WebApp Beta feedback & enhancement suggestion

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WebApp Beta feedback & enhancement suggestion

Postby peterd » Mon Aug 04, 2014 11:56 pm

Sean & co. -

First let me say a big thank you! I'm happily up and running with my AD2USB v2 and Pi. Having previously had to re-attach cabling and drag a laptop to a location close to the panel to occasionally use the AD2USB, the web app has finally allowed me to realize day-to-day benefits from this tremendous device.

Here's one bit of feedback on the Beta which you may not have received... My configuration is a bit different from most residential users. I have a Vista 50 P running 3 keypads (plus the AD2USB) and 2 partitions. Normally each of the keypads only receives messages about one of the two partitions. To see the status of the other partition I can logon to that partition temporarily from one of the keypads.

The AlarmDecoder, of course, is listening to all of the messages in the system (which is desirable, particularly when a home automation system is monitoring those messages). The web app, though, is trying to display any and all of those messages which are directed to any keypad ID (Including all zeros). If I had one or two keypads on a single partition, the messages for them would almost always be the same, and would only be interspersed with the system messages (having a keypad code of all zeros) which are not normally displayed on any keypad. But with several keypads and more than one partition, those messages (particularly when adding in things like zone fault reports) can cycle through on the web app display too quickly to read.

My proposal would be to add a configurable message display filter to the web app. This would allow the user to identify a particular keypad which the web app would mirror, displaying only messages intended for that keypad. Ideally, this could be toggled on and off at any time, so that system messages, etc., could be readily viewed. The most flexible implementation would be to include all of the system's keypad IDs (including the virtual keypad of the AlarmDecoder) in a pulldown list, allowing the user to choose within the entire set, thereby changing which keypad (or the unfiltered output) s/he was "looking at". I'm imagining that during set up, just as one names zones, you'd name each keypad and associate it with the address assigned to it. Allowing zero as a valid address would even allow configuring a filter for viewing just system messages by themselves.

So in my case, with 3 physical keypads, I could have 6 settings: one for each keypad, one for messages directed specifically to the AlarmDecoder (which is the case, for example, when entering programming mode from the web app — all subsequent messages are directed specifically to the AlarmDecoder), one for viewing only system messages and one unfiltered (which would show all messages).

I'll be interested to hear what you think of the idea. If I can clarify anything about my set up, answer any questions about the proposal, or help test an implementation I'm happy to help.

Thanks again,
Peter
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Re: WebApp Beta feedback & enhancement suggestion

Postby Scott » Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:44 am

Though partitions tend to be rarer, I think this is a good idea. We've certainly dealt with it in-house and the typical solution is to limit the address mask, but I can see how it could be important to filter the keypad itself and then still allow notifications to be sent out on other partitions. The dropdown would definitely be handy!

The backend library currently supports address mask filtering in a limited way, but I need to do a little work to decouple it from the hardware configuration which is read on startup. In addition, a separate mask on the webapp will probably be necessary to support cross-partition notifications.
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Re: WebApp Beta feedback & enhancement suggestion

Postby peterd » Wed Aug 06, 2014 4:47 pm

Yes, I did see this as being a filter at the level of the webapp display only. It's a UI issue, but as you say shouldn't affect notifications.
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