[ST Edge] vEdge Creator: a virtual device generator for end users

Thanks for the kind words. :pray:

It certainly is possible to create a virtual device with 20 switches.

Some external apps like ActionTiles couldn’t work with it since it only knows about the “main” (first) component. The switches would each have to be in their own component.

I would be interested to hear from others if this would be a useful virtual device type.

Todd,
@Mariano_Colmenarejo has created one virtual device with up to 4 switches. If I remember he had to move each switch under own component. Issue with this is individual switch’s name.


This was before child devices become available. Maybe it could be possible now. Also he is able to use capability values from different devices (temperature sensors) that use same driver somehow (groups).
Maybe he can help with this

I think it would not make sense to drear virtualdevices child of another virtual device, it is better to directly create each virtual device separately.

secondary components are not exposed to third-party apps, they can’t even be viewed and controlled on my.smartthings.com.
Hopefully it gets fixed at some point

Component names should be changeable, as they all have their own “label” field.
The name of the main device can be changed because it is the device.label that is changed, not the label of the “main” component, which still appears as the main name in the app.
Hopefully when everything calms down there will be time to improve these things

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Hi

Wondering if there is any way to create a virtual switch that will trigger once my iPhone is 5 miles from home?

It would be great to turn the heating on as I come home from wherever the day has taken me

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Have you looked into Linked Places? They were only usable on Galaxy phones but I am no longer seeing that restriction flagged in the app as I used to. I haven’t had a chance to investigate it though. Linked Places are set up in the same way as your Location and the geofence radius can be up to 30 km (18.6 miles).

@TAustin

okay? homekit devices some are lan (wifi) based and work local to homekit. When pairing, you need to enter a code or scan a qrcode. In the home assistant there is an integration called homekit controller that allows you to use these devices directly in the home assistant without needing the homekit. Do you think it is possible to create a lan driver for these devices?

I don’t know if the API is published or proprietary. I’ll have to do some research to see what would be possible.

Is there any plans for homekit devices to support Matter?

26 posts were split to a new topic: Presence in 2023, including multiple members and multiple locations

Yeah, just another one added to the list. Samsung, Google (Android phone tracking, Pixel Watch/Fitbit, and Nest app tracking). Probably more if I checked.

Hello, scanning for devices does not pull up the vEdge Creator. I initially installed v2.8 and was able to create 3 virtual presence sensors. When I went back to try to create a contact sensor, it got stuck on creating devices. I deleted everything, uninstalled the driver, and re-installed, but now I cannot get the creator to show up when scanning for devices. Any idea what could be the issue? I’m willing to provide logs but not sure how to go about doing so.

The app is now sometimes putting new devices into the room where your hub device is (instead of ‘No room assigned’). Have you checked that?

Yes, scanning for nearby devices doesn’t even find the vEdge Creator V2.8.

Have you tried rebooting your hub?

Yep–tried that. Even unenrolled and and renerolled to your channel. For some reason I cannot get the creator to pop back up.

Is there something wrong with the vEdge link? After accepting the terms of service i get sent to an internal server error page.

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I’m using the vEdge Creator to support 5 virtual dimmers and a switch. All of the virtuals are being used with the new Smart lighting to do one-way mirroring so that I can operate some groups of lights as one, primarily for use with Alexa.

There is a significant difference in how the virtual dimmer works as compared to a real dimmer or the old IDE-created virtual dimmer.

For my other dimmers if I say “Alexa, dining room ceiling 100%”, the dimmer is turned on and set to the requested brightness. With the vEdge virtual dimmer, the dim level is set but the on/off state isn’t affected. This means I have to give Alexa two commands to get the lights on and set the level.

Possibly related is the dashboard presentation. If I select “dimmer” presentation then the icon appears on any time the dimmer value is non-zero even if the switch is actually off. Again, that’s unlike how real dimmers work and unlike how the IDE-created virtual dimmer worked.

@TAustin , is there any way to get a virtual dimmer that behaves like a real dimmer?

Known problems affecting many channels. See

Unable to join channels (25 Jan 2023)

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All who were having problems getting the driver installed from the invite link: SmartThings acknowledged the issue and says it’s fixed now, so please retry.

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Well believe it or not it’s behaving the way folks requested when I first created it. But this has come up - that it would be good to have a Settings option to enable the behavior you are looking for. I’ll bump this up on the priority list and try to get it done in the coming days.

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In the past, many people have requested this specific behavior so that they can change the dim level based on time of day without actually turning the light on. That way the next time someone hits the wall switch, it comes on at the lower level. This is commonly a nighttime routine, but it’s also used to emulate circadian lighting.

Without separating the two, you get the situation where the light turns on at full brightness and then dims to the desired level, which can be a problem, for example, in a nursery. :baby:

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