Linking to Github

I was wondering if there were any plans to possible link a smartapp with a github repo? It would be great to be able to develop apps in that community and pull/publish them in the smartapps IDE. I desired this after installing the “Garage Door Monitor” without reviewing the code first; I was rather shocked that it was using an accelerometer and not a contact sensor. It constantly thought my motionless garage door was open :frowning:

Being able to comment or open an issue against that app would be great! No need to recreate those features and that community here.

Hi Ben – Thanks for the suggestion.  GitHub integration is definitely something that we’ve been looking into for the IDE.  As for using the accelerometer data from the multisensor instead of the magnetic switch, the Garage Door Monitor app uses the Z-axis of the 3-axis accelerometer to determine the angle of the garage door.  It’s operating on the assumption that when the garage door is fully open, the Z-axis of the sensor will be pointing down.

It may be advisable to not rely on “fully open” as the criteria for a Garage Door Open situation.

A door that is even a couple of feet open, presents a risk for intrusion and/or pet escape.

There are probably places along different garage doors where any “significant” angle would represent an “open” situation:  Therefore, the App should allow the input of a desired Z-Axis threshold value (i.e., like a specific temperature value, instead of “hot”).

…CP.

@DanLieberman Good to hear Re: github.

Re: The garage door app, that makes sense. My problem is I installed a multi on the top of the garage door (horizontally), so the z-axis is worthless. This brings up an interesting point; device related installation requirements for apps? At least a standardized way to say “hey, this app expects this situation.”

@Ben Lake:  Just chiming in… I don’t understand why Z-Axis is worthless when installed on top of door? … Doesn’t the orientation still change?

But, I agree; one of the problems with the “Smart Apps” is that their user presentation is somewhat “over simplified”. This makes sense for many devices (on/off, open/closed)… but the concept of axis is a little more complicated.

The App has little videos built in for setting up new Things – I presume that extended the App to link to How-To videos for each “Smart App” would make it easy to demonstrate the intended installation; and link to a Q&A, tagged support channel, etc.

…CP.

Perhaps I don’t know which axis is which, but one of them will not change :slight_smile: The app was expecting a specific orientation, so ultimately that was the issue; not knowing the app required a specific type of install.

Reviving this old post, the question is the same as the OP, even after the new github integration, is it possible to link to random (ok, not random, just different) repositories that I choose? Not obvious from the IDE if possible. If anyone says yes, a pointer is nice, but I’ll figure out the rest… I just don’t see anything but pointing to the ST public right now. Admittedly not a github expert…

Yes.

I’ll try to be more helpful when I get a moment to dig up the details and even screenshots.

If memory serves, you might only be able to link to:

  • Repositories that you have read/write permission on (not sure read-only repos work)
  • Repositories that have the correct naming / folder structure.

But it is certainly a common use case to have both a personal SmartThings repo and a link to the shared SmartThings-Public.