So it seems ST(Smart Things) has and option to make a Virtual Simulated Button. Within this button, you have two options. A momentary press and press and hold. This is nice because I can set it up to turn all lights downstairs on with one press and off with another press or hold it to turn all lights off no matter what the state of the lights are. The problem is there is no STile option for simulated button. There is one for Momentary button but momentary does not give me the press and hold option. I could program multiple tiles for the different functions but it just seems wasteful. I shoudl be able to accomplish this with one. So I’m looking for options to accomplish this same function with one STile. Any input would be appreciated.
Tagging @tgauchat
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Can you point me to the Device Type Handler you are using that supports “Hold” Command?
Frankly, though, we are not likely to implement this in SmartTiles anytime soon. It just has far too few potential users and is complex to implement.
I dont know about the handler, but under My Devices; I can create a new device and chose a TYPE of “Simulated Button”. In the app it has two options for this thing.
“Device type,” “device handler,” “device type handler,” “DH,” and “DTH” all mean the same thing, SmartThings has just changed the terminology from time to time.
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The Docs for Capability Button do not list any Commands.
Therefore, there’s no actions SmartTiles can do with a device of Capability “Button”. We rarely support Devices non-official Capabilities (i.e., ad hoc Attributes and Commands).
Escalate this to SmartThings to fix or clarify the documentation first. It’s probably “wrong”, but doubt it’s a high priority for them to fix it.
http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/capabilities-reference.html#button
Simulated button.
Messages sent are strictly the opinion of my iPhone!
There is no Capability “Simulated Button”.
That DTH is a perversion of a “Button”.
I was confused before I even finished reading the OP.
Isn’t turning all lights off with second press the same end result as press and hold to turn all lights off?
Wouldn’t a simulated switch get the same result? Without the HOLD option. Just on and off.
If the lights are off the their still off, if they were on then now their off.
Now you can customize the tile because smarttiles recognizes switches. I could be way off it’s not unusual for me to miss the obvious.
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Actually, you are DEAD ON. … I’m the one who missed the obvious solution here, because I got swept up in the focus on “Button + Held” craziness (Not that @logeox is crazy – SmartThings is crazy for creating such half-donkeyed Capability definitions and some “Simulated” Devices that are really bad programming examples, IMHO).
Here’s what I m thinking. Lets say I have two lights, that I can turn on independently. Instead of turning each light on separately, I can turn on/off globally. Now lets expand that to ten lights, but only half of them are on for some reason or other. ( IE a rule or automation). Why would I hit the button to toggle them all on just to toggle them all off. When Im heading to bed, I want to hold the button to turn all lights off no matter what the state of all the lights. Extra pushes(work) or button tiles just seem’s excessive. I can’t believe there is not some easy way ot make this happen. It’s really more of a STiles issue as it works fine in ST.
I was going to write a long answer that “Hold” is not a catchable event in a web-app, but I think that may no longer be true. It may violate some usability or accessibility standards though, so that requires some research.
The shorter answer is the every single feature request for SmartTiles has to be prioritized. All our efforts are on the overhaul “V6”, and our priority leans heavily away from specialized non-standard, non-published Device Types, because our target market is 80% “regular users” who are unlikely to find and configure a “Simulated Button with Hold Command”.
We avoid permanently “declining” a feature request, though, so when the V6 Feedback Forum opens, be sure to make the request where others can command and vote on it.
Okay, I see what your saying. I’m pretty sure (someone please correct me if wrong) that off is off no matter what. Say you have 5 on and 5 off. You run goodnight routine and have every light you own in that to be turned off. It will send the off command to ALL the lights. Those off stay off those on turn off.
So tying every light to the off button (if programmed to send off to every bulb) should achieve the same thing.
Or possibly create a routine to turn them all off and somehow have the off button run the routine?
I’m fairly new to smartthings and still learning. I do know MY goodnight routine is set to turn off all the lights I have and lock my door. I don’t have to turn anything on before I run it. The system just turns everything that’s ON to OFF and locks the door if it’s not already locked.
If you want a hold to turn everything off. I hope you figure it out and share. Someone else might find it useful.
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Adding a “+1” to this request. My desired functionality:
A single tile as a button that, when tapped, will turn off all lights. I have it all set up and running in ST with a simulated button and logic in CoRE. Went to add the button tile to my dashboard in tiles and no joy.
As a software developer myself I understand the prioritization process, sprints, releases, etc. Hope to bump this up in the backlog.
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I can’t think of a reason that the Button won’t work in SmartTiles (but we’ve tested similar concepts in ActionTiles, so …).
Can you give me more details of what’s going on when you try to use it in SmartTiles v5.8? What exact Device Type Handler are you using? Doesn’t it show up in the list of Things / Momentary Switches???
Before I reply, let me say THANK YOU for an excellent app. SmartTiles is fantastic and I really appreciate it!
OK
- Running version 5.8.0-+050-Green
- DTH: not sure, I installed a “simulated button” from the ST IDE, how do I get you more details on what I’ve got running there?
- In SmartTiles (on my iPhone through the ST app) when I go to Things/Momentary Switches it says “no devices of this capability” under it
So you bolded “the” Button, assuming you’re thinking of the Simulated Button or did you have something else in mind there?
Copy and paste the Source Code of the Simulated Button Device Type to here so I can be sure to be looking at the exact device details.
Be sure to format using the </> function in the post editor, please.
Not sure where to find the source code, here’s what I did to create the button
- Log into the IDE
- Go to “My Devices”
- Click “New Device”
- Name it, give it an ID, and under “Type” select “Simulated Button” in the drop down
Another way to put it: I think this Simulated Button is built into the ST landscape. FWIW I’ve used a number of Simulated Switches and those are available just fine in SmartTiles.
So, I’m sure this hasn’t been helpful, how can I run down the source code for this?
Ah… I forgot that SmartThings has “published” those Simulated DTHs.
The code is here. I’ve highlighted the lines that are significant:
SmartTiles does not support Capability “Button” (it’s a rather nonsense capability, but that’s a long story… that capability is a SENSOR not an ACTUATOR … grrrrrrrrrrrrrr 
… biting my tongue at this misleading stuff).
What you really want is Capability “Momentary”: http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/capabilities-reference.html#momentary …
It fairly easy to copy the code for Simulated Button to a create a new personal Device Type (under “My Device Handlers”) and be sure to implement the “push()” command (not push1()); or perhaps someone has already created a complete DTH and shared it somewhere for you to paste.
I wish I could help more, but we don’t have time to support non-standard, improperly implemented DTHs.
Try this one…