[PROJECT] Topic-Driven Interface

🚧 Developers
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I don't even know if "Topic-Driven" is thing.... :slight_smile:

Anyway, my idea, which I've kind of mentioned before, is to have links to related Apps and devices all presented together based on whatever the user choose to use as their criteria. My own use case that I want it for is to group things together that go towards lighting in a particular room, such as the example below. This means I don't need to keep scrolling and looking for things based on memory every time. Other uses could be to see automations and device for managing presence.

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If you think if the screenshot above as a "layout" of sorts, when configuring the layout you would select from the installed apps and devices, setup a few more details to do some grouping, though some could be done automatically based on app-type or device drivers. This information could be used to render these links to the various elements involved.

Over time the concept could be expanded to include status information like that shown alongside scenes in the apps page, such as light and sensor states (on/off, motion active, present), etc.

We could borrow from the Preference Manager concept and add options for turning logging on and off for the apps and devices involved.

This may be taking the idea a little too far.... but it might be useful to see combined logs and/or event listings for the apps and devices included. An indicator at the top of the page could show whether any errors or warnings have been logged for the apss or devices involved. This is heavily reliant on whether we have access to the logs programmatically, which I am not sure about.

Anyway, just some ideas at the moment. Hopefully someone else will pick it up and develop something.... :wink:

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I forgot to add it would be nice to construct these based on Rooms, identify the devices allocated to a Room, identify the apps they are involved in, then get the other devices involved in those apps.

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Consider that you can already Sort the Devices list by Room, Type, etc. For those who want to group by function, it's common to adopt a naming scheme (e.g. "Lamp - Bedroom", "Lamp - Living Room") so that sorting the Name column effectively gives you such a grouping.

What's more, clicking the "Grid Format" icon at upper-right achieves a look not terribly dissimilar to the one you propose.

I'm sure this doesn't cover the entirety of what you're after, but it's an underutilized feature that nobody really talks about much.

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You're essentially right.... It's only a couple of minor points I can pick you up on, and it feels like I'm nit-picking....

Naming consistency and using a prefix for a room.... YES!!! My OCD dictates I must at least aim for this... My laziness means I don't always achieve it, but kick myself when it brings me undone... :slight_smile: But seriously... it can be incredibly useful, both in providing information within the name of device and when sorting them in a list, as you describe.

That said.... This, even with the built-in Rooms listing of devices, does not provide the Apps associated with a Room, which is a major part of what I was looking to add to the mix, so I can easily bring together the automations and devices involved in a Room (but not just rooms... more on that in a minute). Sounds like I am trying to shout down good advice, and that is not what I am looking to do, all your suggestions are entirely valid and useful tips that I would suggest people adopt alongside what I am proposing, it may even be part of the smarts I look to use...

The Grid layout was part of what I was aiming for in terms of a general UI.... Well spotted...

I'd only add "not enough" to the end of that.... It has been discussed a few times in my time here... But can understand if it get's lost in the long list of topics over that time.

So, in addition to bringing together devices and apps utilised in a Room, I am also looking to provide a way to group things that the user sees as related, for whatever reason. So you could have a "layout" showing devices involved in Study Lighting as I did, but some of those same devices may also be involved in another "layout" relating to the Hallway directly outside my Study, or in whatever other grouping you may want, unrelated to the Room they belong to.

But yes, there are some built-in features or methods people can adopt to achieve part of what I am trying to do here. Hopefully I can bring some additional value... one day :wink:

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Cool suggestion @sburke781. If something like this ever comes out I would use it. I agree there are some other ways to achieve similar things, but I really like that all devices and any automations controlling those devices would appear together.

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