I want a rules engine, not apps

SmartApps & Automations
23

@Ben, any timeline you can share when the Rule Builder listed in your reply above will be available?

@obycode, maybe I missed it in another thread but I have not seen a price for your rule builder. Do you have something you can share related to its price? Also, are there any limitations you have in your software (things I cannot do)? I guess that question might be a little unclear so let me state by limitations I mean functionality that will not be available until a time after the release or limitations based on something ST doesnā€™t or canā€™t allow you to do? Outside of the single screen print on the site I havenā€™t found anything giving any detailed descriptions of the rule builder. From what little I know I am looking forward to its release but anything additional you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks all

24

@hscox030, sure, I can give some more info. We are submitting the app to Apple today, so if all goes as expected, it should be available in a week (or 2 max). There will be a free version, so you can try it out and see for yourself what is or is not supported. This version is limited to just one rule. The full version will allow unlimited* rules and will start out at $6.99 on the US store (prices vary in other countries).

As for limitations and future functionality, this is all about which capabilities are supported. The first version includes what we think are the most common and useful ones (alarms, beacons, buttons, cameras, contact sensors, door controls, locks, motion sensors, presence sensors, sleep sensors, switches, tones, valves, and water sensors). Future updates will add additional support, with the intention of eventually supporting all official ST-defined capabilities. We will be updating the site to include more info like this.

  • unlimited except for at most 4 time triggers due to SmartThings limitation
5 Likes
25

Thank you for the information, I assume you will post when it is available on the app store. Either way Iā€™ll keep an eye out for it. Iā€™m thinking Iā€™ll spend the $6.99 for it when it comes out.

26

Cool. Iā€™ll post in this thread when its available.

27

Quick question, will I be able to trigger off of acceleration from a multi-sensor?

1 Like
28

Acceleration is not one of the supported capabilities yet. I will add it to the todo list if you think it is useful. That one should be very easy to add, so it should be ready by the time the app is approved.

29

Unfortunately no. We donā€™t have that on the near term list. Hoping to place it in the roadmap that we share soon.

30

@obycode, yes I think it will be very useful and glad to hear it will be easy and added soon. Maybe you can answer this as Iā€™ve seen both referenced in the forums and donā€™t know if they are the same thing or not. Is the acceleration and vibration the same with the multi-sensor? Iā€™m would want to trigger both possibly if they are different in ST. I have a multi-sensor on my back door (sliding glass door) for possible glass break detection and one on my sump pump pipe to alert and trigger for tracking purposes. Iā€™m low spot in the neighborhood so when snow melts or it rains my sump pump runs a lot more frequently then anyone else in the neighborhood and has run as often as every 30 seconds during the course of a day or so. In the 11 years Iā€™ve lived here Iā€™ve gone through 4 or 5 sump pumps so Iā€™d like to start tracking usage to help me better determine when I need to buy a new pump. Thank you for adding to your rules builder.

@ben, Iā€™m sure others will be interested in knowing when ST might share its roadmap, do you know when that might happen?

1 Like
31

Canā€™t wait! Day one purchase.

When you mentioned the 4 time trigger limitation, could you explain a bit more?

Does this mean:

1.Iā€™ll only be be able to set up 4 total time based rules.

or

2.The rule can only have 4 times included. (Example: turn on a light when a door opens between 1:00pm-2:00pm and 4:00pm-5:00pm and 7:00pm and 8:00pm and 9:00pm and 10:00pm)

Really looking forward to this app.

32

I will have to double-check the source code of the Device Type for the SmartSense Multi, but if I remember correctly:

  1. There is nothing called ā€œvibrationā€, it is called ā€œactivityā€.
  2. Activity is really just any change in Acceleration. I donā€™t know offhand how long it is considered ā€œactiveā€ upon each change.

Gravity is constant Acceleration downwards, so turning the sensor to any angle is a change, and, therefore, Activity. If you turn very slowly along the axis perpendicular to the ground, it might not register any activity :wink:

Shaking or vibration is acceleration in one direction followed by another and another, etc, thus, lots of Activity = Vibration.

The Device Type code could be modified to report any Activity as ā€œopenā€ (but for how long? only while Active?) and this little hack would make the Device instance compatible immediately with IFTTT etc.

33

Sure, so according to the documentation here (http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/smartapp-developers-guide/scheduling.html?highlight=schedule):

Only four jobs may be scheduled at any time

To prevent any one SmartApp or device-type handler from using too many resources, only four jobs may be scheduled for future execution at any time.

So, this means that you can have at most 4 rules that have time triggers. Using a time as a condition does not count towards these 4, so those are unlimited, only the time trigger is limited. So for example, a rule that does something at 4:00pm every day would count towards this limit of 4. A rule like your example 2, where the trigger is the door opening, and the time is just a condition, does not count toward the limit at all.

34

I decided to build a web based rule builder.

Home Screen
Rule builder page
Thing Page

Right now it can handle the following:

Triggers:
A rule has a single trigger

Time of day i.e. 6:55 pm
Switch: on/off
Presence: enter/leave
Lock: lock/unlock
Motion: active/inactive
Temperature : equals, less than greater than
Humidity: equals, less than greater than
Light level: equals, less than greater than

Conditions:
A rule can have multiple conditions

Switch: is on/off
Presence: is present/away
Lock: is locked/unlocked
Motion: is active/inactive
Temperature : equals, doesnā€™t equal, less than greater than
Humidity: equals, doesnā€™t equal, less than greater than
Light level: equals, doesnā€™t equal, less than greater than

Actions
A rule can have multiple actions.

Switch: turn on/off
Dimmer: set level
Lock: lock/unlock
Thermostat setHeatingSetpoint/setCoolingSetpoint
push notification to phone

to-do
Using time of day for a condition
Using day of week as a condition
Using modes for triggers and conditions (maybe)

I donā€™t want to steal any thunder from obycodeā€™s project, I think his product is going to be better than what I have here. Youā€™ll probably want that long term. The reason I put this together is that I like building things, I really want a rules engine, and I didnā€™t want to wait for an Android version.

If anyone is interested in trying this out let me know.

I wonā€™t make any promises in terms of performance, reliability, or security. Use this at your own risk.

13 Likes
35

Perfect! Thanks for the clarification! Canā€™t wait to try out the app.

36

@obycode, hear anything when Apple will approve it? This week hopefully?

37

Havenā€™t heard anything yet. Still ā€œwaiting for reviewā€. It should be this week I would expect.

38

Hear hear! Iā€™m unpleasantly surprised to find out that ST doesnā€™t have rules/triggers built in. Itā€™s a glaring omission. This makes customizing much more difficult.

Almost makes me want to go back to Homeseer which has fantastic rules engine but is overall more complicated a product.

Smartthings you need this. It really shouldnā€™t be that hard.

39

Still waiting for Apple (I assume) to get off their @sses and review/approve this app so we can all start to play with it.

40

Yes, still waitingā€¦ :frowning:

41

Send an email to iTC and check with them why itā€™s taking so long.

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42

@obycode, question, will your rules engine be able to control dimmer values individually instead of global ā€˜Set dimmers to this levelā€™?

Thanks

1 Like