Hue integration, bulb rename problem?

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed that if bulb is renamed in Hue it shows up in Hubitat Hue App too with right updated name, but not under Hubitat Device list and for the same reason not in Webcore or Sharptools etc. So new name can only be seen in Hue App from Hubitat side but nowhere else.

Is it a bug or should user do something manually to get bulb name updated?

Well I find it useful that I can give the bulbs a label on the Hubitat side of things that is not necessarily the same as it's named in the Hue app. So I'd not call it a bug. Whether it's a welcome feature or not depends on what you were hoping it would do. Of course you can go and edit the label in the Device list to match the new Hue name.

I personally do not understand... and actually haven't even thought about renaming one device differently in different systems, if that particular device is supposed to be shared by integration.
For me it is the same exact device which can be used in all integrated systems and it should be using exact same name. That's why I am so strict about it being a bug..because what else can it be..

Good point I could see it both ways but I am also with @Inge_Jones ..

I personally tend to create more verbose names behind the scenes in Hubitat to help me find, sort, and differentiate devices but for the handful I push to HomeBridge for my wife and family I tend to go back to simpler more concise labels.

For me it’s mostly an attempt at simplifying or improving that front-end experience for them by avoiding any vague or wrapping labels and making things more skimmable and easy to understand than my overly elaborate naming conventions behind the scenes.

Yep there is definitely more that one way to do it and I'm not saying that you guys are doing it wrong way :slight_smile: My goal was/is to create device names in every system which are understandable for most of the users. That's why my bulbs are named for example "bulb sofa", "bulb hat rack" etc. They are all fine like that and if I'm changing names in Hue then I need to do it twice because of how it is in Hubitat.

By the way is it the same thing with all integrated systems/devices. I did not tested this yet but if I change for example my "watch tv" activity in harmony, does it mean that it doesn't change in Hubitat?

If that is the way how it's built then I can live with that. Or..then there should be possibility for us users to choose if we wan't to trust naming in original system and let it inherit to Hubitat.

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That’s an excellent question! I actually have never paid enough attention to it to say for certain but I’ll go mess with my harmony stuff and a few others and see what happens later today.

Feel like it just depends on whether the developer who created the app/driver being used to communicate set it up to keep in sync but now you have me curious

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As the author of the Harmony Hub integration, I can tell you that changing the name of the Activity in the Logitech Harmony app will not change the name on Hubitat. When a new Harmony Activity is discovered, a Hubitat child device is created. During the creation of the child device, it is given a Name and a Label. That is the only time the names are programmatically set.

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Bear in mind that each device in Hubitat has a unique numeric ID that the name and label do not play a part in. So what links the device to the Hue bulb is that number, so there is no logical reason for the string data to be updated. The workaround is to give full thought to what you name your bulb in the Hue app before connecting it to Hubitat, then this tedious double-editing won't have to be done. Same applies when exposing to Google Home etc - that doesn't update names in parallel either. I guess Hubitat driver is going for consistency with other systems.

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Thanks for the @ogiewon for clearing that up. I remember that Hue bulb renaming was a problem in ST side too. There was a long discussion about it and if I remember right most of us then took it as a bug and we cursed that names had to always be manually updated in ST. Of course I thought that this has to be a bug too in Hubitat side and if names already update in Hue app (on hubitat side) why they wouldn't update in device list too.

But you guys opened my eyes when you told me that you are doing things bit differently and my way is not the only way to go.

I would still love to see option where names could be automatically updated if user wants so. It would be as cool as it now is when I update device name in Hubitat and go to webcore to see that new name has updated there too (after hitting save button in app).

Google makes this by the way differently. Hue names update automatically and if I remember right devices that are exposed from Hubitat to Google update their names automatically. So there seems to be no best practices...or maybe there is best practice in Hubitat and that doesn't update names automatically. :slight_smile:

Only when you first add them. The names get orphaned in subsequent edits.

A little later: Just tested and the name doesn't update in parallel.

Hi,

I just tested this too and name updates to google home when you press "update" button in Hubitat's Google Home app. So names definitely updates from Hubitat to Google.
Also Hue bulb names updates automatically in Google Home.

I was changing the name on the Hubitat device itself not in the app. Just tried it and it still didn't sync the name in Google Home! Looks like Our Mileage Varies :slight_smile:
The direct Hue->Google sync might well do it, seems likely as they are both high level user experience systems.

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