I’m trying to clean some stuff up before the big transition. I had all my devices moved to stock DTH’s. The only thing I really had left was the “Virtual Device Creator App”. I didn’t figure I’d be making anymore virtual switches with it, so I went ahead and deleted it. When I deleted the app, it deleted all the virtual devices that it had created?! Then, all the routines associated with those devices also deleted themselves for some reason. Anything I can do to fix it or am I just going to have to go through the long process of recreating it all?
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You aren’t going to like the answer…
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Sadly, the reason is an implementation that isn’t user-focused.
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Yes, if a device is deleted something causes any conditions or actions using it to be removed from Routines, and if the Routine is no longer viable (no conditions and/or no actions) it gets deleted. It also happens to the Security Mode conditions and actions if you delete STHM, even though Security Mode remains perfectly usable and valid without STHM.
It isn’t a requirement of the underlying Rules, it is a feature of Routines and Scenes and it is the main reason I avoid using them unless necessary, or temporary.
It is probably meant to make things easier for naïve users. I just think it is reckless.
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Thanks for posting this issue.
so if you leave an additional non-virtual dummy in the routine, the routine should be preserved.
Real dummies all around then. Until the next gotcha
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Yep. Some that I suppose were still “viable” were just disabled. I think that would have been a much better way to handle it.
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I hadn’t considered this, but yep, I may do the same. Though, I may have a two dummies. One for a condition, and one for an action, because it seems like losing all of either is a gotcha.
Thankfully, my stuff is pretty simplistic compared to some of y’all’s set ups, so I’ve gotten over half of it already built back. Now, I just have to remember the logic I used for coming home and leaving at night. 
Thanks for all the replies!
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