RosalieHA (beta for Android)

Apps & Remote Access
1

This application may not be ready for prime-time, but I’m putting it out there so that I can get feedback from the community. This application is not yet in the Android Marketplace but it should be soon.

I did follow many of the rules for UI design suggested by MCV, however, this version does not do local/remote detection. It only uses remote servers due to limitations with tools I am using.

So without further a ado, I present the MCV community with its latest remote software, RosalieHA!

Main features:

[ul][li]Voice Commands for Scenes, Devices, Camera still frames[/li]
[li]Currently provides quick access to Binary switches, Dimmers, Cameras, and Scenes[/li]
[li]Easy setup[/li][/ul]

I know that its missing some elements from the UI that you might expect after using HomeBuddy for a while. However, what inspired me to create this app was that HomeBuddy (and other iOS apps) take a long time to poll for devices and actually send commands.

With RosalieHA, you can send device or scene commands in less time by clicking on list items or using Android’s voice recognition. Voice commands can be sent in a few different ways. If you have a device named “Table Lamp” for example, speaking “table lamp” will toggle it on or off depending on its current state.

You don’t have to use the voice command feature, however, if you want to rely on it for everything you may end up needing to rename some of your scenes/devices. For instance, I have a scene called “All Off”. Unfortunately no matter how hard I try and change my pitch, the Android Voice Recognition thinks I’m saying “All of” - or sometimes even funnier stuff like “awesome sauce”.

Please let me know in the comments below or on that site if you have any questions or feedback. If you enjoy my application and want to support future development, please hit the donate button on my site.

Thanks all!

[url=http://www.mediadezine.com/blog/rosalie-home-automation-android-beta]http://www.mediadezine.com/blog/rosalie-home-automation-android-beta[/url]

2

Hi, Thanks a lot for sharing this. I just installed the app.
The start screen looks okay on my Toshiba Folio with 10 inch screen and Android 2.2.

Unfortunately I am not using findvera.
I am one of those weird guys who believes Vera should stay within my own network.
So I am stuck on the settings screen as it wants details that I dont have :smiley:
Pressing the microphone image on the main screen with just the IP gives a small red message “Check settings”.

Entering fake info and pressing [Get Devices] or [Find Vera] gives a small red message: “Communication with the web service encountered a protocol exception.”

Pressing the microphone image on the main screen with fake details (correct IP + guest/guest etc.) gives a runtime error: "No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.speed.action.RECOGNIZE_SPEECH (has extras) } followed by a Forced Close.
I understand the app does not support adding just the local fixed IP address but perhaps it needs a few more exception handlers ;).

Anyway, I hope one day there will be support for fixed IP Veras.

3

@voyager, thank you very much for taking the time to give me this feedback. The application was created using Google’s AppInventor which is a very basic web-based Android Application builder. Unfortunately, there is no additional error handling at my disposal.

I’m no Android (nor Java) expert, but I imagine that this type of error means that there was a conflict with the application accessing your devices microphone. I’m not very familiar with the Folio, could it be that you had another application running that was accessing the Microphone?

Either way, as you pointed out - it will not work locally for the foreseeable future. One of the limitations with using Google’s simplified application builder is that web communication is limited to a small set of commands (2 really). This design limitation forced me to use a web proxy to translate the data to and from a Vera unit. No information is stored on this proxy, it simply makes a request with user settings you provide and passes them back and forth to the Vera. Therefore, 192.x.x.x may work for Home Buddy or other applications, but because the commands are actually sent from Google’s AppEngine service, its likely an unreachable destination.

I apologize for this shortcoming and I hope that with more and more tools becoming available to Google AppInventor each month, that I will soon be able to add this functionality and send the commands directly from the application.

Thanks again for your detailed feedback!

4

have two veras and it seems to work, but only on the first vera is finds.

5

Working fine for me. All devices discovered other than the thermostat.
Keep up the good work and I’ll try it out and let you know.

Anytime anyone puts some time into Android, I’m happy to try it out.
It is quite fast the way you have it set up. Call me crazy but a nice graphic UI is still something I’d like to see. I understand the limitations you mentioned.

Thanks again

6

Hmmm.
vera 2 UI4 running 1.1.1047

Found 1 leviton switch.
Did not find schlage deadbolt,
trane thermostat
ip camera
hsm100 3 in 1

found all scenes.

tried doing get devices several times, same results
Willing to help debug if you want…

7

I know a beta SDK has been released, but any info on an actual client? With the Motorola droid being released on Friday and a few other HTC devices within the next 30 days, we are looking for options.

Thanks in advance…