Way to choose input devices by commands supported

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@bridaus

Is there a way to restrict “Input” to devices that support certain commands?

Device List filtering in the input method is far too inflexible. If your SmartApp supports both Dimmers and Switches, for example, you can’t offer two distinct input selection lists. All Dimmers are usually Switches, but not the other way around, so you present the user with confusing overlap or have to sub-filter by Command inside the actual SmartApp logic.

Input method needs at least AND + OR.

I discussed Capability selection granularity here… In the middle of long post…

DRAFT: Guidelines for Capabilities (under construction...)

Continuing the discussion from About the New Capability Types category: Disclaimer: This should probably be written by an official SmartThings Architect (or authorized technical writer), but I’m outlining my understanding of what makes for “good” Capability Definitions. This is based on my analysis of the existing Capabilities Taxonomy, and the SmartApp Developer’s Guide (particularly the section on device selection via preferences { input() }, and, most importantly, the Anatomy of a Device Type (Device Type Developer’s Guide), partially extracted here: Capabilities are the interactions that a device allows. We have a reference document that lists all available capabilities. When you define a capability, you are stating that your device supports the given capability. Commands are …