Feature Requests for My plugins...

Posted on
Tue Oct 16, 2012 5:31 pm
bschollnick2 offline
Posts: 1355
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Location: Rochester, Ny

Feature Requests for My plugins...

If you have a feature request, please leave a comment below....

Each Feature request, should include the following information:

  • The plugin that the feature request is for
  • A short description of the Feature request (or Enhancement). This is your elevator pitch to me on why I should add this feature or enhancement.
  • Why would this Feature request / Enhancement be a good idea? Think of this as the Business justification for the feature / enhancement.
  • Some details about the background of the request, so that I can seriously make this feature work in your installation. The more information I have, the better I can make this feature / enhancement.
  • The plugin that the feature request is for

For example, some short justifications, could be (Please note, I would suggest them to be longer and more detailed, but I think this demonstrates my point:

Suggested.....
  • Adding support for the subspace ethernet adapter will speed up transmission speed and reliability.
  • Supporting the Insteon 220 modules would open up the EU, and other EU countries to Indigo
  • Adding Kanji support to Weather Conditions would allow the Kanji using users to read it...

Less Likely to work....
  • My brother says this is neat. So you should support it.
  • But I want the feature! Why wouldn't someone want a plugin to display the daily lolcat image!

While we may not like the idea of having to wait, it happens. Sometimes there is a technical reason, and sometimes a resource issue, that is holding development back...... I do try to address all feature requests, and I am hoping to use this forum to help track and prioritize feature requests / enhancements...

Indigo is one of the best Home automation packages, for technical and non-technical users... Matt & Jay have the hard job of dealing with the resource allocation, and figuring out how to have the GUI represent all of these "things" in a way that everyone can use it... The same issue arises with the plugin authors, we have to consider different models and methods to make the complex simple.

The original security script, is a perfect example. It started as an Applescript attachment script, which was hard to customize and frustrating to the end user. Since then, it has been converted to a python plugin, and the UI is significantly easier to user and enjoy.
Another case is Find My iDevices. I have changed the device model several times to make it cleaner, and easier to use...

So any input you can give in your feature request / enhancement is important. If you have a suggestion for a tweak to the UI, or device model, go ahead. Worse case, I say no, or that I don't have enough time right now...

After making the suggestion, you'll need to wait. After a few point releases, if you don't see your feature, then gently ask if anything has changed. If you are still waiting, and a major update is announced, ask if this feature has made it in to this newer version.

Asking infrequently allows to you to ensure that your feature has not dropped off the radar... And to verify that it is still being worked on, or at least considered. But keep in mind, it's possible that something has changed in the meanwhile, and it might not be seen as a important feature anymore.

- Benjamin

------
My Plugins for Indigo (v4, v5, and v6) - http://bit.ly/U8XxPG

Security Script for v4 - http://bit.ly/QTgclf
for v5 - http://bit.ly/T6WBKu

Support Forum(s) - http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/userforum/viewforum.php?f=33

Posted on
Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:05 pm
DU Lou offline
Posts: 279
Joined: Mar 08, 2012
Location: Florida

Re: Feature Requests for My plugins...

Hi Ben,
I have a feature request for FMiD.

Requirement:
I would like to have a Trigger for a FMiD to include Battery Power Level states with "is less than" and "is greater than". Right now it only has "Becomes equal/not equal to" and "has any change"

Justification:
I would like to mount a few iPads in my house with the power supply plugged into an OutletLinc Relay. When the "Battery Power Level" falls below say 35.00 I would like a trigger to turn on the OutletLinc and charge the iDevice. Then when the "Battery Power Level" becomes greater than 99.00 or equal to 100.00 I would like a second trigger to turn off the OutletLinc. This would prevent the need to have the iDevice always drawing power.

What do you think??? :D

Thanks for the consideration,
~Lou

Posted on
Sat Oct 19, 2013 9:08 am
macpro offline
User avatar
Posts: 765
Joined: Dec 29, 2005
Location: Third byte on the right

Re: Feature Requests for My plugins...

+1 for the request above.

And a feature request for the other part of the world where the decimal point is a comma.

FMID fetches data and saves it with decimal points. But my Mac uses the decimal comma. So all numerical data from FMID is non-numerical for my Indigo environment.

For instance: I couldn't get FMID to work initially. That was because I entered the longitude and latitude of my house with a decimal comma. Changing the comma's to points made FMID start to work.

Posted on
Mon Oct 21, 2013 11:14 am
bschollnick2 offline
Posts: 1355
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Location: Rochester, Ny

Re: Feature Requests for My plugins...

DU Lou wrote:
I would like to have a Trigger for a FMiD to include Battery Power Level states with "is less than" and "is greater than". Right now it only has "Becomes equal/not equal to" and "has any change"


Good idea. I'll see what I can come up with.

- Ben

------
My Plugins for Indigo (v4, v5, and v6) - http://bit.ly/U8XxPG

Security Script for v4 - http://bit.ly/QTgclf
for v5 - http://bit.ly/T6WBKu

Support Forum(s) - http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/userforum/viewforum.php?f=33

Posted on
Mon Oct 21, 2013 11:19 am
bschollnick2 offline
Posts: 1355
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Location: Rochester, Ny

Re: Feature Requests for My plugins...

macpro wrote:
+1 for the request above.

And a feature request for the other part of the world where the decimal point is a comma.

FMID fetches data and saves it with decimal points. But my Mac uses the decimal comma. So all numerical data from FMID is non-numerical for my Indigo environment.

For instance: I couldn't get FMID to work initially. That was because I entered the longitude and latitude of my house with a decimal comma. Changing the comma's to points made FMID start to work.


I'll see what I can do. I may need to discuss this with Matt and Jay, since I can see this being an issue that could affect all plugins.

In theory, they should expose the Python locale module's local conventions dictionary, to the plugins.
Once we have that information, it's relatively easy to map the decimal point to a decimal comma.

------
My Plugins for Indigo (v4, v5, and v6) - http://bit.ly/U8XxPG

Security Script for v4 - http://bit.ly/QTgclf
for v5 - http://bit.ly/T6WBKu

Support Forum(s) - http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/userforum/viewforum.php?f=33

Posted on
Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:50 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18199
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Feature Requests for My plugins...

bschollnick2 wrote:
they should expose the Python locale module's local conventions dictionary, to the plugins


Nothing for us to do: you can just import locale and knock yourself out.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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