How do I determine what version of openhab2 a thing is in?

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
1

If I’m considering buying a ZWave device on Amazon, how do I know with 100% confidence that the item will or will not be supported by OpenHab2 in the current release version? I seem to keep buying devices that I find in the database at http://www.cd-jackson.com/ only to get an unrecognized device error when I go to include them. I asked for help at http://www.cd-jackson.com/ but he just closed the ticket and told me to “make sure I got the latest snapshot” and “ask the community”. The last time this happened with a CT100 thermostat, I finally gave up in finding the answer and bought the older version of the CT100 (which is working). Now the same is happening with a GE Z-Wave Plus Wireless Smart Lighting Control Outdoor Module. The device ID matches what is in the database but the thing isn’t recognized.

So, my question is this; Where is the step-by-step instructions to either manually enter the device info into my current build OR to upgrade to a snapshot that contains the updated device OR how to even find out which snapshot a thing is in that I know will work? I did this research awhile ago when working on my CT100 and came up empty. There are so many discussion threads here that it’s difficult to read them all to find which one(s) pertain to my issue. When I was working on the CT100 issue I was unable to find the answer and am coming up blank again. This seems like an issue that would come up a lot so I can’t help but feel that I’m just missing something.

2

Seems like it would have been easier to just use the 2.2 snapshot version of OH instead of buying an older device.

The zwave device database gets compiled into the binding. You cannot manually add a new device short of modifying your local copy of the database and recompiling the zwave binding. As far as I know, there are no instructions for doing this written out anywhere.

There are upgrade instructions in each of the Installation documents. Here are the instructions for auto-installed instances on Linux.

http://docs.openhab.org/installation/linux.html#changing-versions

There is a similar section for all the other OS’s and methods of installation.

If it is listed in the DB on Chris’s site, it is either already in the latest SNAPSHOT or will be within a couple of days. At this time with my current knowledge that is the best I can offer.

I think it doesn’t come up as much because the typical practice is if the device is not in your current version of OH then one either waits for the next release or updates to the snapshot. If the device is not in the database at all, one submits the necessary information to the database, waits a couple of days, and then uses the snapshot.

It is often possible, though not always, to just update a single binding to the snapshot version. To do this you uninstall your current binding, download the latest snapshot from here (download the openhab-addons-2.2.0-SNAPSHOT.kar). Using an unzipping program (tar may work too) extract the contents of the kar file and then you can drop org.openhab.binding.zwave-2.2.0-SNAPSHOT.jar into the addons folder (/usr/share/openhab2/addons for an installed OH, /opt/openhab2/addons for a manually installed OH). I believe that version will automatically be picked up and installed for you at this point.

However, be aware that depending on what changes have been made to the OH core, this may not work as these newer builds of the bindings may depend on those changes to the OH core rendering them incompatible with older versions of the OH core. In particular I do think there are some recent changes to the OH core that would make the 2.2 SNAPSHOT version of the bindings no longer compatible with 2.1. I don’t know this for sure but suspect that may be the case.

Finally, this may not be the case for you with the devices you talked about thus far, but for future readers who come across this thread, battery-powered devices will show up in OH as Unknown until you wake them up a few times to give the binding a chance to figure out what they are.

3

Thank you, Rich. This helps immensely.

It appears that I’m currently running 2.1.0 Release. I’ll try to upgrade to 2.2 Snapshot tonight and hope that I don’t hit any Core issues. I’ll do a backup first.

BTW, I’m using OpenHabianPi and am not familiar with the command-line environment (and am really uncomfortable in there) so, when you use the term “update a single binding”, are you referring to the entire ZWave binding? And, if so, does the “ZWave Binding” contain the entire thing database"? And, if I uninstall the entire ZWave Binding, do all of my things disappear and need to be re-created?

4

Update: I installed the latest snapshot via the OpenHabian confirg utility and the device was recognized and now works perfectly. Thanks again for the help!

5

Okay, I’ve written up a procedure for my own use to save me some time the next time I buy a newer ZWave device that doesn’t work in the Stable Release of OpenHab. Sorry if this is confusing but I hope it helps and doesn’t just confuse people further. I’m a beginner at OpenHab so I apologize if this is just complete garbage:

To locate a thing:

Search for things in:
http://www.cd-jackson.com/index.php/zwave/zwave-device-database/zwave-device-list

If your thing can’t be found in the cd-jackson.com database, you need to find out how to submit a new thing to the database, get it included in the latest snapshot, and then update your OpenHab to the latest snapshot to use it.

If you find your thing, examine the comments at the bottom of the Database entry for the first entry or Dates below the “Endpoints” section to get an idea of when the thing was included in the database (?) and compare to date of the latest stable build (see below for location). (it would be nice if the database simply displayed the “Created Date” of a Thing).

If the Thing in the database is newer than the latest release date of the stable build, then you can short-cut the process below and just update to the latest snapshot. Just as a side note, Openhabian Pi has a config menu option for this.

Otherwise, if your item is in the database, you can find out if it’s in the stable build and/or the snapshot build by doing the following:

When a Thing is located in the database, the “Unique Reference” at the bottom of the Overview appears to be used in the thing’s file name when it goes into the build so note that value for later. Also, note the “References (Type:Id)” field.

Go get the version of OpenHab Addons that you want to find the thing in. The ZWave Binding Addon is the target to search in which can be found:

Current Release (months old):


ZWave ZIP file will look like “org.openhab.binding.zwave-2.1.0.zip”.

Latest Snapshot (days old):
https://openhab.ci.cloudbees.com/job/openHAB-Distribution/
ZWave KAR file will look like “openhab-addons-2.2.0-SNAPSHOT.kar”.

Download the ZIP or KAR file containing the ZWave distro from the above folder(s).

Search within the ZIP or KAR file using 7Zip or similar for an XML file in the path(s) below (approximate depending on the current build version, etc.) using the manufacturer name of the thing (e.g. “GE”) and the Unique Reference from the Database Overview (e.g. “outdoorswitch”). When you find an .XML file that you think matches your thing, open it and look for the manufacturer Type ID and compare to “References (Type:Id)” field from the Device Overview (e.g. - “4F50:3032”).

The folder within the ZIP or KAR to search in is:

ZWave ZIP of Current Stable Release:

org.openhab.binding.zwave-2.1.0.zip\org.openhab.binding.zwave-2.1.0\ESH-INF\thing\

OpenHab Snapshot (2.2):

openhab-addons-2.2.0-SNAPSHOT.kar\repository\org\openhab\binding\org.openhab.binding.zwave\2.2.0-SNAPSHOT\org.openhab.binding.zwave-2.2.0-SNAPSHOT.jar\ESH-INF\thing\

If your thing can be found in the database but not in the Stable Release or the SnapShot Release, you need to wait it out until it is included in the SnapShot and then update to the SnapShot.

Hope this helps and doesn’t just add to folks’ confusion.