Hi ,
I’m new to ST and I don’t have a lot of experience but I started building some routine and trying to get my security logic in St but it seems it’s limited with what St can do .
I know about Webcore and till now didn’t want to use it as I think also about maintenance and spreading the routines and rules in different places will be hard to debug and maintain.
Saying this, It seems that I have no choice but to use Webcore to accomplish what I want .
What is the best way to integrate Webcore with ST ?
Should I use all logic in Webcore ?
From your experience how did you divided the logic/routines between St and Webcore to get the best of 2 worlds but still easy to maintain and debug.
Thanks
Like you, I had to learn ST and webcore from the ground up. For me, that integration has been a steady, fun, somewhat slow climb in understanding and utilization. Most of the aspects of my security system are integrated with webcore. As others will echo, I DO NOT use any automatic routines in webcore or ST to disarm my security system. That includes phone presence sensors, which historically do not function well. Fortunately, ST and webcore integrate well together. I have most if not all of my security devices (and many others) within ST and I use webcore routines to query, monitor and control those devices and the overall status of my smart home. I have found that writing small pistons in webcore to do specific tasks makes coding and debugging much easier. I have dozens of small, specific pistons. You can get quite elaborate with your code, but the debugging efforts multiply there. Don’t try to be fancy, at least at first. Honestly, I don’t use many routines within ST. Many do, and they may have a different opinion. In short, I only install devices that ST will recognize. And I use webcore to control them. Your mileage may vary.
I would not use a phone presence to disarm security, but I have no issue using the Smartthings arrival sensor to accomplish this. It is not detected until you are well within sight of your home, typically 75 meters or less. And one of my Webcore pistons utilizes the keypad of my Schlage lock to disarm security - any 8-digit code that unlocks the door (there are six) is obviously a good code, so there’s no need for another keypad for security code entry.
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Agreed. I also use my Schlage keypad lock and a piston as one method to disarm my system.
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Thanks for the replies .
I really wanted to use one place for my logic but ST couldn’t do the things that I wanted .
It’s really not complicated
I wanted to use roller shutter status as part of my Smart home monitor .
Currently I didn’t see any way to add roller shutters to be part of the smart home monitor .
The problem that I see is that if I will implement it in Webcore I will need to:
- Not use smart home monitor
- Build routines base on the logic that I have to armed and disarmed the system (motion,contact,roller shutter and maybe camera …)
- create action tiles tiles base on those routines so I can armed, disarmed and see the status easily .
I hoped it would be more elegant unless I’m missing sometime .
Add the contact sensor capability to the roller shutter DH. In the DH, set contact sensor state to open/close whenever the roller shade state changes to open/close. The roller shutter can then be added to SHM as a contact sensor.
A solution using webcore would be to create a virtual switch that is also a contact sensor (there’s a DH posted in the forum that someone made like this to work with Alexa). Use a piston to throw the virtual switch based on the roller shutter state. The virtual switch can be added to SHM as a contact sensor since it has that capability.
You are correct that having things coded in more than one place can be confusing. I find that I occasionally have to look around to see how I’ve implemented something.
I use webCore a lot, but remember that it is cloud based, not local. So some things may not run as quickly as with local execution that ST is capable of to some extent. Because webCore is cloud based, you may see a slight lag. Depending on what you are doing though, this may not matter. For example, for shades opening or closing based upon arming/disarming, you probably won’t notice a lag. But for a light switch that turns on a light, you will.
Also, if your Internet connection is down, nothing is going to run.
@Bry I agree. For those reasons, I have considered migrating to Hubitat. But I really have not evaluated that system yet. However, I have not noticed much lag and I am very happy with my ST/webcore systems at this time.
@philh30 That is a great Idea !
I’m using your DH for fibaro fgr-223 .
Will you be able to add this compatibility ?
Maybe It will also solve my issue with Action Tiles that is showing my Roller shutters as Switches and not and not as windows shades so it will be on all time except it get 0% then it will be as off .
I’ll take a look at it - probably this weekend.
That will be awesome. Thanks
I have a wide range of apps playing a part in my HA. I’ve learned to put the name of the app behind the name of the Automation.
Unlock Front Door When Presence Arrives (SmartLighting)
Turn On Yard Light After Sunset (webCoRE)
Turn Off PC (EventGhost)
This way when I go to look at what did what, it’s easily traceable.
I’m a 250+ Device User and for most things, I use webCoRE. However, I have multiple instances installed. (webCoRE), (webCoRE-2), (webCoRE-3), etc.
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