This is an old revision of the document!
Getting Started
Installing XTension is as easy as copying the application file to your Applications folder. If you run XTension from the Applications folder your database and all user data will be stored in the “XTension Support” folder inside your Documents folder.For legacy purposes XTension will also run happily from any other folder on your machine. If it is run from elsewhere than the Applications folder then the database and other associated files will be stored alongside the app in that same folder. If you ever need to move XTension to a new machine you only need to move the database and the application to the same location on the new machine.
XTension provides “Units” that can correspond to any real end point, switch, sensor, etc. Units can also be a “pseudo” meaning that is has no connection to a real device but is a a place where you store other information. For example: “current temperature” might be a real Oregon Scientific temperature sensor, but “high temperature” might be a pseudo unit that you set the value of based on the incoming data from the temperature sensor.
XTension provides a scripting interface for you to attach your own decisions to. The scripting language is AppleScript and can control all your units in XTension as well as asking for data from and controlling other applications on your Mac. Do not fear the applescript! It can be very simple to start with, anybody can learn it and much help is available here on the wiki, the XTension mailing list members are eager to help you sort out more complicated ideas and lastly Apple maintains their own applescript specific scripting discussions and mailing lists for even more esoteric questions.
Fully featured “Scheduled Events” provide time based events that can turn on or off lights or run other scripts.
An index of the articles in this section in order: