Mac Home Automation

The List is the main display, control and organizational feature of XTension. All your units will always be in the Master List and you can create any number of other lists. Those lists can each have different display options and layouts. They can be displayed either in the App or on the Web Interface.

By default a new List window will show the Control column in the first column of the window. You can add or hide the column by control-clicking in the headers of the List and selecting the show or hide menu items for the column you wish to add or hide. You can drag it to a new position or resize it like any other column. You could drag the control column so wide that the toggles look silly, don’t do that. If you have hidden the Control column you can still control the unit. Double clicking any row will toggle the unit. Clicking on the Value column or the jewel status display in the Name Column will bring up the Detailed Unit Controls with more control and timing options. (see below)

By default Units will display with the Toggle control type. You can change to any of the other types or None by control clicking on the unit row and selecting the “Set Control Type” menu or by selecting the control type for that unit in the Edit Unit Dialog.

For a Discrete (non-dimmable) Unit a toggle control will show the “On” and “Off” labels. If you set On Label or Off Labels in the Edit Unit Dialog then those labels will be shown instead. If the unit is dimmable the value, along with any formatting and suffix options you have setup for the unit will be used for the display. If the On or Off Labels are set in a dimmable unit they will display instead of the numerical value.

More control possibilities are exposed by the Detailed Unit Controls window. You can open this window for any unit by clicking in the background of a Toggle Switch control, by clicking the jewel status indicator in the Name column or by clicking on the Value column for that unit. If you are navigating with the keyboard pressing the left arrow key will bring up this window for the selected unit.

What is displayed in the Detailed Controls window depends on the capabilities of the Unit. If the unit is dimmable you’ll see the value field and the dimmer slider. If not you’ll only see the On/Off controls. All Units will get the Block/UnBlockbuttons as well as the Remove Unit Events button.

If you have the List Control Type for the unit set to Popup then the same values you have configured for that will be offered in the Detailed Controls window. Making a change to the popup sends the new value immediately.

By clicking the disclosure triangle in the upper left of the window you can expose yet more information and controls. In addition to displaying the Description of the unit you’ll also get some quick click buttons for incrementing the value or jumping to a specific value.

You can create timed events to send values using the In/For selection here. The In fields holds the time before the action is performed. The For field will return the unit to it’s current value after that amount of time. To include a time frame with a command set the values that you wish and then perform the action and the time frame will be included. You can include a time frame for an On, Off, Set Value and Block/Unblock command. When setting a value use the Value field and click the Set button once you’ve setup the time frame fields. Using the slider sends the value instantly regardless of the in/for settings.

When using the For field remember that the unit will return to it’s current value at the end of that time. If you turn on the unit for 10 minutes and the unit is already on then nothing will appear to happen at all as it’s already on, and will return to being on after the timeout. If you want the unit to turn off in 10 minutes send it an Off command In 10 minutes and not a turn on For 10 minutes.

In/For commands automatically create unit events. If you’ve created several such events and want to remove them so you can be sure what the Unit will do you can use the “Remove Events” button. That will remove any automatically created events for the unit, that is any event that was created via the In/For parameters. This includes automatic events that were created by scripts or other sources and not just your session in this interface.

If the Unit you’re controlling has color or color temperature support then additional controls will be displayed in the Detailed Controls Window.

In this example the Unit is controlling a Phillips Hue Color Bulb so is displaying both the Color and Color Temperature controls. A best approximation of the color currently being shown by the device will be displayed at the top of the window. By clicking on that swatch the system color picker will be presented and you can pick a new color from that. You can also use the color pallet to select from a range of colors.

If the device is capable of both color and color temperature then the swatches will display a “c” if it’s a color preset or a “w” if it’s a color temperature that is being shown right now.

If you like the current color being displayed by the swatch and the bulb you can control click on any of the color preset swatches to save that color to it. Presets can hold both color or color temperature values. Clicking on a preset will recall that color or color temperature to the bulb.

• Controls in the list window were added in XTension version 9.4