Logitech harmony ultimate

[flyveleder]

Next step would be to make a full-fledged Vera plug-in out of it. 
Given that it would be my first, I could use some help/pointers there.

Fantastic; Looking forward ;-)

[haavard]

This would be a very useful plugin. I hope it can be created!

[flyveleder]

Are things progressing ?

[aechelon]

Indeed.  I've ported the code to BSD sockets to remove the Qt dependency and set up an OpenWRT toolchain to compile the code natively for VeraLite.  This will remove the need to have an intermediate server to process the  commands to the Harmony Hub.  It will also simplify the Lua required for the plug-in, which is great given that this will be my first experience with both Lua and Vera plug-ins.

[flyveleder]

Indeed.  I've ported the code to BSD sockets to remove the Qt dependency and set up an OpenWRT toolchain to compile the code natively for VeraLite.  This will remove the need to have an intermediate server to process the  commands to the Harmony Hub.  It will also simplify the Lua required for the plug-in, which is great given that this will be my first experience with both Lua and Vera plug-ins.

Sounds great! Keep up the good work :-)

[SirMeili]

If this can be made to work (so that I can do things like have the vera start up stuff via harmony and vice versa and the remove be in sync with the activity that it should be on), this will almost guarantee that I buy a Harmony Ultimate (possibly more).

My issue is now that it is possible to have the Vera start up some of my components, but then the remote doesn't know that I'm in that activity, so I still have to wait for it to "start" everything up.

[aechelon]

With Harmony Hub, the Hub holds the status, not the remote -- therefore everything is automatically always "in sync".  The iPhone and Android apps are automatically notified by the Hub whenever a new activity is started (either via the remote or through the native iPhone/Android app running on another device or through the HarmonyHubControl app) and all devices update their displays accordingly.

I suspect the same goes for the Harmony Ultimate remote since it also uses a Hub, but I do not have one to confirm.

I find that using the iPad mini to control both scenes on the Vera and Harmony activities is quite convenient -- especially if you map desktop icons to the URL's of your Vera scenes.

The idea is that once the Vera can control the Harmony Hub it will be able to access the last few components of an entertainment system (including the PS3!) so those can be scripted into Vera scenes.  There are, of course, plenty of other ethernet-IR bridges, but the Harmony seems to provide a very polished experience. 

[aechelon]

Success!

The HarmonyHubControl code has been ported to BSD sockets (to remove the Qt dependency) and cross-compiled with OpenWRT 10.03 (Backfire) to run natively on the VeraLite.  The resulting self-contained binary (located in the attached zip file) is 99.9K in size and runs on the VeraLite exactly as it does on Linux and Windows. 

Also attached is an updated Readme file based on the one posted on SourceForge.  The Readme contains instructions to run the executable.

The next step will be to os.execute the binary from a Lua plug-in, parse the output to populate virtual devices and activities in Vera and build UI to send commands to the Harmony Hub. 

I've been looking at some existing plug-ins and the Wake-On-Lan plug-in seems to do something very similar using the wol executable.  I'm thinking of using that as a starting point. 

Given my (very) limited knowledge of Lua and Vera Plugins I could really use some pointers with this next part.

I could also use some feedback on the command-line output.  Now that the cross-compile environment is set up it's fairly easy to make modifications.

[flyveleder]

Perfect! You are a hero ;-)

[flyveleder]

I just tested it on my Vera; Works just as described :-)

Looking forward to the plugin.

/Martin

[aechelon]

Hi Martin,

Out of curiosity, what model Vera do you have?  I'm wondering if the binary also works on a Vera3 and older Vera's or if those require a different OpenWRT toolchain.

[garrettwp]

If it is works on Vera Lite it will work on Vera 3. They are both on the same platform. Vera 2 and 1 are different platforms.

- Garrett

[flyveleder]

Hi,
For me it works on both VeraLite and Vera3

/Martin

[aechelon]

Awesome!

I'd like to host the Vera fork of the HarmonyHubControl project on code.mios.com.
I found this thread http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,3287.15.html which indicates that I should "PM @mcvflorin" to setup the required access for SVN to code.mios.com.  That post is from 06/2012.  Is that still the proper way to host a project on code.mios.com?
There's a support link at the bottom of the page, but that goes to the hosting company (support@repositoryhosting.com.)

[garrettwp]

MCVFlorin or mcv.andrei would be your best bets.

- Garrett