PowerHome Connector for Android
PowerHome Connector for Android
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The PowerHome Connector for Android app is my first Android app. It allows you to wirelessly monitor and control your PowerHome installation. Using a single formula in any macro you can send a message to your phone. You will also be able to create a menu from which you can select items corresponding to macros that you have on your PowerHome computer.
To use PowerHome Connector for Android (Phca), you will need a few things:
- PowerHome installed on a computer with the web server and/or socket server option(s) configured and running. (http://www.power-home.com/)
- A fully routable domain name for your PowerHome web server. This may mean using services such as dynamic dns and port forwarding. This can be a complicated step for many people. I am willing to give some help in this area, but it is beyond the scope of the support here for the most part. I really encourage you to do this though, because once you have this up and running, you open the doors for many other cool things. (Start here: http://dyn.com/dns/dyndns-free/) If your PH Webserver is visible to a web browser anywhere, then you are good to go as far as this app is concerned.
- An Android phone. If you want to use the push messaging service known as C2DM, you must have Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) or later on your device. If you don’t have the capability to use push messaging, you will have to manually refresh your PowerHome status from your phone.
- Be comfortable editing macros and formulas in your PowerHome installation.
The bottom line is, if you have PowerHome on your computer, then you are probably pretty good with all of the requirements listed here.
Unresolved bugs: 1) I have seen a few occasions where hitting the back arrow on the main configuration page will sometimes take you to a blank page. Please contact the developer, Skip Morrow, at skip@pelorus.org if you see this.
If you have a bug to report, or feature request, or just a question, you may post it on the PHCA Bug Tracker
For usage and setup instructions, see this page:
If you need support configuring and using PHCA, either leave a comment here, or send me an email (skip@pelorus.org). For more support information, see http://skipstechtalk.net/phca-support/
If you are going to use the push messaging (HIGHLY encouraged), then register here: https://phc-a.net/. That website receives messages from your PowerHome installation through http GET messages. It then forwards the message to google along with a registration id. Google takes the message and the registration id and forwards it to your phone. This all happens in real time (just a few seconds, generally). About as fast as a text message. This is all done by push means. There is no polling, which means it is very good for your battery life.
Version History:
27 Jun 2012 ver 2.2.03 Fixed a bug where the action parameter variable would not update when editing an action. Also fixes an NPE on when editing a pagelink for an image page in some situations
26 Jun 2012 ver 2.2.02 Fixed a few bugs (default color, error when loading certain xml files)
26 Jun 2012 ver 2.2.01 Converted global settings to SharedPreferences
26 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.53 Added user email address to the global settings
26 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.52 Fixed an unhandled exception in the Varaible.UpdateDisplayedPageVariable method
21 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.51 Fixed a bug where the mainmenu was not getting loaded on some devices
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.50 Added feature to manually send troubleshooting reports from the about dialog
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.49 Fixed an unhandled exception when dismissing a response dialog from a widget action
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.48 Fixed an unhandled exception in the C2DM receiver (message count incrementing method)
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.47 Added a feature where font colors for variable values are defined using HTML code names
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.46 Improved performance on startup by reloading the menus only when needed
20 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.45 Fixing a problem where target colors from the overlay image aren’t always correct
19 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.44 Fixes the C2DM registration/unregistration code where it was not always working
18 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.43 Fixes a problem where variables would not update if the response dialog was showing
18 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.42 Fixes the font colors in widgets for variables
17 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.41 Fixes a security issue where it was possible to enter the configuration activity without entering a PIN
17 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.40 Fixed a bug where response dialogs would appear at the wrong time
13 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.39 Fixed a bug where some colors were not being recognized when clicked in image pages
13 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.38 Corrected an unhandled exception in the Add Action configuration page when parsing the color entered
11 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.37 Corrected an unhandled exception where an index out of bounds error could occur in the Page class on image type pages
10 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.36 Corrected an unhandled exception in the PageImageActivity class
08 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.35 Improved error catching and http timeouts for the C2DM registration/unregistration
07 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.34 Fixed an issue where displayed variables would not update if a response dialog was shown
07 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.33 Made the target area for dragging and dropping items when editing smaller to make it easier to use on large screen tablets
06 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.32 Fixed an issue where PIN protected pagelinks on image-type pages were not executing
06 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.31 Fixing a NullPointerException in PageImageActivity
04 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.30 Changes the default filename for xml backups such that it uses a 24 hour clock. Also adds some additional logging statements in a couple of classes
04 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.29 Changes the behavior of the back button to show the main menu before exiting
04 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.28 Corrected an unhandled exception that could occur when executing an action from a widget
04 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.27 Corrected some case-sensitive issues that were causing problems in variables and variable values settings
03 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.26 Improved logging in the Socket Server networking class
03 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.25 Added feature on the variable chooser activity, there is an option to view all variables and current values
03 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.24 Corrected an unhandled exception when saving a new action where neither web or none has been checked
02 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.23 Corrected an unhandled exception when in the common activity where the static variable “activity” had not been initialized
02 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.22 Corrected an unhandled exception when in the common activity onPause routine
02 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.21 Corrected an unhandled exception when updating displayed variable values
02 Jun 2012 ver 2.1.20 Corrected an issue where if a response dialog was showing when exiting the app, the app might get stuck on that dialog
01 Jun 2012, ver 2.1.18 Fixed a problem where non-pin protected pagelink widgets would not work
01 Jun 2012, ver 2.1.17 Fixed an occasional crash in socket server networking when the response string was not as expected
31 May 2012, ver 2.1.16 Corrected aproblem where the C2DM registration button would get out of sync
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.15 Added a highlight for menu pages to visually indicate when an item has been tapped
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.14 Fixes a situation where an action with a dialog response and is PIN protected will execute repeatedly
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.13. Aligns the internal version code with the version name
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.09. Makes variables case sensitive; fixes an error where an action may generate a message that the dialog type isn’t supported by the server
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.08. Removes http networking; fixes an error when adding a new variable may report that the variable already exists
30 May 2012, ver 2.1.07. Fixed an unhandled exception in http networking
29 May 2012, ver 2.1.06. URL encoding for all http commands before they are sent
21 May 2012, ver 2.1.05. Fixed an unhandled IllegalArgumentException when testing/saving global settings
21 May 2012, ver 2.1.04. Fixed a bug where an error message would report that phwebserver was not a valid settings name when configuring global settings
21 May 2012, ver 2.1.03. Fixed a crash in http networking. Also added a logging dialog on C2DM registering and unregistering.
21 May 2012, ver 2.1.1. Major, MAJOR upgrade. Many feature improvements. This is technically a whole new application.
16 Feb 2012, ver 2.0.05. Corrected a bug where notifications for incoming C2DM messages were not showing and sounding.
14 Feb 2012, ver 2.0.04. Many, many bug fixes and enhancements (performance and capabilities). Extensively tested and should be very stable.
11 Nov 2011, ver 1.1. Fixed a couple of crashes.
Hey I saw your post on PH forums. I’m running a Archos 70 with 2.2, i’ll give it a go and let you know how it goes on those forums.
Love this. Having a GREAT time with the new PHCA and some additional HAI devices I’m wiring in. Great work Skip!
Thanks for the kind comments, Spencer. I really appreciate it
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