I am starting to get quite a few rules and the list is getting a bit cumbersome. A couple question:
What are folks doing from a best practices perspective to name and organize rules. I haven't stuck to a rigid discipline yet but I fear if I don't soon it will get totally out of control and unmanageable.
I was trying to combine a couple rules into one but was having problems. I set a trigger on double click top paddle of a switch (button 1) and another for double click on the bottom paddle (button 2). I then wanted an If Then conditional structure in the actions so if it was the top switch (double clicked) do x and the bottom switch do y. I haven't figured out how to pass the trigger state to the If Then expression in the conditional action section. My thinking here is if I can write a few rules this way I'll reduce some rule clutter and keep it a little more manageable.
Use Button Controller (BC) for wall-switch related rules -- BC is basically RM repackaged up in a way to handle switches/buttons specifically.
I don't have a good technique for naming my rules -- I'm pretty willy-nilly with it... For rules that are directly related, I name those similarly so they're next to each in the list, but I don't have an overall formula.
I mostly just use a device's "In use by" tab to connect whatever dots as necessary.
I use both a naming convention and the Rule Manager:
I'm a fan of short small rules, to avoid concurrency/multiple invocation problems - So I try and avoid waits in rules - versus triggers on a different rule. Hence I have a hundred or so rules. -
Both naming, and the tool above can help, but YMMV
Yes of course! I already use it for other things but mentally blocked it out here. Already canned the old two rules and put them into button controller. Nice and tidy, easy to manage.
I name most of my rules by device, since that's usually the first thing I think of, what's the device or group of devices I'm controlling with the rule. Blinds all open, porch light on at 6, etc. Works for me...
This topic comes up a fair amount. I’m beginning to think we’ll never see a change to the UI allowing us to nest/expand a group of rules but I don’t know why.
Prefixing with a word, number, emoji etc still requires scrolling down an endless list and I’d rather not add another app for basic organisation.
I’ve probably under a hundred rules so I’m sure others have way more. It’s not like I need to find and look at a rule very often once it’s created and tested, however I still find it a PITA when needed. Yes I have posted it added to a feature request post at some point several years ago.
For me the room or something similar at the front of the rule name makes the most sense.
I agree it would be nice to be able to group things more easily. I have posted an idea in the past to try and group multiple elements together like devices and apps under a common heading. Not something I can see me developing myself...
as @sburke781 notes this has come up many times. Have you considered 'Rule Machine Manager' ? its a community created app and looks pretty cool. it can help!
Rules:
I lead off Rule names with a category, and sometimes add a subcategory. This, combined with Search, allows me to select out categories of Rules as well as individual Rules (I have about 200 RM Rules plus almost 100 Button Rules). The Rule Machine Manager app also helps!
Examples (the tail parenthetical is a reminder to me as to which Inovelli Blue LED notification is triggered by a Rule):
Alert - Notify (iPhone, LED) if Door Locks OPEN 10:30pm to 7:00am (fast chase red)
Hub - Restart/Reboot Hubitat on Crash
Lights - Alexa - Main & Work Garage Lights ON or all Garage Lights OFF
Lights - Motion - Nightlight - Office
Lights - Tap - OFF - office nightlight if corner lamp ON
Lights - Time - OFF - Laundry Room Lights after 15 min
Safety - Turn OFF fireplace after 2 hours or at midnight
Utility - Compute AWS Air Pressure Value
Note specifically related to Rule organization, but another thing you might want to try -- when I send a notification to my iPhone directly or through Pushover, I append the Rule number to the end of the notification message, so that I can more easily figure out which Rule is pestering me. Example Pushover notification:
Unlocked Doors at night:
Sliding door unlocked
(fast chase red) (Rule 2127)
