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This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
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Flow modifications
I would like to suggest the following modifications to the Flow system:
1) Triggerless Flows
This would enable you to set up a flow that sets up devices in a certain way (for example turns on and sets dim levels on multiple devices, effectively creating a scene). This type of Flow can only be triggered by..
2) Triggering a Flow from a Flow
Exactly what is says..
3) Trigger a flow on more than 1 trigger card.
Yes, I know you can work around this suggestion by using variables. But Homey Flow system is supposed to make automation easier, and using a workaround for something that imho should be basic functionality simply isn't.
IMHO these modifications would vastly improve the flexibility and user-friendlyness of the Flow system.
Best,
Den
1) Triggerless Flows
This would enable you to set up a flow that sets up devices in a certain way (for example turns on and sets dim levels on multiple devices, effectively creating a scene). This type of Flow can only be triggered by..
2) Triggering a Flow from a Flow
Exactly what is says..
3) Trigger a flow on more than 1 trigger card.
Yes, I know you can work around this suggestion by using variables. But Homey Flow system is supposed to make automation easier, and using a workaround for something that imho should be basic functionality simply isn't.
IMHO these modifications would vastly improve the flexibility and user-friendlyness of the Flow system.
Best,
Den
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
That is +1 here.
Yes.. but maybe we have to speak Homey for Athom to understand...
still great idea
By the way.. I also think we should be able to trigger a flow on more then 1 trigger. Currently only 1 trigger per flow is allowed.. I'll edit OP..
The concept
Rather then using IF action THEN reaction, I add a variable in between like this:
IF action THEN change X
IF x changes THEN reaction
Example
When I come home, I want to turn on the lights. To achieve this, I use the variable living-room-lights.
There are several ways to detect that I am coming home. One way would be that the door sensors triggers at a certain time.
IF doorsensor = open AND time > 17:00 THEN set living-room-lights = on.
IF living-room-lights changes AND living-room-lights = on THEN turn on Philips hue, turn on Philips lux
Now, add a remote to turn on the lights
IF remotebutton 1 = on THEN set living-room-lights = on
This flow will trigger the exact same flow, this turning on both lamps. Easy right?
Next, we add a motion sensor
IF motion detected AND time > 17:00 THEN set living-room-lights = on
You can keep adding events or actions and seperatly, you can modify your "scene" as you like.
Instead of just using "on" and "off", you can add states like "dim".
IF motion detected AND time >23:00 THEN set living-room-lights = dim.
This way, you won't be blinded when you go to the bathroom at night.
Triggerless flows
I'm not sure how you intend to use triggerless flows, but I expect that using the variable as trigger might do the trick.
Triggering a flow from a flow
Variables are defiantly a good way to do this. The fact that you can pass a value is also very useful.
Triggering a flow from more then one trigger
It is a bit of a workaround, but you achieve the same thing. You can tweak the trigger independently from the scenes.
Closing thoughts
I have written several examples on this topic and overall, feedback has been positive. It would be nice if Homey would have build in support for these "states" with advanced features like monitoring via insight and triggers via app shortcuts.
I'm currently in the process of improving my own setup by using several layers of states.
- A house-state records general presence: home, at-work, day-off, away, sleeping, vacation. There is only one house-state.
A room-state records the use of the room: present, empty, watching-tv, reading, leaving. Each room has it's own state. - All rooms have present and empty. Watching-tv and reading are substates for present to finetune the behavior only for the living room.
- A device-state records the state of s specific (set of devices): on, off, dimmed, warm, disco. These are examples of a set of lights.
When the house state changes to home, the living room state is changed to present which in turn triggers the lights state to be set to on. Conditions such as time and day of the week can be used to modify the behavior.
It takes some time to set it up, but once you have the basics in place, it is very easy to expend and make homey more and more intelligent over time.
Homey is working on a place to record advanced flows. It would have to have such a repository. Currently, I'm just typing a new story each time with the home that is makes sense rather then having a good refined set of instructions which I can refer to.
But my point is that Homey can and should make it easier for anyone to do stuff like this. Fiddling around with variables is a workaround and completely unnecessary. Especially with Athoms aim to sell this device to the consumer market (electronics chains) having to do this by using variables is just utterly ridiculous. Joe Consumer is not going to fiddle around with variables, he wants things to be clear, clean and simple.
Currently I can not make a Flow that has no trigger. If, for instance, I want to have a flow that just sets up lighting when called, it does not make sense to have a trigger for it. But, as with the setup you describe below, it does help to keep things in one place and thus, tidy things up.
Again, yes. That is the way i'm working now also and imho a good way to keep things clean, clear and simple.
But it requires a great deal of setting up and using numerous variables (one for each state) which is fine for us techies, but not the way a consumer device works or should work imho. And again, totally unnecessary with the platform Athom has built. It is more than capable of making it easier and make the whole technical process behind it completely invisible to the user.
Imho, consumers want a device that is clear, logical, and free of hassle. The way Flows work now it is anything but that.