I am going to start this out by saying I am not a computer programmer and I have never really liked logic problems. I am your average consumer who is coming from Wink and Smart things. This hub is much more responsive than either of those and I was able to get it to do everything that those hubs were able to do for me out of the box given your apps and tools.
I've got 6 or 7 buttons around the house that were programmed using button controller. The interface was intuitive, quick, and to the point. I've tried to add buttons with your Rule Machine and while I appreciate that you are trying to consolidate features into one tool, it is just not an elegant solution for programming multiple functions to one button. For one, I have to start a new rule for each button I want to program which adds to the Rule machine list. Is there a way to consolidate these functions to one button/tile and get them all off of my Rule machines list. I've been using the Advanced button controller but I shouldn't need to rely on an outside app for the simple task of button programming.
TLDR, rule machine is too clunky, complicated, counter-intuitive for simple tasks like programming a button. This is my opinion, wondering if any others are similarly frustrated.
If you create a new rule and select button device as the trigger, RM basically turns into button controller. You select the button device and if you select the pushed, held, released, it will prefill all the options for as many buttons as your button device has.
Button Controller still exists, lurking inside Rule Machine. It always was a subset of Rule Machine as a stand-alone app, so folding it in gave it more options,
As pointed out by @zarthan, in RM select Button Device as the Trigger Event, and RM will transform itself into Button Controller, just with more options for actions.
New is sometimes scary. This is where the community fills in that gap and helps you when you ask for it. I'm going to throw this out there again like a broken record. KISS ~ Keep It Simple Stupid ~ is the way to go. Rules are free. The hub runs best when using the simplest method to control it. Don't use rule manager if simple lighting works just fine, etc. Same with button controller. I do get what you mean as you can program everything for that button into one big rule and move on. But, sometimes that will over complicate it and make it difficult to find errors. I feel like integrating it into RM added more functionality without adding a larger load. It's forced you to keep things focused and simple. You can use your naming convention to keep your rules grouped. Just my opinion. Also, you can clone a rule. So that will help you to cut down on setting up the same commands on buttons as I'm sure you use a standard layout throughout your home to control things. But, I DO get what you mean.
Son of a... I was using button instead of button device. Maybe someone could make it more clear in the software so that idiots like me don't use the wrong function.
On a side note, you guys are quick, great community here. Thanks a lot!
this isn't the case with button controller built within RM. It's essentially multiple separate rules but with a nice UI that shows you all the rules with that one button, so it "LOOKs" like one rule but its not. Your point is valid though it just doesn't apply in this case
