I can code. I don’t want to.
Imagine you are wearing an oven mitt on each hand. You have voice response software which is OK, not perfect.
Now try using most of the answers to most of the questions in most of the topics in the community. “Cut and paste” is not going to go well. Coding Groovy is going to go worse. Debugging groovy code is really, really difficult because it’s hard to get the cursor positioned just so.
So while I’m all in favor of better GitHub integration, more examples, and a beefed up IDE, none of that solves my issues.
I suggest adding a Category to the forum for no code solutions. Anything from “Is there an irrigation system that works with SmartThings?” to “How can I give my guests the ability to turn the lights on and off?” is going to get a very different set of answers than what happens now, but they’ll be answers that work for the very large group of potential SmartThings customers who don’t want to write their own code, however “simple” that might seem to be.
It would be fine to say, “If you want to do custom coding, you can find discussion in another Category” and link over. But solutions offered in the plug and play category cannot include custom code.
Also–no vaporware solutions from marketing staff. Anything suggested has to be real and available now, although it’s OK if someone wants to say “There’s a product announced that should solve that, but no official delivery date yet.” Because some people looking for a plug and play solution will be OK with waiting for a few months to see what actually condenses.
It would also be fine to offer a project solution that might require hiring a contractor to implement, and to say something like, “If you don’t want to do your own wiring, you could hire a contractor to…” I don’t think there’s any difficulty with this target audience in suggesting you could hire an electrician to put in new light switches, for example.
And yes, it would be ideal if there was a SmartApp store where we could buy/find SmartApps that required nothing more than clicking an install button to add to our own installations. And if there was such a category, it would be an excellent place to announce new SmartApps.
But meanwhile…
“All Home Automation is local.” Meaning will it work for me, in my house, now.
And for many of us, the “for me” means “without custom coding.” Even “just” cut and paste.
So setting aside a part of the community where projects and solutions can be discussed from a consumer point of view rather than a maker one would be extremely helpful. And I think only to SmartThings’ benefit over time. And making a separate category would preserve all the great stuff that the coders are already sharing.
Just a thought…