tenHsDesktop HomeSeer Connections

tenHsDesktop must create a connection to HomeSeer in order to function properly.  It must be connected in order to send Device commands and trigger Events.  It must also maintain a connection so that HomeSeer can notify tenHsDesktop whenever a Device's Status, Value, or DeviceString changes or whenever HS creates a new Log Record.

When tenHsDesktop is first started, it creates the connection to HomeSeer.  If it cannot connect, it displays the following panels:

Correct the IP Address, Userid, and Password and click Save and Exit.  You must then restart tenHsDesktop.

Ideally, once tenHsDesktop has created a connection, that connection would be usable for days or even weeks.  However, that is not the typical Home Automation environment.  The connection to HomeSeer can be lost because of network failures or HomeSeer failures/restarts.  tenHsDesktop attempts to catch any communications failure and reconnect:

When a command cannot be sent to HomeSeer, the tenHsDesktop Log panel is opened to show the errors, the Devices panel shows that there is no connection, and the program icons reflect the failed connection.  As the Log indicates, tenHsDesktop will continually try to reconnect to HomeSeer and will usually succeed once HomeSeer and the network are operational.

There is another mode of failure that is not so easily detected.  In some failures, tenHsDesktop may still be able to communicate with HomeSeer but is no longer receiving notifications from HomeSeer when Devices change.  tenHsDesktop can continually monitor for missing notifications from HomeSeer.  You must manually create a Virtual HomeSeer device that tenHsDesktop uses to make sure that there are continual Device changes generated that should be sent to tenHsDesktop.  If these notifications are not received, tenHsDesktop will try to reconnect.  The virtual Device's DeviceString will continually be updated with the current time.  You enable and configure this monitoring from the Options/General tab: