Hi,
I don’t know if I am posting in the right category or if this question has already been asked.
I have smartthings buttons in my home set up. I know the app shows when they have been pressed. but is there a custom smart app or something that makes it so I can “push” the button in the app? I tried making a virtual button but It didn’t seem to push either.
No, button devices are actuated by the physical press. Which is then reported to the hub. But the hub doesn’t operate the button.
It’s the same idea as a handheld television remote. The remote sends signals to the TV, but the TV doesn’t send signals to the remote.
What was the use case you were thinking of?
I use the sharptools dashboard to control my smart home. I have virtual switches to activate certain scenes and what not. But I feel my uses would be better suited with a momentary contact vs the held contact.
You used to be able to create momentary virtual switches. I myself used them back in 2015 to represent harmony activities.
I don’t know if that’s still possible with the new app or not.
Another alternative is to use a virtual switch and have it turn itself off after one minute using the power allowance option in the official smart lighting feature. I know there are some people doing this now with virtual switches that, for example, change modes. Having the switch turn itself off each time means it will be available again the next time that you need it. But I don’t know if that fits your use case.
Tagging @joshua_lyon
You can use a virtual switch and then an automation to turn it back off. Since you’re already in SharpTools, could use their rule engine.
Sounds like the device handler being used doesn’t support the ‘Momentary’ capability. Some buttons do, some don’t.
The Momentary Button Tile looks like it ought to work but it was unresponsive when I just quickly tested it, though I might have missed something.
I have several momentary virtual buttons. Create the virtual switch, then go into IDE and change the type to Momentary Button Tile, as Orangebucket said. However…and I just noticed this…mine, at least, do not work when pressed in the new app. They work fine using the old app, but in the new app it says it cannot connect to device. I didn’t notice this before because I generally control the buttons through Alexa instead of my phone app. I’ll have to check this out again tomorrow just to make sure it’s not just some kind of SmartThings “issue of the day”
Thabjs everyone for the comments and suggestions. I never considered making a v switch have an auto shut off. I’ve just made rules that if one turns on, the other turns off and such.
@coronamike50 I remember reading in another thread the new app didn’t do the virtual button. But if you can still do it via classic and alexa, maybe I could do the same with sharptools, I’ll have to look into that. Thank you all!
Buttons are triggers only can only be activated from the device itself. In the new app you can assign actions to a button press or held action (if supported) or via custom apps which support buttons.
If you want to trigger an action manually try creating a virtual momentary switch (it resets itself after a push). A momentary is missing from the new app as of now but you can create your own virtual momentary switch by creating a device in the IDE using the Momentary button tile DTH.
Yes, that is what I saw. The ‘Momentary’ capability is working fine and dandy with my Aqara buttons so it certainly can work.
I know how to create virtual devices, but I only know how to copy and paste dth’s… Creating my own is beyond my capabilities 
You don’t need to create your own DTH. Just use the one mentioned above.
It looks like the community has you pointed in the right direction!
You might also find the following article helpful:
And if I remember correctly, you’re in the beta for SharpTools dashboards, so some of the features added to the latest beta might be helpful to you as well. 
Is there a link to a walk through on how to set this dth up? I tried downloading momentary button device handler,but I can’t find a virtual momentary switch or how to tie it in to the device handler.
No need to download or install anything. When you create the device in IDE https://account.smartthings.com under Type, select Momentary Button Tile.
Oh so it’s not virtual or simulated device. Awesome I’ll try it out thank you!
This doesn’t work, like was said earlier. See here, I press the “LR HT Scene Button” and I get the error message shown in the bubble:
You probably need to first activate the switch in the classic app to get it working in the new app. It’s a known issue that the new app doesn’t handle virtual devices well.
You are totally correct, thank you! The work in the classic app, as you said, but more importantly SharpTools is perfectly aware of them, even giving the option to present the tile as momentary.
