[DISCONTINUED] Better Hue

Rocodamelshe

Better Hue (version 1.0.0)

Submitted to the App Store , awaiting approval.

Lots of us wanted to use scenes in Homey, so we've been working on an app to select Hue scenes from your Hue bridge to use in a flow.


Credits go to Dannzak and Remi.


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Turn on and off Hue scenes from Homey (www.athom.com)

## Preparation

To be able to use this app, you need to supply the app with the IP of your Hue bridge and your key. Your key is either your randomly generated key or custom username.
Go to settings in your homey and click "Constellation" to fill in.

You should use the randomly generated key, as the username functionality will be removed from the bridge in the future.

## Cards

The following cards are available:
- [ACTION] Turn scene on
- [ACTION] Tusn scene off (Not working yet, working on it)

Just add the card, click the textbox and select the scene you want.

## More

More functionality is incoming. Check back later.




Tested and working with Hue bridge 2.0 and  Homey FW 0.8.32
Let us know what you think in this topic.
(It's work in progress and it's our first app so please be gentle)

Nattelip

cant the app use the credentials from the existing hue app ?

Dannzak

Nattelip said:

cant the app use the credentials from the existing hue app ?

I guess so. Will look into that, thanks!

BasPost

I'm still curious why @Athom doesn't have this built in their official Hue app?  
But thanks for the affort, I will gladly test and use this

bvdbos

If you get scenes to work, one could create pull-requests to the athom github repository.

mauriceb

@Rocodamelshe Are you aware off the API documentation: http://www.developers.meethue.com/philips-hue-api
You need to register to read it but it describes every detail. To my opinion this is one off the better API documentations. 

Also the hub contains a daylight "sensor" with the sunset and sunrise. I currently use this, together with a rule you can create on the bridge, to turn on my lights 30 minutes before sunset. 

For others I also recommend looking at WinHue. A windows program which lets you control every detail of the Hue bridge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/winhue/

Dannzak

So the first version is available now. We would still like to change some parts of the code to make it more efficient but you can test/use it from now on. Turning off a scene is still work in progress. As we are communicating with the bridge directly, you currently need to supply a username and IP in the settings to be able to work with it.

Let me know what you think!

Rocodamelshe

Is anyone willing to test this app with 0.8.34?

caseda

I have tested it on 0.8.34, my results:

The configuration works good, saves the api key and IP.

But that's all i can do at the moment.
When trying to add/activate scene i get an empty card menu:

The key is right (works in api debug tool)
IP is correct (the test connection gets green when pressing.)
Testing it with a copy paste of an existing scene results in a red-lined box (auto-complete feature).

Small edit: I have the bridge 2.0 (latest firmware) and have scenes created by v1 and v2 of the Android app.

Maybe nice to add:
There are a few states that can't be configured by for example the official Hue App and at the moment the official homey hue app (yet) as well:

effect:
   - none
   - colorloop
alarm: 
   - none
   - select
   - lselect

Might be cool if you are able to add this as well.
(gives a lot more work though because you need to scan all the lights as well)
PS: i know this can be done with the HTTP app, but i guess that is also the case with these scenes.

Rocodamelshe

The box is empty at start but when u click in the empty space once there should appear a drop down list with ur scenes.
Thnx for the tips!

BasPost

Rocodamelshe said:

The box is empty at start but when u click in the empty space once there should appear a drop down list with ur scenes.
Thnx for the tips!

With my tests, this works indeed. No problems here.  
Any news or progress with the integration?  
This is a really nice addon! And I work allot now with it! Thanks for developing this!  
I make my scenes in the official Hue apps (gen 1 & gen 2) and trigger this with your app. I find this the best and easiest way

caseda

@Rocodamelshe ;;;
If you look closely on the image you can see I clicked the box
Its a small drop-down with no text in it.
(when mouse over in the drop-down there are 2 different (empty) boxes to be exact) 
A reboot of homey didn't fix it as well

Rocodamelshe

Ok, we gonna look into that one . Thnx for testing.

thuijbers

caseda said:

I have tested it on 0.8.34, my results:

The configuration works good, saves the api key and IP.

But that's all i can do at the moment.
When trying to add/activate scene i get an empty card menu:

The key is right (works in api debug tool)
IP is correct (the test connection gets green when pressing.)
Testing it with a copy paste of an existing scene results in a red-lined box (auto-complete feature).

Small edit: I have the bridge 2.0 (latest firmware) and have scenes created by v1 and v2 of the Android app.

Maybe nice to add:
There are a few states that can't be configured by for example the official Hue App and at the moment the official homey hue app (yet) as well:

effect:
   - none
   - colorloop
alarm: 
   - none
   - select
   - lselect

Might be cool if you are able to add this as well.
(gives a lot more work though because you need to scan all the lights as well)
PS: i know this can be done with the HTTP app, but i guess that is also the case with these scenes.

I created a github issue for this. Emile is going to add the effects when he has some spare time.

See: https://github.com/athombv/nl.philips.hue/issues/7

HansieNL

I made an alarm flow for the Hue, see: https://forum.athom.com/discussion/1449/my-alarm-flow with use of the Hue api.

caseda

I've made (before latest crash) various pretty big flows that use the HTTP app in combination with the hue api.
Also a full room-sized homey (rainbow effect (colorloop) in the entire living room) to a small wake up light flow that wakes me up in the morning, when .35 is there i'm gonna create a way more extensive wake up flow (full (fake) sunrise with multiple lights)

but it's all manual, and not very user friendly.
Way easier if there is a dedicated app for being able to do this.
Hopefully not the way it is now, ala Homey Hue App (for every action a new card).

woei

Any work still happening on this?

Rocodamelshe

Yep.
In the next version color loop and alarm will be added. New version will be added in a couple of days.

woei

Rocodamelshe said:

Yep.
In the next version color loop and alarm will be added. New version will be added in a couple of days.

Nice, any chance we will see it in the app store then? Would love to try it out, but prefer not to install it through the dev cli.

Sommo

it is better that:
##Todo

--Integrate with the official Hue app.

Sommo

anyway good work! thank you!

Dannzak

While the official Homey Hue app has been updated with scenes, we've been working on some cool features for Constellation. Version 0.0.2 is available now with the following features / fixes

- Turn on/off lights in group. You can specify the duration of the transition in seconds and the brightness. This can be used for a wake up light flow.
- Enable/disable 'colorloop' effect for a group of lights. Lights will loop trough all available colors.
- Blink a group of lights once, or for 15 seconds.
- Various fixes and cleanup

We are experimenting with some really cool features at the moment. I hope I can share them soon. As always, let me know if something doesn't work. 

Known issues:
- Currently the app uses the online Bridge search function, meaning you need an internet connection to use the app (will be removed soon)
- Transition time can be ignored occasionally if the Hue app for iOS is used for turning off the lights.

keverjeroen

Sounds nice! Are you going to push the app to the app-store, next to the original hue-app? (better-hue app, just like the better voice and better logic apps)

woei

Awesome, really look forward to play with the wake up light feature. Love to see it in the app store indeed.

MarkSwift

Great, being able to turn a scene on and off is a huge time saver (I'm hoping Athom will port most of your features into the official app!).

Great work!

Dannzak

keverjeroen said:

Sounds nice! Are you going to push the app to the app-store, next to the original hue-app? (better-hue app, just like the better voice and better logic apps)

That's actually a great idea. 'Better Hue' it is, and it's currently awaiting approval. Thanks!

mbalik79

Can I use these app next to the hue app from athom? Yesterday I had installed it in dev. Mode but after closing it the hue lights where "not rechable" for homey. I had to un-install the app and reconect to the bridge. Is there somebody else with this problem or am I the only one?

phil_s

I have both apps running. 

To the hue App Problem see my thoughts here:
https://github.com/athombv/homey/issues/668

I have the same Problems but i think it belongs to third partie lights like my osram Spots. 

mbalik79

Ah ok..Will install it when it's approved in the app store. Thanks @phil_s ;

Dannzak

So unfortunately the app will not be published to the app store. Athom rather has the functionality implemented in the official app instead of it being available as additional app, which might confuse people. This is what some of you already stated from the beginning, and I understand that. 

So that's it for now. At least now I know how to make an app, which will help with things to come

Rocodamelshe

phil_s said:

I have both apps running. 

According to ur post it looks like the "Better Hue" app is running ok on .36?