domabo-lib/vistaicm-server

A Node.js app that works with the VISTA-ICM module to monitor and control a Honeywell VISTA alarm panel.

vistaicm-server

A Node.js app that works with the VISTA-ICM module to control VISTA (10/15/20/21/50/128/250) alarm panels. It provides a clean web interface and event handling through a hook architecture.

Although the VISTA-ICM itself comes with a web interface, it requires Internet Explorer and is painful to use. Also, the VISTA-ICM originally supported sending emails upon events (faults, alarms) but this service has been discontinued. vistaicm-server provides a clean, easily modifiable, mobile ready web interface and allows easy extensibility through a hook architecture which opens up interesting possibilities (i.e. auto arm daily at 11PM, trigger X10 relay at time of arm, send iOS notifications through Prowl on alarm events, etc.), requiring little effort.

Features

• Mobile ready web interface that shows real-time display updates and allows for keypad input.
• Send commands to the ICM including anything you can send with a keypad including digits, relay activation and functions (ARM-AWAY, STAY, FIRE, etc.).
• Listen and respond to events with a hook architecture. For instance, you can send a SMS message or email when an alarm event occurs.
• Schedule commands to be executed at certain times. For instance, ARM-STAY nightly at 11PM.

Quick Start

1. Ensure Node.js is installed on the machine you will be running vistaicm-server.
2. Download the latest vistaicm-server source into a directory on the target server. You can download the zip and unzip or run git clonehttps://github.com/bradyholt/vistaicm-server.git.
3. Run npm install to install node package dependencies.
4. Run node server.js (or node server.js & to run in background)
5. Open http://localhost:3900/ in a browser.

This will open the web interface which should auto-detect your VISTA-ICM on the network and begin to show display updates (i.e. "Ready to Arm"). You can then click numbers on the keypad to control the VISTA-ICM.

Commands

Commands can be sent to the VISTA panel by using the format ICM.executeCommand("5"); This would simulate pressing the 5 key on a keypad. If you want to send multiple commands to be executed in serial order, you can separate the commands with a - (dash). For example, ICM.executeCommand("1-2-3-4-5"); would simulate pressing these 5 keys on the keypad, in the order listed.

To issue commands from the web interface, you need to create an element that has the class button. The id of the button will be the command(s) sent to the VISTA panel. For instance, adding the following button to the index.html file:

 <button class="button" id="3-5-3-5">Click Me</button>

and clicking it through a browser, would send the commands 3,5,3,5 to the VISTA.

###Special Commands

Some VISTA key sequences require the disarm code to be entered prior to other keys, such as when you are turning a relay on or off. For instance, if you have a X10 module configured and you want to turn a light on by triggering relay #1, you would press the following keys on a keypad: 1,2,3,4,7,0,1 (1,2,3,4 being your disarm code, and 7,0,1 being the VISA keypad sequence to turn relay #1 on*. If you wanted to add a button on the web interface to turn on or off a relay, you would not want to put your disarm code in the index.html file because it could easily be read by anyone who has access to your web address. Instead, vistaicm-server provides a psuedo command called Pound which, if used, will be replaced by the commands specified in the pound_commands variable, located in the root folder config.js file. If you want to use the Pound replacement feature, you would need to change the value of pound_commands in the config.js to match your disarm code. For instance, if you updated the config.js file to read:

pound_commands : ["5","2","5","2"]

and added the following button the www/index.html:

<button class="button" id="Pound-7-0-1">Open Garage</button>

clicking the "Open Garage" button would result in the following commands being sent to you VISTA panel: 5,2,5,2,7,0,1

*More information on keypad sequences for relays can be found in your VISTA manual.

Hooks

Hooks allow you to easily tap into VISTA-ICM events that occur, such as arming, alarms, and faulted zones. With these hooks, you can respond to the events in many interesting ways such as sending SMS, email. iOS / Android notifications. In addition, with the help of the node-cron module, you can write hooks that will execute commands a certain times, such as auto arming the alarm nightly at 11PM, or arming the alarm after the garage door closes (if you have a garage door zone setup).

The available events include:

• displayChanged (keypad display updated)
• armStatusChanged (armed / disarmed)
• readyChanged (faulted or ready to arm)
• zoneStatusChanged (single zone faulted / unfaulted)
• alarmStatusChanged (security or fire alarm triggered)

To use a hook, you need to add a .js file in the hooks folder and restart node. The hook should be in the following format:

module.exports = function (ICM) {
    ICM.events.on('alarmStatusChanged', function(alarmStatus){
       //Alarm is going off!!  Respond to it here by sending SMS, email, etc.
    }
}

There are example hooks in the hooks_examples folder. To use these, you will need to modify and copy to the hooks folder and restart node.

###Cron hooks In addition to event based hooks, you can use cron hooks to schedule time based execution. At the time of execution, you can send commands to the VISTA-ICM or do anything else you want to. An example to arm the arm each night at 11PM, your hook would look like this:

var cronJob = require('cron').CronJob;
module.exports = function (ICM) {
var job = new cronJob('0 0 23 * * *', function(){ //11PM
      ICM.executeCommand('F4'); //F4 is function key #4 on keypad
  });

  job.start();
};

As a convenience, a predefined cron.js hook is already present in the hooks folder which you modify and/or add to.

Credit

Major credit is due to Tomi Blinnikka and his Honeywell/Ademco Vista ICM post which provided the technical information needed to properly interface with the ICM.