Trigger Happy!
Trigger Happy has been replaced by Rule Machine:
21 Likes
Hahah. Cool.
Glad to see this. Curious as to why the tact of a separate infrastructure, as opposed to adding triggers and rules in the same app?
Either way, it suits several use cases I have.
2 Likes
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSS Installing now! 
1 Like
Because they are totally different things! Rule is based on conditions and a logical rule. Of course, changes in conditions are caused by events. Trigger Happy just fires away based on events, with no logic at all. Many automations are simply an event triggering an action. For example, change the mode to Evening at Sunset.
Each has its uses.
1 Like
I also feel like these two apps could be combined, but I will love them both anyways. They are awesome.
2 Likes
I thought long and hard about this. If they were combined, confusion would reign!! When would an action be taken based on the Rule vs. based on Events? Very easy to get caught up in your shorts. Many of the event triggers supported by Trigger Happy make no sense as conditions, e.g., suppose you press a button on a Minimote, what condition does that affect? It can’t, because it has no state – it’s simply an event. Same for Certain Time. Certain Time was dicey in Rule Machine, but just fine as an event.
Also, please note that Trigger Happy supports many actions that Rule doesn’t, because they wouldn’t make sense in the context of Rule, e.g., toggle a switch, adjust a fan.
Any Rule with a single condition, and only Actions for True, is actually a Trigger. Why bother with Rule for those? I found myself using these a lot.
1 Like
What kills me here, is that these are such brilliant idea’s, that should have been built in to SmartThings at an early stage…
@bravenel : Nice job! Looks great!
6 Likes
For some reason, Smartthings app is crashing anytime I try to create a trigger. I am on on android. Will try different devices later.
AFA the trigger vs rule. I am glad to have both, but I am not sure I agree that a combination is confusing. In fact, I find rule machine logic to be confusing for certain scenarios where as the SRB logic is amazingly simple for me. You start with a trigger, (which could be optional in Rule Machine), then you setup your conditions to evaluate, and your desired actions when true, etc…
The logic just flows very nicely for me.
I just can’t resist: Trigger Machine. Or Rule Happy.
Consists of three building blocks: Triggers, Conditions, and Actions
- Triggers: This is the most inclusive list. Includes state changes, button pushes, events, etc. Everything that is an event of any kind.
- Add optional conditions: Conditions are a subset of triggers, anything that has a state that can be tested. Conditions are tested and the actions are performed only if the conditions are satisfied. You can have a truth condition with actions and a false condition with actions if you want, or you could force users to create two rules with only one set of actions. One results in cleaner interface therefore less confusing, but more labor and possibly moving the confusion elsewhere.
- Add actions: Actions cause something to happen, just like in both applications. They are only fired when the conditions are satisfied.
Today this is my 7.3 cents, or -4.5 cents of input depending on whether I am missing something. I don’t think I am, I really think this could be one all knowing app.
I don’t mind taking this discussion offline as to not confuse, but I couldn’t resist. BTW, this is still AWESOME!
Edit: Don’t challenge me to make that knife, I can break things better than anyone! 
(Edit2, timing of posts out of order… I’m having too much fun here).
You are welcome to take the code and put that together! 
6 Likes
LOL
…20 Characters
Where can I get one of those? And does it have zigbee?
1 Like
There is a temptation, that I have tried to stay out of, of wanting to create a Super App, that does every possible thing. I don’t think that’s a good idea.
Here’s what I know: I have written a couple dozen one-off apps for people that are essentially either a rule (this and that, then do something) or a trigger (when this happens, do that). Most were the latter. I know that I need triggers for many of my automations, not a rule engine. Some automations are more complex, and one needs a rule do them. Most are quite simple.
KISS.
2 Likes
I believe they could be combined as well, but I really like it that they aren’t, for a couple of reasons. 1) all of the stuff that @bravenel listed already and 2) reduction of clutter and complexity.
With the app timeout of 20 sec I think keeping it simple is probably a very good thing. Use Trigger to fire of something, like a switch at a certain time. Then have Rule react to that action.
I already have this scenario in place using Rule machine. RM starts my good morning routine (rule) based on when my goodnight switch turns off. I use smart lighting to turn off that switch at 6 am. That is all that smart lighting has to do, turn off the switch. RM evaluated the switch at&t 0557 and again at 0602. So far since I set it up this way, everything has been super stable.
Trigger gives us more options and flexibility while at the same time reduces complexity.
I honestly believe that @bravenel is definitely in the process of writing two apps that could and should be the core user interface for Smartthings.
4 Likes
Incredible contributions to the community! I remember what it felt like to share this stuff with the community, and i’m quite envious of you! lol.
Great work and love the direction this is going!
Quick question, are you familiar with HTML?
What I came to realize is that ST keeps pussy footing around in the way they do smart apps. Smart Lighting, their marquee smart app, doesn’t allow very many triggers; if your trigger isn’t one of them, you are out of luck. Same thing with actions. They introduce their own confusion and lack of generality by adding things like “Also turn off”. All of those are a subset of what people actually need. Their idea seems to be to create a “simpler” app that solves 90% of user’s lighting automations. The shortcoming of that is that people have all sorts of automations besides lighting, and often have complex interactions of different devices in their automations. It is much simpler to just give them a generalized tool, than to decide in a conference room around a table which things should be included in a lighting app.
Trigger Happy is simply my stab at a universal event-causes-action app. Rule Machine is another animal, my stab at a universal state-evaluator/logic-rule/take-conditional-action app.
1 Like
I have hacked other people’s HTML, but I have very limited experience with it. Why?
Totally agree. Even if some end-user finds themselves waaay out of their element with boolean logic, it becomes a simple matter of trying one, and if that doesn’t work, try the other (versus getting hopelessly lost and perhaps frustrated by a “do it all” app).
1 Like