0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

Posted on
Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:40 pm
nathanw offline
Posts: 152
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
Location: Boston, MA

0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

I installed this tonight, v 0.0.19, and set it up to point to my cloud InfluxDB instance (worked when I hacked in the SSL config to the plugin).

I'm perplexed by the device configuration panel, though - it defaulted to including all devices in the "Step 3. Exclude these devices no matter what" section, and that section, unlike step 2, doesn't seem to have any UI buttons to alter the list.

How is this list supposed to be managed?

Posted on
Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:52 pm
nathanw offline
Posts: 152
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
Location: Boston, MA

Re: 0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

Wait, I see, the section 2 management affects section 3. That's.. a little surprising. I'm not sure I understand how the interplay of "States for every device" and "Exclude these devices" is supposed to work, though.

Posted on
Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:35 pm
vtmikel offline
Posts: 628
Joined: Aug 31, 2012
Location: Boston, MA

Re: 0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

The way that it works is -
  • An excluded device from Step 3 will never have any properties sent to Influx.
  • Included devices from Step 2 will have all properties sent to Influx.
  • All other devices will have only the states that are included in Step 1.
  • Anything not covered by the previous steps will not be sent

Despite the order of how I explained how logic works, I thought inversing the order was the best way to configure since most users will be happy with the performance and configuration by just including some of the most useful states.

On the exclude devices, I did not add buttons like the Include devices and states. Instead, you highlight the devices you want to exclude using <SHIFT> and <Command> keys. The reason for this, was that based on my personal experience, I wanted a way to easily exclude multiple devices with a few clicks. For example, if you use the Fing plugin, you may have a ton of network devices in Indigo, which you could easily exclude. Adding these one by one with the button would have been tedious.

You can always test the logic of the plugin by using the Explore Device and Explore State to see what will go to Influx.

Mike

Posted on
Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:25 am
MartinG offline
Posts: 116
Joined: Aug 19, 2016

Re: 0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

I confess to being similarly confused by the UI. So much data seems to make it through to the Grafana page that I found it impossible to get any chart working at all, and too confusing to debug. So I ended up deinstalling, and making a note to come back later.

Personally, I'd prefer the ability to start with a zero data streams and a blank canvas, then add one data source at a time. Perhaps not as efficient for those who know exactly what they want from the outset, but I doubt there are many such people and most of us will start simple, then build it up over time.

The potential output looks fabulous, so I'm excited about the end result!

Posted on
Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:29 pm
vtmikel offline
Posts: 628
Joined: Aug 31, 2012
Location: Boston, MA

Re: 0.0.19 - all devices in the exclusion list?

MartinG wrote:
I confess to being similarly confused by the UI. So much data seems to make it through to the Grafana page that I found it impossible to get any chart working at all, and too confusing to debug. So I ended up deinstalling, and making a note to come back later.

Personally, I'd prefer the ability to start with a zero data streams and a blank canvas, then add one data source at a time. Perhaps not as efficient for those who know exactly what they want from the outset, but I doubt there are many such people and most of us will start simple, then build it up over time.

The potential output looks fabulous, so I'm excited about the end result!


I'm happy to make UI changes, but no better interface has been suggested and I cannot think of any. Indigo doesnt give me total control or a lot of flexibility of the UI. If the exclude device box is confusing, in particular, the way that it relies on selections as compared to the device include box ignores the selections and uses the buttons, then I can make the behavior match the include button. But I wonder if there are not users out there that prefer the ability to quickly select a group of devices to exclude.

However, I think the exclude device box (Step 3) works perfectly for the case you are trying to achieve. In essence, you are trying to replicate the old "include mode" that I offered in the old plugin - where NO DATA is sent unless specifically added.

To replicate this behavior in the new plugin you would (note: I'm overseas and unable to test this on my own setup, so writing this from memory)-
  1. First, exclude everything - In Step 3, with the Exclude Device box selected press Command + A to select all (alternatively, select the top device in the list. Hold Shift. Scroll down, press the bottom device).
  2. Now that you have them all excluded, hold Command to de-select one by one.
  3. De-selecting a device from the Exclude list does not automatically mean that the properties for that device will be sent. It just means that the device is NOT EXCLUDED. For the device to have all or partial of it's states sent to Influx, you either need to add one or more states to the State Include (Step 1), or add the entire device to the Device Include (Step 2).

A couple things to note:
  • If a single state for a device is sent to Influx, but you add the device to the exclude list later, the old data before the exclude occurred is still in Influx.
  • When you and you go to create a new Grafana graph, and you are editing the data source, you will see a list of every device and every property in the pop-up helper windows that is in Influx. Grafana is just trying to help you build your query. Those helper popups are not aware that you excluded the device and are no longer sending any data for that device.

Speaking for me personally, the minimal extra data in Influx does not bother me. I personally run my setup with the default states, with a few states for the Cynical SecuritySpy cameras added. In Step 2, I've added my Sprinkler and the WUnderground devices. Those have a lot of states that I did not want to add to the state list one by one. For good hygiene, I add my Fing devices to the exclude list - they are all named "new XXXXXX" and are easy to select in a few clicks.

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