Release Notes

Revision as of 00:37, 24 December 2008

1.0.422 - December 23, 2008 - release candidate

The new user interface is complete. It is a major overhaul of the user experience and now provides accurate real-time information on all the Z-Wave devices and visual feedback if there are any problems. We are going to re-shoot the helper videos and update the online documentation over the next 10 days, and then Vera will be officially released. There were some significant changes to the data structure and status handling needed for the final release user interface. The findvera.com remote access was also completely re-written so that it now works about 10x faster.

The 3-in-1 light/temp/motion sensor is now supported, as well as the Hawking/Everspring/Home Manageables sensors. There is also a new Z-Wave Status documented here: http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/ZWave_Status

Now you can go to Advanced, Logs and check both 'show' options and as you control zwave devices each command will appear as a 'job' icon that turns to red for failure or green for success. You can also track the progress of device configuration by watching the 'configure' icon go from blue to red/green.

Automation timers & events have been completely re-written as well. Instead of being separate, timers and events are now merged into scenes. You now attach timers and events to scenes. For example, instead of creating an event "Motion Sensor Tripped" which turns on the garage light, create a scene "Garage Light On" and attach the event "Motion Sensor Tripped". Users upgrading from prior versions will find their old timers and events get converted into scenes with the timers/events attached, so no changes are needed when upgrading from an earlier release.

The internal data structure has also changed substantially. When you choose to upgrade and keep your settings, the data format should be converted as part of the upgrade process. It's recommended that you go to advanced, backup/restore and create a backup copy of your configuration before upgrading. That way if you want to revert to the prior version, you can restore the backup. Once you upgrade to the new version and the data is migrated to the new schema, you cannot go back to the prior version without restoring a backup made from the prior version. If you activate the FindVera.com service, you will have automatic backups online anyway.

1.0.320 - November 25, 2008

Next steps

Most of the reported issues have been fixed. We still need to finish "Controller Shift", as well as support for the 4-in-1 sensors and a few other sensors. The next release, due in another week or two, should fix all remaining issues. At that time we will re-do all the graphics and videos in the user interface and submit it for certification.

Known issues

Remote control using the FindVera service can still be slow. The iPhone UI doesn't correctly show the current status. The new 'Z-Wave network status bar' on the devices page and dashboard can get stuck, so you need to hit F5 to reload the web site.

Fixes

Summary: The configuration of Z-Wave nodes has been re-written. Now controller replication should be more reliable and the user is given immediate feedback of the process. Also, the user can interactively poll a node and configure it, including setting custom variables and association. You can also create scene assignments for handheld remotes which are sent automatically.

1. [Bug 203]: Fix issue with 'host not found'. For users currently experiencing this issue upgrade to the latest firmware and then on the findvera tab in the setup site change the password. You can change it to the same password it currently is.

2. [Bug 225]: Allow you to set custom parameters or variable for Z-Wave devices. Click the + button next to a device and then the 'Z-Wave options' button within that device.

3. [Bug 208]: Fix for tech support remote access.

4. [Bug 247]: Fix sending Z-Wave configuration to a secondary controller

5. [Bug 245]: Pull the device descriptions from nodes the user previously named

6. [Bug 230]: Add 'permanently remove dead nodes' under a device's Z-Wave options to remove old devices not in the network anymore

7. [Bug 257]: Simplify having a state change on one device trigger an event

8. [Bug 267]: Fix that 12:00a is treated as midnight in a timer

9. [Bug 271]: Don't execute timers on the wrong days of the week

10. [Bug 256]: Add an info box to show the status of jobs, such as controller replication

11. [Bug 234]: Absolute timers were incorrectly parsing the date format

12. [Bug 236]: Fix submission of logs and trouble reports for tech support

13. [Bug 255]: Put a yellow 'wait' button next to Z-Wave devices that haven't been configured yet so the user knows they may not work.

14. [Bug 232]: Secondary and limited users is now fixed

15. [Bug 243]: Fix so non-Panasonic cameras are not incorrectly detected

1.0.292 - November 8, 2008

Known Issues

1. When you manually add an IP camera you can't set the camera's settings at the same time. Add the camera. Click 'save'. Then hit f5 to reload the site, go to devices, and then put in the settings (user/pass/ip/mac/etc.).

2. The iPhone interface does not show the current status of devices and may display a popup message 'failure' even when it successfully controlled a device. When you save your login settings at findvera.com/iphone you may see a database error when you return to the page.

3. Adding secondary and limited access users isn't working

Fixes

1. [Bug 168]: Instructions were added for using Vera as a wi-fi client: http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Networking_Setup:Vera_WiFi_in_Client_Mode

2. [Bug 129]: Notifications are now sent if Vera goes down.

3. [Bug 191]: You can now add a secondary controller.

4. [Bug 223]: Added ability on log page to turn on/off verbose logging

5. [Bug 138]: Added user friendly messages for energy history when there's no data.

6. [Bug 183]: Floorplan editor doesn't show room name

7. [Bug 211]: Intermittent problems activating the findvera.com service

8. [Bug 212]: Resolve a cache issue where IP/MAC was disappearing

9. [Bug 213]: Force cache reload after firmware upgrade

10. [Bug 214]: Fix allowing limited access to certain users

11. [Bug 177]: Fix 'require local authorization' check box

12. [Bug 202]: Fix cache issues with IE7 causing device changes to get lost

13. [Bug 210]: Reserve IP addresses if Vera is the DHCP server

14. [Bug 217]: Notify the user to cycle power if, after a firmware upgrade, it doesn't come back alive

15. [Bug 215]: Fix the cache setting

16. [Bug 204]: Fix login on findvera.com for iphone and wap phone if storing username in a cookie

17. [Bug 180]: FindVera.com Energy page shows "JpGraph Error" when no data is available

18. [Bug 66]: View cameras in a popup window

19. [Bug 166]: View cameras window kept closing

20. [Bug 153]: Fix tech support remote assistance

21. [Bug 101]: Fix java script error causing the 'after x seconds' popup to not appear

22. [Bug 150]: Fix order of timing in google chrome

1.0.283 - October 31, 2008

Known Issues

1. The iPhone interface does not show the current status of devices and may display a popup message 'failure' even when it successfully controlled a device. When you save your login settings at findvera.com/iphone you may see a database error when you return to the page.

Fixes

1. The iPhone app now lets you navigate forward and backward and displays buttons rather than links for scenes and devices.

2. [Bug 159]: Users could make changes to devices such as changing descriptions or room assignments and it appeared that the changes did not stick.

3. [Bug #194]: The port setting for the findvera.com service would get lost if you changed your username/password, making the service report 'Host not found'

4. [Bug #177]: Local authentication now works. From the Users's tab you can have Vera require a valid username/password to access the setup site. This means 2 passwords are required to access 'control' from the findvera service: 1) the username/password for findvera.com, 2) one of the local usernames/passwords created on Vera's users tab.

5. [Bug #12]: Intermittently the javascript would break and the user wouldn't be able to choose a subsequent action after choosing 'after x seconds/minutes' or be able to set a temperature on the thermostat.

6. [Bug #196]: This might be solved. We weren't able to reproduce but fixed something that could have theoretically caused it to happen.

7. [Bug #7]: You couldn't enable tech support remote access if the site failed to load

8. When you saved changes using the control option at FindVera.com your data file become corrupted.

9. The JavaScript will now let the user continue and use a backup if the main data file is corrupted.

10. [Bug #160]: It was very easy to press the reset button and lose your data. Now to do a reset you need to double-click the black button.

11. [Bug #195]: Also, reset will no longer remove the remote access keys causing the findvera service to stop working.

12. [Bug #188]: Allow users to add their cameras manually.

1.0.262 - October 15, 2008

Known Issues

1. The iPhone interface is not fully implemented. Specifically the links to control devices are plain text, and most actions take you to an empty page with a small 'OK' button. The commands do work, and you can press the back button on the 'OK' page to return to the list of scenes/devices in a room. This will be finished in the final release.

2. Periodically you may find that Vera's Setup page does not allow you to continue making changes, in particular, when creating scenes and you choose the 'after X seconds/minutes' pull-down you may not see the next pull-down to chose the subsequent action. Work-around: Click save to save your changes, and reload the page (or press F5).

3. When you assign new devices to a room and click save or continue it appear that your room assignments didn't take. They actually did. Press F5 to reload the page if this appears to be the case.

4. The setup page doesn't work with the new Google Chrome browse because the pull-down list in the scenes aren't being correctly sorted in Chrome. Firefox is the recommended browser, although we have found no issues with Internet Explorer or Safari.

5. The reset button is very close to the power and USB connectors and it's easy to press it, and it will clear out your configuration. We will make it so you have to hold the button to do a factory reset. In the meantime, careful to avoid pressing that button.

6. On the users tab you can specify that a local authentication is required to access Vera and which users can change the configuration. This is not working.