Guest Access - Solution?

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
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21

Good post JD.

Keep in mind that if everything is automated, then variance becomes a headache. Imagine that you have lights that automatically come on at low level anytime someone in the house gets up in the middle of the night. Seems good… if you are the only one in the house, and you need the extra light to see where you are going. But in a home full of people, some might be able to see just fine with the little bit of already existing ambient light. And they or others might be woken too much by the extra light to easily get back to sleep.

I could easily come up with a dozen automations that would work for me, but not for my wife - and vice versa. or one day I might want music when I walk in the door, other days silence.

While I digs the automation process, I truly don’t see how an entire life could be automated. Lots of life occurs in the moment, and an automation can and would get in the way of that moment. Unless you’re an automaton. :slight_smile:

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22

I think many folks may not realize that the difference between a web-app and “App-app”, these days, is much, much less than in the past. The first time you use our web-app, it is fully cached on your viewing device, very similarly to a downloaded app. The web-app uses advanced Javascript code, libraries, and graphic resources, just as an “App” would use Java bytecode. Many “App-apps” actually just run a “web-view” region - i.e., they use the browser libraries to show a web page; it is just hidden from the user! Finally, ActionTiles does not assemble and render HTML on back-end servers! All computation, layout, data binding, and presentation is done on your phone or tablet just like an App; including presenting every data element (Tile), which is connected to your dynamically updating Thing data as it is pushed from SmartThings.

I’m not disputing that you experienced extremely unacceptable performance delays while testing ActionTiles; but I’m saying that such delays are absolutely not characteristic of our product.

I don’t know why such a problem occurred for you, but as a certified "Works With SmartThings"™ product, we are committed to providing customer support to investigate and resolve such problems, including partnering with SmartThing back-end engineers when required.

So all I am asking of you is to considering spending a bit of diagnostic effort with Support@ActionTiles.com and we will resolve the anomaly that you ran into. Indeed, if you have happen to have run into an as yet undiscovered bug or a compatibility scenario, then I am also concerned that other customers may be experiencing it and just not telling us. (Nobody has reported this though, including our thorough Beta participants.).

By helping us help you, you will be making a valuable contribution to the SmartThings Community (yes; the exact same community that is offering assistance and various helpful options and explanations to your inquiry and to hundreds of other folks in this Community Forum).

ActionTiles doesn’t resolve all the limitations of the SmartThings mobile app. We are a supplemental companion app that is designed to fill certain gaps very well, such as, “Guest Access”, the title of this Topic.

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The “ActionTiles (Connect)” SmartApp (yes - installed automatically when our customer links to SmartThings) is reviewed, QA tested, platform-impact tested, published, and certified under the "Works With SmartThings"™ partner program.

To be 100% clear: We did not “pay money or agree to a revenue share program” to earn this designation and become published.

24

I laughed while reading this, not because it’s funny, but because I’ve been experiencing similar frustrations at the lack of native apps and functionality. Is this because everyone is writing their own stuff and using webCore? I really don’t want to get that in-depth and write my own apps, but it’s offending my sense of efficiency to use, for example, three instances of a smart app to do what I want to do with my porch light at night, or 8 different routines to manage modes.

I suppose I should start another thread, but since I’ve already spouted off here, does anyone know if there is there a place to get started with all the different resources that are available outside of the ST app?

25

A “Wiki” is one of the better formats for creating and maintaining and organized Resource center; but it is imperative for resource providers to agree to contribute and update their contributions.

So while I recommend this as a starting point, it is not comprehensive:

Other than that, this Community Forum is very “comprehensive”, except that you have to search and wade through a lot of obsolete posts to find the latest most complete information. There is no mechanism for post-creators to move their older releases and deprecated assistance off to an archive.

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Thanks. I’m slowly wading through everything. ActionTiles looks amazing, btw. This is the first I’ve heard of it, but one look and I already know I want it. Does it also add functionality, or is it just a display for devices and Routines?

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This is a good starting place:

And in particular the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki:

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

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28

ActionTiles provides more than just a way to build browser-accessible (no app to download and install!) dashboard Panels to view and control Thigns, including such features as:

  • Separate Tiles for each of a Thing’s functions (Contact vs Temperature vs Activity vs Battery).
  • Ability to place Tiles for the same Thing any number of times on the same Panel or many Panels (i.e., e.g. place a Motion Sensor Tile in a particular “room” Panel, but also on a “security overview” Panel).
  • Connect to an arbitrary number of SmartThings Accounts and/or Locations and seamlessly mix & match their Things on or among Panels. Perhaps an ideal way to view the status of Things for managed properties.
  • Share specific one or many Panels with other individual ActionTiles Account(s), in view-only, or interactive mode, and revoke anytime. Currently licensing has no extra charges per Panel or per Account.
  • Activate PIN Protection for selected individual Tiles on a Panel (e.g, SHM Tile, Mode Tile, Lock Tile, Garage Tile) as an additional layer of security.
  • Layout Tiles on a Panel by selecting their size, inserting blank Tiles, etc…
  • Embed Tiles with certain limited types of Media (refreshed still images, GIFs, and MJPG video streams)
  • Coming soon: Many more customization options for size, icons, colors, etc…
  • … and more :sunglasses:
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