ISY 5.1.1 Is Now Available

[randyth]

On 11/5/2021 at 11:23 AM, larryllix said:

I got my polisy/ISY  working, then got past the commitment point and had to move everything over (commit). Daunting task took me about two days to clean up some variables (endian reversal) , program enables random, and Scenes demolished. LOL  (I used Restore from an ISY backup image)  Running 98% now...mostly good. Most items just needed to be refreshed to function. I am running on a USB PLM via polisy USB port.

...

Brave man. Just ripped the band aid off, didn't you?

Because I have a backup serial PLM running the Polisy/ISY in parallel with my original ISY994i/IR, I'm planning on slowly transitioning one "system" at a time (basic lighting/scenes first, then maybe HVAC stuff, and so forth). I'll delete each device from my original setup, link it to the Polisy, then manually rebuild the related programs and variables. I figure this will force me to refactor my logic as I go, optimizing things for flexibility and/or efficiency.

Now that I've typed out this grand plan, it all sounds quite insane. Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this...

Perhaps band-aid ripping is the way to go!

 

[larryllix]

1 hour ago, randyth said:

Brave man. Just ripped the band aid off, didn't you?

Because I have a backup serial PLM running the Polisy/ISY in parallel with my original ISY994i/IR, I'm planning on slowly transitioning one "system" at a time (basic lighting/scenes first, then maybe HVAC stuff, and so forth). I'll delete each device from my original setup, link it to the Polisy, then manually rebuild the related programs and variables. I figure this will force me to refactor my logic as I go, optimizing things for flexibility and/or efficiency.

Now that I've typed out this grand plan, it all sounds quite insane. Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this...

Perhaps band-aid ripping is the way to go!

 

I was attempting to do that. Since mst of my lighting programs are based on single variable values it was very easy to move the non-Insteon lighting over. A simple ISY folder containing several variable change detection programs that NRed the values out into polisy's via it's REST interface to modified the cloned variable made that a synch.

However when I thought about going further, so many devices were hooked together and dependent on each other I found it may have been simpler to "Tear the bandaide off"  than suffering with many more cross-variable interlocks. The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence and I demonstrated this quite well to myself. Two intense days did 98% of the bandaide technique but I still find the odd thing freaky. I found the odd light flashing on and then off etc...where one program was enabled again and shouldn't have been. Now I comment every program that must be disabled in the If section. ISY didn't have that capability when I started. Thank you UDI for listening to your users!!

The WiFi lighting only (over to polisy) technique worked well for about a week or so, and then I just couldn't sit on my hands anymore. All in all, I am glad I made the jump. I did sweat a lot for a few days but that is why I am an ISY user...for the challenges and the solutions,... when I win at each challenge.

I found another glitch last night that I need to fix and my dishwasher LD still needs linking into the polisy PLM yet. ISY Portal and Alexa speaking routines were the hardest as each time you delete all ISY Portal pseudo-devices the routines all need to re-attached from zero again. What a PITA!

 

@bmercierWe need a better unused / defunct ISY element cleanup button in ISY Portal. Looks for unused ISY elements and removes them from Alexa. When vocals are changed, we end up with two different names in Alexa and it confuses her. Thanks.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by larryllix

[randyth]

25 minutes ago, larryllix said:

ISY Portal and Alexa speaking routines were the hardest as each time you delete all ISY Portal pseudo-devices the routines all need to re-attached from zero again. What a PITA!

Oh, I didn't consider this complication yet. I have a ton of scenes/programs/devices exposed to Alexa.

This project is clearly going to be an adventure no matter how I attack it.

[larryllix]

6 hours ago, randyth said:

Oh, I didn't consider this complication yet. I have a ton of scenes/programs/devices exposed to Alexa.

This project is clearly going to be an adventure no matter how I attack it.

ISY Portal has a Download of the database but no Restore to pull it back into the new polisy linked database.

You can split your vocals between two ISYs though. I didn't bother. I just printed out the download and basically copied one by one. I did do something though. In ISY I named every program to become vocally operated a XXXX.select suffix. It makes it so much easier to pick out needed elements for vocals in the Portal. Just enter a filter parameter i ISY Portal and any program.select shows up in a different colour if not used.

[larryllix]

Today I sampled a few Insteon devices and found links to the old PLM still installed in every device.

A simple admin console | device restore  on each device fixed that up in every case that I rechecked.

Took about 30 minutes for my whole system. Now I unplugged my ISY and stopped confusing the ISY Finder!

One small step for home automation.  One giant step for ISY!

[asbril]

53 minutes ago, larryllix said:

One small step for home automation.  One giant step for ISY!

?

[randyth]

I recently imported all the Network Resources from my ISY994i to my ISY on Polisy to test things out. The Polisy successfully calls local APIs for devices such as Shelly Relays, but not external secure (https) APIs such as api.notifymyecho.com. I get a Request Failed error. Is this a known issue with ISY on Polisy or am I missing something?

Here is an example of a Network Resource that fails:

 

[MWareman]

I'm not migrating anything by import - starting again from scratch. With all I've learned over the years for a much better overall solution.

One insteon device at a time. One NR at a time and one program at a time...  usually with substantial changes.

Both my physical and PolISY ISY are hooked up (in my case) to Google Home. Updating which ISY the spoken goes to is fairly easy - but it's a delete, switch ISY and re-add. Not too bad.

[larryllix]

6 hours ago, randyth said:

I recently imported all the Network Resources from my ISY994i to my ISY on Polisy to test things out. The Polisy successfully calls local APIs for devices such as Shelly Relays, but not external secure (https) APIs such as api.notifymyecho.com. I get a Request Failed error. Is this a known issue with ISY on Polisy or am I missing something?

Here is an example of a Network Resource that fails:

 

I found every NR needed to be loaded into edit mode and then saved again or they just didn't function.

It was like polisy just loaded them all but none registered for usage.

[TJF1960]

@larryllix , @MWareman , if I can ask. Approximately how many Insteon, programs and NR's do you each have?  

Larry, I know you said you had 2 full days converting to Polisy. I am trying to figure out time frame for me to do the same.

[MWareman]

@larryllix , @MWareman , if I can ask. Approximately how many Insteon, programs and NR's do you each have?  
Larry, I know you said you had 2 full days converting to Polisy. I am trying to figure out time frame for me to do the same.

Well, last I counted I have over 600 NRs (probably even higher now)…. I do NRs for lots - mostly sending data to Elasticsearch, Node Red and Huginn, as well as sending notifications via Pushover and Google Chat.

I’m hoping this can be significantly reduced if the NRs now support variable substitution on ISY/Polisy.

[larryllix]

1 hour ago, TJF1960 said:

@larryllix , @MWareman , if I can ask. Approximately how many Insteon, programs and NR's do you each have?  

Larry, I know you said you had 2 full days converting to Polisy. I am trying to figure out time frame for me to do the same.

57 NRs. I only use about half due to NSes, and bulbs styles not used anymore.

498 programs

356 Integer variables

219 state variables

Doing it again it would have went much faster. I did a restore from ISY backup. Load every program, NR and store them back again. Each device had to to linked and then a restore removed the old PLM links for each device. Variables had the big endian vs little endian problems. Divide large values by 256^3 and add 256 if negative.

I have a about 15 MS 1s and 5 LDs that needed manually linking in high and concealed places. Very time consuming.

[larryllix]

9 hours ago, MWareman said:

Well, last I counted I have over 600 NRs (probably even higher now)…. I do NRs for lots - mostly sending data to Elasticsearch, Node Red and Huginn, as well as sending notifications via Pushover and Google Chat.

I’m hoping this can be significantly reduced if the NRs now support variable substitution on ISY/Polisy.

I have been using variable substitution in the URL portion for years now. My WiFi lights live off them. 4 NRs do my 35 WiFi lights.

Trouble is you can only use the same NR with at least one second of Wait between each calling. ISY does the substitution at send time, not at creation time and will use the second variable values for the first NR send.
IOW two rapid uses of the same NR may both send the same latest values, not what was asked for.

Edited November 10, 2021 by larryllix

[randyth]

15 hours ago, larryllix said:

I found every NR needed to be loaded into edit mode and then saved again or they just didn't function.

Sadly, that did not help. I still get "Request Failed" when calling external https APIs.

 

[Michel Kohanim]

@randyth,

Please try increase the timeout and try SNI.

With kind regards,
Michel

[randyth]

15 minutes ago, Michel Kohanim said:

@randyth,

Please try increase the timeout and try SNI.

With kind regards,
Michel

Use SNI is definitely checked, and I've upped the timeout to as high as 10 seconds (10,000 ms) and still get a Request Failed error.

[Michel Kohanim]

@randyth,

Makes no sense. Can you use curl for the same command and see whether or not it works?

With kind regards,
Michel

[randyth]

1 hour ago, Michel Kohanim said:

@randyth,

Makes no sense. Can you use curl for the same command and see whether or not it works?

With kind regards,
Michel

It does work with curl. The same API call also works fine on my old ISY which I exported it from to get it onto ISY on Polisy.

I'm going to try a different external API or two to see if it's something funky with api.notifymyecho.com or not.

[randyth]

@Michel Kohanim

Well, I can successfully call httpbin.org's GET method using a NR on Polisy, so it sounds like something about the api.notifymyecho.com endpoint. Could this be a TLS protocol issue? (How do you change the TLS version on Polisy?)

[Michel Kohanim]

@randyth,

What's the error in the error log?

With kind regards,

Michel

[randyth]

2 hours ago, Michel Kohanim said:

@randyth,

What's the error in the error log?

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Here's what's in the error log:

Time                      	User     	Code	Message
Mon 1900/01/01 12:00:00 AM	System	-170001	<s:Envelope><s:Body><u:TestNetResource xmlns:u="urn:udi-com:service:X_Polisy_Service:1"><id>21</id><flag>1</flag></u:TestNetResource></s:Body></s:Envelope>	
Thu 2021/11/11 08:13:39 AM	0	-170001	[TCP-Conn] -1/-140002, Net Module Rule: 21
Thu 2021/11/11 08:13:39 AM	0	-170001	<s:Envelope><s:Body><u:GetLastError xmlns:u="urn:udi-com:service:X_Polisy_Service:1"></u:GetLastError></s:Body></s:Envelope>
Thu 2021/11/11 08:13:39 AM	0	-170001	<s:Envelope><s:Body><u:ClearLastError xmlns:u="urn:udi-com:service:X_Polisy_Service:1"></u:ClearLastError></s:Body></s:Envelope>

 

[MWareman]

On 11/9/2021 at 10:44 PM, larryllix said:

I have been using variable substitution in the URL portion for years now. My WiFi lights live off them. 4 NRs do my 35 WiFi lights.

Trouble is you can only use the same NR with at least one second of Wait between each calling. ISY does the substitution at send time, not at creation time and will use the second variable values for the first NR send.
IOW two rapid uses of the same NR may both send the same latest values, not what was asked for.

As have I - in the path and body.

This new capability is supposed to bring the use of # to include the triggering device - something not possible before (and the root cause of us have to put many, many rules in place)

[larryllix]

As have I - in the path and body.

This new capability is supposed to bring the use of # to include the triggering device - something not possible before (and the root cause of us have to put many, many rules in place)

That term confuses me a lot. I understood NRs were only passive to be called by programs.

Does this mean NRs can be self triggering?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[MWareman]

6 minutes ago, larryllix said:

That term confuses me a lot. I understood NRs were only passive to be called by programs.

Does this mean NRs can be self triggering?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk
 

Not self triggering (to my knowledge).

Instead of having many NRs each with a different device address and/or device name being substituted - we will be able to have a single rule with ${sys.node.#.name} (for the name of the device that triggered the program that called the NR) or ${sys.node.#.addr} for the address of the device that triggered the program that called the NR, or ${sys.node.#.st} (for the formatted status) or ${sys.node.#.st.raw} (for the raw numeric status).

For me - this is a 90% reduction of NRs. Very significant for me as I am reimplementing all rules on the ISY/POLISY.

[MrBill]

36 minutes ago, larryllix said:

That term confuses me a lot. I understood NRs were only passive to be called by programs.

Does this mean NRs can be self triggering?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk
 

The # sign already works with EMAIL notifications only on the ISY-994, it has never worked with NR's however.  In fact there is a note on this wiki page that states:

Quote

the special character # may be used to reference the element in the event that caused the program to run. (Does not work in network resources)

An example usage:

AllRecessedDoorSW - [ID 0044][Parent 0037]

If
        'Door Switches / Barn Walk-thru Door / Barn Walk-thru Low Batt' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Barn OHD Button / Barn OHD Button.3 - Low Batte' is switched Off
     Or 'Door Switches / Costco Rm NEW - Door / Costco Rm NEW Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Front Door / Front Door- Low Bat' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Garage to House Door 2 / Garage to House Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Green Rm Closet Door / Green Rm Closet Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Laundry Rm Door / Laundry Rm Door - Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / MBR Closet 2 Door / MBR Closet 2 Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Playroom Door / Playroom Door Low Battery' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / Pool Closet - Door Sensor / Pool Closet Door - Low Batter' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / RachioButtonLower / RachioButtonLower - Low Batt' is switched On
     Or 'Door Switches / RachioButtonUpper / RachioButtonUpper - Low Batte' is switched On
 
Then
        Send Notification to 'Bill' content 'DoorName'
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

which uses this email template:

(the words Low Battery are part of the node name).

This is honestly the only place I've been able to use the # due to the email limitation.  I prefer Pushover notifications, especially now that the Notification Nodeserver will retry on failed connections and some http errors.