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@salbahra wrote:
@Zapp Sorry if that was too much. Basically, I am blaming the interval program for now. Just let me know if this problem is showing up in the interval program or only my web application. If it is both, then as you said, we should just hang tight until Dan or Ray push an update. Otherwise, I need to fix something 😛
Thanks!
Edit: This is what I posted on Dan’s post to describe the problem: http://rayshobby.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=160&start=20#p1101
Looks like it’s in both so Dan or Ray has to do something to the github before I can continue with the testing.
/Jonas…
@Zapp Thank you!
I looked into the last run time and you are 100% correct. The interval program is not setting the correct time. This issue is not happening because of my web application and is also out of my control.
I will dive into the interval program if I get some free time today and see if I can patch these bugs up.
Thanks!
@Zapp I made a patch for the Raspberry Pi interval program that should fix a couple issues, specifically the last run time being incorrect.
Information and the patch can be found here: http://rayshobby.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=160&p=1106#p1106
@djagerif I just added the update notification. You will now be notified on the main screen if an update is available!
Nice job with the updates. This app has come a long way in a really short time. I have a couple of points for discussion and one possible bug to report.
The possible bug first. There may be a problem with how the app is calculating the amount of time the rain sensor has been active. I had a couple of days where my rain sensor had disabled my unit. In the corresponding log entry what I found is that the time stamp was changing for the same rain detection event while rain was detected. Over the course of 2 days I saw the time stamp change to more recent times when I checked the log. This behavior started when the code to calculate rain sensor time, while the sensor was detecting rain, was implemented. Now here’s the complicating factor, I updated the code on my server while the rain sensor was active, and I did NOT clear my log file. I won’t be able to do any more trouble shooting for a couple of weeks, but I thought I’d get this out there in case anyone else has seen similar behavior or is able to test using a rain sensor.
Some feedback on the UI. Most of these points are observations or points for discussion so please chime in and offer counter views. The app works quite well as it is, I look at the items below as opportunities for improvement.
1) I like having current weather displayed on the main screen, but I wonder if there isn’t a better way to do it. The problem is one of wasted space on either side of the Icon / text. On larger displays it’s probably ok, but on a small phone display (or even a larger phone display) it seems like space could be better utilized. I do like the fact that the Program control and System Information Groups fit perfectly on my screen.
2) It seems like the items in the “system control” section may be better placed on a separate page. It’s too easy to hit one of the buttons when swiping up or down. Also, I don’t think there is a need to have quick access to any of these setting. I’ve already accidentally turned off the Operation toggle while swiping. I can easily see my self accidentally hitting one of the toggles and not realizing it. Both will disable automatic operation of the controller.
3) On the program preview screen. I think it would be useful to have arrows on either side of the date to advance the day. I saw that there was some discussion previously on how different browsers handle different date entries in the context of the NaN error, but I don’t think we’ve explicitly requested the arrows to advance the date. Is it even possible? Is that something that others would find useful?
Ok That’s it for now. Keep up the good work.
-m
Thank you! Okay so I will try and address some things and ask for some more information on others. In regards to the rain sensor bug I will look into it but I am starting to think its time to rewrite logging!
@momanz wrote:
1) I like having current weather displayed on the main screen, but I wonder if there isn’t a better way to do it. The problem is one of wasted space on either side of the Icon / text. On larger displays it’s probably ok, but on a small phone display (or even a larger phone display) it seems like space could be better utilized. I do like the fact that the Program control and System Information Groups fit perfectly on my screen.
I see your point about the wasted space, I think its worse on larger screens and desktops and actually looks pretty nice on mobile. With that said, do you think showing more information abou the device next to the weather would help offset the dead space? If so, what types of things would you like to see? I know something I want to add to the status page is total program duration remaining (something I just figured out I can calculate) but if there is anything in the status page you deem important enough to pull out and show next to the weather on the top let me know. I could even “style” the weather box as a “quick status” view.
@momanz wrote:
2) It seems like the items in the “system control” section may be better placed on a separate page. It’s too easy to hit one of the buttons when swiping up or down. Also, I don’t think there is a need to have quick access to any of these setting. I’ve already accidentally turned off the Operation toggle while swiping. I can easily see my self accidentally hitting one of the toggles and not realizing it. Both will disable automatic operation of the controller.
I agree 100% with this point! They did seem out of place but the darn things stuck with me since my first version and don’t really have a home at this point. They dont fall under status since I label that as an information page. Do you think I should give them their own page or toss them in the side panel?
@momanz wrote:
3) On the program preview screen. I think it would be useful to have arrows on either side of the date to advance the day. I saw that there was some discussion previously on how different browsers handle different date entries in the context of the NaN error, but I don’t think we’ve explicitly requested the arrows to advance the date. Is it even possible? Is that something that others would find useful?
This is a great point! I can very easily add buttons and the best part is that space is not being used anyways. I have toyed with narrowing the date input box but I honestly had nothing to put on the sides so I kept it large, now I do! Thanks for this suggestion expect to see this one very soon!
Thanks for your feedback! I love UI issues because this is something I have little experience dealing with and love to learn!
Update: The preview page has been update with a left/right button to advance the dates forward and backwards. It properly handles month changes as well so it helps get rid of the invalid date issues if you use them. Thanks for the suggestion this is awesome!
Update 2: Doing some thinking and found one idea but needs some fine-tuning. Going to run it here and see what people think. I could turn the homepage into a status page, add a footer with 3 buttons (programs, info, control) and move the appropriate menu’s into each sub page. I think this could make the home page a lot nicer by using icons and other things for the device’s status but would also require some work and a lot of design (which I’m not good at). The only way something like this could happen is if anyone had a true vision of what they think would be best. If this is something you are interested in, sketch up an idea or try and describe it and I can easily implement it. Here is where I am getting this idea from (I obviously don’t mean to copy this but I think the bottom two sections are nicely displayed. Also, I cannot get rain fall data but forecast is no problem.): http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/092/Purple2/v4/32/12/c7/3212c7aa-318c-b801-2bfa-831c0dd0f5bb/mzl.vovidanb.320×480-75.jpg
The other idea is moving the system control into it’s own page and linking it from the side panel. Also, I could just move the 4 options in control into the side panel directly (without their own page).
So on the web interface, the weather only seems to update if you refresh the main page. I thought it was just me, but I opened the web page on my laptop early today and it never changed. I just looked at it again, and it still says the same weather. I know the system works as I just opened the same page on my Phone— STILL VERY VERY COOL BTW!!!— and it shows the actual current weather. Maybe it is just me, or an issue with the web interface. Not sure.
I think the weather icon at the top is cool, but in the space to the right or left you could have something that says sprinklers ON.. or rain delay on… I have still not worked on a rain sensor here yet.. of course it has been almost 100 the last few weeks, and we are in a drought, so it has not been a priority. LOL
Again, excellent work and I am so glad you are working with Ray on this project. He came up with a totally awesome hardware package that works flawlessly, and with your interface, again.. just what I was looking for.
Thanks again
Mitch@wyone I am happy people are enjoying the application! I agree 100% Ray has put together some killer hardware!!!
Here is how the weather works (in the latest version): When you first open the application I check to see if we know the WOEID (a Yahoo specific location identifier), if it is not known we do a lookup using your location on the OpenSprinkler. We then cache this value for the remainder of the app and only update it if you change your settings. Every time the main page is shown we update the weather. This includes going back and forth between pages. However, the weather will not update by itself, a page change has to trigger it.
By the way, the weather problems are because the web app still hasn’t been updated yet on Ray’s website. Hopefully, he will get that updated soon and we can see if your issues are resolved.
@salbahra wrote:
Thank you! Okay so I will try and address some things and ask for some more information on others. In regards to the rain sensor bug I will look into it but I am starting to think its time to rewrite logging!
I’d love to see a new logging system implemented with entries for the entire system state as recorded entries as well as current weather observations. I think SQLite could be a reasonable choice of database engine if one were to go that route… Don’t read too much into the database statement as I only spent an evening looking around at web forms and data management…
@salbahra wrote:
@momanz wrote:
1) I like having current weather displayed on the main screen, but I wonder if there isn’t a better way to do it. The problem is one of wasted space on either side of the Icon / text. On larger displays it’s probably ok, but on a small phone display (or even a larger phone display) it seems like space could be better utilized. I do like the fact that the Program control and System Information Groups fit perfectly on my screen.
I see your point about the wasted space, I think its worse on larger screens and desktops and actually looks pretty nice on mobile. With that said, do you think showing more information abou the device next to the weather would help offset the dead space? If so, what types of things would you like to see? I know something I want to add to the status page is total program duration remaining (something I just figured out I can calculate) but if there is anything in the status page you deem important enough to pull out and show next to the weather on the top let me know. I could even “style” the weather box as a “quick status” view.
I like the idea of having some kind of system status indication in that space, time remaining on a current program, and if nothing is running the program information can be replaced with the next scheduled program? Another possibility is having weather forecast information. Keep the current weather and then have tomorrow’s forecast next to it. In the third tile you can add additional weather statistics that would help you decide on how to program the system. For example average monthly temperatures, weekly or monthly rainfall totals could be useful in helping one decide on whether or not to increase or decrease watering times.
@salbahra wrote:
@momanz wrote:
2) It seems like the items in the “system control” section may be better placed on a separate page. It’s too easy to hit one of the buttons when swiping up or down. Also, I don’t think there is a need to have quick access to any of these setting. I’ve already accidentally turned off the Operation toggle while swiping. I can easily see my self accidentally hitting one of the toggles and not realizing it. Both will disable automatic operation of the controller.
I agree 100% with this point! They did seem out of place but the darn things stuck with me since my first version and don’t really have a home at this point. They dont fall under status since I label that as an information page. Do you think I should give them their own page or toss them in the side panel?
I think the system control group can be it’s own page with access to the group being a link in the side panel. It would be a good idea to have a status indicator on the main page though. Those sliders also act as indicators telling us if the system is on/off or in Auto/manual modes. Maybe turn the group title bars to a dark red color to signify that the sprinkler system is disabled (either by virtue of being turned off or being in manual mode with no station running).
@salbahra wrote:
Update 2: Doing some thinking and found one idea but needs some fine-tuning. Going to run it here and see what people think. I could turn the homepage into a status page, add a footer with 3 buttons (programs, info, control) and move the appropriate menu’s into each sub page. I think this could make the home page a lot nicer by using icons and other things for the device’s status but would also require some work and a lot of design (which I’m not good at). The only way something like this could happen is if anyone had a true vision of what they think would be best. If this is something you are interested in, sketch up an idea or try and describe it and I can easily implement it. Here is where I am getting this idea from (I obviously don’t mean to copy this but I think the bottom two sections are nicely displayed. Also, I cannot get rain fall data but forecast is no problem.): http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/092/Purple2/v4/32/12/c7/3212c7aa-318c-b801-2bfa-831c0dd0f5bb/mzl.vovidanb.320×480-75.jpg
What you describe above is interesting, but I’m not sure I’d go after it in such a short timeframe though.
On a slightly different note, take a look at the weatherunderground API. Lots of info / weather stats available, not sure if all of it is free.
@momanz The weather underground API requires a key which can’t be shared by multiple people due to limits which means each person needs to obtain their own, something I want to avoid since it makes installation more complicated.
I want to upgrade to SQL but not just for logging however this introduces a huge headache for current users (or me). Either a nice upgrade script has to be made to transition users or a new install would be required by everyone. Honestly, I am not motivated to write an upgrade script so, for now, SQL migration is on hold along with the logging overhaul.
I am checking the width where the weather is on mobile and I am somewhat constrained. Currently, the content has padding thats equal to the space around the lists on the main page. That leaves me with very little room to add things next to weather on the mobile and as a result is giving me a headache trying to figure out what to add there and how. I thought about showing an icon for system status (check mark or X) but then I would want to make it clickable to switch between the two (which makes accidental clicks even more of a reality). I don’t want to add something for the sake of filling space. I would like it to be functional as well. Most people will know if there system is enabled or not already. Also, program information might be too much to cram up there. I was thinking of putting a transparent overlay on the bottom of the page IF a program was running showing which program (manual, run-once, or ID) along with duration left and scrolling left / right between that and which station is currently active. To see what I mean I am linking a screenshot of Google Shopper on iOS. Notice the location text on the very bottom of the page, that is what I mean as far as location and translucency. http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/094/Purple2/v4/32/77/62/32776203-c507-63fb-70e6-10dd098e135b/mzl.fieznalx.320×480-75.jpg
I was thinking about moving the system control to it’s own page then adding a link to that page in the side panel however that adds about 3 clicks and page loads for an option that might be important for quick access (stop all stations).
I guess, I am not sure how I want to remedy the situation. I think I am going to take some time to find a clear direction instead of rushing out fixes for these problems that will inevitably be half-baked.
Update: In regard to the rain sensor log issue. I think it is related to the time window. By that I mean, if your window is 7 days and your rain sensor actually turned on 10 days ago. The script will only go back to the 7th day and report that as the timestamp. Each day that passes, will advance the timestamp. This is because the program is ignoring anything not inside the defined window. With stations this was never a problem because I seriously doubt anyone had their station on for longer then their defined window however with the rain sensor this is possible, I think. Let me know if you think this is what is happening. If this is the case, there isn’t much I can do without slowing down the log viewer (other than switching from file to SQL).
Update 2: I have noticed a small issue touching the next/previous day buttons on mobile devices in the preview page. I plan on fixing this soon but wanted to post it in case anyone else notices.
@wyone The web application on Ray’s site has been updated! Please let me know if your weather problems have been resolved.
Hi,
Haven’t been following the updates for a week – HUGE progress, congrats on a great app.
A few comments, if you don’t mind.
1. (Found the switch, please ignore this one) I’m concerned with automatic rain delay. Is there a way to switch it off? In California, they declare a rain (and a state of emergency) when they able to count both raindrops. Besides, Yahoo shows extremely inaccurate weather anyway (like right now, it say it’s 75F outside with actual heatwave at ~90F).
2. There is no “back” button in rain delay page nor browser history updated so browser back button doesn’t work either (Firefox). The only way to get back is to click “cancel” or “submit” which is different from the rest of navigation.
3. Program Preview – (wow! I can only imagine the effort. Thank you!) – the zoom control overlaps with the program in the right lower corner. If I may suggest, it could be moved to the table’s header, upper-left corner.
4. Unused stations. I have a few, and while OpenSprinkler API doesn’t give you that information, it would be nice to have an ability to mark some stations as “unused” and hide them. Just a thought.Again – great app and thank you for your hard work!
Cheers,
Oasiz37.Thank you @Oasiz37!
In regard to your concerns:
1) You can absolutely disable it and it comes disabled by default. The only way to enable it is through settings below the primary settings.
2) The rain delay is less a page and more a dialog/popup. I can and probably will add an X button to close the dialog which might help alleviate your concerns.
3) I like your suggestion, I can and probably will move it since the overlap can be annoying. Glad it’s working well though!
4) For this one, I used to hide stations with no name however I realized this could cause problems with the numbering so I disabled that. I don’t really have a good way to implement this right now however I will consider this in future changes.
Thanks again for the support!
Update: By the way, Yahoo is one of the few weather services we don’t need an API key to use. That is why I am using Yahoo (also @andrew contributed working code which made the integration very easy!).
Update 2: Moved the navigation items, they are now below the timeline (can easily be moved from this point but I think this is the best place for now). I also added a mouseover for the weather icon showing the text description.
Do you mind if I post trivial issues? The software is becoming so mature that those are all I may find in the future. The rain delay button on the main screen is a bit confusing because there are a number of ways that the rain delay can be turned on in the app (manual, rain sensor, online weather), but that button only really refers to manually setting the delay. Perhaps it would make more sense if the label was “Set Rain Delay” instead of just “Rain Delay”.
That just gave me a wonderful idea! I will unify rain delay into a page and move the automatic setting into the page. That will address @oceanz37’s concern and allow me to add descriptions into what each setting does. Ill hopefully get this updated today.
Thanks!
@salbahra wrote:
That just gave me a wonderful idea! I will unify rain delay into a page and move the automatic setting into the page. That will address @oceanz37’s concern and allow me to add descriptions into what each setting does. Ill hopefully get this updated today.
Thanks!
I’ll be watching this space.
/Jonas…
The rain delay changes just got pushed! I have lightly tested this so please let me know how this is working for you.
By the way, @andrew please continue to submit trivial changes, they are actually very important. I think this change exposes auto-delay options to a wider audience. I also think it fixes the dialog problems with the rain delay option before. I never thought of bringing them together before you mentioned it.
Thanks!
@momanz I redid the settings and organized them all together into the settings button on the top right. From that page you can directly edit the station names, change device options or use the system control list. I think this is a nice consolidation of all settings and also should help with the accidental enable on/off. I also like that editing station names isn’t below the device options anymore. Please let me know what you think of this!
For anyone who has noticed today, the preview was broken. I went ahead and fixed that bug.
Have you considered supporting OS V2.0? I read somewhere that is supports 5 expansion boards by default (48 Zones). Perhaps there is a way to ‘determine’ if the OS firmware is V1.8 or V2.0 and dynamically update the settings page.
If however it cannot be done then set the max expansions to 5 because when written back to OS 1.8 it will only set it internally to 3.
Ingo
I already support everything about v2.0 and didn’t realize it had a max of 5 (wasn’t documented). It’s a simple fix and will be pushed out soon.
Thanks!
Update: I made this change and I also re-tweaked the menu’s. The “stop all stations” was used frequently enough that having it buried made it hard to find/use. I also have everything alphabetically sorted at this point (except for the side panel).
In the program preview each right icon click advances 2 days, and left icon click zero days back. Not really a programmer, but looks like in the code it uses changeday(2) and changeday(0) – is this a bug. Should this be changeday(1)and changeday(-1) ?
Great find, sorry about that! This was poor coding that I accounted for with the 2/0 jumps which “worked” but not for everyone. I fixed this now, please let me know if its resolved.
Thanks!
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