Version 2: Features

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(Draft) *NEW* features that distinguish VC2 from VC1.

Current as of version 1.9.3.1 (downloadable on the forum).

New or Updated Plugins

GgCal

Completely revamped UI for the GgCal plugin settings and updated action descriptions. Should hopefully be more user-friendly.

MediaMonkey

In version 1, MediaMonkey settings were found in a tab of the main Options menu, and MediaMonkey actions were listed in the core actions.

This has all been moved into a plugin. Commands created in VC1 will continue to work if you choose to import them to VC2, but you must enable the plugin and should double-check the plugin settings.

When creating new commands, look for the MediaMonkey actions in the plugins tab of the action selection tree, rather than the core actions tab.

TTS

TTS actions that were listed under "Core Actions" in version 1 have been moved to this plugin. Test and select your SAPI 5 TTS voices in the TTS plugin settings. If you are using the Microsoft Speech Platform 11 voices designed for the new engine, you should enable the TTSMS plugin and use those actions instead.

In the plugin settings, there is also a new experimental Arduino Ambilight effects feature.

TTSMS

Test and select your default MS TTS voice in the plugin settings. Actions duplicate the original TTS actions, but are meant specifically for Microsoft's TTS voices.

Windows Media Center

In version 1, WMC settings were found in a tab of the main Options menu, and its actions were listed in the core actions. Support for WMC is now via the WMC plugin. Enable the plugin and double-check the settings.

As with version 1, you will need to have the VMC Controller plugin for WMC installed.

When creating new commands, look for the WMC actions in the plugins tab of the action selection tree, rather than the core actions tab.

Any custom WMC commands that you created in version 1 and import should still work as is.

WUnder

There is now a location search button in the settings, to make it easier for users to find the closest location and correct syntax.

New astronomy variables have been added -- sunrise, sunset, moonrise, etc.

xJson

xJson plugin now allows user to specify the TCP port used for notifications from XBMC in the plugin settings.

New or Updated Actions

Full descriptions of these new or improved actions, including both required and optional parameters, can be found (as always) in the action selection tree when you install VC2.

Core actions

  • Launch.Capture - Launch a process and attempt to read the commandline output it generates.
  • Map.ExportPayloadXML - Create a payloadXML file based on a map. (This can already be done manually within the map editor, but now you can accomplish the same thing within a command.)
  • Map.GetKey - Returns the key for the given <Map> and <Value>. (A complement to the existing Map.Get action, which does the opposite.)
  • Actions#Query|Map.Query]] - Still a work in progress (untested). Will eventually allow us to query a map to return multiple values having specific characteristics.
  • Scrape.Put - Similar to scrape, but performs an HTTP "put" request instead of an HTTP "get" request. See the Wikipedia article on HTTP request methods for more explanation.
  • Scrape.Post - Similar to scrape, but performs an HTTP "post" request instead of an HTTP "get" request. See the Wikipedia article on HTTP request methods for more explanation.
  • VC.SetEventTimer - If a time earlier than the current time is used, this action will now automatically add 24 hours.
  • VC.SpeechInput - Now only searches "active" microphones. You can still choose to use substrings of either the "caption" (friendly name which you can set in properties) or the device name, and it is not case sensitive. It is up to you to avoid ambiguous names like "microphone" which could refer to more than one device.

Plugin actions

MediaMonkey

  • MM.LoadBySQL - The second, Special parameter can now be set to Replace, Mix, or PlayNext. Full description in your VC2 action selection tree.

TCP

  • TCP.Client.Query - Query server. Response will be stored in {LastResult}.
  • TCP.UDP.SendMixed - Allows you to send UDP messages to any IP and Port and to embed non ascii characters using the hex format \x00-\xFF
  • TCP.Single.Write - Modified. Added option to wait for a result from the server and return it as LastResult if available.

TTS

  • TTS. - A full set of actions that duplicate the original TTS actions that were listed under "Core Actions" in VC1. These work specifically with SAPI5 TTS voices.
  • TTSMS. - A full set of actions that duplicate the original TTS actions, but which are meant specifically for Microsoft's free, Speech Platform 11 TTS voices.

RoboB

  • RoboB.Fullscreen - (new) Enables or disables the RoboBrowser fullscreen mode.
  • RoboB.Show - (improved) A new optional parameter allows users to hide or show the helper panel.

Vera

  • Vera.Get.HVAC. - Query your HVAC device(s) for information on its current state, setpoints, etc.
  • Vera.HVAC. - Set HVAC modes and variables such as fan mode and temperature setpoint, etc.
  • PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) - Actions for Pan Tilt Zoom Camera control.
  • WinCovAction - Actions for window coverings.

WUnder

  • WUnder.Change - Change settings such as location, language, measurement system on the fly.

New Configurations

English

Vera home automation configuration (default command set).

German

Vera home automation configuration (default command set).

Other Changes

  • More sophisticated Regular Expression implementation. See forum post: New feature: Enhanced regex.
  • Improved prefix handling, particularly if you use more than one prefix. New {LastPrefix} variable is now available. VC.Prefix.Start event now includes two payloads: {1} prefix used & {2} VC mode (on/standby).
  • In RoboBrowser plugin settings, you can now see a list of current Robobrowsers, and prevent Robobrowser from opening new browser windows apart from the main Robob window if desired.
  • Fixed some bugs with maps.
  • Improved action-level copy/paste within the LCB window.
  • Improvements made to XML import/export of commands and command groups. Designed to circumvent common forms of user error.
  • Command data structure has been improved, which means that the XML structure is now different. You may notice this difference when looking at command XML posted on the forum.
Users of VC version 1 should update to version 1.191 on the downloads page or they will not be able to import new VC2 command XML posted on the forum. (Caveat: the ability to import VC2 commmands into VC1 does not ensure they will work for you, since new plugins, actions, and features are now regularly being added to VC2 only.)
Note that VC2 is backwards compatible with all versions of VC1 XML.
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