Smartapp authoring preferences oddity

Developer Programs Writing SmartApps
#1

I have a smartapp that is working fine that allows me to evaluate a custom attribute, however i have noticed there is an oddity that is occurring in both the android and IOS Apps, i am pretty sure it used to work fine, but now it does not.

i have restricted the netatmo device selection in the preference pane to the Netatmo Base Station Device Type as shown below, in the IDE if i install via there i can select the Netatmo Base Station, and this is the only device listed,. but in both the IOS & android client this returns 0 results. i am pretty sure this used to work ok.

preferences {
section(“This Netatmo Base Station”) {
input name: “netatmo”, type: “device.netatmoBasestation”, title: “This Netatmo Base Station”
}

I’ve just uploaded the full source to github, does anyone know why this is not working with the v2.0.8 of both apps.

#2

and another oddity that seems to have started, the Netatmo is polled very 5 minutes and i can see the event firing in the logs every 5 minutes, i am subscribed to this event, however consistently only every other event is being triggered from the subscribe, which means my smartapp only triggered every 10 minute and not every 5…seems very strange, and i am pretty sure this hasn’t always been the case…

i’ve done some further testing on other devices and again only every other event in the subscribe is being triggered. anyone have any ideas why this has changed? has anyone else noticed? is this ST’s solution to improve the service by cutting the amount of actions form smartapp subscribes in half?

has anyone else noticed this?

#3

Yup, this used to work and no longer does, for me it hasn’t worked since 2.0.2 or there abouts, I have a ticket on it, you should add one as well.

#4

well its been 2.0.2 then it couldn’t have been in IOS or Android then as i haven’t been using ST for long enough…but i am a Windows Phone user and that is the main app i use, but i can check if it works in that still as its been broken since 2.0.8 apps have been released :grimacing:

i’ll log a ticket now cheers

#5

ok logged a ticket, i got a nice pre-canned response back :weary:

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for getting in touch.

At the moment the Netatmo isn’t an official “Works with SmartThings” device. As you are using a custom SmartApp to get this added on, it’s possible that recent changes to SmartThings haven’t been reflected. This would explain why it once worked but now doesn’t.

As it is a custom SmartApp, all we would be able to advise is to get in contact with the app developer to see if they are able to get it working again.

If you have any other questions or issues, please get back in touch.

Kind regards,
Thomas S

so i wrote back the following, hopefully it will be taken seriously (the table doesnt display correctly in this forum)

Thomas,

Thanks for the pre-canned response, however you are completely missing the point here. I am the app developer.

Forget about the fact it is a netatmo or the fact that this is a custom smartapp, this point is irrelevant. The point to be made here is that the section where I define the selection by device handler as highlighted below does not work on the IOS or Android Apps. This is a documented API feature

preferences {

section(“This Netatmo Base Station”) {

input name: “netatmo”, type: “device.netatmoBasestation”, title: “This Netatmo Base Station”

}
what I am trying to point out is that a documented feature to list devices by device handler and not by device capability which is documented under the official smartapps create smartapps documentation here http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/smartapp-developers-guide/preferences-and-settings.html under the following table, I have highlighted the following entry of your documentation

type
String - one of the names from the following table:
Name Comment
capability.capabilityName Prompts for all the devices that match the specified capability.
See the Preferences Reference column of the Capabilities Reference table for possible values.
device.deviceTypeName Prompts for all devices of the specified type.
bool A true or false value (value returned as a boolean).
boolean A “true” or “false” value (value returned as a string). It’s recommended that you use the “bool” input instead, since the simulator and mobile support for this type may not be consistent, and using “bool” will return you a boolean (instead of a string). The “boolean” input type may be removed in the near future.
decimal A floating point number, i.e. one that can contain a decimal point
email An email address
enum One of a set of possible values. Use the options element to define the possible values.
hub Prompts for the selection of a hub
icon Prompts for the selection of an icon image
number An integer number, i.e. one without decimal point
password A password string. The value is obscured in the UI and encrypted before storage
phone A phone number
time A time of day. The value will be stored as a string in the Java SimpleDateFormat (e.g., “2015-01-09T15:50:32.000-0600”)
text A text value

So telling me you don’t support this is complete rubbish, this is your API documentation, and a feature listed as working, works in the Smarthings IDE, but does not work in the IOS or Android Apps.

So please forward this onto the correct development team, it is nothing to do with the fact the device type is not officially supported, or the smart app is a custom one, it’s purely to do with the fact that your API’s listed functionality does not work as advertised on the mobile clients. The API is in fact supported? Correct?

Regards

Stuart Buchanan

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