Announcing the "ST_Anything" Arduino/ThingShield Project

[ogiewon]

FYI, you may find much more up to date information in my newer ST_Anything thread at

[DEPRECATED] ST_Anything - Arduino/ESP8266/ESP32

UPDATE 2022-08-17 - Per this recent SmartThings announcement, the Groovy IDE will disabled on September 30, 2022. My best guess is that any existing ST_Anything devices will probably cease to operate at this time, or shortly thereafter. It has been a good 7+ year run for ST_Anything users. I want to thank you all for making ST_Anything a successful project! My son and I really had a lot of fun creating it together, and have enjoyed hearing how you have all used it in so many creative ways. As many of you probably already know, I have moved on from ST and have ported ST_Anything over to Hubitat as “HubDuino”. If you have devices running ST_Anything that you ‘can’t live without,’ at least you know you have options. Another option for ESP8266/ESP32 users would be to use ESPHome along …

@Ryan7777

commenting your code helps so much for the rest of us! So I guess is there some example code I missed on how this is done or could you please post some?

Within each .cpp/.h file inside the various …Arduino\libraries\ST_Anything… folders, you will find detailed comments/documentation for the use of each of these C++ classes/objects. For example, from the top of PS_DS18B20_Temperature.cpp file, you will find the following which details the usage of this class.

//			  For Example:  st::PS_DS18B20_Temperature sensor1(F("temperature1"), 120, 0, PIN_TEMPERATURE, false); (for a single sensor)
//                          st::PS_DS18B20_Temperature sensor1(F("temperature"), 120, 0, PIN_TEMPERATURE, false, 10, 3); (for 3 sensors)
//
//			  st::PS_DS18B20_Temperature() constructor requires the following arguments
//				- String &name - REQUIRED - the name of the object - either "temperature1" for a single sensor, or "temperature" for multiple sensors
//				- long interval - REQUIRED - the polling interval in seconds
//				- long offset - REQUIRED - the polling interval offset in seconds - used to prevent all polling sensors from executing at the same time
//				- byte pin - REQUIRED - the Arduino Pin to be used for the One-Wire DS18B20 sensor conenction
//				- bool In_C - OPTIONAL - true = Report Celsius, false = Report Farenheit (Farentheit is the default)
//				- byte resolution - OPTIONAL - DS18B20 sensor resolution in bits.  9, 10, 11, or 12.  Defaults to 10 for decent accuracy and performance
//				- byte num_sensors - OPTIONAL - number of OneWire DS18B20 sensors attached to OneWire bus - Defaults to 1

@Ryan7777

I wanted to see an actual number so I could get a feel for how the water level on the sensor changes the value if I need to make any adjustments and dragging a laptop outside is a pain. I simple added another line that sends the raw m_nSensorValue as a string rather than doing the if/then on it.

If you simply wanted the voltage/value from the sensor, I would recommend that you simply use the ST_Anything’s PS_Voltage voltage device. You could use this in addition to the PS_Water device. Both could read data from the same analog pin.

@Ryan7777

Also can someone point me to a post on how to run multiple ESP8266’s with ST_Anything, I’ve seen it mentioned that it is possible, but I can’t find the post explaining how to do it.

Running multiple copies is very simple… Just manually add another new ST_Anything Parent Device via the ST Web IDE. Then, in your phone’s app you will see the second parent, which will require you to configure the MAC address, TCP/IP address, and port like you did for the first one. Just use the unique MAC and TCP/IP address from the second ESP8266.

@Ryan7777

And finally - Smartthings is being changed. I honestly haven’t been keeping up very closely, but I did notice somewhere that this project will only work with “classic” - Is this still the case and are there any plans to update ST_Anything to stay alive should be all be suddenly forced to move to the new app?

Samsung/SmartThings future plans are very unclear. I have no idea if any of this will work with the new app in the future. I have ported all of ST_Anything to run on Hubitat. In fact, I have moved about 99% of my devices over to Hubitat. I prefer local processing. So, at least you’ll have that platform as an option should ST decide to further alienate the DIY/Maker community.

One more tip - The Arduino MEGA ST_Anything examples demonstrate a vast number of example devices from ST_Anything. You will still start with an ESP8266 example, but can copy and paste the device definitions from the MEGA’s sketch into the ESP8266 sketch. At least it helps demonstrate the usage of these various devices.

And, as always… I’d love for someone to step up and help improve the documentation!