Mobile Web App with Screenshots (Updated)

[momanz]

I reset (deleted the contents of) my logfile and it appears to be working. I’ll run one of my programs this evening and take a closer look at all the entries.

[Samer]

Fantastic! I suppose I could “pad” all the old entries but that might introduce more problems than its worth. I think for anyone wanting the new rain sensor logging they should just empty their log files like you did, assuming everything works well.

Thanks for the feedback!

[kenbob]

@salbahra wrote:

@kenbob I pushed an update for the RPi interval program to address the sequential mode (rather the lack of it). It will now properly preview programs.

Enjoy!

Thank You salbahra. I will update it tonight to the latest. I was able to download everything this morning and it works great. I used it today when I had to troubleshoot and adjust the sprinklers heads. No screen issues on IOS 6.1.3. 😀

[kenbob]

Salbahra everything looks good on the new download, except now when you run a scheduled program it no longer registers in the Sprinkler Stations in current status (It does not change to Green showing it is in operation), however it does for manual mode and run once.

[Samer]

@kenbob This has been addressed and fixed in the latest code posted on Ray’s Github. Please update your OSPi program from here: https://github.com/rayshobby/opensprinkler/tree/master/OpenSprinkler%20Pi/software/demos/interval_program

You will notice the Jun 22, 2013 update which addresses every bug that has been discussed in this forum and is 100% compatible with my mobile application.

[Oasiz37]

Hi,

Since you’re done with bug fixes, how about a feature request? 🙂

1. Could you please update the log so it’ll provide the program information? The OpenSprinkler does say what caused the last station to operate (e.g. it knows the difference between the scheduled program and a run-once command).
2. The page title says “Open Sprinkler” (or whatever’s configured during the install) on the main page only. It would be nice to have it on all pages, i.e. “Open Sprinkler: Logs” instead of “Logs”. Helps when you have lots of tabs open in a browser in desktop mode.

Thank you!

[Samer]

@Oasiz37 Thanks for the suggestions! In regards to your first bullet the OS keeps track of only the very last station run but does not report what program/mode is running each station when polled (using http://OS_IP/sn0) so there is no really good way to grab this data via the API (unless I decide to parse the lrun array every minute and try and make sense of it, which is only updated after the station is off). Plus, I really don’t know the best way to display the data if I had it. The logging system is being pushed to it’s limits IMO and would require an overhaul to add even more features as suggested in this forum (graphs, program/mode of each station run, etc). I managed to stuff the rain sensor log in because it was easy but anything else would be too much at this point.

Also, in regard to your previous request about the interval duration (HH:MM vs MM), I looked into it and could not find a simple solution and have deferred that until something comes up allowing the change.

Update: For your second bullet, I added that feature and pushed it to Github! Page title on any page after the home page will be prefixed by the $webtitle variable in the config. Enjoy!

[Samer]

I am debating adding an updater to the watcher.php script so that updates from Github are automatically pulled. Is this something people would be interested in? I know some people might find this weird so curious as to how people would want this implemented, if at all. I think by adding a setting during install and in the configuration (ex. $auto_update = 1) then checking against it during watcher.php runs, as such:

if ($auto_update) `git pull`;

Of course, this requires your using git instead of downloading the zip/tar and extracting manually but it should serve it’s purpose just fine, I think.

Let me know what you guys think.

Edit: Also, shell exec would have to be allowed for this to work.

[Vaughano]

@salbahra wrote:

I am debating adding an updater to the watcher.php script so that updates from Github are automatically pulled. Is this something people would be interested in? I know some people might find this weird so curious as to how people would want this implemented, if at all. I think by adding a setting during install and in the configuration (ex. $auto_update = 1) then checking against it during watcher.php runs, as such:

if ($auto_update) `git pull`;

Of course, this requires your using git instead of downloading the zip/tar and extracting manually but it should serve it’s purpose just fine, I think.

Let me know what you guys think.

Edit: Also, shell exec would have to be allowed for this to work.

Samer, I think this auto-update would be ok, but I would default it to be off, and possibly hide it away in ‘advanced config’ or something with enough help information for people to diagnose problems with it. I personally wouldn’t use it unless it was detailed with respect to displaying versioning/release information, etc. At least show the snapshot date for the running code.

I reckon it could generate a lot of confusion if it went wrong for people, but if done well it would be useful. But it’s really a developer feature, and should be exposed to the user as such.

Keep up the good work! This webapp is proving very popular, as shown in this thread.

Cheers
Vaughano

[Samer]

@Vaughano Thank you very much! I think you make some very valid points and at the very least have brought to my attention how elaborate the system would have to be to account for errors, etc. I’ll be the first to admit I have pushed some updates that broke things and required a subsequent update. For now, I will hold off on the idea and revisit it at a later time.

Thanks again!

[kkpwrh2o]

Samer, Ray, Dan,

Outstanding work on the OSPI, Web App, and hardware!!! You guys rock. I want you to know how much I appreciate all the inovation in your coding , hardware design, and blogging!!

I have been following every post on this subject with great interest. Now that the code is settling down, I and many others would be most grateful for a step by step walkthrough of the files to download and how setup the OPSI and web app.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Samer]

@Kevin thanks for the kind words! I agree the documentation needs to be more cohesive. At this point, there is information on Ray’s website on how to get the OpenSprinkler Pi setup, documentation on Ray’s blog on how to install the OSPi interval program, and information on my Github page for the web app installation but it is fragmented and could be useful if it all came together. I think Ray is an excellent blogger and hopefully he will post back here with some more information/guidance.

Just to bring everything into one post, these are the steps to get the OSPi up and running with the interval program and web app:

1) Follow the instruction’s on Ray’s website for general hardware installation (Steps 1-5): http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=5874
2) Setup the operating system on the RPi by following the quick-start guide (Boot up into Raspbian): http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quick-start-guide-v2.pdf
3) Install the OSPi software by following Ray’s blog post: http://rayshobby.net/?p=6339

For the web application you have two choices. You can either install and run the web app from your Raspberry Pi (or your own server) OR you can directly use the web application hosted on Ray’s website. Once you make a decision you will continue to step 4a or 4b. Just to give some information to help make a decision, if your using an OpenSprinkler Pi, 4a might be more useful since you already have the hardware to host your own copy. The other advantage of 4a is logging capability.

Option 4b is better suited for users of OpenSprinkler (not the RPi version) and do not have a computer running 24/7 at home. However, option 4b does require a port to be forwarded on your home router.

4a) Install the web app using Ray’s blog post: http://rayshobby.net/?p=6409

–OR–

4b) Navigate to my web app hosted on Ray’s website and using your WAN IP you can access your OSPi: http://rayshobby.net/apps/sprinklers/

Anyone is welcome to bring this information into an easier to present document and I would love to assist with any questions but I doubt I could draft up clearer documentation than the ones linked above.

Thanks!

[Samer]

I am finally making some progress on the program preview and wanted to show everyone a preview of what I have, so far.

It is perfect on the desktop (ironically enough) but still needs some work on mobiles. Once I finish tweaking everything I will incorporate it into the app and push the update.

Let me know what you think so far!

[andrew]

Very cool app. I’ve got it running on my raspberry pi and everything runs like a charm.

One bug that I noticed: when creating or modifying a program, the interval slider has a maximum value that seems to be too high for the backend opensprinkler program (at least the one running on the RPi). If you select the maximum value, it respnds as if everything is behaving correctly (and in fact, the program even shows up in the schedule), but it does not seem to actually execute when the time comes. I notice that if I use the same value (24 hours, 00 minutes) on the python-based interval program it displays an error and doesn’t allow me to save. On the mobile app, it does let me save, but the interval silently ignores the offending program. I suppose one could mark this up as a bug in both the mobile and the python program, since the python program ought to correctly validate the programs it’s receiving from the mobile app but it’s probably a ridiculously easy fix on the mobile app side.

Sorry if the bug detail is confusing. I can clarify if you don’t understand. Basically, however, the maximum needs to be set down to 23 hours and 59 minutes (I think), instead of a full 24 hours.

[Samer]

@andrew Thank you for the bug report! I updated my code, and pushed the changes, changing the maximum from 1440 minutes (24 hours) to 1439 minutes. Very easy fix as you suggested, thanks again!

[andrew]

Thanks. I’ve updated and it seems to work correctly (I’m not yet confirmed that the program is executed, but I’m no longer seeing the same error when I try to update a program on the python app that was set to 1439 minutes from the mobile app.

While I’m at it, I’ve got one more bug for you (this one is borderline minutia):
On an iPhone, if I try to change either the “operation” or “manual mode” toggle switch by swiping to the right (rather than just pushing with my finger) it has the slightly annoying habit of taking me into the settings page (as if I swiped to the right elsewhere on the page). In my opinion, you could just do away with the “swipe to get to the settings” feature all together, as there is a button in the top-left corner that works just as well, but that’s just my two sense.

Also: since you were looking for feedback, I really like screenshot you posed for the preview screen. Will there be a way to jump to a day or would I have to scroll forward and backward?

[cmwahlqu]

The interface bug relating to running it on iOS 7 is now resolved with the beta 2 coming out today. Works great!

[Samer]

@andrew I guess I never tested that. I will see if I can catch the swipe motions over the flip switches and ignore it.

As for the preview programs window that will be incorporated into the current page. Therefore, the current date selector on the top will still be active to change the days. I am actually merging the two as we speak and will hopefully be better to explain it with a visual soon!

[Samer]

@cmwahlqu That’s fantastic! Was actually planning on asking you since I saw beta 2 out today.

Thanks!

[Samer]

Great news! I actually have the preview working using live data. It’s a bit of a tight fit at the moment but here is a working preview:

The only issues left are stuffing the program ID inside the box and fixing a minor bug rendering the preview on page change. Should hopefully get this pushed out today. I assume everyone prefers this to the boring text that existed before?

[Vaughano]

Looks good, Samer!

This may fit nicely with my plans to superimpose flow data on top of valve actuation logs. I will definitely have a look at your code and see if I can reuse it.

Cheers
Vaughano

[Samer]

@Vaughano Thank you!

I pushed a version out now, like the commit states it has a lot of work to be done. Especially, on mobile devices. The initial zoom on mobile is just to large to provide any instant feedback of what is happening. When zoomed out the bar is too narrow and thus cuts off the program ID. I have ideas on how to fix most of these issues but for now please let me know how it is working for everyone in case I need to troubleshooting issues I cannot foresee.

Thanks!

Update: I finally addressed the bug when first opening the preview page. Got it loading perfectly now (at least for me). For the narrow iPhone’s screen I made a small modification where I check the time range of the scheduled programs and then narrow it down if its beyond a certain range. At the very least, the program ID now properly displays inside the bar. Since the graph is moveable and zoomable it is up to the user to navigate around on the small screen to fully see the program for the day. On a larger screen this should be much easier. Also, on smaller screens I purposefully cut off the station names on the left to give more viewing space to the time ranges. I do this because 16 characters of text can take up half the width of the iPhone normally, which was way too much. This is done via @media queries on CSS so simply rotating the iPhone, for example, will change the text back to full width.

Update 2: At a later point, I want to do what Ray does with his preview and give programs unique colors to help differentiate them. I also want to stylize programs that will NOT be run due to rain delay. Lastly, I want to add master stations to the visual representation. All of these are on the to do list for a later date. I am happy I finally got this data to be more visual in nature which is more in line with the overall theme of the app. Look forward to everyone’s feedback!

[maddox]

I am having a problem trying to enable manual mode or changing operation mode from the browser (both chrome on a desktop machine or safari on my iphone). I get “error communicating with Opensprinkler, Please check your password is correct.” I can see all the setup parameters, stations, programs, and even activate a run-once program. I can use the password accessing the interval program’s web controls.

I went to /var/www/sprinklers/config.php and validated that the $os_pw = ‘opendoor’; (using Ray’s default password for testing)

Any thoughts on what I have misconfigured?

Maddox

[Samer]

@maddox That is odd! Usually nothing works or it all works. Can you provide any logs? In particular the PHP logs from /var/log/apache2/error.log.

Are you using OSPi or OS? If your using OSPi can you provide the log files from it? This can be done by running ospi from console: python ospi.py

This used to be an issue on the OSPi before the Dan updated to the latest version. You need to be using OSPi >=June 22, 2013.

[kenbob]

Hi salbahra, I tried the latest version and everything is working great on my end so far. Tested on both the Opensprinkler and Raspberry Pi. Love the new graphical interface for logging. Looks Great!

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