Glossary of Terms
There tends to be a lot of home automation specific jargon used in documents, wiki articles, and in the support forums. This is where we'll capture those so it's easy to find the definition you need.
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Action Group | Action Groups are collections of actions that may be reused (and modified) easily between multiple triggers, schedules, and control pages and executed via various clients (the Mac Client, the Indigo Web Server (IWS) web pages, Indigo Touch, etc). |
Control Page | Control Pages are user-created interfaces to control their Indigo system - for instance you could create a graphical floor plan with light icons in the various rooms. |
Controller | In Indigo, it's a device that controls another device. A controller may also be a responder (i.e. KeypadLinc). We've adopted the term from various INSTEON documentation. |
Developer | A person who writes Indigo Web Server (IWS) plugins or Indigo Server (IS) plugins. |
INSTEON Link | A connection between two INSTEON devices such that one device controls the other based on some input - a button press, etc. |
Device | A device is any “thing” that Indigo can interact with - usually it's some kind of hardware (light switch, appliance module, motion sensor, etc), but devices can also be other non-hardware things (iTunes server, calendar, etc). |
I/O Device | Any device that has binary or analog inputs or outputs. These devices are generally used to interface at a low-level to other devices (security systems, sensors, etc). |
Indigo Object Model (IOM) | The IOM is how the various objects in Indigo are modeled in Python objects for scripters and plugin developers. |
Plugin | Indigo supports two ways to extend it's functionality: Indigo Web Server (IWS) plugins and Indigo Server (IS) plugins. IWS plugins allow a developer to extend the functionality on an Indigo Control Page. IS plugins can extend Indigo by adding additional devices types, trigger events, and actions. |
Responder | In Indigo terminology, it's a device that responds to commands. A responder may also be a controller (i.e. KeypadLinc). We've adopted the term from various INSTEON documentation. |
Schedule | A schedule is similar to a trigger, but the event that causes the execution of the actions is a temporal event of some kind. Either a fixed point in time (5/2/2011 at 1:00pm) or more likely some repeating time (every day at 1:00pm). |
Scripter | Someone who uses either Python or AppleScript scripts to implement automation logic in Indigo via embedded or file-based script actions and script conditions. |
Trigger | A trigger is generally some kind of “event” that occurs. Indigo can use that event to execute actions in response. |
Variable | A variable is a place where your home automation logic can store information that changes during the normal operation of your home and that can be used in other parts of your system: for instance, you can have a variable that represents whether your home is occupied or not - then you can have special automation logic that takes place when that variable changes. |