All right everyone, I finally got a chance to post about version 1.3. If you are new to this site then check out the full tutorial here.

In this version I add MySQL to take care of light status and to ease the amount of coding needed for the interface. If you are a MySQL novice like I am you should probably use phpMyAdmin for easy database and table setup. Set up a database and import the sql file included in the 1.3 package. This will set up tables that correcspond to my current configuation at my house. You can of course set this up however your system requires. If you need to install MySQL, you can get version 5 which I used, here. If you want to check out a tutorial on how it all works with PHP and Apache check this tutorial.

The database is really just for having icons that reflect the status of the lights. It works fairly well except for the fact that a manual triggering of any light will not update the database and therefore the icon will be incorrect.

In this version I have also rewritten the JavaScript and CSS for the interface, opting to go for a custom look and smaller files rather than the bulky and clunky iUI script. There is no sliding windows in this version but I didn’t think it was really that needed.

If you check out this version you will also see that I have created a section to control my door. I bought a door lock that would typically be used where the door is unlocked with a buzzer. I am using a x10 relay module and a bit of PHP to send the “buzz” and then closing the connection with PHP (check tutorial 1 for more info on how this system works).

All in all the new system is lightweight and quite functional. Stay tuned for more as I have begun to collaborate with another developer with a better grasp on PHP and MySQL then I have… Should be good stuff.

Download: iPHC v1.3