Looking for suggestions, and methods to know when exterior screens open.
If you're using a Somfy ZRTSII Controller it'll show up in rule machine as a window shade with triggers for multiple movements of the shade.
Do you want to be notified when they open or just at some point if they are open? The former is easy to do with a rule. The latter is possible with a rule but can get tedious to write if you have more than a few devices. I wrote an app to handle that case if you are interested: [RELEASE] Device Status Announcer (TTS or notification if lock unlocked, door/window open, etc.)
On a related note, the fact that these are Somfy shades in particular shouldn't matter. Hubitat drivers (what talk to the device and present the interface you see on the device detail page, more or less) categorize device functionality into "capabilities" that group together related commands and attributes, regardless of protocol, brand, etc. So, any solution you find for one type of shade should work similarly for another.
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Actually, I am controlling the shades with a Bond Controller. I'll try and see if I can do a rule that notifies me by email.
Ok, I made a rule and it works but I can't figure out how to specify in the notification "which" shade is opening, only that they did/
I believe you can include %device% to show the device name
Also, are you expecting the rule to notify you when the shades are opened from outside of HE, say through the Bond App or with a supplied remote? I just can't remember if the HE Bond App receives live updates from Bond or not...
Yes, that worked. Thanks
For now, the HE notification will work. I wish it was a text message though.
Hubitat doesn't not have text (SMS) messaging capabilities built-in. Of you want that, you'll need a third-party service, such as Twilio , whichever there is a built-in driver for -- or a variety of other options. Most people seem content with a push notification, though.
I looked Twillo and seems pretty far over my head. Suprised there isn't a quick send txt upon notification.
After you set up Twilio, it would work the same as any other notification device (e.g., the mobile app device you might be using now). The sending would be handled by an app on the hub — whether Notifications, Rule Machine, or whatever option you choose. If you found that easy, using this device should be easy, too.
But setup of Twilio itself might be the hard part, if that's what you mean; the docs have instructions if you haven't seen them yet. This is a third-party service, so anything beyond the integration itself is out of Hubitat's control, and I can't speak to how easy it may or may not be since I've never used it.
Yes, I read the setup part and it reads way over my pay grade.
Is there a reason you prefer SMS over push notifications? Those are pretty easy to set up. 
SMS is likely not built in, aside from having a driver available to make it a bit easier, due to the fact that Hubitat has to pay for that service in the same way you'd need to with Twilio or other options (it actually was available very early on).
I suppose it's just easier and more convenient to look at my text messages, then to go into the app and look at the notifications.
Unless you turned off this feature (on your phone), you should get push notifications in real time, so you wouldn't need to go into the app just to see them. After the fact, yes.
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True.
