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Scene creation Easily create or modify scenes. A scene can be as simple as a
single controller and a single responder (a button on a keypad turns on a lamp), or complex with
multiple controllers and responders. Whatever the make-up of a scene, Insteon Explorer will
automatically create or modify all the required links, including cross-linking the controllers
(if there are multiple) so the status indicators on all controllers stay "in-sync" and always
reflect the actual status of the scene.
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Device discovery Identify new or unknown devices by placing Insteon Explorer
into discovery mode, then press the set-button on any devices on the Insteon network to be
added to the device tree.
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Spider devices Identify new or unknown devices by crawling the link
databases of all known devices on the Insteon network. Unknown devices will be queried for
type information and added to the device tree.
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Device swapping Allows you to easily replace a device on the Insteon network
with a new one, without the hassle of reprogramming the device and recreating all the links
on all the other devices on the network. The user enters the address of the new device, and
Insteon Explorer takes care of the rest.
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Link database cleanup As devices are added and removed from the Insteon network,
remaining devices can be left with stale links. These links can create unnecessary traffic on the
Insteon network. Insteon Explorer can automatically identify links which are no longer valid and
remove them from the device's link database.
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Traffic monitor Displays all traffic visible to the Insteon network interface
occurring on the Insteon network. Useful for debugging network issues.
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Restore A device can be restored to its last known state. This can be useful
if a device was accidentially reset or lost its settings due to other causes. The stored local
copy of the device settings and link database are all reprogrammed into the device.
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Ping Sends a request to a device to be sure it's reachable and responding.
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Probe Device is queried for its current status. Status is displayed in the
device tree (light bulb off or on) and in the device properties window (on level slider).
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Blink The load attached to a device will be flashed on & off in one second
intervals. This helps the user to identify what light is controlled by what Insteon device.
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Clean, professional, intuitive user interface.
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Only those items appropriate for a device are displayed. For example "dimmer"-type devices
may have local ramp-rate and resume-dim options available, while a "relay"-type
device would not. A "keypad" device might have an option for 6 or 8 button mode. The
interface always displays the options that are appropriate for a device to the user, and
nothing more to confuse or clutter the interface.
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Program-wide drag an drop support. Devices can be moved between rooms in the device tree
by simply dragging a device to another room. Devices can be added to device lists in
various places in the application by dragging a device from the device tree and dropping
it on the appropriate list.
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Context menus provide fast access to the appropriate and most frequently used functions
based on the current selection.
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Object-oriented design allows multiple instances of the same window to be open
simultaneously. For example, multiple device properties windows can be displayed at
the same time.
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Status bar indicates current activity and progress for long-running operations.
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On startup, the user has the option to do nothing, open the last opened file, or prompt
for a file to open.
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Common warning requesters have the option to prevent them from being displayed again in
the future and instead cause the program to continue silently without the warning.
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Devices can be toggled on or off, or set to a specific dim level (if supported by the device)
directly from the device tree and device properties window. No links are required to perform
these direct control operations.
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Traffic on the Insteon network is constantly monitored. When a device changes state based on a
known command transmitted on the network, the device status is updated in Insteon Explorer.
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Upon opening a file, Insteon Explorer can be configured to automatically probe all the devices
in the file to retrieve their current status information.
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Device information including name, room, type, firmware information, current settings, and
link database are all read from the device and maintained in the user's save file. These local
copies can be used as a backup to restore a device that's been factory reset or has lost its
settings, or for other convenience operations such as easily swapping a bad device out for another.
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Device information is saved to a user-specified file. Users can have multiple files
(for example, one for each home). The save file stores device information, a local copy of
device settings and link database, as well as scene definitions. The file is stored in
XML format.
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Incorporates a highly flexible XML-based configuration system that describes to the program
how to identify devices, defines their capabilities and options, and how to interact with the
devices. Using this method the program can easily be extended to operate with devices that
were not available at the time, or add new features for devices that have been enhanced in
later firmware revisions.
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Automatically update to the latest release right from inside Insteon Explorer. Selecting
"Help" / "Check for updates" queries Forefront's servers to determine if there is an update
available. The user can select which update(s) to install and initiate the process immediately.
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Not necessarily a complete list of all features of the most recent version of the product
Insteon Explorer and related images are ©2007-2009 Forefront Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Insteon and Insteon logos are trademarks of SmartLabs, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
©2007-2009 Forefront Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved
