Welcome! 
Iām glad that you were able to get things working to your satisfaction. SmartThings is very flexible and powerful, but as you did discover, not always very intuitive.
For anyone who finds this thread in the future, we might want to add two additional points.
The Official Integration uses the Hue Bridge
First, officially the only method which is supported for using hue bulbs is to have them attached to their own bridge and then to connect the bridge to your SmartThings account.
The reason is that SmartThings uses a different set of zigbee channels than the hue bridge uses. If your particular hub happens to be on one of the channels that the hue bridge does not use, you will never be able to use the bulb again with any hue bridge without buying an additional device and going through some additional steps. Because this can be so frustrating to customers, that method is not officially recommended. Which also means that if you do run into any problems and you are trying to connect to hue bulb without using the hue bridge, SmartThings support will not help you.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200848024-How-to-connect-Philips-Hue-devices
That said, there are some customers who choose to go ahead and use a Hue bulb without the hue bridge, and it is technically possible to do that.
The Custom Code FAQ
Most people find the following FAQ on using custom code helpful. It explains both the various terminology that might be used and the general concepts. There is also a brief discussion further down in the thread about different āshards,ā which is the issue that you ran into with the addresses. So even though you already have yours working, you might want to glance over the FAQ for the discussion of the general concepts as it will come up again as you add other custom code in the future.
Again, Iām glad you got yours working.
p.s. The steps 15 through 18 in your post should not be needed. You should be able to simply change the device type handler to the new one by editing the device entry in the IDE. Itās helpful to understand this, because there may be other times in the future when you want to temporarily change to a new device type handler and then change back again. Itās not necessary to actually delete the device from your account each time ā ā you can simply assign it to the preferred device type handler using the edit method, and then assign it back again. That way you donāt also have to change all of your rules and automations. This method is covered in the FAQ.
Getting Answers
Also if you do have any questions about a specific device type handler, the quickest way to get answers is to post in the authorās thread for that particular code. The author will be automatically notified when a new post is added to it, and other people who are using the same code may also be able to help.
Finding Code to Use
Finally, you probably have already discovered this, but again for others who may find the thread later, the easiest way to find custom code to use is usually to check the quick browse lists in the community ā created wiki where the code is organized by type. Thereās also a list in the project report section called āget startedā which has a number of helpul topics you might find interesting. 