Can't delete Wallmote Button Controller or Driver

[RHam]

I've been fooling around with the Minoston Wallmote. I installed the latest custom driver and made a Button Controller. It sort of worked, but it made a lot of debug log entries. I decided to delete my experiments and start clean. I'm new at this.

I found that I am unable to delete or remove these items, either the Button Controller, the rules or the custom driver. Rebooting the C8 did no good. Can you help me clean up this mess?

Thanks...

[bertabcd1234]

Why can't you remove the apps in the screenshot? Are you getting an error when you open the app? If so, a workaround is to go to the app status page, which you can get to with the little gear icon next to the app. Then, use the "Remove" button there.

Alternatively, if you can still get to the "child" apps (the ones listed as "Button Controller-5.1" on the right), they may let you remove them and will remove all the "grandchild" button rules. (Just don't remove the parent Button Controllers app, or you'll be missing a lot more when you're done. )

As for the driver, if you can't remove it, it's likely because you still have a device on your system that is using it. The error may tell you which. If that's not the problem, sharing what the actual problem is (presumably an error message somewhere?) may help someone get a better idea.

@RHam

It sort of worked, but it made a lot of debug log entries

On a related note, these aren't necessarily a problem (for built-in drivers, debug logging is enabled for 30 minutes after device installation to facilitate troubleshooting if something goes immediately wrong, for example). Is that the only reason you removed it?

[RHam]

@bertabcd1234

Why can't you remove the apps in the screenshot?

First, the second Button Controller instance was removed by restoring a backup. Then the key was to first remove the Rules. After that the Button Controller could be deleted. After that the Device could be deleted. After that the Driver could be deleted. The sequence, I see, is critical. My mistake was in expecting a more powerful Delete command.

@bertabcd1234

Is that the only reason you removed it?

Yes, mostly. I also did it to help me learn.

Now I have the clean piece of paper I was after. I will try to re-include the device.

Thanks...

[bertabcd1234]

@RHam

First, the second Button Controller instance was removed by restoring a backup. Then the key was to first remove the Rules.

I'm a bit confused here, so in case this is what you meant: if you restored a backup from a time before the Button Controller instance you were trying to delete was created, it would effectively be removed after you restored that older backup. A restore entirely overwrites your existing database (i.e., no merge). This is a way you can "delete" an app (if it was not added until after the backup was created), but probably not the easiest in most cases.

@RHam

After that the Device could be deleted. After that the Driver could be deleted. The sequence, I see, is critical. My mistake was in expecting a more powerful Delete command.

If you try to delete a device that apps (like Button Controller) are still using, you'll get a warning. It is best paid attention to, and there is a link to each app so you can look and remove the device (or app itself or whatever makes sense).

As for deleting a driver, any device using it would effectively be broken if this were allowed (and just deleting the device as part of this, if that is what you were expecting, could be even worse--see the possible app problem). So, I think it also makes sense to think of it that way rather than as an issue of "power". Seems like you've figured out a good order to do things now, should you ever need to again! (Though it's probably pretty rare outside of times when you might be experimenting.)

[RHam]

@bertabcd1234

I'm a bit confused here, so in case this is what you meant: if you restored a backup from a time before the Button Controller instance you were trying to delete was created, it would effectively be removed after you restored that older backup.

That was my goal. There were two instances to be removed, due to my experimentation. The more recent one was removed by the Restore. The older one could not be removed that way as it would have also removed some of my successful Button Controllers in the process, so I used the delete sequence I described.

@bertabcd1234

If you try to delete a device that apps (like Button Controller) are still using, you'll get a warning. It is best paid attention to, and there is a link to each app so you can look and remove the device

Yes, at one point there was a popup warning as you described. Overriding it failed. I dared to try to override it because, I assumed only the unwanted Button Controller and its children would be affected, and I knew I could always do a Restore if I had to. There was actually no risk at all, since the Delete button would not delete anyway.
..............................................
After removing the unwanted items, I re-included the Wallmote device, this time as a Generic ZWave device. Later today I will try to create a Button Controller for it as a Keypad. (Keypad worked very well on my 4-button Pico device.) If I fail, I can always reinstall the device using the original custom driver, if I wish.

The Minoston Wallmote is a tad slower than the Lutron Pico I am comparing it to, using the same test load. I'm going through all this to find out if those Log debug statements had anything to do with it.

Thank you for your time.