I'm looking for an alternative to SharpTools. I'm wondering if anyone is using HousePanel. If so, I'd like to see examples of your Dashboards, any issues, etc.
I saw that. I guess it's would be okay if it didn't need any attention for 2 years.... I saw Hubitat users commenting on HousePanel back in 2018. I was just curious if it was being used currently and if there were any issues now.
I use it personally every day. Its a hobby for me to keep it updated and improved. There are so tons of features that make it more flexible and capable than any other dashboard in my opinion. You'll have to try it to understand what I mean. Here's a list of a few unique things it can do:
- Intuitive GUI based tile editing
- Tile customizing including adding ad hoc texts
- Add items from one device to another device's tile with the customizer
- Built in rule engine for automating your home - use this instead of Hubitat rule services when you want one hub's action to make things happen on a different hub
- Four different weather options (new)
- Multiple screens with fast switching via a tab interface
- Ad hoc Frames for adding web content to your dashboard
And more.
Installation is just a github pull, followed by NPM install, and then add the groovy app via HPM.
Latest updates are posted here:
Here's a screen shot of my home's dashboard... I should also mention that the icons can be anything you want. The GUI tile editor allows you to upload any jpg or png file for use as an icon, but out of the box it includes a large library of good looking icons
2 Likes
Thanks Ken-
Would I be able to change the tile backgrounds based on a device level or state like this? Or are they static?
Device attributes that can have different states can be assigned their own color, icon, shape, border, etc.. This is what the editor looks like:
Note in the upper left corner where it shows "switch off" the next click on the icon would change that to "switch on" and each state can be assigned any of the parameters on the page. Thermostat states are a good example where this really shines. I have my thermostat show red when heating and blue when cooling. My office fan spins via a moving GIF when on and sits static when off. You get the idea.
I haven't implemented the ability to change the lighting icons based on level, but that's an easy update if you want it.
2 Likes
Nice Ken-
I draw a lot of my own icons, so I could make them any color I want.
Does this run local on my Hubitat, or I think I saw it needs a server.
Yea, it does need a server. I approached the Hubitat crew to ask if they would work with me to have it hosted on Hubitat like SharpTools is done, but they declined. I guess it was too raw at the time. I may try again. Until then you need to install it on a server somewhere. A Raspberry Pi is perfect for it, or even the new Arduino Q. I use my Nvidia DGX Spark Linux server that I bought for doing local AI to host mine, but I get that everyone doesn't have that. I used to run it on a rPI and it worked great.
By the way, I got inspired by your note, and I'm working on implementing a color and level based styling feature. Should be ready soon.
3 Likes
I'll look into a Raspberry Pi.
I'd recommend trying it out first by loading it on your Mac or PC. That won't work long term but for a trial test to see if you like it, should work fine. If you're using a Mac you're golden since it ships with sqlite3, but installing it on a PC is easy. After that all you need is Node.js and NPM installed and working.
1 Like
Yes, HP is perfect for this. If you have a bunch of them, you can just copy them to your media folder on the server. If you have a few, it is easier to upload them in the GUI. Custom icons are stored in "user1/default/icons" and custom images in "user1/default/media".
By the way, if you store your favorite family photos in "user1/default/photos" and enable the phototimer, HP will turn into an image display panel rotating them ever n seconds when not in use.
2 Likes
Very cool stuff. 
Hi Dana,
I've been hard at work implementing your idea of dynamically updating onscreen icons based on level and color. I have a version that works like this now and will be posting it soon. Here's a preview of its capabilities.
Notice on the first device the shade is brighter at 90% than the second device at 44%. The color is indicated by the circle, which can be styled to be any size you like. The default is smaller than this but I wanted to show it off by making it bigger.
This is done by using 10 icons for each light state, and of course each icon for each level L10 through L100 can be user edited or uploaded. The lamps shown above will be used by default.
Hi Ken- I'm not sure if you were replying to me, I'm not Dana.... Anyway, that was not exactly my original question/request. If you look at my snip of my dashboard above, I was asking if the background image could be changed based on the level or state.
Please don't go overboard on my account. After looking into it, I doubt I will get a server to make it run. I'll keep watching though. Perhaps someday it will become easier to implement.
1 Like
Sorry for calling you the wrong name. And yes, the background image can already be changed based on state. HousePanel has had that capability for a long time. To get that behavior you just need to set the size of the switch icon to the full size of the tile and pick whatever image you want for "on" and "off", and now you can also pick whatever image you want for levels 10 through 90 for dimmers.
I understand doing a server isn't for everyone. Several months ago I put HousePanel up on a public server and invited people to sign up, but got no takers, so I took it down. All of the code is there to support that but I would need dozens of users to make it worth my while to set it up and support it again.
I understand. I was also thinking about a virtual private server, but that is more than I want to spend on a dashboard. Curious, would that work?
yes, absolutely. the public server I mentioned was running on a VPS hosted on GoDaddy
Any reason you won't consider an Arduino Uno Q? They're super cheap and drop dead easy to set up and use.
I'll give that another look!
1 Like
