FAQ: How do I change the parameters for a device?

Hi, so I’ve bought a ST hub, and got my first bit of home automation working - a switch and some lights…
So now I want ‘more’, I’ve got various bits (Fibaro Universal Sensors - to hook up to my alarm then I can get the status of doors and motion sensors) and some other lighting and switches which I was going to tie together using a ‘SmartApp’.

However I’ve reached a point of confusion.
When I look at the data sheet for any of the products I’ve bought there are lots of ‘Device Parameters’ yet I can’t find any reference to these when looking around my ST device pages. (I need to change some of these parameters).
Similarly my Universal Sensor has multiple inputs, yet only one shows up on the hub and the same for a wall switch I bought which has two switches, only one is visible.

The digging I’ve done suggests I might need to create a ‘Device Handler’ for these products - is that correct?

Also the virtual devices in the SmartApp simulator no longer seem to work (I don’t get any events when I click on their play buttons). They did work before I bought a hub… Does anyone have any ideas why this might be the case?

I’m trying to make sense of how all this stuff is put together and works and am at the ‘very confused’ stage so I’m hoping someone can give me a couple of pointers to help get me on the right path.

Cheers in advance!
Steve.

Parameters of this type are settings which are saved inside the device itself. Sometimes there’s a physical switch which controls the setting. For example some motion sensors have these. But often it’s just a software setting. So in order to get the device to change its internal setting you have to send an instruction to it.

The SmartThings mobile app does not have a standard way of sending device parameter settings.

using a device type to send the command to change the parameter settings

If you use a custom Device type, then that’s a bit of code that you will associate with your own cloud account in SmartThings which will then let you set the parameters for that specific model.

someone else may have already created what you need

If this is a popular device, like the fibaro in wall relays or the Fibaro multi-sensor, it’s very likely that someone else has already written this code and all you need to do is copy and paste it into your account and maybe change a couple of numbers to get the settings just the way you want it.

If this is a device which no one else has written the device type before then you may need to get help to write one.

So, let’s start with the easiest thing.

The following FAQ tells you how to use custom code if you do find one that looks like what you need.

After you read that, go to the forum section of “community-created device types” and see if there is a device type already there for the specific model that you are working with. If so, you can ask in that thread for how you change the parameters and all that.

https://community.smartthings.com/c/projects-stories/community-created-device-types

If there isn’t already something in the community-created device type section, then you have to just go to the device discussions of the device to see if there are other people interested in doing a device type to set the parameters or maybe someone has done one they just didn’t share it yet.