RE: xAP newbie - HA oldie!

["Adam Stevens" <adam@xxxxxxx>]

>    xAP's real intent is to provide a common basis for the
> exchange of data between nearly any kind of device. As it is
> simple (human readable) yet powerful

Quick question... Why wasn't it XML based? (Not a criticism, simply a
question!).

> When xAP was added to
> HomeSeer for example every device that had a HomeSeer plugin
> (and there's a lot) became a xAP enabled device - and
> conversley all the xAP devices became HomeSeer devices.

Yes, I really must look at that.  xAP -> Homeseer would be quite handy.

> It may be that your applications offer
> different featuresets (or OS base) to those that are already
> available.

My CID system has grown over several years, and in that time has turned
into more of a centralized server for HA announcements than just CID
(eg, TiVo/Slimp3 display, SAPI, UDP etc... All stuff I'm sure is already
available with xAP).  However, as you say, it might be a good base to at
least get myself used to the protocol, even if nothing else.

> Another alternative is enhancing your apps to include xAP ?

Yes, I think that's the sollution.

[Sipura]
> Several
> possibilities here of how to best do this either by
> implementing the telephony schema in a new xAP app directly
> supporting the Sipura, or using some of the schema support
> already in xAPTel and picking up the Sipura stuff either
> directly (UDP) or via xAP - or even supporting such
> things in say xAP Switchboard directly.   I am working on a
> CTI schema
> (rather than the existing CID schema) so we should confer here.

Ah.  That sounds interesting.  You may has seen my questions in xAP Dev
with regards to the limitations of the Meteor CID schema for supporting
additional information such as VoIP.

> What environment are you programming in Adam ?

Delphi v7 under Windows.  I also do quite a bit of .net, but mainly just
for web sites and services (see http://www.whatsthecost.com for my
asp.net "test bed"!).  I generally use Delphi for anything which
runs on
the Desktop, and .net for anything "webby" (sites, SOAP etc).

> I think that's an interesting path for you as it keeps your
> interoerability with your existing applications allowing
> migration and you could  even add some xAP support in your
> server (issuing xAP OSD messages perhaps)?

Is there a general "database logging" xAP module?  I tend to log
everything to a database (my way of thinking is that if you know it, log
it - You never know when you might need it again!).  I'm guessing that
database logging would best happen in a separate module, as that means
you have the choice of running it or not.

> Yes, xAP uses port 3639 as the send broadcast port but (of
> necessity) xAP applications need to be able to listen on any
> port.

Ah, Patrick mentioned xAP Hubs to me over on dev.  I'll have to have a
look at that, but I think I understand the basic principle.

> If you haven't found the xAP v1.2  spec it is available on
> the main xAP
> website at www.xapautomation.org and also do take a look at the BSC
> (Basic Status and Control) schema there as it is a great way
> of getting
> immediate interoperability between xAP devices and plug and play with
> HomeSeer., Xlobby etc.  BSC as the name implies handles
> simple devices
> that are of three types,  either 'ONOFF' ,  LEVEL based or
> TEXT which
> conveniently encompasses 99% of all devices.

Thanks Kevin, I'll have a look at those when I get the time.  I am
pretty busy with "real" work at the moment, so I'm not sure when
I'll
get the time to have a real look at all this, but it's certainly
interesting stuff, and looks like it's the way for me to go with my own
software.

Cheers,
A.