Control of a Yamaha AV amp from Loxone - where do I start?

[Simon Still]

I'd like to add some control of my Yamaha AV amp through Loxone.  Very simple to start with - I'd just like to send an 'off' command when we leave the house (ie when the house is set to 'away' or 'all lights off')

The amp is web controllable and yamaha have provided the protocol documentation (not actually for my amp so there might be a bit of trial and error).  

you can see the sort of commands it accepts here - http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=157837

However, I'm completely new to this sort of coding - where do I start?  

My take so far is that I need to create some virtual output commands in Loxone - as per this page 

http://www.loxone.com/enen/service/documentation/loxone-config/communication/communication-with-udp.html#insert-commands

But I'm out of my depth as to exactly how the commands get entered.  Is there any further Loxone documentation or examples that I could refer to or has anyone got any of their own that they can offer?

[sk]

I have been working on something similar for the Bose Soundtouch. Essentially if your device is wifi enabled it probably runs a web server to allow you to make web calls to it. Give your loxone config the same http calls to its web server and you should be able to control it - in theory!

The first thing you should get hold of is Chrome and a REST client app for chrome : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/advanced-rest-client/hgmloofddffdnphfgcellkdfbfbjeloo

With the api documentation at hand the next thing to do is to try and make something basic happen such as on/off or volume up/down. These commands should be documented in the device API guide.

Then you need to know your device's IP address and if possible make it static in your home broadband router so that when it is switched off and on again it always get the same address.

Armed with your API commands and if it is a REST api you now need to check the documentation to see if it needs authentication. Once you have the credentials or an API key you can construct the http url to make your first GET request direct from chrome.

Typically REST is broken down as follows:
GET if you want to get information using the address
POST or PUT if you want send some piece of information and get a response back once complete.
DELETE if you want to remove something from the device and get a response back once complete.

Once you get the basics working and make notes of the URLS you can then proceed to Loxone Config. This is where I find it gets hairy.
You can 1. Choose to make a program and make the commands based on some input or 2. Try and use the built in HTTP Commands to wrap things more neatly for you.

For option 2:
Virtual Inputs are essentially GET commands (but you can do anything)
Virtual Outputs are essentially POST or PUT commands and allow you to send parameters from config to the command and execute: e.g. set the volume to 15.

More details are on the loxone website for virtual inputs and inputs.

I have had some difficulty in getting these to work if the urls or addresses contain special characters such as :

[TomM]

Simon, Yamaha AVR amps are predefined as network devices in Loxone so no need to program it yourself.

Periphery > Virtual I/O > Predefined devices > Yamaha AVR (various flavours available depending on what amp you have).

You'll need to change the IP address in the main config for the device (under virtual outputs) but otherwise just drag & drop commands to happen when you want them to.  

Just as a side note I would suggest you give your amp a static IP on the device as well as reserving it's IP on the router, this mitigates all possible IP change issues.