Configurator Help
- First download the installation file to your computer.
- You will be prompted with a window where you get your unlock code or start a trial by clicking the Activate button. If you have purchased a full licence you can enter your unlock code in the lower space provided and click Unlock.
- After the Activate button has been pressed you are taken to the EverHome website where you can login to retrieve your software unlock code or be notified that you have successfully started your trial which will last for 30 days after which time you have to purchase the full version to continue using the software.
- You receive a message every time you run the Configurator informing you of how many days are remaining on your trial if you have a trial version.
- There is an option available in Add/Remove Programs and in the start menu program group to uninstall the EverHome Configurator.
Double click on the application shortcut to start EverHome's Comfort Configurator. Click the Start button to begin using the Configurator software (Figure 1).
Load Background Design
Click the Background Image button and then the Import Image button to specify the name of a JPEG to be loaded as the background design to be used for defining and configuring your home automation system. Make sure you press the OK button when you have positioned your image on the screen. The image expects to be located in a directory named 'images' to be found where the EverHome Configurator program is situated.
The image may be resized before clicking the OK button to complete the loading of the image. The first image to be loaded becomes the design for Level 1 of the dwelling. Additional levels may be added by clicking the green '+' button; levels may be removed by clicking the green '-' button. Further images may be loaded that correspond to higher levels. The number of levels supported is unlimited. Navigation between levels is accomplished by clicking the green left and right arrows.
There are options to print your design to a printer on your network and to save an image of your overall design to disk.
Data Protection Key
A data protection key is used to encrypt the configuration file that is created using the Configurator. The key specified should match the key specified in the Server Configuration Settings panel of the Configurator software. If no data encryption key is used the configuration file will be written in a readable unencrypted format. This can be useful for troubleshooting the operation of a configuration file in an EverHome Viewer.
Other Buttons
Load Config - Enables you to browse and select existing config (*.xml) files to load into configurator and edit. If you would like to open a config file from a networked location, you must first map a network drive otherwise the loading will be unsuccessful. Note that the data protection key supplied when the file was last saved must be entered to open protected files.
Save Config - Opens a dialog box to choose the location where you would like to save the config file you have created. If a Red5 installation is present on the computer at location %Red5%, a dialog will appear asking you if you would like to directly save the config file to the correct server location. This location is the %Red5%\webapps\EverHome\WEB-INF directory of the EverHome Red5 Server Component and the file must be named 'config.xml'. The background image used together with the config.xml should be saved in the images sub-directory in the same location.
Print Design - Enables you to print the current screen layout on any printer connected to your network.
Save Design as Image - Enables you to save the current screen layout as a JPEG image to disk.
Placing Objects
An object may be selected from the Library panel and dragged to a position on top of the current background. Once satisfied with the position of the object you may click the left mouse button to place the object; this opens a properties dialog at the bottom of the screen. Once an object's properties have been defined the OK button should be pressed to set the object into position. Pressing the Cancel button will abort the editing process on an object. Multiple objects may have the same control properties to replicate the situation where there are multiple objects operating from the one control point.
User Permissions
Three user levels exist - Basic, Power and Administrator. Assigning a user permission to an object designates the permission required to be able to control the object. An object assigned 'Power' user permission cannot be controlled by a user who has only been granted the Basic user permission; it can be controlled by a Power User or Administrator.
Description
When the EverHome client software is running the description for an object is displayed as a tooltip when the mouse hovers above the object.
Lighting
Lights of two different shapes - round or oblong- may be added to a design. First the type of light must be specified; at present CBus, Rako and direct output lights are supported. For CBus lights after the type of light a number of other properties need to be defined. The UCM of the light control, a description, the permission level, the output number and whether it is dimmable may be specified.
Multimedia
This feature is not yet available. It is planned to offer a virtual universal remote control that will have the facility to transmit IR codes to an array of home entertainment devices.
Electric Blinds
These are designed to operate by direct output or by pulsing one output to make a blind go down and pulsing another output to make a blind go up. A description and permission level may also be defined.
Doors
Two types of doors may be defined. Hinged doors operate by swinging open and close while sliding doors open and close in a sliding fashion.
If a door has an electric strike the checkbox labeled 'Electric Strike' should be ticked and the number of the associated output specified. If a door has a reed switch detector indicating whether the door is open or closed the checkbox labeled 'Door Sensor' should be ticked and the number of the associated input specified.
Besides a description and the permission level a door may be maneuvered by rotating it, flipping it, adjusting its width and height to get it sized and best positioned. To check the positioning and observe the dynamic behaviour of a door the 'Play Animation' can be pressed.
Cameras
Cameras can be defined with a URL specifying the http address and port number for accessing an IP-based camera through a browser. Alternatively a web camera can be defined.
Movement Sensors
PIR devices have an input number, description and permissions level.
Keypads
At least one keypad should be located on the layout to allow commands that can be entered through a keypad to be defined.
Custom
One may define a custom button whose behaviour is specially customized. A custom button allows any type of control to be created for which a standard primitive has not been made provided in the EverHome product. The user needs to edit the properties of a custom object to specify the button colour, button text and the Comfort response or raw code to action when the button is pressed.
A custom button can be given a single character name and a text description.
Server Configuration Settings
The first time you get to this screen (Figure 2) you should enter the IP address and port of your Red5 server, specify the passwords for the different user levels and specify whether you are using email notifications from your server or date-time synchronisation with your home automation system. The server configuration settings should be named EverHome.xml and saved to your Red5 conf folder. Note that to load your configuration file EverHome.xml across a network the location you choose must be a mapped network drive.
Creating Macros with Custom Buttons
Once you have finalized your Configurator layout you can create Macros (scenes) to combine a set of outcomes to be triggered by a single button. You drag a Custom button to your screen giving it a single character name and a description. Next you should click the arrow to the right of the label 'Edit Properties Panel for this button' and select a 'Custom Object Properties' button dragging it to a spot of your choice in the right panel of the screen. You should specify some Button Text and choose the Macro option from the drop down box. Click the Record Macro option and proceed to choose a set of actions you wish to associate with the button. When you have finished recording macro items you press the 'Stop Record' button, press OK and click the 'Finish Editing Custom' button, finally pressing OK to complete the process of specifying your Custom Object.
Using Comfort CCL file to create EverHome Configuration
Open your Comfort CCL file in your favourite editor and find where the input/zones have been defined for your Comfort system. When defining your inputs first work out what automation item type to which the input setting refers. For example in the demo CCL the front door is input 1; it has a door sensor but no electric strike. The hallway movement sensor is input 2 and lounge room movement sensor is input 3. The night sensor is input 4. The smoke detector is input 5. The garage door is input 8.
Similarly work through the outputs that are configured on Comfort and incorporate them into the EverHome configuration.