C-Gate Component?

Hi all,

Great to see an "official" C-Bus forum, well done to all involved.

I am currently writing a Delphi component to encompass the C-Gate command set etc. I have concentrated on the areas that I require to start although I was considering making it available to all via SorceForge.

Would anybody find this useful and contribute to the development?

Thanks
Greg...

 

Hi Greg

Welcome to the Forum.

As part of the "V3" Development we've put a huge effort into abstracting communications from within Delphi to CGate.

Parts of this framework will be released after the formal release of V3.. it may unintentionally eclipse what you've done. Alas, it will probably be released in DCU format only.

 

Yes that would sound useful.

I have developed a Delphi program that controls my own house, enhancing the basic CBus programmable options by monitoring button presses and output states and presenting it all graphically so I can see from the computer what is turned on and off around the house. I can also control everything from the PC, and I am integrating alarm systems, timed irrigation and heating etc.

Great fun. I am happy to give you a copy of my Delphi Source if you are interested.

I do have several issues that I need help on.

1. I only have a list of the basic commands that I can give to the serial interface. I appears that the commands that I use to send instructions to the CBus outputs, disable the reading of CBus data until I send the command to set it back to receive mode. Do you have a list of the commands the set and send and receive modes. There are obviously a set of bits that mean various modes, but I only have the basic data from Clipsal to indicate a command to go to output mode, inout mode etc.

2. I would like to be able to Set the indicator lighs on the buttons, but do not know how.

I am sure this information is available in the full documetnation that Clipsal can provide, but the effort required to register for this information is too complex for it to be worthwhile for me, as I only really want to do it for myself, not as a commercial business. (I run a commercial company making computer gear for the Taxi industry).

Gavin Higgie
Auckland, NZ

 

Hi all,

Duncan, on one hand great to see Delphi bits & pieces released in v3 although on the other sad to see it's DCU format only although having something released at all far outways the negatives!

Had my 1st play with HomeGate (v2) yesterday which seems to be OK to get me up & running until my app is developed although is there a "feature list" for v3 posted anywhere? Also, have you guys any plans of having any s/w development in the UK?

Gavin, excellent to see there is another custom C-Bus/Delphi software developer at a user level. I am still a relative newbie to C-Bus development and must fit in any programming alongside a large contract I have on the go, which is quite frustrating as this is far more interesting!

I started developing using the serial comms approach as I always like to go as low level as possible, although soon changed to the socketed/IP method basically to save time! I didn't really get into the thick of the command set beforehand to offer much help to your 1st question I'm affraid.

Your second question; by set the indicator lights are you referring the lights on the input devices such as Neo? if so; I was assuming (not tested) that the lights could be toggled based on their "active" state, thus if you wanted just to turn the indicator on you could map the button to a dummy group then set it active / inactive, maybe Duncan could clarify given my inexperience!

The component have a quickly created is based on the TidTelNet and connects through the loopback socket (127.0.0.1), although originally I was using ASync Pro; the intention is to get the settings from networks.txt and connect accordingly. I am aiming to include the full command set although there are only a few completed. If you would like a copy of the code, that isn't a problem (I will get it into a more presentable & stable state) and I would welcome any code examples you can offer.

Cheers
Greg...

 

It sounds like you have partly duplicated the functionality of our HomeGate software. Have a look at it sometime.

Our public release protocol document is available from http://www.cbus-enabled.com/cbus-open-b-light.htm

Note that for PC based software, we recommend using C-Gate as the interface to C-Bus. Hundreds on man-days of work have gone into it, so you may as well benefit from that

You can't set the indicators as such, you control a Group Address. The indicator is generally tied to a Group Address and shows its state (on or off).

 

The feature list for V3 will not be available until the product is released. And don't ask when that will be

 

C-Gate is magic

Just sending commands to the C-Bus network is only the first step in using C-bus in a "real" situation. You have to handle error conditions, you have to know how to handle a bad network. You have to know all sorts of things. Let me quote from the user guide:
The C Gate server is a software package that monitors and controls the components of the Clipsal C Bus wiring system in one or more networks.

The C Gate server software is either run on a separate server or in the background on a PC to allow other C Bus front end software or building management systems to have high-speed, high level control and monitoring of C Bus. For example, Clipsal C-Lution can be used with C Gate to control one or more C Bus networks.

C Gate uses industry-standard TCP/IP interfaces to support:
? Multiple C Bus networks - connected to a TCP/IP backbone network using TCP/IP terminal servers
? Multiple connections - from one or more front-end or building management systems using TCP/IP sockets
? Simple connection - to web servers for Internet-based C Bus control and monitoring.

Great flexibility is obtained by using the TCP/IP standard, providing the ability to control, connect to, monitor and Internet-enable C Bus.

Internally, C Gate builds an object model of the C Bus devices that it is controlling and monitoring.

The smart monitoring features of C Bus are used to fully simulate the operation of C Bus input and output devices.

C Gate presents up-to-date information regarding the status of C Bus without having to poll individual devices when the information is requested.

So, are you convinced yet?

 

Jack,

Who are you trying to convince?

I am already using the C-Gate Server via TCP/IP (although did try serial!) and agree it is a good product and platform for developers to work on.

In a commercial situation however my ideal preference would be to talk directly to the kit, thus reducing support issues and mitigating 3rd party risk. This is vastly outweighed in my current situation however given my time constaints, so utilising the expertise and completeness of the C-Gate Server is very beneficial!

Cheers
Greg

 

C-Gate Issues

We've been using C-Gate for a number of years on a number of home automation and building management projects. This used to work well. We've had a few issues with the latest versions though. Anyone else having similar problems or know of any fixes?

1stly, if C-Gate loses connection to the PCI, due to network issues etc, it fails to automatically reconnect. We then have to restart C-Gate to get the connection up again.

2ndly, why was C-Gate changed from a service to an app? Most of our software runs as services. Now we have to create auto logon accounts for C-Gate which is problematic for security and management. It's also much more difficult to control and monitor the status of C-Gate from another service.

 

Running C-Gate as a service

If you are using a Windows server, you could configure C-Gate as a scheduled task to run at system startup under a local account with Power Users permissions. Use "C:\WINDOWS\System32\javaw.exe -jar cgate.jar" as the command line.

The scheduled task control panel applet will show you whether or not it is running, and an admin user can use the same applet to stop and start it.

Can't help with the first issue, which I have also noticed.

 

Delphi C-Bus

HI Gavin,

Your delphi program for C-Bus Control sounds great. Is it possible for you to send me the source as I am developing a Home Automation system for my home here in Melbourne, Australia.

My direct email is [email protected]

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Peter

 

C-gate won't reconnect ?

Greg,

It sounds like you maybe using an old version of C-gate. There has been a lot of development in this area recently.

What version and build number are you running with ?