Maybe I'm doing something wrong...
senario: dashboard with a 4x4 grid...
set up a test using link to google.com
displays fine on PC... This is what it looks like on iPhone...
The link address shouldn't be populated over the word link...
I need link addresses to control my X10 devices on my
home server.. I have these links working fine as actions
to trigger events but was hoping to be able to use
dashboard access on the phone... pretty useless right now...
(note just making the tiles bigger looks sorta ok but I cant seem to scroll
without triggering a tile )
correction 4X5 grid...
progress...
If I lock the grid so that it can't be edited...
the 3 dots disappear ... the url displays fine....
and I increased it to 10 rows and seem to be able
to scroll with no problem...
In order to keep my url short I'm using the free version of bitly...
my original url would be of the format
http://192.x.x.x:[port number]/cgi-bin/file.pl?A;5;on;[comment]
would not display well on link tile (obvioulsly)
Got a bitly.com account to generate a short form url.
(signed up for the free limited version- still more than I'll ever need)
bitly created a link bit.ly/[7char code] and I am able to modify it
to be bit.ly/A5_on_[7char code]
This makes the link http://bit.ly/A5_on_[7 char code]
Now that I can get the dashboard populated with these links...
it has become a work around for Hubitat not having alternate text for links.
I keep a dashboard with the original long form links for local control from
my PC... If the internet(bit.ly) was down these local addresses would still work.
Hope the info I just provided will help others...
Just create one dashboard for you pc and one for your phone and set the column and row accordingly.
i understand... but for a while i could't find any layout at all that would work on the phone without limiting myself to a 4x5 grid... remember that for X10 I need a separate tile for on, off, dim, bright for each device... Need a lot of grid tiles to have a dashboard worth using.... Now that I can use bitly addresses and can disable
editing of the dashboard... I can have a useful number of tiles with URLs that
include a description of the tile's function.. not easily seen with the original URL.
If the Hubitat supported alternate text for a link ... I would not need to do this...
But it works... so all is good ....
What are these links to? Why not just write a simple httpget driver that maps these url requests to actual capabilities for switch on, off, etc?
If you can share a bit I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction so you can use the dashboard the way it was intended.
Or if you don't want a custom driver, you could use virtual switches or dimmers as triggers to rule machine and then the rule would send the http requests.
New to system.. writing drivers ... not in my skill set...
I have an HP miniserver with a serial port device that
talks to X10 devices (I have around 20 of these)
While I transition to z-wave... I wanted a way to use the X10 already in place...
(kinda costly to replace all of them at once)
The Hubitat has the capability to send an http get request on a trigger...
These are sent to the HP miniserver.... which executes a perl cgi script to perform the action.
I am already using the Hubitat to schedule lighting for sunset, sunrise, and
periodic schedules... a few bumps along the way but, it's been working fairly well.
I have only had my Hubitat for about a week... so I am progressing....
The only way I could see using the dashboard was to create tiles that had http get request links... and they do work. The resulting dashboards are ugly but functional.
If there is another way to do this, I would be interested in learning...
---- Just read your last message....
any tutorial available about virtual switches? I do not know how to implement that.
I have insteon in my home. Similar boat, just new generation with security. I believe X10 is just HTTP GET correct? No username/password needed?
@cwwilson08 Created some drivers for the community to directly control Insteon devices. They have required fields for authentication because that's needed with Insteon. I'm not a developer either, but is shouldn't be difficult to remove the authentication part and make it into an X10 driver. Lots of good people here willing to help.
My setup matches my age.... 
I am using an Advanced Control Technologies device...
" ACT TI103 X-10 Computer Interface RS232"
Insteon is the new guy on the block... some of my X10 modules are 1990's vintage(and still working). I started out with a CP290 connection to a x386...
evtually got the TI103... had it connected to a Sun Ultra 5... and now to
a HP mini-server I bought used.
i wrote my own perl scripts to format the RS232 command compatible with the interface. my server will accept the get request... verifiy that it came from the
local LAN and verify that the request originated from the IP address of the Hubitat it then validates the get variables to be a valid X10 request such as A 5 on..
It then formats the text string with checksum and sends it to the TI103...
The command is then logged on the server as successful or an error code
indicating what part of process failed... eg... no get string, invalid X10 request, unable to open serial port....etc.
Not sure if it's worth the effort to create a driver as I will be replacing the X10 over the next few years.... Patrick ... sparked my interest with the talk of virtual switches. Sounds interesting.... The main reason I want to try to use Hubitat dashboards is the cloud capability... my current system only works local...
I have a web page (public) to control my devices... but the web page contains
http requests to a 192.x.x.x address which fail if not on a local lan...
http://www.rebedard.com/local is What I use now for local control..
You can check it out but the device action selections will fail.
(This was intentional-- local access= better security for a home brew setup.)
I think you'll really enjoy Hubitat.
Definitely buying quality, not price when it comes to devices for your home automation is the best choice. The one exception seems to be Xiaomi, They're not bad. Good quality devices like Lutron do well consistently. I still think Insteon are great quality and highly reliable products. Dual mesh and lots of hardware features you usually only find in higher cost devices.
There is a driver which Chuck knocked together, create a virtual switch and uses one URL for on, and one for off. Would this help? Then name the switches to what you’d like.
Hope this helps
This sounds great... but... I'm new and have to figure out
how to actually install the driver and use it....
I've progressed but... only got my hubitat on Nov 20... still learning...
1 Like
The way you are talking about your x10. I don't think you will need to learn much.
I still have the old x10 at my parent's place and too scare to touch it LOL. My old man will kill me.
Here's the quick walk through.
Create a virtual dimmer
create a Rule Machine Rule:
Turn device on, sends url, turn off sends url.
Add switch or dimmer tile template to dashboard.
Have to get a bit more fancy for level as a trigger but it is doable as well.
1 Like
Nice... I'll give it a try....
Since ,for now, I'm doing the dimming and brightness as part of the
url ....?D;5;DIMx or ...?D;5;BRTx
(my perl script would see this as dim/bright Module House code D Unit 5 to level x)
I don't need the dashboard switch to convey dim/bright commands...
A trigger would perfectly fine...
Can do that through same means, just have to set a few rules based on level conditions of the virtual dimmer.
so I created a virtual switch...
it shows in the devices tab and is active...
does not show up under devices when trying to add it to a dashboard tile...
Did you add the virtual device to your dashboard authorized devices?
you are quick... didn't notice the selection when defining the dashboard
to select all devices ... set that ..and .. there they are....
Just discovered that as I saw your text...
Have to stop playing for a while... will update my progress.. later...
Thanks!
1 Like
