Add Convertion Option to Simple-Connection

[BoergeSt]

Implement Type convertion to simple-connection (or connections in general?) to at least

• int
• float
• string
• auto? (try int, then float, otherwise don't change)
• none (default, don't convert)

[glunkad]

Hey @BoergeSt , I'm interested in contributing to this issue, so before I start working on it, would you mind sparing your time explaining what the issue is about and pointing me to some resources to get started .

[BoergeSt]

Hi @9gl
first of all, thanks for reaching out! I have to admit, i am positively surprised, that someone already wants to contribute to this project, as I haven't even had the time to write a proper readme. I will write a short introduction into what this projekt is about and it's intended use-case until today evening (CET). Thereafter, I will explain this issue in more detail.

[BoergeSt]

Good Evening @9gl,
I have now written a (very) basic read-me to get you and anyone else who is interested started.

The reason behind this issue is the following:
Different Protocolls use numbers differently (e.g. modbus uses integers, and floats, while MQTT mostly uses stings. ) Therefore it might be usefull to be able to convert the datatype during the processing of a connection into a target type.

Therefore I would suggest adding an additional setting with named "convertion" with default "None" or something simmilar, which can be set to int, float, decimal or string,... . and then converting the input values previously to the calculations of offsett/factor. Furthermore an convertionOptions parameter might be usefull to specify floor/ceil/round for ->int convertion or the format-string for ->string convertion.

I think, for this you will mainly have to add to the code in the "execute" function of the "SimpleConnection" class within the "AutomationOne.py" file. (Don't be afraid by the long file, it is relatively well structured and will (hopefully) soon be split into proper short files => #4 )

Please don't hesitate to ask any follow-up questions, if you have any :)

[BoergeSt]

I think it makes more sense to make a new connection-type for this, which can be later included/converted into compund-connections #22 since this gives the most flexibility