StokerX version 0.4


 
J

Joe Keenan

TVWBB Fan
I decided to go ahead and post another beta version. You can get 0.4 at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7563539/StokerX-0.4.zip.

Major additions in this version are:

1. User definable plot colors.

2. Blower activity metrics (duty cycle).

A number of bug fixes, including:

Make it run when used without a blower (sensors only).

I'm working on more features, but I'll take that to the feature thread.

Bug reports for this version in this thread please.

joe
 
UI suggestions welcome, especially about how to show the blower stats. I'm NOT a UI designer by any means.
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joe
 
Originally posted by Carl Anthony:
Thanks Joe for porting the Stokerlog to Mac. I am going to play with it at my first competition tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Not really a port, since I didn't have access to the StokerLog code. More accurately a simplified clone.
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Also, unless you REALLY like getting spam email, I wouldn't post your email address on public boards. The spammers use screen scraper tools to collect them.

joe
 
Joe,

Made a cook yesterday (actually stared at midnight thursday night with some briskets) and used V0.4. Very nice results. My only request is to allow dynamic updating of preference data. Having to close the program and re-open causes you to lose any data you have accumulated in the session. One other thought. is it possible to put the "lid open" detect bits on the main screen? They would be more convenient there I think. ALso, this is the first time I have used StokerX since the addition of the blower metrics. What are the two numbers reported? duty cycle over the last minute / Duty cycle over the last X (user defined in preferences) minutes?

I still don't like the JSON method of data acquisition. I get slow response from the main panel of the stoker when serving data this method. The telnet is much better with no delay in front panel input. I ran using both methods yesterday, and definitely prefer the Telnet mode.

E-mail or text updates would be nice. I noticed you have a placeholder in the preferences for e-mail address. Have you started working on this feature?

Anyway.....Great Job on the software. It's a pleasure to use.


Tnjet
 
Originally posted by Marshall:
Joe,

Made a cook yesterday (actually stared at midnight thursday night with some briskets) and used V0.4. Very nice results. My only request is to allow dynamic updating of preference data. Having to close the program and re-open causes you to lose any data you have accumulated in the session. One other thought. is it possible to put the "lid open" detect bits on the main screen? They would be more convenient there I think. ALso, this is the first time I have used StokerX since the addition of the blower metrics. What are the two numbers reported? duty cycle over the last minute / Duty cycle over the last X (user defined in preferences) minutes?
Click to expand...

First the duty cycle for the last X (user defined) minutes, second is total for the cook.

Yeah, the whole preferences thing is annoying me too, but rebuilding the graph view to update the temperature range is painful. I'll fix it one of these days, and the rest of the preferences too. It's just a pain to redo the stuff that's normally only done once on application startup. I suppose it would be easier to do if I could rework the code (again) so that it's done more on-demand.

The lid open stuff doesn't really do anything yet, but I'll look at putting it on the main screen.

I still don't like the JSON method of data acquisition. I get slow response from the main panel of the stoker when serving data this method. The telnet is much better with no delay in front panel input. I ran using both methods yesterday, and definitely prefer the Telnet mode.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know what the real problem is with the Stoker code, but the HTTP/JSON stuff is really slow.

E-mail or text updates would be nice. I noticed you have a placeholder in the preferences for e-mail address. Have you started working on this feature?
Click to expand...

Not really. I've starting putting in some of the infrastructure (like the email in preferences), but nothing else. I haven't actually done much coding on it since I released 0.4. I only get motivated to work on it when I'm planning or doing a smoke, and I don't get as much opportunity to do those as I like. Living in an RV full-time (and traveling a lot) makes it a little difficult.
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Anyway.....Great Job on the software. It's a pleasure to use.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Don't expect any updates for at least three months. We're leaving tomorrow for 7 weeks in Europe.
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joe
 
I ran StokerX for the first time last night. It read the temps and fan activity perfectly, but it did not graph anything.

Is there something to do for the Install I am missing? I downloaded and unzipped the file and then dragged it into the applications folder.

Jim
 
Hmm. Here's the complete debug list from Murray. Please do the same sequence and let me know. Also, watch the console log and see what messages you get from StokerX.

joe



TEST 1
1/ Ran test as before - Lid detection Drop 50 and wait 300 (seems to default to this)
2/ HTTP mode -
Result - everything working but no graphing...

Made the following changes:

TEST 2
1/ Lid detection Drop 50 and wait 120
2/ HTTP mode -
Result - everything working but no graphing...

Changed to Telenet mode

TEST 3
1/ Lid detection Drop 50 and wait 120
2/ Telenet mode

Everything working and graphing perfectly.

TEST 4
1/ Lid detection Drop 50 and wait 300
2/ HTTP Mode

Everything working and graphing perfectly.
 
Joe:

I ran through the tests and achieved success with everything at the end of Test 2. I did run into an error several times that seemed to hang StokerX,
5/3/11 11:49:16 AM StokerX[3159] Stoker: JSON NSURLConnection didFailWithError: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 UserInfo=0x537430 "The request timed out." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 UserInfo=0x537490 "The request timed out.")
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but the restarting my AirPort seemed to resolve that issue. I received that same error several times over the course of the tests but was able to restart the airport and get StokerX up and graphing for tests 3 & 4.

I saved the console messages for tests 1 & 2 and can email them to you if you'd like. One thing to mention is that when StokerX was not graphing, it did not display the y-axis or the temperatures along the y-axis. The other thing I noticed was that changing the max temperature display in the preferences did not change the range of values displayed along the y-axis.

Thanks for your help and for StokerX!
 
Please do email me the logs. The email address is in the README in the zip file.

Seems like the Stoker is not communicating sometimes, and I'm not catching the error. Heck, I'm barely doing any error checking on the connection, so it's probably not too surprising.

Glad it's working for you now. I'm off to tour Verona (Italy) tomorrow, then we head to Venice the day after. Life's rough.
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joe
 
I did some pork butts last night, 225 for twelve hours and then another 4 or so in the oven to finish. I really like the user definable colors as my probes are color coded (with electrical tape). No problems and no hangs. I have yet to try the lid detection- just a little afraid I guess and used to turning off the Stoker when I open the lid. Great so far!
 
Originally posted by ano jones:
I did some pork butts last night, 225 for twelve hours and then another 4 or so in the oven to finish. I really like the user definable colors as my probes are color coded (with electrical tape). No problems and no hangs. I have yet to try the lid detection- just a little afraid I guess and used to turning off the Stoker when I open the lid. Great so far!
Click to expand...

Don't bother with lid detection until the next release.
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Do you actually turn the Stoker off, or do you use the built-in hold functionality?

joe
 
My latest cook went well as well. BB Ribs spent about 3 hrs at 225 and finished one hour at 275.

I figured out to change the graph min/max, you need to tab off the graph min/max field before you close the preferences dialog.
 
Originally posted by Jim (MadCityJim):
I figured out to change the graph min/max, you need to tab off the graph min/max field before you close the preferences dialog.
Click to expand...

Ah, yeah, I'm currently only getting the updated value when the OS knows you're done with the field. Tabbing out or hitting enter/return should do it. Maybe I should also check all the values when the window closes. Hmm.

joe
 
Joe:
With everyone clamoring for a iPhone/Android app which is a challenge to implement because its tough to push the temp/time history onto the device, I started to wonder if you could build StokerX as a web application that would plug into the web server that is already included with the Mac OS. (or a Linux web server) (think of how you load WordPress onto a server) Once you can do that, you can control it from any smart phone or web browsing device from anywhere in the world. I suppose the same question could be posed for Stokerlog. Does that approach have any legs?
 
Originally posted by Jim (MadCityJim):
Joe:
With everyone clamoring for a iPhone/Android app which is a challenge to implement because its tough to push the temp/time history onto the device, I started to wonder if you could build StokerX as a web application that would plug into the web server that is already included with the Mac OS. (or a Linux web server) (think of how you load WordPress onto a server) Once you can do that, you can control it from any smart phone or web browsing device from anywhere in the world. I suppose the same question could be posed for Stokerlog. Does that approach have any legs?
Click to expand...

Hmm. So you mean an iOS (or Android) app that would communicate with StokerX (or StokerLog) and pull the data from that application as needed, rather than only being able to get the current snapshot that is available directly from the Stoker?

joe
 
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