VisibleTesla

[ZBB]

Joe -
Thanks for adding in an OS X app bundle...

However, I'm not able to run VisibleTesla.app -- I get a warning message that states I need a newer version of Java. java.com/verify shows that I have Version 7, Update 55 installed, which is the latest -- so this is odd...

The VisibleTesla.jar version runs OK -- so might be something with the app bundle...

 

[araxara]

addition for mac users: Inside the visibletesla folder you'll now see visibletesla.app. You can use it to launch visibletesla. You can drag this to your dock or create an alias and put the alias anywhere you'd like. Do not move the app itself out of the downloaded folder. It relies on other content. You can move the entire downloaded folder anywhere you'd like.

How come the app can't be stand-alone and requires the other folder content? If you are going to go through the trouble of including a bundled app, then why not bundle everything into it?

 

[jpasqua]

How come the app can't be stand-alone and requires the other folder content? If you are going to go through the trouble of including a bundled app, then why not bundle everything into it?

Three reasons:

1. The true bundled app is a much bigger download
2. It's more maintenance work for me. I have to deal with the mac bundled app and the generic package separately.
3. [Updated, I forgot about this one] The autoupdate mechanism (such as it is) would have to know about both types of packages. If a Windows package ever got added, it would have to know about that too.

This hacked version takes virtually no more space, I don't have to do any more work, and the old way of doing things just continues to work. Building a truly bundled app with the build script you contributed also continues to work.

Joe

- - - Updated - - -

Joe -
Thanks for adding in an OS X app bundle...

However, I'm not able to run VisibleTesla.app -- I get a warning message that states I need a newer version of Java. java.com/verify shows that I have Version 7, Update 55 installed, which is the latest -- so this is odd...

The VisibleTesla.jar version runs OK -- so might be something with the app bundle...

Hi ZBB, I guessed that this was going to take some tweaking to get right. My best guest is that you've got more than one version of Java installed on your machine and I am picking the wrong one. Right now it looks for installations in the following order:

1. If you have the environment variable JAVA_HOME set, it uses whatever is there
2. If /usr/libexec/java_home is on your machine, it uses whatever java installation it knows about.
3. Finally it uses whatever version is installed for your browser (/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java)

If you're comfortable in Terminal and wouldn't mind spending a few minutes, would you try the following commands and let me know what you get?
$ echo $JAVA_HOME
$ /usr/libexec/java_home
$ /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version

Thanks,
Joe

 

[ZBB]

Hi ZBB, I guessed that this was going to take some tweaking to get right. My best guest is that you've got more than one version of Java installed on your machine and I am picking the wrong one. Right now it looks for installations in the following order:

1. If you have the environment variable JAVA_HOME set, it uses whatever is there
2. If /usr/libexec/java_home is on your machine, it uses whatever java installation it knows about.
3. Finally it uses whatever version is installed for your browser (/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java)

If you're comfortable in Terminal and wouldn't mind spending a few minutes, would you try the following commands and let me know what you get?
$ echo $JAVA_HOME
$ /usr/libexec/java_home
$ /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version

Thanks,
Joe

Joe - here's the results from Terminal (I added an extra blank row to help separate them)... Looks like I have both Java 1.6 and 1.7 installed, with 1.6 being Java Home (which I've never manually set before)...

$ echo $JAVA_HOME


$ /usr/libexec/java_home
/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home

$ /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version
java version "1.7.0_55"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_55-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.55-b03, mixed mode)

 

[scaesare]

VisibleTesla 0.26.03 is available...

Bravo... thanks as always Joe.

Downloaded and installed.. the range notification with the unplugged msg is a nice touch....

 

[Matt_D]

Is there a way for Visible Tesla to track what the car believes the external temperature is? I'm trying to track down the root cause of an odd overheating problem where the car when trickle charging never seems to cool itself when parked in the garage. I can track the temperatures crudely at regular intervals but would be great if VT could graph and report on the data over a charge.

 

[JPP]

Minor technical problem...I did not get the VT 'auto update' notice this morning, so I downloaded the update manually. I installed the folder on my Mac (latest Mavericks OS), and tried to launch the new .app version. Got a warning message about needing to update Java, but the link to the Oracle site offered me the same version/downlaod as what I just installed a few days ago. I bailed out, and then launched the .jar version of VT, and it works fine. Any ideas?

 

[Gizmotoy]

Joe - here's the results from Terminal (I added an extra blank row to help separate them)... Looks like I have both Java 1.6 and 1.7 installed, with 1.6 being Java Home (which I've never manually set before)...

$ echo $JAVA_HOME


$ /usr/libexec/java_home
/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home

$ /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version
java version "1.7.0_55"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_55-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.55-b03, mixed mode)

In case it helps, I have the same symptoms as ZBB and the exact same output from those three commands.

 

[jpasqua]

Joe - here's the results from Terminal (I added an extra blank row to help separate them)... Looks like I have both Java 1.6 and 1.7 installed, with 1.6 being Java Home (which I've never manually set before)...

$ echo $JAVA_HOME


$ /usr/libexec/java_home
/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home

$ /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version
java version "1.7.0_55"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_55-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.55-b03, mixed mode)

Minor technical problem...I did not get the VT 'auto update' notice this morning, so I downloaded the update manually. I installed the folder on my Mac (latest Mavericks OS), and tried to launch the new .app version. Got a warning message about needing to update Java, but the link to the Oracle site offered me the same version/downlaod as what I just installed a few days ago. I bailed out, and then launched the .jar version of VT, and it works fine. Any ideas?

In case it helps, I have the same symptoms as ZBB and the exact same output from those three commands.

Thanks all. I was trying to be flexible in where I picked up the Java installation, but I was too clever for my own good. It's picking up the older Java 1.6 installation that is installed on your machines. I'm changing the launch script to always use the standard installation location (/Library/Internet Plugins/...).

If any of you want to test a new version, you can delete the existing VisibleTesla.app (not the whole download folder, just the app) and then unzip this new version in its place. Please let me know your results if you try it.

Also, remember that if you are a developer you can really easily build a fully packaged version that includes Java, OR you can do the really easy thing which is to download the fully packaged version that @araxara so graciously hosts. See his post from a few pages back for details.

JPP: the 'auto update' check happens only every 7 days. If you want it to check earlier, you have to explicitly do choose "Check for Updates" from the menu.

- - - Reply to Matt_D - - -

Is there a way for Visible Tesla to track what the car believes the external temperature is? I'm trying to track down the root cause of an odd overheating problem where the car when trickle charging never seems to cool itself when parked in the garage. I can track the temperatures crudely at regular intervals but would be great if VT could graph and report on the data over a charge.

Hi Matt, It doesn't track external or internal temp at the moment because very often the car doesn't report them. This would leave massive gaps in the data. There isn't a reliable way of getting the car to report the temps other than turning on the HVAC system. Even then, it stops reporting some time after the HVAC is turned back off.

 

[Muzzman1]

Thanks all. I was trying to be flexible in where I picked up the Java installation, but I was too clever for my own good. It's picking up the older Java 1.6 installation that is installed on your machines. I'm changing the launch script to always use the standard installation location (/Library/Internet Plugins/...).

If any of you want to test a new version, you can delete the existing VisibleTesla.app (not the whole download folder, just the app) and then unzip this new version in its place. Please let me know your results if you try it.

Also, remember that if you are a developer you can really easily build a fully packaged version that includes Java, OR you can do the really easy thing which is to download the fully packaged version that @araxara so graciously hosts. See his post from a few pages back for details.

JPP: the 'auto update' check happens only every 7 days. If you want it to check earlier, you have to explicitly do choose "Check for Updates" from the menu.

- - - Reply to Matt_D - - -



Hi Matt, It doesn't track external or internal temp at the moment because very often the car doesn't report them. This would leave massive gaps in the data. There isn't a reliable way of getting the car to report the temps other than turning on the HVAC system. Even then, it stops reporting some time after the HVAC is turned back off.

Thanks Joe, The .zip works w/o the Java error. Thank you!!

 

[araxara]

Some more info regrading the VisibleTesla.app Mac bundled application

OR you can do the really easy thing which is to download the fully packaged version that @araxara so graciously hosts. See his post from a few pages back for details.

Yes, the double-clickable Mac application, which does not rely on your installed Java, since it has the latest Java runtime bundled with it, is available at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/168648/VisibleTesla.zip. Just double click the ZIP file after it is downloaded and then you can double click the generated VisibleTesla.app file. It's about a 70MB download. Although the App file has been signed with my Apple Developer ID, you may get a warning when trying to open it the first time. All you need is to go to System Preferences -> Security&Privacy and click on Open Anyway​ after you get a warning. You can place this App file anywhere to run it and it does not require any other files to be present.

 

[dsm363]

Yes, the double-clickable Mac application, which does not rely on your installed Java, since it has the latest Java runtime bundled with it, is available at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/168648/VisibleTesla.zip. Just double click the ZIP file after it is downloaded and then you can double click the generated VisibleTesla.app file. It's about a 70MB download. Although the App file has been signed with my Apple Developer ID, you may get a warning when trying to open it the first time. All you need is to go to System Preferences -> Security&Privacy and click on Open Anyway​ after you get a warning. You can place this App file anywhere to run it and it does not require any other files to be present.

Thanks. Will you be updating the version from time to time as the main app is updated or does it auto update?

 

[ZBB]

Thanks Joe, The .zip works w/o the Java error. Thank you!!

Yep -- the new app from that zip works. Thanks Joe!

 

[jpasqua]

Thanks Joe, The .zip works w/o the Java error. Thank you!!

Yep -- the new app from that zip works. Thanks Joe!

Thanks for testing. I replaced the zip file of 0.26.03 so anyone who downloads it from now on will get the fixed version.

I would normally make a new release, but I'm in the midst of a fairly significant change elsewhere in the project so I thought I would just trying patching the current release. I tested on Windows and Mac and don't think I've botched it. Let me know if I did!

Joe

 

[araxara]

Thanks. Will you be updating the version from time to time as the main app is updated or does it auto update?

Unfortunately the app does not self update, but I do update it within a day or two when a new release comes out and is available on Github. The link above is still valid for future releases.

 

[scaesare]

No reflection on VT at all, but allow me to say: Java can be a pig.

Over a 3rd of a GB of RAM consumed constantly to support a relatively simple app. Oof.

That having been said, thanks again for all the hard work, Joe.

 

[jpasqua]

Unfortunately the app does not self update, but I do update it within a day or two when a new release comes out and is available on Github. The link above is still valid for future releases.

OK, I may have to withdraw the concerns I expressed in an earlier post. It doesn't look like it will be too much work to maintain the fully bundled mac version and make it compatible with autoupdate. The updater will always offer the generic release, but if it notices that you are on a platform for which there is a bundled version, it will offer a link to that too (actually that will be the first link and the generic version will be below that). For the moment this will only happen on the Mac. In the future there could be a bundled Windows app too (any volunteers to find a non-commercial tool and create the build scripts?).

I'll look into it further this weekend, but it doesn't look too bad.

Joe

 

[jpasqua]

No reflection on VT at all, but allow me to say: Java can be a pig.

Over a 3rd of a GB of RAM consumed constantly to support a relatively simple app. Oof.

That having been said, thanks again for all the hard work, Joe.

I hear you. In the case of VT it's not so much Java itself as it is the libraries and frameworks. I've spent a ton of time working around horrible inefficiencies in the JavaFX code. I was hoping that they overhauled the implementation in JavaFX 8, but I took a look at one or two classes this morning and they were unchanged. Admittedly that's a small sample set, but they are classes I depend on.

That prompted me to stop waiting and replace another of their classes (XYChart). Actually I cloned it and made a few optimizations that pretty noticeably shorten the graph loading time. I can now load 8.5 months of data in the same time it used to take to load 0.5 months. It also uses less memory and does less garbage collection.

I don't like making these changes because now I have to track any mods they make to the official version and keep my copy in sync, but it's clear they aren't going to fix it any time soon.

I'll have an experimental version out some time this weekend. It will include this change, the bundled Mac app with auto-update functionality, and a fairly significant change to the way streaming data works in an effort to quash a nasty bug.

 

[hans]

I hear you. In the case of VT it's not so much Java itself as it is the libraries and frameworks. I've spent a ton of time working around horrible inefficiencies in the JavaFX code. I was hoping that they overhauled the implementation in JavaFX 8, but I took a look at one or two classes this morning and they were unchanged. Admittedly that's a small sample set, but they are classes I depend on.

That prompted me to stop waiting and replace another of their classes (XYChart). Actually I cloned it and made a few optimizations that pretty noticeably shorten the graph loading time. I can now load 8.5 months of data in the same time it used to take to load 0.5 months. It also uses less memory and does less garbage collection.

I don't like making these changes because now I have to track any mods they make to the official version and keep my copy in sync, but it's clear they aren't going to fix it any time soon.

I'll have an experimental version out some time this weekend. It will include this change, the bundled Mac app with auto-update functionality, and a fairly significant change to the way streaming data works in an effort to quash a nasty bug.

Perhaps you should contribute your improvements back to the open source OpenJFX project

Main - OpenJFX -OpenJDK Wiki

 

[jpasqua]

Perhaps you should contribute your improvements back to the open source OpenJFX project

Main - OpenJFX -OpenJDK Wiki

Thanks Hans, I'll look into that. Do you happen to know any of the contributors?