Version 10 Features

In version 10 we did a major rework on the HCA implementation resulting in both a client and a server. We did this in a way that also maintains a stand-alone application for those installations where using that makes the most sense.

HCA was re-architected to create a new Client-Server model for several reasons. Since HCA needs to run 24/7 lots of users look for an unobtrusive means to do that. Downloading into an automation interface just doesn't work. It isn't powerful enough to run your design well and can't bridge technologies. We have recommended for some time now to use a low-end Windows box as the download target for HCA. With Client-Server you can hide that machine in a closet and administer it - with all the capabilities of HCA - from another computer in your home. Also, you can install HCA on a computer at work, or a laptop, to access your design. And with the Touch Screen Interface - another major version 10 feature - those clients can be configured for control only

 

HCA Client-Server

In version 10 an HCA Server application has been created. This application can load and "execute" your automation design. It has a very limited user interface but it communicates with all your attached interfaces, runs schedules and programs contained in your design, and handles triggers for programs and devices. You can think of the server as what you had with HCA 9 after it loaded your design and then you didn't touch the UI. Your design just ran in the background.

There is no separate Windows based Client application to pair with the server. The client is just HCA running in "client mode". This same HCA.exe can also work exactly like it did in version 9 as a stand-alone application. But it can also operate as a client of the HCA Server.

What can HCA do when operating as a client? It can do anything that you could do in version 9 except for creation of a whole new design. The client can modify programs, add new devices, scan an Insteon network, control devices, etc. Our goal was that the experience working with the client would be the same as when working with HCA in stand-alone mode. And the most important point is that several clients can be connected to the HCA server at one time. When you do this, any change made on one client to the state of an object - on, off, or dim - or a change to the design - adding a new device, changing a program etc - automatically updates the other clients with those same changes.

Don't be confused with the term "HCA Server". HCA continues to have the web based client - what we call the "Web Component". Nor is the HCA Server a "Windows Service". The HCA Server is just another Windows application. And, unlike the Web Component which can be accessed from any computer that has a compatible browser, the HCA client - being just HCA - requires Windows XP, Vista or Win 7.

It is possible to run the HCA Server as a Windows Service but it requires a bit of very technical work and has some limitations. A technical note is available for those who wish to attempt it.

 

Touch Screen Interface

The second major change in HCA 10 is the addition of what we call the "Touch Screen User Interface" - in shorthand, the "TUI". Don't let the words "Touch Screen" cause you to look away if you don't have an actual touch screen as this interface is very useful on non-touch screen monitors as well.

The intent of the TUI is to provide a very simplified "action only" interface to control a selected set of devices, programs, and groups in your home. You can't add or modify the design from the Touch Screen Interface. But you can control devices to on, off, or dim, start and stop programs, and suspend and resume elements of your design.

Before going further let's take a first look at the TUI and get a general idea of its concepts. Visual things need visual images.

The TUI has a concept of "rooms". Each icon on the home page represents a "room". What is a room? Is it an actual room in your home? That depends upon how you set up your design. Each object in HCA resides in a folder. The design pane in the HCA UI - the left pane - shows those folders. Each one of those folders can represent a room in the TUI. Also, using the HCA UI you can create displays which show one or more icons from any folder all on one display. These displays too can become rooms in the TUI.

You can easily configure the TUI so that not all of your folders and displays become rooms in the TUI. Associated with the properties of each folder and display is an option that says "Don't show an icon for this display when showing the TUI".

Unlike the HCA UI, where you single-click a device to select it, double-click to act upon it, and right-click to open a context menu, the TUI is all single click - or "tap" in touch screen terminology. This "tap" is further divided into short taps and long taps.

A short tap - like a mouse click - acts upon what you tapped on. If it is a room icon, the room is opened. If you tap on a device it is turned on if it is off, and off if it is on - it toggles the state. A long tap opens up a control panel for the device.

For example, short tap on the bedroom icon and the bedroom appears:

Like folders, not every device needs to appear in the TUI and it is easy to configure for that.

If you long tap on the Lamp icon the control panel for the lamp appears:

The controls for on, off, and dim for the load are on this popup. Long tap on the keypad icon and this appears:

This shows one of the next concepts in the TUI we will explore. We call these types of popups "glass keypads". Here is the idea:

You probably have a number of keypads in your home that do various things. In this example a keypad in the bedroom has multiple functions. When you are actually in the bedroom you can walk up and poke one of the buttons. What that button does is really up to your design. It could control one or more devices directly using Insteon scenes or UPB links. Or it could trigger an HCA program.

Using the TUI you can cause whatever that keypad does when you poke the button on the real keypad to happen by pushing the button on the glass keypad. In this example, the "go to bed" button controls many devices in the home. Without the glass keypad you would have to control each one of those devices manually.

But "glass keypads" aren't just for keypads! Anything that has a transmit function that can be invoked from a physical tap on it can have a glass keypad.

 

The Touch Screen Interface works with HCA HTML Displays. With an HTML View anything you can get to by an internet URL can be displayed in the TUI. Internet sites for weather and traffic are possible. There are many products that may be in your home that have a web interface - energy monitors, security systems, and video monitoring. These may all be possible in your installation.

 

Think of the TUI as a programmable user interface. It is worth spending some time to select which of your folders and displays become rooms In the TUI, which devices, programs, and groups are shown in the rooms, and what the popup control panel shows. Like designing your automation solution, it makes sense to spend time crafting the user interface to work with it.

 

HCA for Android

HCA For Android is one of the most exciting parts of HCA Version 10. It is a native Android application targeted for the newest Android capable mobile devices - the hottest mobile devices available today. When running, this application operates very similar to the Touch Screen Interface and works directly with the HCA Server.

Once configured, the Android display shows all your rooms using the same room icons you selected in the TUI. Only those folders and displays you have configured to appear in the TUI, appear in HCA for Android.

Tap on a room icon and you will see the icons in that room. Again, only those your selected to appear in the TUI. The state of the icon is show in the same manner as in HCA - by a colored box around the icon.

Tap on an icon and you see a page specifically for that device with the controls you selected to see - the load, the glass keypad, or both. When in the page for a device, you can "flick left" or "flick right" to move to the next device in the room.

The back button returns you from the device page to the room page and the back button again from the room page to the home page.

The connection to the server lasts until you shutdown the phone, the connection is lost for some reason, or you disconnect by using the "Disconnect" option from the menu. If you leave HCA for Android by pressing and holding the Home button until the running applications popup appears and you select another application, HCA for Android does not close the connection to the server.

As long as the connection to the server is open, the phone receives status updates from the HCA server and your devices change to show appropriate state. And that's really all there is. The various displayed pages follow the stock Android methods so if you rotate the phone to landscape mode the displays change to use the space differently.

 

Bitwise BC4 IR Interface

In HCA 10 support has been added for the IP addressed Bitwise BC4 IR Interface. This exciting unit provides control of IR interfaces like a universal remote. What can you control? TVs, DVD players, Audio gear, and a whole lot more. HCA 10 supports up to 4 BC4 in simultaneous use and each can control up to 8 different IR devices.

Support for IR control is in the Visual Scheduler and Visual Programmers so you can easily integrate IR devices into your automation solution. A full User Interface Keypad Buiilder is in HCA. The keypads you create for your devices can be used from both the HCA UI and the Touch Screen Interfaces. That same keypad is used by HCA for Android as well.

 

Other Changes

There were lots of smaller changes and bug fixes to HCA 10. Too many to list. Here are just the top 10.

1. A new Icon Theme for larger size icons
2. Many dialogs reworked so that they fit on the reduced screen height of average netbooks.
3. A File Inventory dialog helps you locate all those files external to your design - display images, status export templates, HTML templates, Visual Programmer data files, etc.
4. Support for triggering on the Fast-On and Fast-Off Insteon commands
5. Many changes in support of the latest UPB and Insteon devices
6. Changes to the Web Component in support of the iPad
7. Reworked IR keypad builder to allow easier button sizing and placement
8. Building on the re-implementation of the User Interface in version 9, HCA now has more drag expandable dialogs, more common dialogs for common operations across device types.
9. Improved Visual Scheduler configuration and use options
10. Better triggering of programs on Insteon messages. Many changes in this area to make it possible for more types of messages to trigger HCA programs