Getting Started - What's popular or cool? SmartApps, Device Types, 3rd party apps, IDE, etc

[chadbaldwin]

I’ve been in the community for about 6 months now and I’m fairly familiar with the majority of what’s new and what’s going on here in the community. Popular SmartApps, popular device types, popular 3rd party apps and what not. But when I first came here, it took me a LONG time to catch up.

I posted something a while back when I first joined the community that has since become a good source of what devices are popular and their descriptions and what not. That was SUPER helpful for me to get me started and hopefully it’s helped others:

Bulbs, switches and sensors, oh my....what to buy (device class features FAQ)

So, I’m pretty new to this internet of things world. Originally bought 2 OSRAM tunable LED bulbs with the Wemo Hub and a WEMO insight switch, now I’ve “upgraded” the hub to the SmartThings hub, and looking at ditching the WEMO insight switch for the SmartThings plug, just so I have have support now and not have to wait or deal with adding custom code to the IDE. I’m on Amazon and etc pretty much every day trying to decide what I want to play around with next, or what’s better, etc. I’m here to see what your opinons/preferences are for plugs bulbs sensors: motion, open/close and temp It’s a confusing world out there…Just for bulbs I’m finding LIFX, WEMO, OSRAM, GE Link, Phillips Hue, Cree. For plugs I’m finding WEMO, SmartThings, Aeon Labs, GE…etc It’s hard to decide which is the way…

There are A LOT of really cool and talented people on here making some REALLY cool things.

The idea here is, what’s new and popular? What’s everyone talking about. What are the must haves? I remember when I first started, it took me at least a few weeks before I even found out about Rule Machine, and now it’s my lifeline of my Smart Home setup.

I know there is an unofficial SmartThings wiki, but most don’t know about it, to be honest, I just found out about it yesterday, and it’s not always perfectly up to date. I noticed it is missing some things.

Here’s some links for things that have helped me a TON, these links are both for advanced users and beginners:
- Unofficial SmartThings wiki: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/
- SmartThings IDE for US: https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
- Developer / IDE Documentation: http://docs.smartthings.com/
- Zigbee Cluster Library (ZCL) http://www.zigbee.org/download/standards-zigbee-cluster-library/

Community / 3rd party SmartApps that have made huge impacts in my Smart Home setup. I’m not going to include all of the links because information can be found in the wiki (above) or by searching the forum for more info and their Release posts:
- Rule Machine (no longer supported, if you want the code, you’ll have to find it / get it from someone) I have it here because I still use it and will continue to until CoRE is out of beta. My setup is stable and I’m happy for now.
- SmartTiles - SmartThings Dashboard - Search link
- Nest Manager / Nest Automations - Search link
- LANDroid / LANnouncer (name was changed) - [Website] (http://www.keybounce.com/LANdroidHowTo/LANdroid.html) - Search link
- CoRE (Community Rules Engine) - Search link - not yet using, but I see based on other people working on it, that it’s going to be extremely useful

Recently Started looking into these, so I don’t know how well they work yet, but thought I would include them to save for myself for later:
- Alexa Helper - Search link
- Ask Alexa - Search link
- VLC Thing - Search link
- Big Talker - Search link

[JDRoberts]

Sounds like a great idea for a thread!

Three links that people might find helpful/interesting.

First, this is a “getting started” link that covers a lot of different things:

A Short Intro to Scheduling/Device Control/Rules in SmartThings Classic

(March 2018: All of the following applies only to the SmartThings Classic app. If you purchased your hub after March 1, 2018 and are using the new “SmartThings (Samsung Connect)” app, creating rules works differently.) You’ve got your hub. You’ve got some devices. Now how do you schedule what happens when? SmartThings doesn’t have a rules engine/scheduler, so there’s no one tutorial for how to do this. But it’s an open platform, and there are about 12 different ways to set up various kinds of schedules. Some require custom code, some don’t. A “scheduler” in this context is anything that causes a networked device to perform an action, even if it’s just to toggle on or off immediately. (Network engineering definition, forgive me. ) (Note: as of April 2017, the original author of …

Next, the custom code FAQ for those who aren’t sure just what using custom code would involve:

FAQ: An Overview of Using Custom Code in SmartThings (SmartThings Classic, Groovy Code)

So you’re new to SmartThings, you asked a question, and someone suggested “custom code” as an answer. Or you were browsing the forums, and you found something that sounded like it would be perfect for what you wanted, but again, “uses custom code.” What does that mean, how hard is it to do, and what’s the difference between a “SmartApp” and a “Device Type Handler”? (Note: the official terminology has changed a couple of times. “device type handler,” “device handler,” “DTH,” and “device type” all mean the same thing, and you will find all these terms used in the forums.) SECTION I: SMARTAPPS AND DEVICE HANDLERS: WHAT THEY ARE SmartAPPS: Tiny Programs to decide what a specific device should do when, or to collect the information from a specific device SmartApps, including the various f…

And finally, for something new, we’ve very recently added a page in the community – created wiki that allows you to quick browse the sections of this forum which have community-created smartapps and device type handlers. So now if you just want to take a look at SmartApps from the community-created forum section for lighting, or security, or irrigation, etc you can find those quickly.

And for some really cool stuff, take a look at the quick browse list for "alerts."There’s a lot of very interesting stuff there, both old and new.

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@chadbaldwin

I just found out about it yesterday, and it’s not always perfectly up to date. I noticed it is missing some things.

Welcome… and, well, the whole point of a wiki is that “anyone” can edit it. I wish it used markdown format (the same as the forum), or HTML, but, whatever…

If something is missing, y’all are supposed to just add it!

[chadbaldwin]

I know, but most of the things I notice that are out of date are not things that I personally would fill in. Things like, certain SmartApps are out of date. I might use them, but I don’t know them well enough to add change information, version numbers, screenshots, etc. The developers of those apps really should keep them up to date.

[JDRoberts]

@chadbaldwin

I know, but most of the things I notice that are out of date are not things that I personally would fill in. Things like, certain SmartApps are out of date. I might use them, but I don’t know them well enough to add change information, version numbers, screenshots, etc. The developers of those apps really should keep them up to date.

Most of the developers keep their code in github with a link from either the forum or the wiki over to github, so you should always see the most current version there even if the description with the link isn’t up-to-date.

[chadbaldwin]

Oh okay, that makes sense. I’m still learning GitHub and getting used to using that stuff. I use version control / SVN at work, but I had never used GitHub prior to SmartThings before.