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seattlechris
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Posted: January 29 2003 at 12:08 | IP Logged Quote seattlechris

I use SMS text messaging with powerhome, and I've run
into a bit of a snag. SMS text messaging is the service
that cell phones use to send and receive short text
messages from/to other cell phones and email addresses.
Like roncomer posted on this board, it's handy as a method
to let powerhome notify you of events while you're away
from home-- "alarm disarmed", "house temp below 50 deg" etc.
I also use the process email feature of powerhome to
allow me to remote control the program, which I have been
able to do with normal email, and now would like to do
via SMS generated email.

Anyway, here's the snag: my phone and service allow me to
send emails (via outbound text message) to powerhome, but
it doesn't allow me to specify a subject line independent
of the message body. It repeats the first few words of the
message content as the subject line. As an example, one
command I would like to send is:

subject: sendkeys
message: ph_rtne(ph_macro("STATUS REPORT"))

But if I use SMS, the email will arrive at powerhome as

subject: sendkeys ph_rtne(ph...
message: sendkeys   ph_rtne(ph_macro("STATUS REPORT"))

So I think you see the problem-- powerhome will ignore the
email because of the trailing info in the subject line after
sendkeys, and it will choke on the sendkeys keyword in
the message body.

Thoughts? I'm not above doing wild kludges on my end if
that would help...
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dhoward
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Posted: January 29 2003 at 15:42 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Chris,

Ive modified the Process Email functionality based upon the information you've provided above.  It will be available in the next release .

What I've done is allow the format that you tried above...specify the type of email control followed by a single space followed by the actual formula.

BTW, would you happen to know if this is standard for SMS messaging?  I would hope to come up with a scheme which would be universal for everyone.  I have AT&T wireless, which I'll be testing tonight to confirm the fix.

Thanks,

Dave.

 

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TonyNo
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Posted: January 29 2003 at 16:11 | IP Logged Quote TonyNo

I have Cingular, and it allows a unique subject. Maybe this should be a setup option?

Tony

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seattlechris
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Posted: January 29 2003 at 23:23 | IP Logged Quote seattlechris

Errr, ummm, uhhh...

I may have wasted your time.  Sorry 'bout that.  After looking at it closer, the outgoing SMS message was mangled more than just repeating a fraction as the subject line.   Although I couldn't find any reference to this in Verizon's or Motorola's documentation or web sites, there is an explanation.  Whether a subject line is directly entered is a function of the phone, rather than the service, based on the limited research I did.  For example, http://www.suncom.com/messaging/2way_SMS_faq.html .  I didn't spend a lot of time checking multiple phones & services & countries however, so you might want to check further before publishing instructions in your powerhome manual.

Anyway, my phone (motorola t720) interprets a parentheses pair as enclosing the subject line of the outgoing message.  Would have been nice to see that tidbit in the 192 page owner's manual.   It throws away the portion before, and puts the remainder in the message body.  As you can imagine, this wreaks havoc with a sendkeys formula email.  Actually, it could wreak havoc on an innocent (non-geeky) text message too.  However, knowing this trick provides the answer:

Instead of entering subject sendkeys body ph_rtne(ph_macro("MACRONAME")) as one would on a quality phone such as Tony's, one can enter (sendkeys)ph_rtne((ph_macro("MACRONAME"))  as the message.  A trailing space also seems to be required, to avoid having the phone enter a carriage return for you.  It works fine now, using this trick.

Actually though, I kind of like the idea of the one line email entry to fire off a macro-- I vote you keep that option in your software, though admittedly it doesn't solve the problem that I had originally posed (and again, sorry for the misleading post). 

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TonyNo
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Posted: January 30 2003 at 07:56 | IP Logged Quote TonyNo

Then, my post should have been, "my Nokia 8260 allows a subject line"!

Tony

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dhoward
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Posted: January 30 2003 at 11:37 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

I went ahead and changed the code back to the way it was. 

I couldn't leave it and get the functionality that you were wanting with being able to place everything in the message body because I was still relying upon the first part of the body being copied to the subject.  This way when scanning the email, I only need to read the envelope and don't have to read the actual message to determine if PowerHome is going to use it.  By having the "trigger" in the subject, PowerHome will only "read" the message if it determines that it is a piece of Control Email.

In any event, Im glad you got it working .

Chris,

As a side note, you would probably be better off using the subject of "formula" with a body of "ph_macro("STATUS REPORT")" rather than the sendkeys.  It should save you some typing.  Actually...now that I think about it, you would be better off in the above case by using a subject of "macro" with a body of "STATUS REPORT".  It will save you even more typing.  In the last case, you don't even have to capitalize the macro name as it will be done automatically for you if that makes entry into your SMS any easier.

Dave.

 

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seattlechris
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Posted: January 30 2003 at 14:00 | IP Logged Quote seattlechris

Excellent suggestions-- thanks Dave. I was unaware that
the process email function supported anything other than
a subject line of sendkeys. Now that I read the latest powerhome
manual (I had 1.0.1 earlier), I see that you now list all the options.
Earlier I learned of the sendkeys subject line from this board.

Typing into the phone is a real hassle, so keeping it short
is a good thing. One handy shortcut though is to lock a
specific outgoing SMS message in the phone, then just resend it.
Most of the time I'd be sending the same macro, so this
is probably ok.

Thanks for all the replies and help all around.
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dhoward
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Posted: January 31 2003 at 10:45 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Glad I could help.

Dave.

 

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