I'm brand new to Habitat Elevation and would like some assistance. I am using a Somfy ZTRSI interface to control my motorized shades. I have no issues at all with this. I found a driver and it works, including there being a button in the drivers page to command the blinds to go to their preset position. The button is labeled "myPosition" and works the same as "stopPositionChange" in any of the dimmer devices. So no problem there.
What I really need is the ability to create a button I can add to the dashboard that will invoke this exact command ("myPosition" or "stopPositionChange") on a specific device. (i.e Shade 1, myPosition).
If someone could walk me through the steps that would be appreciated.
Thank you for the reply but this doesn't seem to do what I'm looking for. The attribute just puts a status on the screen but it doesn't seem to be controllable.
Another option would be to setup a Virtual button (or virtual switch setup to auto-turn off after a small amount of time) device, and with Rule Machine, use pressing the button as trigger for a rule that has a custom action to invoke the “myPosition” or “stopPositionChange” buttons.
That new Virtual Button could then be added to the dashboard as a button (or switch as applicable).
That totally worked! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
I've now set up a series of virtual buttons - one for each shade. Each button has "three virtual buttons" associated with it, and I'ver created a separate rule for each of those buttons. 12 in all, but it wasn't really difficult because I used the rule cloning feature.
I also set up a separate dashboard for just my shades, so everything is laid out in a logical fashion and I can use it just like the wireless handheld controller that came with the shades.
As a very minor refinement, but not something I would suggest doing now that you have everything setup.... I would recommend using the Button Controller App, only to keep things nice and neat. Your rules for the same Virtual Button device are then kept together and there are some nice copy / paste options built in.
I tried that early on. While I was able to get the functions to work the way I wanted within the controller app, there did not seem to be a way to create a dashboard button that would do what I wanted.
All that would be different is that instead of creating RM rules you setup those rules in Button Controller. The Button Controller device(s) would be the same and so would the dashboard tiles needed.
Sorry to labour the point, but I thought based on what you mentioned earlier you had successfully created virtual buttons and added them to a dashboard.
In the end you have a solution that works, which is great, and probably whar we should focus on. I'm probably misunderstanding something and there's not really anything to be gained by re-working what you have done.
@sburke781 - I was trying to explain that the Button Controller did not seem to do anything at all. I could set it up and actually control the virtual buttons from the app, but that's it. When adding those virtual buttons to the dashboard, they did not work.
The virtual buttons associated with the rule machine do work.
So in the end I'm not even sure what the Button Controller app is supposed to do. What purpose does it even serve?
Ok, then that is odd. I've certainly used the BC App quite a bit for things like my Hue Dimmers. I have also used it to setup rule for virtual buttons on dashboards, using the button template.
Well I'm sure I'm probably missing something. I'm brand new to Hubitat.
Next issue that I'll be posting about looking for guidance is location/georeferencing. That doesn't seem to be working right but I've yet to fully test it.
This was something I didn't address in my last post. My interpretation is that BC, which has been around for some time now, plays a similar role to other simplified automation Apps in the HE platform, like some of the more recent "Simple" rule Apps. Button Devices, whether they are physical or virtual, provide a very specific set of triggers for automating our homes, so the user interface can be tailored to take advantage of this fact, focusing on the small set of possible triggers and then offering up the vast array of actions HE can offer as a result of a button trigger being fired.
So my take on BC is that it provides a simpler user experience when configuring automations utilising the very common physical component many smart homes include nowadays.
If you are still interested in troubleshooting your experience with BC, I (and I'm sure others) are happy to help if you want to post your BC setup and details of what you see in places like logs, etc, if you haven't already.
