Best way for simple scene control?

SmartApps & Automations
1

Hi all,

I have been getting into writing apps and working on automating with URLs and OAuth, etc. But this is just a basic question…

I use Android, and I’d like to know the best way of doing a simple scene control. For this first one, I really just want to be able to turn off a set of lights and then set one dimmer to 1%- for watching TV.

What’s the best way to do this? It doesn’t seem that something so obviously useful would require a SmartApp, so maybe I am over thinking it?

The nest question is… if I want to get this to work with “one button control” from an android phone, what’s the best way to do so? The name of the game here is “convenience”.

Thanks!

2

Is there something you need that Hello Home Actions don’t provide? They are limited option scenes. You don’t have access to all features for all devices, but you do get quite a few and you can then trigger the hello home action in different ways, including from a Minimote controller, from a virtual switch, from an IFTTT DO button (using a virtual switch), etc.

And meanwhile…The following topic is long, but has a lot of good discussion on how scene like functionality can be implemented in smart things:

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3

I know you didn’t want an app, but one virtual switch running a bunch of lights will currently require this.
Have a look at this app.

4

Hi! Thank you for that info.

First, I admit that the “Hello Home” functionality is the last thing I think of. The name, burial of the controls and the controls themselves originally left me thinking it was some obscure or left-over feature. I actually have been using it a couple days a week and I STILL head to the wrong parts of the menus once in a while.

Second, I have a dimmer with LEDs that I want to set to 1%, can’t do that. This is annoying, though not a deal-breaker.

Third, if I have to set up a virtual button, I feel that this is getting overly complicated. For this. I need to do Dev Work to get an easy way to set up a scene? OK, I know that’s kind of the nature of the beast- but I feel that there should be a “Start Screen” on the app where I can place quick links to do things like that. As it is, it’s a little slow and cumbersome to get to anything on the phone app (and as I am on Android, button widgets to do this would be a KILLER application)
It’s funny, I spend a little time getting things to work, and I get familiar and it all makes sense. But after I step away for a while, the layout and location of menus, controls, Dev areas, all seems rather jumbled and I need to take time to re-orient myself.

I thank you for the links. I think I may spend some time this weekend making myself some detailed notes and maybe even some maps for the system.

Thanks!

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5

Thanks Mike, I will take a look.

6

Myself (and many others here), highly recommend the browser based control panel SmartApp developed by @625alex ; you can create an Android Chrome shortcut in a couple clicks and put it on your Android Home Page / Desktop.

SmartTiles.click

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7

I’d been thinking the following topic is probably too simplistic for someone with your technical background, and particularly your interest in writing custom apps, but just in case, here it is. And it might be useful for someone else who just opens this topic because of its title:

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