Floor Plan
Note: The floor plan software works best with Firefox and Mozilla. IE, Safari and Opera have various issues with displaying the floor plan as intended. Also this page documents the default floor plan software. There appears to also be an SVG version of MisterHouse's floor plan and it appears to be broken. Further work needs to be done for that software.
MisterHouse (MH) has a relatively simple way to create a layout out of the floor plan for your home. By creating a MHT file (MisterHouse Table - a file ending in .mht) in your user code directory you can create a floor plan (from the [main] web page -> [Lights Appliances] -> [Floorplan view]).To simplify and avoid coding errors I recommend that you create 1 MHT file with all your definitions for a single interface. The file must start with:
Format = A
Note: There is also an XML version of the MHT file also but that won't be documented here.
In the gray box below is the format for creating the floor plan. You will need to modify your items.mht directly. There is no way to add these group definitions with the MH web interface. Also I had trouble modifying my existing GROUP definitions, so edit them directly in the items.mht
Simply add the GROUP definitions to the beginning (after the Format = A line above).
...existing items.mht. (with GROUP already added):
Format = A
# -*- mode: perl-mode; -*-
#
# See mh/lib/read_table_A.pl for definition of Format=A items
#
# Floor planing info:
# - If you include x,y data, you can monitor and control these items
# with the web floorplan page: http:_localhost:8080/bin/floorplan.pl
# - For items, specify the x,y after the room group name: room_group(x;y)
# - For room groups, specify x,y,width,height relative to its
# parent group: Group, room_group, parent_group(x;y;w;h)
# - By default, floorplan.pl will use $Property as the top level group
# Define Room groups for floorplan
# Numbers are X-coordinate, Y-coordinate, width, height
GROUP, BackPorch, Property(1;0;20;8)
GROUP, FamilyRoom, Property(1;8;18;15)
GROUP, Kitchen, Property(1;23;18;14)
GROUP, LivingRoom, Property(1;37;16;21)
GROUP, FrontPorch, Property(1;58;27;8)
GROUP, Garage, Property(28;40;18;22)
GROUP, Office, Property(17;43;11;15)
GROUP, Laundry, Property(17;37;8;6)
GROUP, Pantry, Property(19;28;9;6)
GROUP, HallBath, Property(21;17;5;11)
GROUP, KirksRoom, Property(33;29;13;11)
GROUP, GuestRoom, Property(33;16;13;11)
GROUP, MasterBed, Property(21;0;15;17)
GROUP, MasterBath, Property(36;0;10;10)
GROUP, MasterCloset, Property(36;10;10;7)
Note: I need to integrate the above into the updates below
New section under edit:
Misterhouse has a relatively simple way to create a layout out of the floor plan for your home. By creating a MHT file (MisterHouse Table - a file ending in .mht) in your user code directory you can create a floor plan (from the [main] web page -> [Lights Appliances] -> [Floorplan view]).To simplify and avoid coding errors I recommend that you create 1 MHT file with all your definitions for a single interface.
The MHT file contains definitions for various devices and attribute that MH uses. Things like the device interface, the rooms for the floor layout, the devices controlled by MH. Further information on the MHT file can be found on the @MHT File.
The file must start with:
Format = A
Next it is recommended that you put your interface near the start of the file but only if you need to define your interface in the MHT file. This example uses an Insteon Interface so it looks like this:
Format = A
# -*- mode: perl-mode; -*-
#
# See mh/lib/read_table_A.pl for definition of Format=A items
#
# Define the Communication interface at the from (to avoid getting a Dummy Interface instead!)
# <Interface>, <ObjectName>, <options - if needed>
Insteon_PLM, myPLM,
Note the lines that begin with #, those are comments and they are ignored by MisterHouse. Not all interfaces use the same syntax so check the documentation for your interface.
The next recommendation is to add your GROUPS. These are the rooms of your home's floor plan. I've made up a floor plan for a Cape Cod (close enough for government work ... ;-) which looks like this:
image:MH-floorplan.png align="center" caption="The Cape Cod floor plan"
The MHT entries look like this:
Format = A
# -*- mode: perl-mode; -*-
#
# See mh/lib/read_table_A.pl for definition of Format=A items
#
# Define the Communication interface at the from (to avoid getting a Dummy Interface instead!)
# <Interface>, <ObjectName>, <options - if needed>
Insteon_PLM, myPLM,
# Floor planing info:
# - If you include x,y data, you can monitor and control these items
# with the web floorplan page: http://localhost:8080/bin/floorplan.pl
# - For items, specify the x,y after the room group name: room_group(x;y)
# - For room groups, specify x,y,width,height relative to its
# parent group: Group, room_group, parent_group(x;y;w;h)
# - By default, floorplan.pl will use $Property as the top level group
# Numbers are X-coordinate (Col), Y-coordinate (row), width(->), height(v)
# Define Room groups for floorplan
#GROUP, GroupName, LayoutName(X;Y;h;w)
GROUP, PA, CapeCod(0;1;16;10)
GROUP, KI, CapeCod(0;11;16;11)
GROUP, BA, CapeCod(11;11;6;11)
GROUP, B1, CapeCod(17;11;10;11)
GROUP, FYo, CapeCod(11;22;9;3)
GROUP, CL, CapeCod(20;22;6;3)
GROUP, LR, CapeCod(0;22;17;14)
GROUP, ST, CapeCod(16;25;3;11)
GROUP, B2, CapeCod(19;25;12;11)
GROUP, PO, CapeCod(0;36;32;4)
The current version of floorplan can only handle basic squares and rectangles shapes. Groups should not overlap, otherwise the layout will come out wrong. I've chosen two and 3 letter Group names only because some of the rooms are narrow and barely fit the names. If the room is large enough then you may use longer names (experiment a bit).
Next add your devices to be controlled (the Insteon interface supports both X10 and Insteon devices).
# Type Address Name Groups Other Info
#
X10I, J1, DadsLamp, J|LR(0;7), myPLM
X10I, J2, CouchLamp1, J|LR(3;0), myPLM
X10I, J2, CouchLamp2, J|LR(8;0), myPLM
X10I, J3, FoyerLight, J|FYo(4;0), myPLM
X10I, J4, PatioLight1, J|PO(4;0), myPLM
X10I, J5, PatioLight2, J|PO(12;0), myPLM
X10I, J4, PatioLight3, J|PO(20;0), myPLM
X10I, J6, PatioLight, J|PA, myPLM
This X10 device (DadsLamp) will be added to the J, and LR groups. Not the 0:7 are coordinates are a relative offset from within the room. If you don't assign and offset the device is added to the bottom right of the room and the next device will be placed next to it. The previous devices look like this:
One thing to remember is that you can't put the icons exactly where you want them. Just try to get them reasonable placed. Also if the device is in an unknown state a link will not be provided. Instead test with the device's name and current state will be added to the page until the device state becomes known.
Flooplan.pl uses a default set of icons for its objects (devices) in a room. This tends to be a lamp for most objects. Sometimes it's helpful to use different icons for the object being controlled.
X10O, J6, CR_Therm, J|CR, myPLM
In this example the device is a X10 thermostat who MH object is CR_Therm. To change the icons used by various states (such as on and off) add this code to a file in you code directory. My preference is for a file called icons.pl.
# $object->set_fp_icons( on => '<path to on icon>', foo => '<path to off icon>');
$object->set_fp_icons( on => 'fp-therm-off.png', foo => 'fp-therm-off.png');
The images should be stored in the ${MH_HOME}/web/graphics directory in the main MH directory. Other devices may support addition or different states (such as still, motion or complete). Check the modules Perl Module to determine the supported states.
The latest SVG Floorplan software works with Firefox, Opera and Safari properly. IE up to version 8 does not natively support SVG. A plugin from Adobe does work well enough. It can be found here:
@http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/
Adobe says the plugin works with Win 95 through Win XP. It has been tested with XP and IE8. IE9 Beta is reported to support SVG.
If you use Firefox you'll need at least Firefox 3.6.
- Subversion version of MisterHouse (r1785 or later)
- SVG.pm installed
- Browser with SVG support (Firefox 3.6 or later, Opera 10, Safari, IE 9 beta or later, or IE6 or later with the Adobe SVG plugin)
The SVG () version of the Floor Plan software is similar to the look and feel of the original Floor Plan software. Every 10 seconds the page is refreshed and any changes in device state is reflected on the we page.
Format = A
# -*- mode: perl-mode; -*-
#
# See mh/lib/read_table_A.pl for definition of Format=A items
#
# Define the Communication interface at the from (to avoid getting a Dummy Interface instead!)
# <Interface>, <ObjectName>, <options - if needed>
Insteon_PLM, myPLM,
# Floor planing info:
# - If you include x,y data, you can monitor and control these items
# with the web floorplan page: http://localhost:8080/bin/floorplan.pl
# - For items, specify the x,y after the room group name: room_group(x;y)
# - For room groups, specify x,y,width,height relative to its
# parent group: Group, room_group, parent_group(x;y;w;h)
# - By default, floorplan.pl will use $Property as the top level group
# Numbers are X-coordinate (Col), Y-coordinate (row), width(->), height(v)
# Define Room groups for floorplan
#GROUP, GroupName, LayoutName(X;Y;h;w)
GROUP, PA, CapeCod(0;1;16;10)
GROUP, KI, CapeCod(0;11;16;11)
GROUP, BA, CapeCod(11;11;6;11)
GROUP, B1, CapeCod(17;11;10;11)
GROUP, FYo, CapeCod(11;22;9;3)
GROUP, CL, CapeCod(20;22;6;3)
GROUP, LR, CapeCod(0;22;17;14)
GROUP, ST, CapeCod(16;25;3;11)
GROUP, B2, CapeCod(19;25;12;11)
GROUP, PO, CapeCod(0;36;32;4)
Still needs the devices and additional information added
blah blah blah
Image of Cape Cod with devices goes here
- add scenes info
- Add a more detailed explanation of dealing with icons and states
- add explanation that hovering over the icon, displays the current device name and state (that version needs to be checked into svn)
- Add explanation of how to layout devices in a room
- Add arbitrary images to the floor plan
- Further explain what SVG floor plan can do and how to use it.
//added the beginning section explaining the need to modify items.mht directly - tv - 20080625// This is a work in progress - //njc - 20101125//