Extra <param> for python plugin e.g Mode7/Mode8 etc.

[neptunus]

I have a question which I could not find answers to on the forum. According to url you can have:

• SerialPort - used by ‘serial’ transport
• Address - used by non-serial transports
• Port - used by non-serial transports
• Mode1 - General purpose
• Mode2 - General purpose
• Mode3 - General purpose
• Mode4 - General purpose
• Mode5 - General purpose
• Mode6 - General purpose
• Username - Username for authentication
• Password - Password for authentication

I have tried to add an extra <param>. On the web page of the plugin, it is shown. But with the use of the <param> I get an error. 'onConnect' failed 'NameError':'name 'Mode7' is not defined'.

Code: Select all

        <param field="Mode7" label="Testing" width="75px">
            <options>
                <option label="A" value="A" default="true"/>
                <option label="B" value="B" />
            </options>
        </param>

Code: Select all

Domoticz.Debug(Mode7)

'onConnect' failed 'NameError':'name 'Mode7' is not defined'.

Code: Select all

Parameters["Mode7"]

'onConnect' failed 'KeyError'.

Would it be possible to bump the number of modes from 6 to say 10, I think this change could be done pretty quickly be someone ho knows the codebase of domoticz.

Thanks

[febalci]

IMHO, there is no end to it. Let's say it is increased to Mode10, someone, sometime will come up saying i need Mode15. So there are 2 solutions; either the domoticz code should be enhanced so that it would take as many mode parameters as you want (I am sure that would create some other problems), or you could either use the User Variables or an .ini file (txt file) which you could add all your extra parameters as much as you want. I generally go for the .ini file, since there is no native access to user variables in plugins, you should use urllib for that. As again, that is my humble opinion...

[Dnpwwo]

@neptunus & @febalci,

In this respect, Plugins have been a victim of their own success. I didn't envisage them being used to integrate hardware requiring a lot of parameters so just used the existing column in the hardware table. With hindsight that was not such a good idea

Options:

• Add extra columns: Easy to do but just pushing the problem out until next time someone wants/needs more
• User Variables: Not what they were designed for and doesn't solve the issue of configuration through the web interface
• Ini file: Doesn't solve the issue of configuration through the web interface and not stored in database so system restoration is messy
• Make web UI return JSON parameter blob to plugin to store how it likes: would require the plugin to be running so wouldn't work the 1st time
• Extend XML and web UI to support 'sub-params' or 'complex-params' tags inside (or alongside) the existing <param> tag that are encoded as JSON blobs containing multiple values that are stored in existing database columns: Probably my favorite:
  • Backwards compatible
  • Stored in database
  • No changes to data model
  • No hard coded maximum number of parameters
  • Easy to do and change is contained to just the web UI (although plugins would needs to unpack the JSON)

Needs a bit of thought to get the data model right

[Logread]

[*]Extend XML and web UI to support 'sub-params' or 'complex-params' tags inside (or alongside) the existing <param> tag that are encoded as JSON blobs containing multiple values that are stored in existing database columns: Probably my favorite:

• Backwards compatible
• Stored in database
• No changes to data model
• No hard coded maximum number of parameters
• Easy to do and change is contained to just the web UI (although plugins would needs to unpack the JSON)

[/list]Needs a bit of thought to get the data model right

I really like that approach... willing to contribute to testing with my Smart Virtual Thermostat plugin for which I had to pack many parameters into a few csv strings... definitely not user friendly.

[darrepac]

Is there any progress on this topic?

[voyo]

huh, I just found this topic when searching for a way to add additional Modes to enhance some plugin...
Looks like I hit the wall with "me too" :/