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Unified Remote

thuijbersthuijbers Member
edited May 2016 in Archive
Hi,

Maybe an idea for an app: App launcher.

When you want to watch a movie, turn on your TV and receiver, and just like in the video from Athom, start Plex, Kodi or PopcornTime.
Is someone already working on something like this? If not, I'm willing to create an app for this.

Maybe @Emile can answer this? smile 

Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Comments

  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    edited April 2016
    App-launcher on your pc? Or flow-launcher on Homey?
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    @BasVanDenBosch, App-launcher on Mac/PC.

    For example the plex app can control Plex Home Theater, but if I'm not mistaken you have to start PHT first in order to control it with Homey.
  • mauritsivsmauritsivs Member
    i would say this would be a quite essential addition to homey, to be able to start up any program like plex, music players, itunes, etc...
  • jjtbsomhorstjjtbsomhorst Member
    And how are you going to achieve this? There are several operating systems out there and all of them have different way of doing things. For instance you could have a windows system with a specific user. There is no native way starting apps remote ( as far as I know).  The reason for this is ofcourse security. If Homey can do it, everyone can do it. So the app that you want to start should have been started already as a service with an open endpoint available to Homey. Next thing is of course finding that machine. If you have set a static IP adres no issue but if you have DHCP enabled...good luck.

    This is just a windows environment. Don't know what the challenges may be for Mac or Linux distro's. For instance in my situation (Ubuntu 15.04)  I wanted to have my laptop shutdown if a specific flow ran. For this to work I installed a webserver with a PHP script that creates an dummy file in my temp folder if Homey goes to a specific endpoint on that webserver. Next I created a SH script that checks for the existence of that file every minute and if found removes it and does a shutdown to the system. It works.. but for the normal user (without tech knowledge) not doable and ofcourse highley insecure. If someone knows the existence of my endpoint he /she can shutdown my notebook anytime they want.

    So, starting apps remotely is a big issue not solvable by Homey. The demo you've seen makes use of those apps that have an endpoint available to Homey. But if you want to do more... good luck. ;)
  • ErikVanDongenErikVanDongen Member
    @thuijbers would be great if you could implement a Unified Remote client/app for Homey.
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    jjtbsomhorst said:
    And how are you going to achieve this? There are several operating systems out there and all of them have different way of doing things. For instance you could have a windows system with a specific user. There is no native way starting apps remote ( as far as I know).  The reason for this is ofcourse security. If Homey can do it, everyone can do it. So the app that you want to start should have been started already as a service with an open endpoint available to Homey. Next thing is of course finding that machine. If you have set a static IP adres no issue but if you have DHCP enabled...good luck.

    This is just a windows environment. Don't know what the challenges may be for Mac or Linux distro's. For instance in my situation (Ubuntu 15.04)  I wanted to have my laptop shutdown if a specific flow ran. For this to work I installed a webserver with a PHP script that creates an dummy file in my temp folder if Homey goes to a specific endpoint on that webserver. Next I created a SH script that checks for the existence of that file every minute and if found removes it and does a shutdown to the system. It works.. but for the normal user (without tech knowledge) not doable and ofcourse highley insecure. If someone knows the existence of my endpoint he /she can shutdown my notebook anytime they want.

    So, starting apps remotely is a big issue not solvable by Homey. The demo you've seen makes use of those apps that have an endpoint available to Homey. But if you want to do more... good luck. ;)
    I already created a server for Windows to test this, where you can add your own apps wich then can be executed from Homey. Of course a static IP is required, so you don't lose the server. You have the same problem when you don't have a static IP when adding for example a Philips TV. But it already works for me on Windows using the HTTP connector.

    I plan on creating a server for OS X and Windows first, no plans to write something for Ubuntu.
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    ErikVanDongen said:
    @thuijbers would be great if you could implement a Unified Remote client/app for Homey.
    Yeah I looked at that option, but I'm not familiar with Unified Remote. Seems there is no option to launch apps, only control them?
  • ErikVanDongenErikVanDongen Member
    thuijbers said:
    @thuijbers would be great if you could implement a Unified Remote client/app for Homey.
    Yeah I looked at that option, but I'm not familiar with Unified Remote. Seems there is no option to launch apps, only control them?
    You can launch apps:

  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    edited May 2016
    thuijbers said:
    @thuijbers would be great if you could implement a Unified Remote client/app for Homey.
    Yeah I looked at that option, but I'm not familiar with Unified Remote. Seems there is no option to launch apps, only control them?
    You can launch apps:

    Nice, checked it on OS X but couldn't find the function there. Will check that tonight when I'm home.

    If that function also is available on OS X, i will look into creating an app for Unified Remote.

    Edit: Seems to be available, see https://www.unifiedremote.com/remotes/launcher. Didn't work on my MacBook before, has to be a bug in the server. Changed the subject to Unified Remote, will create an app for this if possible :) 

    What functionalities do you guys want other than launching apps?
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    Update; just contacted Unified Remote for creating an app for Homey.
  • KoenMartensKoenMartens Member
    thuijbers said:
    thuijbers said:
    @thuijbers would be great if you could implement a Unified Remote client/app for Homey.
    Yeah I looked at that option, but I'm not familiar with Unified Remote. Seems there is no option to launch apps, only control them?
    You can launch apps:

    Nice, checked it on OS X but couldn't find the function there. Will check that tonight when I'm home.

    If that function also is available on OS X, i will look into creating an app for Unified Remote.

    Edit: Seems to be available, see https://www.unifiedremote.com/remotes/launcher. Didn't work on my MacBook before, has to be a bug in the server. Changed the subject to Unified Remote, will create an app for this if possible :) 

    What functionalities do you guys want other than launching apps?
    Do you think it's possible to shutoff while giving a warning (i.e. standard shutoff of PC at 11pm, but give a warning, so I can cancel it if I'm working on something at 11pm)? That would be amazing, but slightly dificult I guess.
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    KoenMartens said:
    Do you think it's possible to shutoff while giving a warning (i.e. standard shutoff of PC at 11pm, but give a warning, so I can cancel it if I'm working on something at 11pm)? That would be amazing, but slightly dificult I guess.
    You can already do this. Use the confirmation card in the 'and' column. :)
  • MathijsFrenckenMathijsFrencken Member
    I would love a unified remote app
  • KoenMartensKoenMartens Member
    thuijbers said:
    KoenMartens said:
    Do you think it's possible to shutoff while giving a warning (i.e. standard shutoff of PC at 11pm, but give a warning, so I can cancel it if I'm working on something at 11pm)? That would be amazing, but slightly dificult I guess.
    You can already do this. Use the confirmation card in the 'and' column. :)
    Very fair point indeed. :)
  • castlecastle Member
    I was looking for an app like this!

    Is it possible to support multiple Windows clients?

  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    castle said:
    I was looking for an app like this!

    Is it possible to support multiple Windows clients?

    Still haven't got any reaction from them, but if I can write an app then yes, I want to support multiple servers.
  • castlecastle Member
    Any updates on this?
  • thuijbersthuijbers Member
    @castle yes I just got a response from UR. There is no API which I can call from Homey, just some URL's to start specific actions. So currently no way to search for the servers or look for available applications to start.

    I asked him some additional questions, waiting for response.
  • PauluzPauluz Member
    After more then a year of the release of Homey, I expected way more apps for Homey...but it's getting slow very slow....must have been at least 1000 Apps by now...

  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    edited October 2016
    There are more then 130 apps for Homey... Seeing the eco-system isn't a screen like on a smartphone or laptop, I think it's rather a lot already BTW, that's what we were doing last night, learning how to add more devices with 433 support...
  • GeurtDijkerGeurtDijker Member
    BasVanDenBosch said:
    There are more then 130 apps for Homey... Seeing the eco-system isn't a screen like on a smartphone or laptop, I think it's rather a lot already BTW, that's what we were doing last night, learning how to add more devices with 433 support...
    I agree 130 apps are already a lot for the i guess a couple of thousand homeys. 

    Where did you learn about adding 433 devices support? I am also interested. Forum? Slack? 
  • MathijsFrenckenMathijsFrencken Member
    edited October 2016
    I found out how to use unified remote with homey without the need of an (homey) app!

    You use: IFTTT,
    Android phone + Tasker,
    Unified remote tasker plugin (included in full version)

    When homey triggers the IFTTT recipe it send a notification to my phone which is intercepted by tasker (and cleared/scanned for commands) then the tasker unified remote plugin executes the tasks! I got WoL via homey working and executing windows batch scripts.

    For more information go here:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/4d3sb4/how_to_control_your_pc_with_alexa_instructions/
    (this article defines alexa but homey has the same capabilities)
    Or send me a message for more info. 
  • RobinVanKekemRobinVanKekem Member
    GeurtDijker said:
    BasVanDenBosch said:
    There are more then 130 apps for Homey... Seeing the eco-system isn't a screen like on a smartphone or laptop, I think it's rather a lot already BTW, that's what we were doing last night, learning how to add more devices with 433 support...
    I agree 130 apps are already a lot for the i guess a couple of thousand homeys. 

    Where did you learn about adding 433 devices support? I am also interested. Forum? Slack? 
    @BasVanDenBosch has a PDF with the transcript
  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    https://athomcommunity.slack.com/files/bvdbos/F2PK734J0/figure_out_433_signals_with_homey.pdf
    :)
This discussion has been closed.