Touch Panel Controller for less than £100

[sk]

I started a pet project last weekend. Armed with a raspberry pi3, a raspberry pi touch screen and Windows IoT, I was able to create a touch screen web browser app that auto logins into loxone's miniserver website. The result a touch screen I can mount anywhere for less than £100 rather than an iPad variant in kiosk mode. The only down side is that the pi touch screen is too low res for loxone's room mode.

If anyone is interested let me know and I can either write a longer article or I can send the code.

[Byron]

I am interested as this is something that I've also listed on my roadmap.

Can you explain a bit more what you did?

Did you create a browser appliance that displays the Loxone website or did you create your own web application?

[Duncan]

can i also suggest a very different approach to this

the mdt glass button smart (ii) is a  knx button/lcd display with 12/13 potential buttons, programmable icons, coloured feedback leds, text to show outputs/messages etc

its around £130, mounts into a single switch box with a robust slick touch glass surface - in effect it can provide a gui /tablet type interface for heating, lighting , ventilation, music etc etc in a zone without needing any self-brew hardware and wall-mounting kit.

it only needs a knx power supply and 2 strands of your cat5/6/7 to connect directly back to the miniservers knx interface. you dont need to program any web site, just configure the switch using ETS.

http://www.mdt.de/EN_Glas_Push_Buttons_Smart.html

[Byron]

You make a very good point and in most cases that would fit the requirements.

For me, it's a mix of wanting more (weather information, traffic information, play lists, security camera's, calendar appointments, ...) and the desire to actually build something myself.

I wanted an off the shelve solution to work, but with the added possibility of building my own interface on top of it.

As far as self-brew hardware and wall-mounting: I'm still undecided between using a Raspberry Pi with touchscreen or a tablet (Samsung or iPad) with custom software.

[Russ]

Hey this sounds interesting. Did you program it using the web api so would it work with say and Android tablet?  I can identify with wanting more out of a screen interface in a room; the Loxone Room mode I find a poor and limited interface. 

I think I'd find an android tablett mounted on the wall easier than a raspberry pi + screen and probably for about the same cost, and then there'd also be the possibility of removing it and walking around, something I"d think would be difficult with the raspberry + screen approach.

I'd also want to power whatever is used with POE, probably just a passive injector/splitter.  This is probably easier with the raspberry than a tablet.

Any screenshots/pics?

[sk]

Hi,

1. Setup a Raspberry Pi 3 with official pi touch screen. £30 + £55

2. If you want grab a PoE hat from Pi Supply ~£30. I have done that so I can plug it into any network point I like.

3. Head to the Microsoft Windows IoT site and follow the instructions to get the Insider version of Windows IOT.  Only the Insider version supports the touch screen. Free

4. Follow the instructions to install Windows IOT on the SD Card and you boot up the pi.  You should end up with the default windows screen telling you the device's IP Address etc. Free

5. Download Visual Studio Community edition and ensure that you download the IOT Universal Windows tools for Visual Studio.  £Diskspace

6. Next create a new project UWP, add a web view and point it at your mini server. Test by running the app locally on the desktop.

7. As there is no on screen keyboard you could plug one in and ask it to remember your creds.  I chose to create a limited access account, and then wrote some code to auto login. Will post that later (not on my dev machine right now).

8. Once you are happy with the look and feel of the app, in the run/debug drop down select remote machine and choose the ip address of the windows IOT device.

9. This should (after some time) deploy the app to the device and you will be able to see it on the screen.

10. Now you can stop the app and head to the Device's admin page <ip address>:8080 i think... some where in there you can get the App you deployed to always load on startup. 

Then you are done.

Downsides:

1. The PoE, Pi and Display circuitry on the back of the pi stick out quite a bit.

2. No keyboard on screen not that the Loxone interface needs it that much.

3. No Sound for notifications unless you but a speaker for the pi.

Upsides:

1. Cheap

2. Fully customisable assuming you can write some code.

3. Robust. Mine has been running for over a week now and the family are using it. 

I looked into tablets and the best is the iPad in Kiosk mode but they are still > £100 even second hand.

Other cheap tablets (sub £100) come with defunct versions of android (at the time of writing).

[sk]

As for the code:

1. Assume that you haven't renamed the main window page.

2. Assume that you have added a web view called "webview"

3. in the mainpage code after the auto generated this.InitialiseComponent method call enter:

webview.Navigate(new Uri("http://address of the miniserver")););

4. in the designer view of the mainpage double click the webview to generate an event handler and enter the code. This code gets executed every time a webpage is loaded or changed in the webview.

private async void WebView_LoadCompleted(object sender, NavigationEventArgs e)

        {

            if (e.Uri.ToString().Equals("http://adddress of the miniserver/"))

            {

                string usernamescript = "document.getElementById('username').innerText = 'username';";

                await webview.InvokeScriptAsync("eval", new string[] { usernamescript });

                string passwordscript = "document.getElementById('password').innerText = 'password';";

                await webview.InvokeScriptAsync("eval", new string[] { passwordscript });

                string btnclick = "document.getElementsByClassName('login-form__connect-button')[0].click()";

                await webview.InvokeScriptAsync("eval", new string[] { btnclick });

            }

        }

5. replace the username and password. 

6. Test the app on the local machine before deploying.  When the page loads it will try and find the username and password fields, enter the values you supplied in the code and then hit submit to log on to the mini server webpage. 

[RM C]

This is exactly what I need. How do I program this? ETS seems like $1000/#600. Is there a cheaper way? I'd love to have these around the house

[Duncan]

ETS lite  is around £60 for the dongle once you have done the on-line free course and is sufficient for 20 devices per project - but each project is separate so you can manage an infinite number of 20-device projects and large domestic ones could always be split up if you had a lot of devices

[sk]

I revisited this with V9 and it's much more usable. There are some layout issues due to the low real estate that loxone should probably look at but other than that the new room layout views are much easier than the old interface.

[Byron]

Can you post some pictures of this when in use?

[sk]

On Monday, 2 October 2017 06:14:26 UTC+1, Byron wrote:
> Can you post some pictures of this when in use?

Sure... see attached.

The intercom page doesn’t quite layout right in landscape in low res. Ideally the light button should be to the right.

[sk]

Having said all the above. Six months later and iPad mini 1st gen are nearly at the £100 mark:

http://store.musicmagpie.co.uk/products/apple-ipad-mini-wi-fi-16gb-white-96590795-3ae7-434c-84de-8735b894be25?cleared=true

You could simply put the iPad into kiosk mode, wall mount it and it has the added advantage of having an onscreen keyboard. The windows IoT doesn’t have a keyboard yet.

[Mcguiness]

Hi Duncan 

Sorry to jump on this thread but I have one of these switches that I am trying to set up at the moment, I am sure I am missing something simple but do you have a technical manual for the Glass 2 as I am struggling a bit, one issue I have is trying to figure out how to set the correct time.

Thanks in advance

Mick 

[Duncan]

they still havnt released the english version of the technical manual so you have to muddle through german.

to set the time for all knx devices using the miniserver use:
configure the device using ets - the time is an acuator and needs its own address
add an actuator in your config with the same address

add a pulse generator in loxone and connect it to all your knx time actuators - ive attached an image of my config

[Mcguiness]

Thanks Duncan 

Great help as always!

Regards Mick 

[Duncan]

can i suggest as well that when you set up the glastaster set each switch type to be:
switch/send value short/long as 2 objects
decimal factor 5.005
value 1

you then get a separate input for short and long press on each button
create each button with 2 objects is loxone - 1 for short andn 1 for long
similar input for the slap/panic function

extended knx sensor and fill in the appropriate group address under the pulse section - 0/1/2:1
this creates a pulse input to loxone for the appropiate action and gives you 25 input buttons

i did this retrospectively and it messed up my orderly group addresses, which in turns makes it more likely to make mistakes when creating your loxone inputs

[Simon Still]

WRT iPad kiosk mode, does anyone know if there is a kiosk mode for iPod touch (or even better, an old iPhone)?

I've got an old iPhone 4 that is ripe for repurposing.  

[nick@UniQhome]

Sorry to pull up an old thread, when I put these values into ets 5 as you suggest, import it as a sensor into loxone I just get a constant ‘on’ value. How do I create a falling edge? So I can then scroll through lighting scenes for instance?

[Duncan]

are you referring to the mdt glastaster smart?

[nick@UniQhome]

Hi Duncan
Yes sorry, the glastaster 2, I thought I had responded directly to your thread.
I have progressed slightly in that I have realised that the sensor could be created with an extended eib actuator ( without having to learn it in/ create device etc.) but even after having created a sensor with the corresponding address, the sensors only seems to work sporadically in live view, not sure what I’m doing wrong?

[nick@UniQhome]

Actually the messages are getting through but I think are too quick for the live view monitor.
Next question, how to simulate a long press to increase/decrease volume for audio? Unfortunately a lot of this is on loxwiki but google translate doesn’t work with it, frustratingly my German is extremely poor.

[Duncan]

you're right the pulses are too short to see in the visualisation.

what audio system are you using? the long press volume up function partly depends on the audio control options available

if you want proper translation, view the german loxwiki using chrome browser - it does a complete seamless translation

[nick@UniQhome]

I use the Loxone music server and a combination of Av receivers and stand alone amps and also upnp/dnla zones.

Re loxwiki, it’s amazing as I always use chrome and look at the loxforum (Mainly in German) often which always translates pretty well, but I always use an iPad, curiously the loxwiki does not seem to translate. However I have just checked, following your post, and as you say a seamless translation using chrome with windows 10. Thanks.