No, you cannot get rid of the camera children. The cameras (and any other child devices) are created whenever there is data returned from the API regarding any of the devices for the overall system (even if you have one or multiple networks, minis, cameras, whatever). They will automatically be recreated when data is received, even if they are deleted (it does not know, nor has a convenient way to know, that they previously existed).
It renames the children's labels based on the API's data (this was done specifically to help them match up with the API better). You can enable the parent device Preference "Use Custom Labels for Children" and that should allow you to rename them without them being overwritten (if it is, that is a problem I need to fix).
You CAN just ignore children. If you are only using the parent device or a specific child device, it really does not hurt anything to leave the rest there other than if you are bothered by having a list of devices. If you are just using the parent, children are normally hidden/consolidated on the Hubitat devices list (it does not show children until you expand the listing).
Having an issue - I installed the Blink driver via HPM. At first everything was going fine. Now when I try to arm a camera, it takes up to 4 minutes before the action is complete. Another item, looking through the logs, it lists only 7 cameras and I have eight, The naming of the cameras in the logs does not correspond with what is in the device list. Receiving an error also.
Attempt at fixing the null condition @LGNEO hit on line 3836 (at that time) as well as similar lines within the same function. This likely caused the overall issues that were seen as it would prevent the rest of the code from processing.
Note(s):
I did not get the Unhandled data "motion_record_and_alert" in. That will be in a future version.
Much appreciated. Have any idea on the latency between issuing a system arm and the actual arming? I did notice that after issuing the arm command, if I then hit refresh token, the camera arms immediately after the refresh.
P.S.- your efforts are truly appreciated. I just wish HE would incorporate Blink into their realm with a system driver code.
No specific timing on it that I can tell you... Usually appears to happen within a few seconds for me. You should not need to hit the Refresh Token almost ever, that is for authorization. Even a normal refresh should not be needed because all the commands either work off the API's response or do a device/system info/refresh (if I found that the response did not contain a useful "conclusion").
As someone who has written many drivers and had HE incorporate a couple equivalents in... I have to be honest that it would bother me because it invalidates a LOT of effort over time. In this case I think it is extremely unlikely because there is no public API for Blink's systems and all of this has been created due to people "figuring it out" over the years. That makes it a bit tougher for them to officially support it unless they make a deal with the parent company (Amazon in this case).
Hey @snell , quick question.... I have been changing out a few cameras in my system for new ones, what should I do with all the non existent child cameras in the driver now? Can I just delete them or will something break? If I delete them all will they just repopulate correctly?
BTW the new Mini 2 K is a pretty decent camera, combine it with arc and it's nice. The built in lights are bright enough to ligt up a small area and give you color night vision.
It is possible to Remove any of the child devices from the Blink parent (and this holds for every driver set I make) without causing overall issues for the parent. Of course, you could break Rules or Dashboards or such if you are relying on a device that you delete. Also, please note that I do not track any children you delete, so the next time there is data for that child it will be recreated if it does not already exists. If you delete a child, and it keeps coming back, the API is still providing data for it so the drivers need to put that data somewhere.
This also means if you accidentally delete a child, or want it "cleaned", you can... and it will be recreated as data comes and it's information is repopulated.
I am using custom action to GetNewVideo at scheduled times on an owl (Mini). Is there a way to tell it to turn the light on when it is capturing the video? I don't see any command to do it.
@snell@all I'm going to add one additional Blink Outdoor cam to my system. Not sure if I should buy a 4th generation cam or one of the newest generation?
It's not the price difference which makes me wondering it's more the question which one works better with the Hubitat integration.
Currently I do have one indoor cam and one outdoor cam used with the older blink sync module
And one blink door cam used with the new sync module.
I have not noticed any difference in how well the various generations of cameras have worked with the integration. Unless new features get added or such, the actual differences (better resolution, better low-light performance, longer life, etc...) are all outside of the API's impact.
I do not have that many generations of cameras myself, so I cannot express much opinion on what works better or not from the actual hardware perspective. Sorry.
