Can a direct connected device use "Device Preferences"?

Developer Programs Support
1

Hi,

Can a direct connected device use “Device Preferences”?

If so: how are the values/parameters accessed by the device?

Cheers

2

Yes, you define the preferences in the device profile.

You can access as device.preferences.<preference_name>

As soon as any single preference is changed, an infoChanged lifecycle event is generated. Inside that handler, you can access the previous preferences as

args.old_st_store.preferences.<preference_name>

Only the ST app can modify the preferences.

3

Hi,

Thanks for reply but I don’t understand how this can be used in the C API for a direct connected device (GitHub - SmartThingsCommunity/st-device-sdk-c-ref: SmartThings SDK Reference for Direct Connected Devices for C).

Maybe I’m missing something.

4

I’ve not used direct connected devices, but I was under the impression that Device Preferences were currently for hub connected devices, which going forward would mean Edge Drivers as a successor to DTHs.

I would be more than happy to be completely wrong though, as I can see how Device Preferences would be as applicable to certain direct connected and cloud connected devices.

5

I guess the advantage to a direct connected device is that it doesn’t require a hub.

If the device has a display, then you’d configure the preferences there.

Otherwise, most mass-produced devices would have an app of their own.

That pretty much eliminates the need for ST preferences unless Samsung or a partner wanted to piggyback on the ST app.

There’s a fine line between preferences/settings and attributes. I think of settings as a one-time or infrequent change. Everything could be exposed as attributes. It just makes for a very crowded detailView.

I would welcome an optional collapsible area in detailView or just make each component collapsible.

6

Sorry, my reply assumed a device directly connected to a hub. I think your only option is to expose your preferences as more capabilities. If your values are of similar type, you could use a list to select the preference name.

7

I can certainly see why it wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the to-do list but clearly there is some demand so I’d like to think that, technology permitting, it is something that’ll come along later.

8

AFAIK, the device preferences can be added to all device profiles and they would be displayed in the app. This could be done updating the device profile from the CLI.
However, I will confirm with the corresponding team if they support the access to them in Direct-Connected integrations.

9

Hi,

It would be great if it worked. In my/our case we have a number of parameters that are perfect for settings/preferences instead of attributes.
How would changes in the preferences be communicated to the device? Is there a mechanism documented in st-device-sdk-c/APIs.md at master · SmartThingsCommunity/st-device-sdk-c · GitHub or is there a function somewhere else?

Cheers

10

There is no problem adding a preference and it does show up in the App interface. The docs (Device Preferences | SmartThings Developers) are somwhat incomplete though.

I have no idea how to setup a callback in my code for this event or if it’s possible to so. I’m looking in the code on GitHub but…

Maybe st_conn_set_noti_cb could be used/extended?

11

Hi, the team mentioned they are not supported yet, so even if we create them, we won’t be able to get their value.
I already created a feature request to support them, in case I receive more info, I’ll let you know but just a head’s up, it can take some time as it depends on the team’s workload.