ActiveEye Sensor

[Thomas Henry]

I appreciate BOTH the philosophical and the practical.

Up until about 6 months ago, I've been using XTension merely for controlling on/off on lights. 

Then I got XTdb, and started using Video Pitcher, now I'm "all in".

What you've said does make sense, if you can believe me on that. 

Now I just need to try it, and see for myself. Looks like I can have the best of both worlds; using the remote(s) and XTension.

Thanks!
Tom

On Oct 21, 2013, at 2:36 PM, Michael <michael at shed.com> wrote:

> On Oct 21, 2013, at 8:18 AM, Thomas Henry <tjhjr at mac.com> wrote:
>> What should I be looking at here? Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> Hello Tom,  
> 
> ( all else can cover their eyes… it's just michael with another philosophy lesson )
> I'm getting the feeling that I need to offer a bit of guidance that others have heard many times :)
> 
> 
> First thing is to think of your system as a collection of individual devices, Each with a unique 'Address'.
> 
> Some devices can only be 'commanded',  like your Living Room Light.
> 
> Other devices are 'inputs' which send notice of events to XTension, and MAY cause the previous class to be Commanded.
> 
> 
> A greatly simplified example: 
>  
> You have a motion sensor and a Lamp, both in the Living Room and you want the light to come ON
> when someone walks into the Living Room. (Whenever the motion sensor detects motion)
> 
> In this case, you would create Two units in the XTension database :
>      LR Motion -- Address B1  X-10 Wireless   -- A sensor that detects movement in the Living Room
>      LR Light    -- Address B2  X-10 Powerline -- A X10 Lamp Module that is commanded to turn ON or OFF 
> 
> In the Create Unit dialogs, you would assign Both of these devices to the CM15 controller.
> 
> In the LR Motion (Edit Unit) dialog, you elect to create an "ON Script" which says something like :
>          turn on "LR Motion"
> 
> NOW for something Very important :   
> 
> 	Whenever XTension receives an ON 'stimulus' from any device (or manual keypress etc),
> 	        it will look to see whether there is any Unit in the Database that has that exact address,
> 		including the "Interface" (CM15) as part of that "Address"…
> 
> 		If there is a unit in the database, with that address (B1), then
>             	XTension will look to see whether there is an existing ON Script for that Unit (LR Motion).
> 
> 		IF there is an ON Script, then XTension will "Execute" it….  
> 
> 		Our example causes XTension to send an ON Command to the CM15 for "LR Light", address "B2".
> 		The "LR Light" lamp module sees the ON command, and switches the Lamp to ON.
> 
> 
> NOW the next Important thing is that Commanded Units do NOT need Unit Scripts.
> There are times when it might be useful, but we're keeping this simple.
> 
> 
> As an aside, the most common 'trap' users discover, is when they put an ON script directly in the "LR Light" unit record.
> Something like :  turn on "LR Light"   …
> 
> Thus, when you double-click that unit, OR your "LR Motion" sensor sends an ON command,
> XTension will execute the LR Motion ON Script, which says turn on "LR Light", which causes XTension
> to notice that there is ALSO an ON Script attached to the "LR Light" unit… which (in this erroneous case),
> says :  turn on "LR Light" …. 
> 
> THAT causes XTension to try to execute the ON Script for "LR Light" AGAIN…. and again and again….
> 
> Again, there are many ways to do the same thing, or get around these loops, but this is just the first thing
> that will get you wrapped around the axle very fast.. 
> 
> 
> So to reiterate my point, the first step is to think of your system as a collection of Unique devices,
> each of which is either a source of information or stimulus, OR is a 'Commanded' device.
> 
> Each has a Unique address, which also includes the specific Interface for that unit.
> 
> 
> To make it more complex, the CM15 is capable of both Powerline and Wireless commands and inputs.
> XTension knows the 'path', and considers for example, that the address "B1" can be Either a Powerline Unit
> OR a Wireless Unit.   And you can have BOTH !  Two units, CM15/B1 Powerline, and CM15/B1 Wireless...
> 
> Thus, even with a single CM15, you can have double the X-10 number of Units, or 256 Powerline, and 256 Wireless..
> 
> I won't try to confuse you any further with all the exceptions and guards, but for an exercise, and to answer
> your next question about Turning the LR Light OFF, consider what would happen if you wrote this ON Script
> for the LR Motion unit :
> 						turn on "LR Light" for 5 * minutes
> 
> tell me how much sense this makes ?
> michael
> 
> 
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