Tasker plugin to interface with Eventghost Send & Receive Network events

[DeanONH]

The marriage between Android Tasker & PC Eventghost seems a natural.
I was surprised that I can't find a Tasker construct or Locale plugin
to interface with EG's Send & Receive Network Events, which appears to
be socket based communications.

Before I do a Locale plugin to do it, I thought I'd ask here.

Is there something to do this now or is it planned in the near future?

I apologize in advance if I've missed something obvious.

Thx,

Dean

P.S.

Tasker looks great!

[Pent]

> The marriage between Android Tasker & PC Eventghost seems a natural.
> I was surprised that I can't find a Tasker construct or Locale plugin
> to interface with EG's Send & Receive Network Events, which appears to
> be socket based communications.

Well, there are hundreds of thousands of apps out there, takes a while
to cover them all :-)

> Before I do a Locale plugin to do it, I thought I'd ask here.
>
> Is there something to do this now or is it planned in the near future?

Nope.

Good luck, let me know if you have any troubles with Tasker.

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

Thx for your prompt response.

I'm going to do a Locale Plugin.

Thx again,

Dean

[deanh...@gmail.com]

Oh, one more question...

Do you know of a Locale Plugin to do bidirectional socket based
communications?

Thanks again for a great app; blows the doors off of Locale!

Dean

On Apr 9, 6:44 am, "deanhow...@gmail.com" <deanhow...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Crafty Apps Support]

> Do you know of a Locale Plugin to do bidirectional socket based
> communications?

No, sorry, I'm sure you know a lot better than myself what is available.
I'm usually too busy with
Tasker too look around.

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

thx...

On Apr 9, 7:15 am, Crafty Apps Support <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net>
wrote:

[deanh...@gmail.com]

Pent,

I have a plugin proposal for you. Do you want to take it private or
should I describe it in this forum?

Dean

On Apr 9, 7:17 am, "deanhow...@gmail.com" <deanhow...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Crafty Apps Support]

> I have a plugin proposal for you. Do you want to take it private or
> should I describe it in this forum?

Whatever you think is best.

Pent

[DeanH...@gmail.com]

Pent,

I would like to implement background service for bidirectional TCP socket communication of incoming events and outgoing actions. The payload would be ASCII strings of less than 64 bytes. The required message rate is very low; around 1 or 2 per second. Later we could also consider other MIME types.

My preference would be to implement a Locale plugin. After further study I find that Tasker doesn't handle Locale condition plugins. I also read on this forum that your intent may be to add this support in a future Tasker version. When do you anticipate this feature? Can I get an alpha or beta version of Tasker that supports Locale condition plugins?

As a fallback, I could implement this through intents to & from the background service. I see at present, Tasker supports outgoing action & component intents. I haven't tested this, but it sounds like they would work. I read in this forum that it is possible for you to provide a "intent received event" Can you provide that now?

My development path would be to implement a background service and wrap it with the Locale plugin interface. If Tasker has the Locale condition interface, we're done. If not and you give me a "intent received event", I will wrap the background service with an interface that uses your action intent and the "intent received event".

You provide nothing until I deliver the Local plugin version working with Locale. I would be willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for anything you provide.

What do you think,

Dean

[Crafty Apps Support]

> I would like to implement background service for bidirectional TCP
> socket communication of incoming events and outgoing actions.

What do you mean by 'incoming events and outgoing actions' ? Examples ?

> The payload would be ASCII strings of less than 64 bytes. The required
> message rate is very low; around 1 or 2 per second. Later we could
> also consider other MIME types.

I think that intents are not really an efficient mechanism at a rate of
a couple per second.
I could be wrong.

> My preference would be to implement a Locale plugin. After further
> study I find that Tasker doesn't handle Locale condition plugins. I
> also read on this forum that your intent

(harhar)

> may be to add this support in a future Tasker version. When do you
> anticipate this feature?

I don't have a schedule for it, sorry. Probably minimally months.

> As a fallback, I could implement this through intents to & from the
> background service.

You know that Locale's mechanism is also intent-based, right ?

> I see at present, Tasker supports outgoing action & component intents.
> I haven't tested this, but it sounds like they would work. I read in
> this forum that it is possible for you to provide a "intent received
> event" Can you provide that now?

I can add you to the 3rd party event category in theory, but it depends
on the details.

Perhaps direct communication with your service would be a better idea.

> You provide nothing until I deliver the Local plugin version working
> with Locale. I would be willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement
> (NDA) for anything you provide.
>

I don't really mind who knows what I'm working on (apart from my super
secret project
that the competition should be really worried about).

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

Pent,

EventGhost ( http://www.eventghost.org/ ) is like Tasker for the PC.
It is free & has been around for many years.

EventGhost uses plugins; for an incomplete list of plugins see see
http://www.eventghost.org/docs/pluginlist.html. I did a plugin to
interface eventghost to send & receive ft & powerline carrier X10
devices. It has two plugins that I am looking to interface to;
Network Event Sender & Network Event Receiver. The sender takes 3
arguments; target host IP, target port, & a payload string that
identifies the event to be sent. A password is optional. The
receiver takes 4 arguments host port, a string the is added as a
prefix to the payload string from the sender. The prefix identifies
the sender by the port used. What the event means is up to the user.
A password is optional.

There was an app named Eventghost for Android, http://timhoeck.com/eventghost-for-android/,
which implemented the network interface; android to pc, pc to android,
& android to android. The interface worked very well, but the front
end was very crude and it had no automation logic on android, it was
an interface to the pc eventghost. It was very active for about a
year then it mysteriously disappeared about six months ago. I tried
to contact the developer, but got no response. When I ran into
Tasker a few days ago, I surmised that the developer may have dropped
it because of Tasker. This app is still available on the Market, but
seemingly, no longer active. Maybe he made a deal with Locale.

Tasker was far superior to both Locale & Eventghost for Android and it
begs to be interfaced to the PC Eventghost.

I would be happy to entertain a direct interface to Tasker. How do we
explore this path?

I am going to start work on the Locale plugin. I don't think it will
take very long, perhaps 2 weeks.

We should also consider interfacing Tasker to PC Girder, which is a
much more complicated application along the lines of PC Eventghost.

I want to use Tasker in my system. I do not use Locale; too crude.

Would a Skype phone call be in order? Where are you located?

Thx,

Dean

On Apr 9, 1:16 pm, Crafty Apps Support <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net>
wrote:

[Crafty Apps Support]

> Network Event Sender& Network Event Receiver. The sender takes 3
> arguments; target host IP, target port,& a payload string that

> identifies the event to be sent. A password is optional. The
> receiver takes 4 arguments host port, a string the is added as a
> prefix to the payload string from the sender. The prefix identifies
> the sender by the port used. What the event means is up to the user.
> A password is optional.

OK, lemme see if I understand :-)

You have the app eventghost on your PC.

You want to have a Tasker action to send network messages to the
eventghost network receiver plugin on your PC and a Tasker event to
pickup stuff being sent from your eventghost network sender plugin ?

Can I ask what is going to be generating 2 events per second ? Is that
going to be a normal
usage or unusual ?

The plugin situation is unknown ATM. I've started making enquiries as a
consequence of this
thread. I'm hoping to support the new Setting Profiles format if they're
making it open.

Pent

[DeanH...@gmail.com]

Yup, you got it! ;-)

The 2 events / sec. was picked as a maximum. The real event rate will be much slower. If Tasker can't queue the incoming events, my service can and we can handshake them through. Same with the outgoing events.

I don't think the Settings Profiles app has much to do with this other than that I wouldn't want it to override the network or Wifi settings. How do you think this is relavent?

Of course, any PC or Android app can use this same interface. Did you see Eventghost for Android?

Can I assume that we can interface a bidirectional service that handles incoming & outgoing events as we have described them?

Dean

[deanh...@gmail.com]

I use EG to control my HTPC through IR. The HTPC runs WinAmp, SageTv,
media server, uTorrent, FTP & Web Server, etc and controls my tv,
power amp, media clients, room lights, etc., etc. It is front ended
by a Logitech Harmony 890 and two laptops. Tasker could control &
monitor multiple PCs

Besides replacing about 6 apps on my Droid 1, Tasker becomes the
ultimate remote control no longer bounded by IR. I could run the same
configuration on my wife's Droid 1. Not only that, I could reach my
HTPC from anywhere in the world. This opens a whole other world of
home automation. Tasker can have real world context & android state
sensitive Activity screens. The possibilities are endless!

Dean

On Apr 9, 3:49 pm, DeanHOw...@gmail.com wrote:
> Yup, you got it! ;-)
>
> The 2 events / sec. was picked as a maximum. The real event rate will be  
> much slower. If Tasker can't queue the incoming events, my service can and  
> we can handshake them through. Same with the outgoing events.
>
> I don't think the Settings Profiles app has much to do with this other than  
> that I wouldn't want it to override the network or Wifi settings. How do  
> you think this is relavent?
>
> Of course, any PC or Android app can use this same interface. Did you see  
> Eventghost for Android?
>
> Can I assume that we can interface a bidirectional service that handles  
> incoming & outgoing events as we have described them?
>
> Dean
>

> On Apr 9, 2011 3:33pm, Crafty Apps Support <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net>  

[Crafty Apps Support]

> The 2 events / sec. was picked as a maximum. The real event rate will
> be much slower.

Then it's probably fine with intents.

> I don't think the Settings Profiles app has much to do with this other
> than that I wouldn't want it to override the network or Wifi settings.
> How do you think this is relavent?

They have a new plugin format for actions/conditions, like Locale has. I
need to decide which
condition format to support (Locale, Setting Profiles, my own). I think
the Setting Profiles one
is technically better, but if they're branding it as their own I'm not
really interested.

> Can I assume that we can interface a bidirectional service that
> handles incoming & outgoing events as we have described them?

If you go ahead and implement with Locale's condition and action
protocols it will probably be trivial to adapt for whatever I eventually
decide on, so go ahead. I'll let you know when I have some
direction on the condition plugin side.

Pent

[DeanH...@gmail.com]

I understand about Setting Profiles, thx.

I will get back to you when I have the plugin; hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Thx,

Dean

[Tim H.]

Hi,

I am the developer of the EventGhost android app... the app had been
put on hold, but I have started working on it again. I'd like to say
that Tasker is a great app.. I bought it and love it :) I don't think
the two really conflict, but compliment each other. Some features do
overlap - I have built my own plugin system which allows you to act on
incoming events, such as generating a notification, just as Tasker
does. But Tasker for me just extends the "actions" that can be
performed by my own app.

As a matter of fact, I have just released a Tasker plugin for the
EventGhost app, which allows you to run a Tasker task when an incoming
event is received. The EventGhost android app has a number of other
non-related features that make both it and Tasker useful.

Down the road, I certainly wouldn't mind creating a Locale or Tasker
plugin to implement the basic EventGhost features (if Dean doesn't).
For now though, I would be interested in having EventGhost app
implemented into Taskers 3rd party actions, which would assist with
what Dean is looking for.

I have three primary intents, one to send events to an EventGhost
server, one to receive events from an EventGhost server, and one that
allows other apps to generate incoming events. They are implemented
via BroadcastReceivers. I have made a class with intent details
available here:

http://timhoeck.com/android/eventghost/EventGhostIntent.java

The only issue I can see might be with sending events to specific
servers. For my plugins, I pass the configured servers to the plugins
"configure activity", or the info is sent when an event is received -
it isn't really made available in any other way, but I could modify
that. Would you be interested in adding EventGhost to the 3rd party
apps? If so, what other info would you need?? Feel free to email me
directly at timh...@gmail.com

Thanks,
Tim

On Apr 10, 10:45 am, DeanHOw...@gmail.com wrote:
> I understand about Setting Profiles, thx.
>
> I will get back to you when I have the plugin; hopefully in a couple of  
> weeks.
>
> Thx,
>
> Dean
>

> On Apr 10, 2011 10:06am, Crafty Apps Support <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net>  

[Pent]

Hi Tim,

great to see you here and that you're active with EventGhost again.

> Feel free to email me directly at timh...@gmail.com

Will do.

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

I had to put the Eventghost network send & receive plugins on hold
because I had to take care of some client issues that evolved into
much more. I haven't lost interest in doing this. I plan to continue
work on this the middle of next week. Please let me know if either of
you, Pent or Tim, plan on doing the Eventghost Network Send & Receive
event plugins.

I still think that the marriage of Tasker & the PC Eventghost is a
powerful combination.

Dean

On Jun 5, 5:01 am, Pent <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net> wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> great to see you here and that you're active with EventGhost again.
>

> > Feel free to email me directly at timho...@gmail.com
>
> Will do.
>
> Pent

[Pent]

> I had to put the Eventghost network send & receive plugins on hold
> because I had to take care of some client issues that evolved into
> much more.  I haven't lost interest in doing this.  I plan to continue
> work on this the middle of next week.  Please let me know if either of
> you, Pent or Tim, plan on doing the Eventghost Network Send & Receive
> event plugins.

Isn't your 'network receive' part covered by the Android EventGhost
app which can now run Tasker tasks ?

So if you want to work on this, you would just need to write a Locale-
compatible action plugin that would basically just send the intent
that Tim described, in order to implement the 'network send' part ?

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

I will be getting back into this mid week; it will be my become my
primary focus. At this point it is not clear to me why I need Android
Eventghost at all; it seems redundant for my use. Perhaps I will see
it then.

Tim has obviously covered this ground before, and if he wishes, he can
implement the interface. Otherwise I will continue working on it
starting mid week. I'm not interested in reinventing the "wheel" and
will gladly step aside to get the plugins quicker.

I sent Tim & you an email explaining that what's important to me is
the Tasker / PC Eventghost capability; it is an essential part of a
bigger plan of HTPC integration.

Dean

[Pent]

> Tim has obviously covered this ground before, and if he wishes, he can
> implement the interface.  Otherwise I will continue working on it
> starting mid week.  I'm not interested in reinventing the "wheel" and
> will gladly step aside to get the plugins quicker.
>
> I sent Tim & you an email explaining that what's important to me is
> the Tasker / PC Eventghost capability; it is an essential part of a
> bigger plan of HTPC integration.

I'm a bit lost about what's needed for both of you right now :-)

Tim, if I implement your send/receive intents, that covers what Dean
wants to do ?

I also didn't get the 'configured servers' bit Tim. Those are the
servers configured in your EventGhost Android app ? Why do those need
to be mentioned in the send intent ?

In any case, I've been working on the Locale condition interface and
nearly have a first-version working for the next Tasker beta. I'm not
sure it's very
suitable for frequent network events though.

Pent

[Dean Owens]

Pent,

I emailed Tim, but got no response.  I'm really not sure what his plans are.

I am actively working on the Eventghost send & receive plugins.  I plan on interfacing directly to both Locale & Tasker.  As per our previous conversation, what I wanted was the Locale condition interface.

Not sure what you mean about frequent event handing, but handling events at the rate of 1 event every 2 seconds should be more than adequate.  I can't envision  a situation where more than 2 or 3  events per transaction will be needed.

Please let me know when the Tasker beta is ready.  I can be reached at deanatowensesdotnet.

Get back to you soon.

Keep you posted,

Dean

[Crafty Apps Support]

> I am actively working on the Eventghost send & receive plugins. I
> plan on interfacing directly to both Locale & Tasker. As per our
> previous conversation, what I wanted was the Locale condition interface.
>
> Not sure what you mean about frequent event handing, but handling
> events at the rate of 1 event every 2 seconds should be more than
> adequate. I can't envision a situation where more than 2 or 3
> events per transaction will be needed.

A big waste is the mechanism where you have to send an intent to request
that the host (Tasker/Locale) queries you, once for turning the event
'on' and again for turning it off, so 4 intents for each ocurring
'event' when actually only one is needed (if it was e.g. implemented as
a Tasker 3rd Party event).

Pent

[DeanH...@gmail.com]

I see PC EG & Tasker as a peer to peer configuration, not master / slave or polled.

I think we're on the same wavelength here...

[deanh...@gmail.com]

How can I get a copy of the beta version which has the condition
plugin support?

On Jun 13, 8:10 am, DeanHOw...@gmail.com wrote:
> I see PC EG & Tasker as a peer to peer configuration, not master / slave or  
> polled.
>
> I think we're on the same wavelength here...
>

> On , Crafty Apps Support <supp...@apps.dinglisch.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > I am actively working on the Eventghost send & receive plugins. I plan on  
> > interfacing directly to both Locale & Tasker. As per our previous  
> > conversation, what I wanted was the Locale condition interface.
> > Not sure what you mean about frequent event handing, but handling events  
> > at the rate of 1 event every 2 seconds should be more than adequate. I  
> > can't envision a situation where more than 2 or 3 events per transaction  
> > will be needed.
> > A big waste is the mechanism where you have to send an intent to request  
> > that the host (Tasker/Locale) queries you, once for turning the  
> > event 'on' and again for turning it off, so 4 intents for each  

> > ocurring 'event' when actually only one is needed (if it was eg  

[Crafty Apps Support]

> How can I get a copy of the beta version which has the condition
> plugin support?

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/beta.html

Updates posted on the sticky thread in the forum:

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/forum

Pent

[deanh...@gmail.com]

Almost ready...

I'm working out some Wifi LAN & Network WAN issues. I want it to work
transparently on either network.

Dean

[den...@gmail.com]

I would be very interested in being able to use Evenghost Send Commands with Tasker.  I hope EventGhost dev or this Dean guy go somewhere with this.  The marriage of these two apps is a MUST

[bbi...@gmail.com]

I'd love to get my hands on this plugin, I've been playing with an eventghost server on my tablet, and can send commands from my phone to switch the keyboard in use on the tablet.

I can see a huge potential for combining the best of eventghost and tasker.

Some thoughts I had:
Widget on tablet gives battery level on phone

Toggle on tablet to make phone ring, change the volume, speak etc

Control media on one from other

All automatically via tasker

[Tobias Eisentrager]

Another function I'd like to see is turning on the wifi Hotspot on the phone whenever you switch on the tablet.

[bbi...@gmail.com]

I can do that with an app called blue tooth auto connect, it would be easy to make tasker check for wifi then turn on the tether.

[dragos...@gmail.com]

terRemote seems to work quite well. Been using it for a couple of days now.

On Friday, April 8, 2011 7:28:50 PM UTC-6, DeanONH wrote:

The marriage between Android Tasker & PC Eventghost seems a natural.
I was surprised that I can't find a Tasker construct or Locale plugin
to interface with EG's Send & Receive Network Events, which appears to
be socket based communications.

Before I do a Locale plugin to do it, I thought I'd ask here.

Is there something to do this now or is it planned in the near future?

I apologize in advance if I've missed something obvious.

Thx,

Dean

P.S.

Tasker looks great!

[joao...@gmail.com]

AutoRemote also works with this. It's still in Beta, but it already works quite well in my experience.

You can send and receive events from EventGhost to and from Tasker. You can also do it between 2 Taskers on 2 Android devices. Or from any web browser to Tasker even.

If you're interested, check it out here: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/joaomgcd/E0yPXTAuCH0 (you have to get the Google Play app first to get the full version of the Beta working)