I have just installed webcore and I am really surprised how poor and unfriendly it is to use. I tried to create a piston and the actions that it lists as available are nothing like the old core and are totally useless.
I am trying to do something that is basic and group motion sensors to avoid false triggers, I have now looked at a load of obsolete smartapps or device handlers via the community including core and webcore and I am shocked at the lack of easy to use with out a developer skills options there are.
The only good one that looked like it would work as been removed!
Can Samsung not get its head round this is a retail product so users wont and don’t have in depth coding skills to make the basic functions work.
After several years use of ST in two locations I am very disappointed., especially now with Webcore… best option is delete.
You should go to the webCoRE forum and ask for assistance setting up pistons. The folks really like helping others solve issues and getting things to work for you…
webCoRE was created by @ady624 and is not backed by Samsung. @ady624 was hired by Samsung and the hope, at least mine, is that this means that Samsung has recognized webCoRE is extremely valuable (along with @ady624’s obvious skills!) and might be considering baking some of it into the default platform. This is just my hope and not based on anything confirmed by Samsung.
While it may not be non-developer friendly it is one of the main reasons I really enjoy my ST based system! It is way better than the older smartapp based CoRE in my opinion. I could barely get anything done in CoRE and have had much more success (and fun!) with webCoRE. I encourage you to not give up… As @jkp suggested, you can get a lot of help from the weCoRE forum. You will be amazed at what you can do even without developer training.
Point taken but serious how do you get from useful and ok to use to totally un-usable … I just cannot use webcore… it simply does not do what core did.
I wil try again tonight when I have better brower access but I am think ST is not my choice goign forward
Are you saying the new app contains this already ? I tried the new app but as it didnt appear to have routines to set and unset alarm or use geofencing I stayed with classic.
I would say that you have to give it a chance. I first thought that, blah, I will keep using CoRE because this webCoRE is just too much!!!
Oh how I was soooooo wrong! It is better to use it on a computer with a proper browser but is just as capable on your smartphone. I do not recommend starting on your smartphone because the menus are a little tricky to understand.
Trust me, goto the wiki and get an understanding of the process flow. Give yourself a day of playing around with it “After” you do a little reading and then come back to this thread with your opinion.
I think the point that escapes you is that you can do SmartThings without WebCore just fine. There are plenty of routines and automations that you can configure right from the app, with a significantly more straight-forward clicky-clicky approach, if that’s your thing.
I don’t think WebCore was ever intended – at least by ST officially – to be its go-to rules engine. If anything, it was developed to account for the platform’s shortcomings.
The new app contains a user friendly rules engine that allows multiple conditions and actions. But you are correct that you can’t arm/disarm SHM in the new app based on presence.
You might personally be having some difficulties learning to use webCoRE, but that in no way makes it “un-usable”, totally or otherwise. The number of people who DO use it is pretty obvious proof of that. I and many others find webCoRE to be both powerful and quite easy to use. It certainly won’t be as easy for those without any software development experience, but that’s to be expected given the flexibility and increased capability if provides you with. It is enormously popular with ST power-users, and for good reason. Browse this and many other ST user forums/groups and you will find that whenever someone asks how to accomplish some non-trivial automation task in ST, more often than not the answers will involve webCoRE.
For instance?
I’m confused. Are you complaining about webCoRE(a user-developed-and-supported smart app), or ST itself?
Thanks for all the replies, useful stuff. To clarify I think I am frustrated that ST which is readily available in the domestic market lacks what really should be very basic functionality. I am still amazed they released a second app with the same name and without the key functionality of the original app… somebody in ST just doesnt not think.
Going to give Webcore another try shortly, as I think I have missed a few tricks here.
Would be nice if I can create a virtual sensor that I can then reference in the SHM , but thanks for the feedback. Lets see if my browser experience can deliver more positive results
Many are frustrated by this migration process. The new ST app is not “new”, it is the old Samsung Connect app that is being turned into the new ST app. For new users the new ST app may be OK, but for those with complicated setups and/or hundreds of devices, it is still not very usable.
With all its shortcomings, I believe ST to still be the most promising… but we all know it does not take much for another player to suddenly take over.
I think it’s cute when you have someone come in and get crushed by the experience. Sorry
It’s like you work at a terrible place and they hire a new guy and he’s all chipper and stuff, then he realizes he has to open the bathroom door with a broom handle and the AC doesn’t work, and you have to use Netscape to access your email.
Just tried webcore via the browser and I was completely right the first time it is awful with a capital A. Now I will apologise if that offends anyone but seriously … create a new piston, drops straight into a code window… I am not a developer so very alien. (set all options to on by the way) so i figure click define … is that right? then which option… device , dynamic what? I selected device and it didn’t change the window until I typed in a quick title but it doesn’t say title. So i figured to add devices to define… then it says variable , again which one … how do I know? so i select change. as this seem the way … it then asks for change variable … how the hell do I know what variable a motion sensor uses when it detects motion … and so the story goes on… it is simply just not usable unless you are a coder , developer etc. I was expecting more drag and drop icons gui front end… not a back end code headache. So given up and will look at other options… Core may far more sense as it had a familiar ST interface. My suggestion is that Webcore right a library of common code that people need and allow people to import them to use. Sorry guys but just not the ticket. But thank you to those who took the time to reply. Oh and by the way the browser interface navigation just doesn’t work and took me back several times to the initial code window instead of back to the previous level… poor …very
@andrew_newton - webCoRE is clearly not for you if it causes you so much frustration and you have no desire to “figure it out”. WebCoRE is the result of HARD WORK done for FREE by @ady624 and a number of other people so yes… all the hard work has not been done for you, but what they offer for FREE to everyone is nothing short of amazing regardless of how much it can be improved.
I am not offended by your comments and I understand your frustration but rather than criticizing it as a crappy solution (which it is NOT), just say it is too advanced for you as a non-developer and therefore not the right solution for you. There is nothing wrong with that…
I am not a developer and my most recent programming language studies were over 20 years ago, yet I can get by to the degree I need. Others here can literally have their house wipe their nose automatically with a webCoRE piston… and those same people (some on this thread) love to help others, like myself, learn how to do more with webCoRE. If you do not want to learn how to use it, then look into the other options that were suggested.
EDIT: In Italy we have a saying: “A caval donato non si guarda in bocca” which means “one does not look inside a horse’s mouth [to judge health/worth] when it has been donated”. I believe the closest saying in English is “Beggars can’t be choosers”
