CBus Database Info

Hi there,

Just wondering if can confirm with me that the CBus Software creates a dBase 5 database?

Also can anyone tell me what is in the columns BLOCK 1 and 2 (I gather it info about the units, but what else is in here), and how and if it is possible to decrpyt this infomation?

Many thanks,
Darren

 

I assume you're referring to the Version 2 Installation Software? The project files are DBase 3 DBF Files.

The Block1 and 2 fields are not encrypted.

 

Do not edit the contents of Block 1 or Block 2 at all ... ever. This should only be altered by the C-Bus Installation Software. (No we aren't going to tell you what they mean, it is way to dangerous to your hardware).

It is worth noting that C-Bus Installation Software is a poduct that has stopped development. It is advised that future installations use C-Bus Toolkit which uses the much more open and powerful XML format for project information.

 

Thanks Duncan,

Is it possible to find some info on the XML database?

Thanks again
Darren

 

The blocks contain the programming information for each of the units in your database. The combination of unit type and firmware version determines what each of the bytes actually means. This isnt something that we'll be documenting anywhere.

What are you trying to achieve exactly?

 

I was going to make (already started it) a program to take the data from AutoCAD and convert it into a CBus database. This would save us so much time entering data.......

Thanks Guys
Darren

 

A worthy exercise, good luck!

For your interest, we're progressing an integration with Visio that would do something similar to what you're trying to achieve.

 

Thanks Chief!

Any chance I could get some technical data on BLOCKS 1 + 2 orrrrrrr maybe (Pretty Please) some source code that Toolkit uses to create them?

Thanks in advance,
Darren

 

- Toolkit creates XML files.
- V2 creates DBF files.

The makeup of the blocks fields in the V2 DBF files is not information we will release.

The XML structure that Toolkit uses is somewhat more open, but we dont recommend trying to generate it using anything but Toolkit.

 

To clarrify, C-Bus Toolkit does not do anything with Blocks 1 + 2, these are OLD C-Bus Installation Software stuff and apart from importing and converting to XML, C-Bus Toolkit has nothing to do with the OLD DBF formats.

The OLD DBF format is deprecated and will not be used in the future and will not support new units and new features (and doesn't support some units already released)

It is recommended that you move to using C-Bus Toolkit and its XML file format. This should only ever be read and not modified.

There is little documentation on the XML format (and probably won't be any released in the near future) and the format MAY change from version to version of C-Bus Toolkit.

 

The information in the blocks is very complicated and varies from unit to unit and with firmware version. The details of this will never be made available. Any attempt to modify the database files with anything but the C-Bus Tool Kit could cause significant problems for a C-Bus installation and could void your warrantee.

Maybe the Tool Kit could be extended at some time to provide some sort of software interface / API whereby other programs could have some sort of control. For example, a program could instruct the Tool Kit to create a KEY4 unit and set the unit address to 42 and the group addresses to 8, 9, 10, and 11 and to make the keys all dimmers. I imagine that this would then enable the sort of things that you (and others) want to be able to do. It would always have to be slightly limited, but as long as the basics were covered, you could automate much of the work and then use the Tool Kit to do a manual clean-up.

 

Thanks heaps guys!!!

You have all been very helpful. Darren your idea would be handy, as that is pretty much all we want to do ie: get the basic data into cbus and do the rest from ToolKit.

Regards
Darren