I may be missing the obvious but i cant seem to figure out how to create a virtual switch in the new app, can anyone give a few pointers please
Currently i have not migrated from classic to new incase that has some relevance
Do it in the IDE: https://support.actiontiles.com/knowledge-bases/8/articles/8169-how-to-create-a-virtual-switch
Really !! We have to use the IDE to create a v switch now Nathan ? Any suggestion St will create an in app creator in the near future ?
Because im lazy i just created a virtual room and 6 v switches in classic… i am so going to miss classic
1 Like
Yes really. It is a common ask (including from me) for a supported way in NewApp. I would urge you if you’re affected to open an official support ticket with a feature request if for no other reason than to get your need logged.
1 Like
Lucky it works fine in the web app
1 Like
I would Nat but at this stage i cant see it having any affect, from what is visible very little is being acted on, the whole new UI stinks, its a design disaster.
I have asked, like many others if the UI will get a makeover with only silence as an answer, if i thought a request was going to make a difference i would do it but since this whole shenanigans started i have lost interest
Thanks again Nat
1 Like
I would offer a very different perspective. Read the new Alexa skill thread. Were expecting a behavior change in masking devices. That came from iser input.
Also remember Facebook and even here are NOT officiall SmartThings locations. Plenty of people gripe here and then gripe again that nobody is taking input. The problem is wirh this NOT being an official support channel theyre not obliged tonread it.
I know for a FACT (from both discussions and 13 years of commercial enterprise customer support) that if you submit a ticket it gets logged and there are people looking at ticket volumes. So if we always rely on ‘the other guy’ to submit a ticket because ‘its too late’ or someone ‘surely always did it’ we arent going to have a voice and deserve not getting the feature.
4 Likes
The new Echo app device picker change was a privacy/security oversight which is rightly being corrected
FB…i wont touch that with a barge pole, they still have my details though because of whats app users … thats a whole different conversation
St have stated many times … and it is much appreciated , they read the forums and so far i am unable to correlate user suggestions to app changes
2 Likes
In the Classic app, look in Marketplace > SmartApps > More. There’s a Virtual Device Creator smartapp by SmartThings.
Add it in Classic app and will appear in the new app in Menu > SmartApps.
It will let you create virtual switches and virtual dimmers. You cannot create a virtual contact sensor with switch capabilities, so you won’t be able to use the status change of these to trigger Alexa routines, for example. But you can use Alexa to flip these virtual switches to trigger SmartThings routines.
5 Likes
Thank you James for the detailed reply, have you migrated your classic to the new app ??
<DON’T TRY THIS>
It will, but do you know what will happen to them if you uninstall the app?
</DON’T TRY THIS>
2 Likes
Id rather keep my todger so i will not try this, ty Graham 
Out of interest what happens Graham ? The v device disappears from the app but remains in the IDE ? Crashes the whole app ?
Yeah, over the past month I manually recreated all my old routines from the old app as Automations in the new app, removed all the SmartApps from the old app and recreated as Automations in the new app, etc, with the intention of moving fully to the new app since the old one is going away.
I got prompted in the app to do the migration, so I did that. Removed the old Alexa skill and installed the new and degraded version. As far as I could tell, I was fully migrated from the old app, with the exception of having the Logitech Harmony connector.
Then I came across the Virtual Device Creator smartapp, and assumed it was OK because it’s by SmartThings. So I installed that in the Classic app.
A few days later, maybe a week later, I uninstalled the Classic app from my phone. Sorry to see it go, but am trying to rip off the band-aid and move forward sooner rather than later.
I haven’t had any ill effects with any of my virtual switches (I have 5, all used frequently).
What should I be worried about, what issues could I run into? I thought since the app was by SmartThings it was safe and would be supported in the future. Still works so far, at least.
1 Like
The Virtual Device Creator creates the virtual switches and simmers as child devices. When you uninstall the Virtual Device Creator app the child devices are all deliberately deleted.
3 Likes
Ah… that would explain why the Virtual Device Creator maintains and displays a list of the virtual devices that have been created by it. That currently shows the two virtual switches I created with it, but not the 3 virtual switches I created previously via the IDE.
I thought you meant that the bad thing happens when you uninstall the SmartThings app from the phone (which I have done), but you meant when you uninstall the SmartApp from SmartThings (which I have not done… yet).
That sucks. I wanted a way to create virtual devices from my phone via the app, but DO NOT LIKE the behavior you describe. I think tomorrow I’ll nuke the smartapp, let it delete those two virtual devices, and then recreate them through the IDE and fix/recreate my automations that depend on them. Because I do not want to run into the issue you describe at some point in the future when I’ve forgotten that removing that SmartApp will nuke the devices created by it.
I can’t remember if I ever tested it. The very existing of a nuclear option in the app settings put me off. It just seemed to be inviting trouble.
I’ve been slowly recreating my Virtual Switches as I’ve used both SwitchMania and ST Virtual Device Creator but now scared that since these were made by Groovy Apps that they will somehow get deleted. Best to use the IDE for now.
I just installed it, built a switch and uninstalled it. It wiped out that switch and didn’t even give me a warning. Yikes! This has me questioning all of the switches I built with Alexa Helper app. I have 10 of them!
3 Likes
Yeah, I’m glad @orangebucket Graham called attention to the issue with VDC. I had no idea it was going to behave that way… so yeah, IDE it is.
1 Like