At the time, no, he wan't. He was purely focused on ST. WebCoRE grew out of its predecessor CoRE. That created a certain mindset and orientation. It wasn't until years later that I realized both what he'd done and that there was this alternative. I have huge respect for Addy, and what he created, so in no way am I criticizing what he accomplished. More like, after a lot of reflection, "I should have had a V8".
A very strong JS engineer with the right language chops could rework WebCoRE editor to do this. I looked at it, but I'm JS novice.
That Node Red sequence is very scary and complicated looking especially when taken out of context. Would be cool to see the equivalent RM rule / WC piston for comparison.
These rules/sequences etc can be as simple or as complex or ugly as we make them..with great power comes great responsibility.
edit: I think RM is awesome too - for my use-case NR works better but I am always open to possibilities.
Agree, this sequence replaced 3 simple automations with restrictions and a couple rules.
I have used all three examples talked about, rm, nr, and webcore as my backbone. I could do all of my crazy automation with all three. Webcore’s interface is easier than rm by a long shot, rm will always be supported, nr is the easiest for a visual programmer. Each has its place for users.
For the new HE owner (who was not actively using WC in ST) I think that getting into RM and RM-Lite apps is the way to go. It just makes sense from a platform standpoint and has far more support available. With the others the user assumes more of the responsibility and risk.
With the apps I think you can do a lot of cool stuff just not necessarily in one huge single rule. That's what I like about those and most of my HE rules are with the apps now. RM is and maybe always will be for the advanced hard core users, so I wouldn't necessary say it needs to be pretty because even a great GUI would still make it complex to the average user
Apps are probably the best way to optimize your setup if you have the desire and ability to do so. There will always be trade-offs and the issue will still be one of resource management and reducing overhead. In using NR I've traded the pure optimization for greater flexibility, control and reduced overhead - and I would argue ease of maintenance. On the downside I've also added a potential failure point and additional complexity to the system that I must support myself.
As you've found NR is not for everyone. Building a home system using the powerful tools that come "stock" with the hub seem like the best solution for most HE users wanting to automate their homes. apologies on the reiteration from the prior post.. kind of boring really.
Kinda late to this discussion, but I have a question. I have been a webcore user for many years. I abandoned ST at the beginning of this year and switched to HE. I am learning RM but it does have a different mindset from webcore. I have transitioned all of my pistons from ST to HE. Should I be writing new routines in RM, or do we expect webcore to be around for a while on the HE environment?
I was the same as yourself with regards to WC. Just imported all my pistons from ST.
I then gradually converted them to RM. Simple ones first then the more complicated ones. I now only have a handful of pistons running.
My thinking is to try and use 'in-house' apps as they are supported by the HE staff and should always be updated etc. when bugs etc. are found.
As for WC not being around, it is supported by a couple of users here who are very active in keeping it up to date and resolving any issues that crop up. It does run locally on the HE hub so in theory there is no need to move away from it. The only issue that may arise is if the WC server is closed down which will mean you will not be able to define/edit any pistons. You can get round this though by using a local WC server, an RPi for example.
If your pistons work currently, they will not stop working in the future. I would wager that WebCoRE development going forward will not be the same as it was in the past - given the new direction that SmartThings is moving in.
That being said, there's no reason why WC should stop working on Hubitat, as long as someone maintains it to keep up with platform updates.
The pros of RM are that it is an automation engine developed and supported by Hubitat Inc.
It's been a while for me but I used to run my own WC server - that way was not dependent on anything external to my network. If the concern is longevity then that might be the way to go if it is still available.. that or use RM or move to an external controller like Node-RED.
