Web API options for Cortex

[chris_j_hunter]

display module - except we would want many of them - by every window would suit us well, alongside existing PLH / DRB pairs ...

current plan is to use DAB radios (we found a presentable low-cost one with a suitably-sized display) - and we would use them just as clocks (key point is they would deal with GMT / BST changes & power-cuts automatically, so they would be fit & forget) ...

another thought was to maybe use some old SqueezeBox units - with which Cortex can already communicate - they being defunct, now, the units might be available quite affordably ...

still, as you imagine, IoT is potentially going to make these things much easier to achieve, sometime !

[chris_j_hunter]

PS: Cortex can work with xAP. of course, and Kevin a while back was having a go at getting display options working on an O2 Joggler - not sure how far the project got, though (ISTR some problems with Flash, and the amount of time it was taklng) ...

for the moment, we have just one (numerical) display being fed by Cortex - too expensive to use in other locations, too, though, and not sure it could show the time (we use it to context-sensitively show temperature & speed & other such) ...

still, as you imply, given what you're thinking of, we could maybe use redundant old iPhones and/or iPod-touches to do all this (currently, we use them for watching recordings & keeping an eye on TV News, using EyeTV, and as calculators, using an HP41 emulator app) ...

anyway, wonder if xAP gives / could give a route to what you're looking for ... ?

the effort needed to integrate all this together, in the IoT world, will be enormous, but many hands will make light work ...

[Aristoteles]

I agree with spellinn. An Idratek module with a built in web server would be very usefull and i think it would open up a plethora of possibilities.
I tested this: https://github.com/simegeorge/CortexWebApi sometime ago and it seemed to work allright. It might not be exactly what you want, but have a look and let me know what you think.
/Glenn

[spellinn]

I agree with spellinn. An Idratek module with a built in web server would be very usefull and i think it would open up a plethora of possibilities.
I tested this: https://github.com/simegeorge/CortexWebApi sometime ago and it seemed to work allright. It might not be exactly what you want, but have a look and let me know what you think.
/Glenn

Looks like it goes some way..although I've no means to compile it, not having Visual Studio, and there's no pre-compiled exe in the download.

Cheers

Neil

[spellinn]

I've now compiled this using the Visual Studio Community edition. Will post my results once I've integrated it with Cortex.

Cheers

Neil

[chris_j_hunter]

looking forward to that ...

most of the added capability we need could be enabled by a few extra General Logic objects ... but our Nabaztag / Mir:ror RFID readers need something else - a Raspberry Pi server & some sort of interface which may be possible using what you are developing !

[Aristoteles]

I've compiled it now and it seems to work as it should. It is quite straightforward. Just send a POST request through any browser to get data from Cortex and a PUT to set a value. With the example below for instance I get the value for a light (ie. object id 32913 and port no 7 which is TOGGLE). With a corresponding PUT request I can toggle the light. Be aware though that it seems to need some improved error handling since It can cause Cortex to freeze if used incorrectly.
If any are interested to test it, I can send you the compiled exe file. Just send me your email.

http://IP_FOR_SERVER_RUNNING_CORTEX:.../Ports/32913/7

[Aristoteles]

Hi spellinn,
Just wondered if you got this to work?
I've just tested ifttt and would like to use it with information from cortex. What I'd like to have is Cortex sending http postings which I can access through an RSS feed. It would be a very easy way to get continuous information on what is happening on my network.

[chris_j_hunter]

did you try Karam's Android app IDR NB+ :

http://www.idratek.com/support/downloads/

it's become available since this thread was started ...

we use it with the NoticeBoard and AllDisplay and WebAPIclient objects in Cortex to display weather forecasts & network status / module information (temperatures, on/off status, durations, power consumption, threshold triggers, whatever) on Dragon tablets we've put alongside each intercom unit we have in the house, and elsewhere ...

the weather information comes from the Met.Office DataPoint facility, via JSON & the Cortex WebAPIclient object ... haven't looked to see what's available beyond the UK, yet ...

traffic information is available (via Bing - jams, road-works, etc), so we may add that sometime, too ...

lots of low-cost Android tablets available, we've used these :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Touc...=dragon+tablet

which we find work well (good blacks, neat appearance, responsive, easy to touch & swipe, etc) ...

photo' attached - text size is changeable, doesn't have to be so small - screen shows energy consumption, overall & by major component, plus temperatures at key points in the heating & ventilation systems, solar, heat pump, etc, plus status of various pumps & filters, plus weather forecast for today, tonight, tomorrow, days after ... auto-updating is set to be hourly, could be any interval we choose, pushing Button 2 would update the data to now, and a double push would bring the forecast for next week ... swipe screen to scroll, tap to dim, move to Cortex Mobile, change settings, check e-mails, browsing, etc, etc ...

our selfbuild isn't quite finished, yet, so being able to keep an eye on how the systems are performing is quite useful ... the displays also display spoken messages for a short while, in case we didn't quite hear what was said, and tell us things like how long we were asleep for ...

our intercoms are old-style - we like them, but even better with the current ones (screens are available in a choice of frame colours, so easy to match - we use other colours in other situations) ... screens moveable, of course, so can pick-up to browse, or move to other locations as needed ... we stand them in Anker stands, which can be wall-mounted, too, and also have a colour choice, to match ...

putting the screens by the intercom units means we can use its buttons to command updates & get it to display more detailed information when we want - could be any module with buttons, of course, even a button wired to a digital input of a convenient module, the tablets themselves communicating via WiFi & the Cortex WebServer ...

we augment this with the Cortex Mobile app on our 'phones, for status & command & alerts while we're moving about, in or away from the house ...

all works very well ... indeed, pretty much does all & more than we wished for, earlier in this thread !

[Karam]

I haven't tried using IFTTT myself but in that case you might be using the Cortex WebAPI Client as opposed to the server (i.e if POSTing out)

Wow Chris that's quite a bit of information that your App is displaying, but knowing the scale of your system probably not a surprise .

Regarding the NB+ App:

1) The public release version of the App on our site needs updating as it was discovered to have a memory leak which caused the App to be closed down after a couple of weeks or so depending on particular settings. This has since been corrected in development versions but I've yet to get round to updating the release one ... apologies about that. I'll post when done.

2) The development version has a few other features. I can't actually remember all the differences off the top of my head as its continuously being twiddled with, but some include an option of alerting with a sound when a message line content changes and also speaking its content out (via the tablet) - though I personally rarely use this as it can get irritating for some data types and it doesn't have the same finess of delivery control as Cortex. Also various options to hide or unhide things like progress bar, intermessage lines etc. If anyone is particularly interested in such options and will let me off with my clunky programming skills then you're welcome to e-mail me for development versions.

An example with less data content than Chris's is shown below.