireplace, TV, Sound Bar, Sub Woofer, Receiver, PS3, DVR, Boxee Box, skylight shade, etc” It would be nice to have a view of my living room and to simply click on the outlets, lamps, fireplace, TV and various other electronic gadgets.

Now just an idea … how can the cellphone or notepad figure out where it is? First part, easy. If you are within Wi-Fi range, you must be at home. Else you are probably out and about. The second part. How could a notepad be located inside of your home, to within a room? If you are lucky enough to have a HUGE home, the BSSID of the access point would be a good clue. The rest of us have smaller homes, but would still like to turn on the app and would love to skip the steps to get to the living room control. I really don’t want to wear and RFID badge or carry around an keyfob… How could Vera tell you or figure out where you are in the house?

5

If you have any issues or questions, please let me know. I am the developer of AutHomation for Android. I am more than happy to answer any questions you have.

  • Garrett
6

Garrett,
Thanks for the nice Android App. It works well on a Samsung Galaxy S running Eclair.
I really like the quick setup and your presentation.

Konrad

7

In the scene scripting section I posted some code how you can create your own web-based interface. The code that I posted isn’t the best but it works fine for now. Activating scenes is something I have to look into.