Feature Request: Label on tile "previews" in things view

Apps & Clients
9

A long time ago (hmmm… I guess I could go back in time again and search the Forums), I proposed a feature that SmartThings app should work like Windows Shortcuts (or Unix Softlinks, or whatever analogy is most accurate).

In other words: Any Thing tile (and any sub-tile, for that matter) should be cloneable as many times as you wish, so that you can create arbitrary groupings of Things, with as much overlap as you wish, as well as different default views of the same Thing tile.

Two main use cases / examples:

  1. A motion-sensor device tile could have a shortcut in two Groups of my choosing: “Hallway” and “Security” (i.e., I have a set of groups for the rooms in my house, but I also have a group by functionality, … and perhaps more groups by whatever organization scheme I find useful … perhaps by person or shared status or Device Type or vendor; not to mention nested groups (or sub-groups): such as grouping a large building by floor or a campus by building).

  2. A SmartSense Multi (or any similar Thing that has multiple pieces of information on sub-tiles but currently forces you to choose only 1 tile for the main page display…) should be cloneable as many times as desired, with each shortcut having a preference as to what sub-tile to display (or, more directly, just let us shortcut to the sub-tile). i.e., I want the ability to create 4 shortcut tiles to each of my Multis, one for each of temperature, open/close, activity, and orientation.

When SmartThings added the Dashboard and Shortcut panels to the App several months ago (when?), it showed that conceptually, the ideas of shortcut and group of, etc., were indeed instinctive, but the implementation only went part-way. The problem was looked at from the top down (i.e., provide a generic new Front-Page experience for Users), rather than bottom up (i.e., how can the interface be made infinitely flexible and customizeable per each Users unique preferences and habits).

Please, let me know your thoughts / questions regarding the concept of unlimited shortcuts everywhere… Perhaps we should give them a name: Soft Tiles?

Thanks,
…CP / Terry.

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