Data Visualization
Real-time charts and energy statistics on the dashboard.
Open media
HomeGenie Server 2.0 transforms your smart home from a reactive system into an analytical tool. It doesn't just execute commands; it constantly listens, records, and organizes the "pulse" of your home, turning raw sensor data into actionable insights.
The Data Stream Architecture
To understand how HomeGenie visualizes data, it is essential to understand how it handles information. In HomeGenie, everything is an event. Whether a light turns on, a temperature sensor updates, or a motion detector triggers, a message is broadcasted on the internal system bus.
This stream of events is handled by a dual-layer storage architecture designed for both speed and longevity:
Volatile Memory Buffer (RAM): By default, HomeGenie maintains a high-speed, circular buffer in the system memory (RAM). This buffer typically holds the last 24 hours of data for every module parameter. This allows for instant rendering of "Last 24h" charts without touching the disk, ensuring blazing fast performance and reducing wear on SD cards (crucial for Raspberry Pi users).
Persistent Storage (Database): For long-term history, the Event Logger program (if enabled) captures these events and writes them to a persistent database (LiteDB). This allows you to go back weeks, months, or years.
Interactive Charts
The Chart Widget is the window into this data. In version 2.0, it has been completely rewritten to handle large datasets smoothly and provides intuitive navigation tools.
Time Navigation & Zoom
Forget static graphs. You can now explore your data timeline dynamically:
- Time Range Slider: Located beneath the chart, this slider represents the full available dataset. You can drag the handles to zoom in on a specific period (e.g., "what happened between 2 PM and 4 PM?") or drag the entire selected window to scan through the day.
- Timeline Pan: You can touch and drag the chart area itself to pan horizontally through the history, moving seamlessly from the past to the present.
Data Sources
When configuring a chart, the new "Data Storage" selector allows you to choose where the data comes from:
- Volatile Cache: Ideal for "Last 24 Hours" views. Instant loading, zero database latency.
- Events Logger: Connects to the historical database for long-term analysis (weekly, monthly, or yearly trends).
Energy & Statistics
HomeGenie 2.0 introduces specialized logic for Energy Monitoring. Using a technique called Time-Boxing, the system aligns data samples to precise time intervals (e.g., exactly from 14:00:00 to 14:59:59). This ensures that statistical calculations—like "Average Watts per Hour"—are mathematically accurate and comparable.
New statistical chart types include:
- Hourly Energy Consumption: Visualize how your usage fluctuates throughout the day.
- Weekly Energy Consumption: Compare daily totals to identify trends.
The Visual Event Log
The Event Log page is not just a text list; it is a visual debugging tool. It combines the raw list of events with a graphical timeline preview.
Synchronized Navigation: Similar to the Chart widget, the Event Log features a graphical timeline at the top. By dragging or resizing the view on this graph, the list of events below updates instantly to show only the logs for that specific timeframe.
This makes troubleshooting incredibly fast: instead of scrolling through thousands of text lines to find "when the light turned on," you simply spot the spike on the graph, zoom in, and see the exact event sequence in the list.
