Hi Bruce, have you had any chance to look at the Lowe’s IRIS Keypad. Currently Rule Machine does not see it as a lock. I got it working with other SA’s but figured I’d ask.
Best forum for Device Handler (first post) and SmartApp (post 257).
My approach to Rule Machine, for a number of reasons, is to support documented capabilities of SmartThings. The capability they have documented is “lock”, as supported now in Rule Machine. I don’t have any plans to veer off into various custom device types.
However, having said that, you can probably control such a device using the Expert Features.
Enhancement Request:
Dim these Dimmers to this level after a delay / Optional shut off.
Use case - I have about 10 lights I like to have on level 2 for 95% of things.
However there are times I want them to hit 10 as part of a rule, but then reset to 2 before turning off so that next time they turn on - manually or other apps - they go to 2. I can do this with RM as is, but it will take two rules for every time I want I want a light to go to 10 temporarily - say for motion detected outside - front lights on at level 10 for 10 minutes then shut off. I think I need a second rule today to go clean that up, and dim to level 2 then shutoff as it stands today.
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Actually, I will add this…
I think the more extensible ways to accomplish the same are:
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Add the ability to arbitrarily delay any defined action. eg. a slide switch on each action definition that allows you delay that specific action by an arbitrary amount of time. (as opposed to the entire set of actions for that rule).
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Perhaps an even better way is to allow multiple Action “Sets” for each rule, so you can arbitrarily add as many ‘Sets’ of action definitions as one may one require to a given rule. Each set would look like the single group of actions today. This really adds a bunch of functionality that really allows us to start collapsing rules.
Just use a trigger tied to a rule’s rule truth. That gives you a whole new set of actions…
Actually, it adds no new functionality. All it does are two things, one good and one bad:
- Allows some rules to be collapsed.
- Complicates the UI and the code for all rules.
Given that tradeoff, I have opted not to do what you have suggested. Or rather, I should say, I opted to implement what you suggested by supporting linked rules. Interestingly enough, linked rules allow for much more interesting things than simply adding more actions.
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Got it. Yup linked rules will do it. I can also execute my use case with non-linked rules, was just looking to reduce the amount of rules where possible, but I do get the trade off.
What I was thinking was like the option you have to add super complex rule conditions. 99% of rules would never have it one and never have the added UI complications - but those that require it, slide it over and have the ability to add arbitrary sets of actions.
is Pin code entry on a lock and official think that ST sees that could be included or is it still too unofficial to get included as a trigger?
Is there anyway to set the rules to not execute as often. For instance I want a txt/push notice when the humidity in my humidor drops below 66%. However I don’t want a text every minute while it is in this state. An initial txt and then a reminder txt every 4+ hours would be great.
Thanks,
There are several ways you could do that. One would be to use a virtual switch that your rule turns on when it first reports the humidity, and is turned off four hours later. Make it being off an additional condition in your rule. After four hours when it turns off, if the humidity is still below 66, then you get a push and the cycle starts over.
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you can also do this under smart home monitor settings/custom
I use these for temp monitoring and they have options for humidity monitoring and it lets you set how often to alert you.
I also use this to monitor temps too cold in basements to hot in office and for water leaks…
It is been working fine… (amazing isn’t it) since not much works fine in smartthings
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Thanks for the ideas. I will check both these out. One other question I have. How can I control what user the push notification goes to? If I enable it it goes to the whole family even though they all use different logins. For some alerts I only want the ST app to notify my user. Is this possible? Or is this an ST feature request?
You can use SMS for just one person. Push goes to all.
@bravenel. Would it be possible to add “refresh or poll these devices” as an action. A lot of custom device types such as MyQ that rely on manually refreshing of waiting a minute for pollster to kick in. It would be great if we can initiate a refresh or poll based on an action. Thoughts?
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You can do this now using Expert Features. Simply put your device in there, and it will show refresh() as an available command. Save the command, and then it will be available in RM.
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Is there any way to save and reinstall Rules so that if something happens to the app they can easily be added back, or if one wanted to duplicate a rule they could just copy paste it in? Perhaps some way in the IDE? There has to be some code for these things behind the scenes where they are stored in the IDE? I would love to have a text file with all my rule code.
For example I just accidentally hit publish on my update of Rule, and now I’d like to delete it and reinstall without publishing. But this will be a major pain if I have to hand type all the rules from the phone app again…
It looks like all of the settings themselves are visible in My Locations -> Installed SmartApps, but the only option there is Uninstall under Edit…
Any ideas?
There is not a way at present to save and restore, although we are looking at it. In the meantime, I just found out that you should just Publish For Me, Rule. Just treat it like every other SmartApp. Save a new copy of the source in the IDE, Publish For Me. I have updated the instructions to reflect that.
So forget about deleting it. Just keep going, save and publish.
Thanks Bruce, sometimes its better to be lucky than good on the accidental publishing. 
Just for curiosity sake, where do these sub rules live? The parent app (Rule Machine) and it’s child (Rule) are obviously shown and editable. It seems to me that they would also provide access to the individual rules, but I can’t quite decode how they see things at ST…
The child apps, each a Rule, can only be accessed from Rule Machine for editing. They appear in the list of SmartApps in My Locations in the IDE, where you can see their internal state. But, notice that there, they are listed under Rule Machine. So in the Mobile app, you get to them through Rule Machine. In the IDE, you can see each one individually.
This is the same way that Smart Lighting works.
A request would be using thermostats: mode, heating set point, cooling set point as triggers or conditions. I would have separate heating and cooling smart vent rules dependent on the thermostat mode.
Thanks