Differences

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--- current [2021/08/29 17:38] – 9.4.42 release James Sentman
+++ current [2023/07/30 17:34] – James Sentman
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=====XTension Version 9.4.42=====
+=====Download XTension 9.5.3=====
-Released: 8/29/2021\\
+Released 7/30/2023\\
 \\
-Download for all Supported OS versions; [[https://www.machomeautomation.com/files/xtension/xtension_9_4_43.dmg|XTension. v 9.4.43 (build 1046)]]\\
+Download Universal Binary for all Supported OS versions; [[https://www.machomeautomation.com/files/xtension/xtension_9_5_3.dmg|XTension. v 9.5.3 (build 1084)]]\\
-\\
-**Minimum System Version** for this release is OSX 10.10 but not all plugins may function properly prior to 10.13. Please start the necessary work to upgrade to at least 10.13 for future builds will no longer be able to support 10.10.\\
+**Minimum System Version** for this release is OSX 10.10 but not all plugins will function properly prior to 10.13. Please start the necessary work to upgrade to at least 10.13 or recommended 10.15 or newer. At some point in the near future it will no longer be possible for me to support anything prior to 10.13 and the video plugins will never work prior to Catalina.
-\\
-Maximum supported version is Big Sur but some minor problems and cosmetic issues remain when running on Apple Silicon. \\
+**Rosetta Note:** While the entirety of the main app and all more recent plugins are Universal and run natively on Intel or Apple Silicon there are a few older plugins including the W800 and CM11 that are still Intel only. They run fine under Rosetta and you’ll never notice the difference. The only issue is that Rosetta is not included by default on the new Apple Silicon Macs. You’ll need to first run any Intel app, or do a get info on any app at all and select “open using Rosetta” then the OS will tell you that you need Rosetta and would you like to install it now. Once you complete that those plugins will run normally.
+====9.5.3 Change Log:====
-====9.4.43 Change Log:====
+  * **Amcrest Camera API:**
-  * NEW: [[supported_hardware:genmon|Generac Generator Monitor Plugin]]. This plugin can connect to the excellent genmon open source replacement for the proprietary Generac monitoring device. It replaces their custom device that offers no local data with a raspberry pi running the genmon software. As much relevant data as can be is turned into XTension units. As of this alpha release of the plugin no attempt is made to be able to control the generator or transfer switches. If people desire to do such a thing I can add that in a future build of it.
+    * Fixed an issue that caused some cameras not to work with the event system. If you find that any cameras still do not send you events but also dont log any other communication or connection errors please let me know we can gather some more info.
-  * NEW: [[supported_hardware:mqttbroker|MQTT Broker Plugin]] An alpha version of an MQTT broker. This is not feature complete yet, but since it is so popular for IOT devices we really needed to start some support for this protocol. As of this moment only devices shared to XTension are supported. It will not share XTension devices TO an MQTT broker yet. It will also only work with devices that send a reasonable numeric value or a string that can be parsed to a numerical value. See the wiki page for more info. I do plan to flesh this out with a lot of parsing options depending on what people need to want to be able to do so experiment and let me know.
+    * Added a check to the enableEvents() command so that it will not try to enable events that the plugin does not recognize as valid. This keeps you from either getting nothing, or getting an error message each time the unknown events is sent. If there are events that I am not handling that you know about and would like to get please let me know we can gather more info about them and set them up.
-  * I added a “Send Query” command to the contextual menu for some, but not all, device types that support it. So instead of resorting to the command line window you can just control click on a unit and select that. Useful for the hubitat and the vera and such but not yet expanded to the CM11 and UPB interfaces. Only newer plugin device types that support a query will have this menu item enabled. Which means there is a new key in the device definitions for plugins that lets XTension know if the unit can be queried or not.
+    * Added support for specific Units to link to Object Detection if your camera supports it. You can now create a Unit to get an ON when a human is detected, or when a vehical is detected and so forth.
-  * FIX: The hubitat would return goofy levels for dimmable devices after they were turned off sometimes leading to XTension thinking they had been turned back on locally when they had not. I’m now using the switch parameter from the hubitat to know if it thinks the device is on or off and completely ignoring any level values when the device should be off. On my own system this has solved 100% of the problems I was having while not adding any new ones, but if anyone sees anything else odd please let me know.
+    * Amcrest API New Status and Display commands:
-  * FIX: Fixed a problem with the ControlByWeb plugin that could lead to it not seeing all the available end points and or log a lot of errors.
+      * setFontScale(0.1..2.0) control the size of the text displayed over the image.
-  * FIX: The color preset display in the edit unit dialog for color capable units no longer has bad placement that overlaps some of the titles in the window.
+      * setChannelTitleVisible( true|false)
-  * FIX: Fixed a path where a blocked unit would still log it’s reception of new states even when it should not.
+      * setChannelTitleLocation( 34, 12)
-  * FIX: The hue hub plugin had an issue that could make it difficult to get it to sign into a new hub even after you had pressed the button on it. This is now fixed and you should be able to add new hubs or new interfaces to one without difficulty.
+      * setChannelTitleColor( R, G, B, A)
-  * FIX: A bug introduced a few versions ago could cause changes to your web remote layouts to not be saved. This could also effect other plugins specifically the weeder plugin where it might not have actually saved any of your configuration changes. George! If you’re reading this please try this new version!
+      * setChannelTitleBackColor( R, G, B, A)
-  * Added better error handling to the loading of graphic resources during the startup of the program. I suspect that big sur or there abouts changed some things that are no longer available. If so you’ll get an error during load but the load will now continue and the program will be usable though it might throw errors later on or not display some icon types. Please let me know if you’re seeing any of these problems so we can collect some more data.
+      * setUserDisplayVisible( index, true|false)
-  * Removed some remaining debug logging stuck on in the shared database plugins.
+      * setUserDisplayText( index, “the info to display”)
-  * Removed a debug dump of the database that could happen when starting up any shared item capable interface.
+      * setUserDisplayLocation( index, xloc, yloc)
-  * rtl_433: added support for moisture/water sensor devices that send a numerical value rather than just an on or an off.
+      * setUserDisplayColor( R, G, B, A)
+      * setUserDisplayBackColor( R, G, B, A)
+      * setLogoVisible( true|false) hide or show the Amcrest logo image overlay
+      * setLogoLocation( xLoc, yLoc)
+      * setLogoFilename( “osd.bmp”) your camera must support allowing you to change this or it will do nothing.
+      * setTimeDisplayVisible( true|false)
+      * setTimeDisplayLocation( xLoc, yLoc)
+      * setTimeDisplayColor( R, G, B, A)
+      * setTimeDisplayBackColor( R, G, B, A)
+      * setTimeDisplayFormat( “yyyy-M-dd hh:mm:ss t”) see the wiki link above for a table of valid format string entities.
+      * note that there is a limit to the number of overlays the camera can “blend” into the encoding video. Check the capabilities below to find out what the limit is for your camera. They may all be different. My doorbell cam can only do 2 at once.
+    * changed the logEvents() command to be showEvents() and it now shows the info in a window rather than just writing it to the log.
+    * changed logMotionRegions() showMotionRegions() which also shows the list in a separate window rather than just writing it to the log.
+    * showCapabilities() opens a window with most, but not all, of the capabilities of the camera listed. There are still some more to add
+    * There are a LOT of other things I can add to this plugin that could be controlled.  If you know of something else you’d like to be able to tweak in the cameras programmatically please let me know.
+  * **Last Activity:** A change to the Last Activity date handling. Previously if a Unit had never had any activity after being created it would show a last activity date of the time the program was last started. This caused confusion in list windows when sorted by date and is something I’ve been meaning to deal with forever. Now if a Unit has no last activity date it will display as “Never” in the list window, but be sorted as if the date had a total seconds property of 0. In other interfaces or via the scripting commands it will return a date with the earliest date/time that the normal unix date can hold so something like 1/7/1903 or whatever that is. So it will sort properly and no longer be confusing.
+  * **Home Kit:**
+    * Updated the Home Kit libraries some but not all the way to current. They have made some significant changes in the most recent builds that break it completely for us in the short term though I”ll keep working on that. This is unlikely to either cause or cure any problems people may be having with it as the only changes were to the handling of Thermostats. Home Kit now always sets the Mode of the HVAAC to Auto. This is not due to anything that I can do anything about easily and is a decision that Apple has made. I may be able to override some of this handling to not accept those changes from the thermostat but only send them from XTension or something like that if it is a problem.
+  * **Hue Plugin:**
+    * Hue Plugin: Fixed an issue where it could send continual updates for a sensor value even if the value had not changed.
+    * Hue Plugin: Fixed an issue where the temperature format was not saved, sticking all readings in F.
+  * **Video System:**
+    * Video Encoder Plugin: Added a checkbox so you can suppress logging of video encoding times if you wish.
+    * Video: Removed error logging for stalled streams as this would fill the log if the camera was offline for any length of time. To log this information please implement the stalled script handler in the Interface Script and write to the log whatever information is helpful.
+    * Video: “Orphaned” recordings that may have been left unencoded when the app quit are now properly encoded and managed when you next startup the app.
+  * **Sysinfo Plugin:**
+    * System Info Plugin: no longer claims in it’s startup log message to be the Disk Space plugin.
+    * Fixed an incorrect default link to the boot volume so that this will work without having to edit it each time.
+  * **Internal Python:**
+    * Python: A symlink to the built in python3 version is now added to /usr/local/bin/pythonxt so if you wish to use the built in version for your own script you can just execute it via that command.
+    * Python: XTension changes many environment variables in order to use it’s internal version of python. If you are running a system version of python in your own script from a shell in XTension this may cause errors or make it unable to find installed modules. You can now use a scripting command “revertENV()” in your script before invoking your shell script to reset the environment to the system default just before launching it which will solve most, but probably not all of these issues. Note that you should do this immediately before starting any shell script as XTension will change it again as needed when launching plugins.
+  * **Web Remote:**
+    * Web Remote: New documentation of the hashing of web remote links to immediately go to a specific page or view. This can be useful if you are saving specific links as iOS shortcuts, or creating a Kiosk type application. This is not a new feature, but was never properly documented. [[webremote:kioskview|Kiosk View and Hash Linking Info]]
+    * Web Remote: Added several new scripting commands to control sessions in the web remote. This lets you programmatically change the view on a specific device to say, a video page or a View in response to motion or other event. Additionally you can script a popup alert or timed message in any color to display on all active sessions or only on specific ones. [[webremote:scripting|Scripting Web Remote]]
+    * Web Remote: Added support for a resource folder that will be served as regular files through the web remote built in web server. This way if custom controls or other features you are adding need to load a specific image or other support file they can do so if you put it in the resources directory inside your XTension Database. [[webremote:resourceserver|Resource Server]]
+    * Note that these changes have not been rolled into the mobile web remote plugin, only the desktop version.
+  * **Plugin API:**
+    * A new key for the info.json file that will allow a plugin to receive any scripting command the user issues. This simplifies some kinds of plugin tasks at the expense that users script will not know if the command succeeded or not, all commands will just be sent and forgot. This does not affect regular using the app, only plugin developers.
+    * Added the capability for plugins to display information in new text windows and to append to or change the display of one without opening a new window each time. This mostly affects plugin developers but I used it in the new and changed show info commands in the Amcrest API plugin above.
+    * All plugins now log their version number in the startup message from the information stored in their info.json file. This will keep them from always being wrong as I forget to update it in 2 places instead of just 1.
+  * **Hubitat Plugin:**
+    * Hubitat: Added entries to the “insert” toolbar menu for the central scene Held, and Released events to make it easier to script these without having to visit the wiki to look up the specifics.
+    * Hubitat: Added support for Energy and Usage units. If a device reports these values a Unit will be created for them.
+    * More updates and changes to the new handling of “string” data types.If there is a number at the beginning of the String value then that is parsed and sent to Xtension as the value for the Unit. The description is no longer changed to the raw value but rather a new Unit Property called "Raw Value" is added and kept updated to the full text of the string. If there is no number in the string, or if it just does not begin with a number, then the value of the Unit is set to 0 and the default label for the unit is set to the raw value string as well as the same unit property. No default label is set if there is a number at the beginning of the string so that user formatting and suffix will be honored normally
+    * Hubitat: Some devices from the Hubitat will now have more descriptive, or less long winded names when created by default. This will mostly effect the Thermostat units but some others can be made better with this too. This does not affect Units already created, and you can always manually edit the unit’s name once it’s created to be whatever you like in either case.
+    * Hubitat: The list of supported commands for each Unit is now saved to a [[dictionary:unitinformation:getunitproperty|Unit Property]] so  you can see all the commands the device supports directly. You may still have to discover what parameters are required, if any, but this will make it easier to do things to the Units via the [[https://www.machomeautomation.com/doku.php/supported_hardware/hubitat#sending_device_specific_commandsm|sendDeviceCommand()]]
+    * Hubitat: Push messages from the Hubitat that are sent when a software update is started, or when the device is about to reboot to install a software update will now just log that information rather than generate an “unknown push message” error in the log.
+  * **Software Defined Radio Plugin:** Fixed the incorrect wiki link in the interface and added a link to the github pages for more documentation if desired.
+  * **Scripting Dictionary:**
+    * NEW: the [[dictionary:unitinformation:enumeratedvalue|Enumerated Value]] verb now accepts an optional parameter “for” and will return the correct enumeration for the value that you pass or an error if the enumeration is out of range. This is especially useful in the ON script of a unit as you can now check the enumeration for the future value to see what it is going to be when the script is done running. The direct parameter of unit name is now also made optional and if you dont specify it then it will use the value for thisUnit making it easier to script these in a units on or off script. For example: **write log enumerated value for (future value)** would write the enumerated value for the new value being passed to the On script.
+    * NEW: The [[dictionary:unitinformation:changefuturevalue|change future value]] verb now also accepts enumerations just like the regular set value verbs so you can issue a change future value to “high” instead of just knowing what the numerical value is.
+  * **Xtension UI:**
+    * New: Each unit will get a new Unit Property called Created with the date the unit was created. You can add this to any List view by control clicking in the headers and selecting create custom column. Then you can sort lists by the date the Unit was created and not just the last activity date. For new Units this is set as they are created and then never changed. For existing Units the date is taken from the creation date of their folder within the database. This seems to work pretty well for most units most of the time, but there may be a date in the past where you restored a database or otherwise performed an action on it that would have reset those dates. This is still the best I can do but keep in mind that older Units may not show the date they were actually created, but the last time you zipped and moved the database or something like that.
+  * **XTdb:** XTdb “meta” units now set their “thisUnit” value properly when being updated so that you can filter the log by them like any other Unit.
+  * **Control By Web Plugin:**
+    * Added support for sending user/password info to devices that have this level of security turned on.
+    * Added a checkbox for “Automatically Create New Units In XTension” so that you can disable this after you have gotten the Units you desire and not have to keep the ones you are not using at this time.
+    * Added a checkbox for “Ignore VIN Values” the control by web devices all send their input voltage. This might be useful or it might just be a value that is constantly updated as the value shifts by a tenth of a volt causing extra load and log spam. You can check this to ignore those values and neither create a Unit to hold it nor send updates for it’s changing.
+    * I’ve added some checks and trimming of the unit names as they are being changed into addresses to try to fix some potential issues with creating units in XTension. This is not an issue I can duplicate so am just throwing stuff at the wall to see what happens.
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+-----
 NOTE: This disk image no longer includes the older legacy plugins that will not be updated for newer OS versions. If you still need to run the [[supported_hardware:cm19]], [[supported_hardware:cm15a]], [[supported_hardware:zwave]] or the various Smarthome X10 interfaces please download [[tech_notes:catalina|the legacy plugins package from here]] and install the ones you need via the “Install Plugin” menu item of the “Database” menu.