Rule works with physical switch but not Dashboard app

[Stu_The_K]

Let me explain the scenario first: In the master bedroom I have an Inovelli Fan + Light and an Inovelli Red Dimmer (that wasn't really do anything). I often turn both the fan and light on or off at the same time. Since I wasn't using the red dimmer for anything I decided that a 1 Push (on) would turn them both on and a 1 Held (off) would turn them both off. That was simple enough, but I wanted to get a bit fancier in that I only wanted the LED on the red dimmer to be at 50% if I decided to turn on only the fan or light, but if both are on then to have the red dimmer LED at 100%. Of course, if both the fan and light are off the the red dimmer is off too. So I created a Rule Machine routine for that.

When I go to the physical red dimmer and turn it on it turns on both the fan and light and the red dimmer switch LED goes to 100%. Likewise, if I turn the red dimmer off it turns the fan and light off and turns itself off. BUT, and here is the problem: if I turn the red dimmer on or off from the Master Bedroom Dashboard (either on the iPhone app or if I go into the Master Bedroom Dashboard through the Hubitat Dashboard app on my Mac) turning the red dimmer on or off turns the red dimmer on or off, but does not turn the fan or light on or off. What is particularly strange, is that when I'm in the Master Bedroom dashboard on either my iPhone or Mac turning on either the fan or light makes the red dimmer go to 50% if I just turn one one that way or 100% if I turn them both on though the dashboard, as it should.

So, why is turning the red dimmer physical switch on or off turns the fan and light on or off (and itself on or off), but using the dashboard button for the red dimmer turns itself on or off (as it should) but does not turn on or off the fan and light, and how do I fix that?

Here are some screenshots. The first is an overview of the red dimmer on/off (1 pushed/held) rule:

Here is the rule for the red dimmer to turn the fan and light on (The red dimmer is the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closed Far Right Switch).

Here is the Off rule

Here is the Rule Machine rule.
First here is the trigger: (Either the fan or light changes)

Here is the rule itself (BTW, I had to use NOT Off as I found I couldn't use "On" for the fan. It doesn't know that if it is set to low, medium, high, etc. that is "on"). The rule is If both the fan and light are on turn the red dimmer to 100%. Else If either is on turn the Red Dimmer to 50%, Else Turn the red dimmer off.

Here is another view, in case this one is easier to read:

Finally, here is what the dashboard tile looks like for the red dimmer:

Couple of other things:
I tried an experiment and turned the red dimmer off from the app. The LED on the red dimmer went off, but, as expected, neither the fan or light went off. I then pressed the physical switch on the red dimmer, and this time it did shut off the fan and light. That made me think that maybe the dashboard was controlling just an LED child for the red dimmer. However, as you'll see from this screen shot there is no child created for it. (BTW, I included in the screenshot a red dimmer that has a child so you can see it would show up if it existed):

I then created 2 screenshots. The first is when I use the dashboard to turn the red dimmer on and off (since it is in last-first chronological order the top one is off and the bottom one is on).

Now here is a screenshot of the same on/off from the physical switch. As you see, it is not only showing more commands, but the On/Off rule I created is showing up. It seems that is significant, but I still don't know how to fix it.

[Stu_The_K]

I haven't had any replies in a week. Anyone know why turning a dimmer on/off from the dashboard would not trigger a rule while doing it from the physical switch or inside the device in the UI does?

I've tried to post the rules, logs, and other screenshots to show my set up and what is, and is not, happening.

@bravenel
@rlithgow1

[rlithgow1]

Use windows snip for pasting screen shots

[Stu_The_K]

I have a Mac, so I use the Cmd+Shift+4 to define the area I'm copying, if that matters.

But anyways, do you have any idea why the Dashboard button turning the red dimmer (Stuart's Closet Far Right Side) isn't tripping off the rule?

[bertabcd1234]

I've read your post a couple times, and there's so much information that it's hard to tell exactly which screenshot indicates a problem versus regular operation, but my first thought after the second read: you're using "button 1 pushed" interchangeably with "on/off" a lot, but these are actually separate events. A physical tap of the button should (unless disabled on the device) generate both events, but a "digital" on or off from your hub, whether a Dashboard tile or the buttons on the device detail page, won't. A "pushed" with a value of "1" will, but then you won't get the switch events.

Could that explain your problem? Either should work as long as your apps are looking for the right events. If you still aren't sure, here's what I'd do:

1. Ignore the things that are working for now
2. Provide a screenshot of the app configuration for the app that isn't working as expected
3. Provide a screenshot of the most recent events for the device in question that should have "triggered" that app. Use the "Events" page on the device detail page for this device, rather than hub logs (since logs depend on the driver and these don't).

Good luck!

[Stu_The_K]

He is the Button Controller rule for the Inovelli Red Dimmer, called Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right Side. It does turn on both the fan + light when I do a physical 1 "push" and turn them both off when I do a physical 1 "hold".

I want the same thing to happen when I use the Dashboard button to turn that switch on or off. All my other dashboard buttons work being set up this way, but this one doesn't.

Here is a screenshot of the events page when I push the button to turn it on my Hubitat dashboard:

Here is the screenshot of the events page when I push the bottom to turn it off on my Hubitat dashboard:

[bertabcd1234]

What does the app that isn't working in response to this event look like?

[Stu_The_K]

Here are 2 views of it.

[bertabcd1234]

Based on the device names, I would not expect that rule to trigger from any events in the previous screenshots (showing events). What do the events look like from the devices that are supposed to be triggering this rule?

Another thing I'd suggest is enabling all logging for the rule and seeing what happens when it is triggered.

[Stu_The_K]

I appreciate the help. The events from the device that is supposed to run that rule is what I had posted just a bit ago showing what happens when I use the dashboard to turn on or off the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right Switch and the rule/app is what I first posted today. It is just a simple Button Controller rule.

The rule says if I turn on or off the Master Bedroom Stuart's Far Right Closet then turn on or off the Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan and Light. When I use the dashboard to turn that switch on or off I see the LED go on or off, but neither the ceiling fan light nor the fan go or on off. But, then if I push the physical switch the fan & light both will go on or off as they should.

I turned on all logging for the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right Switch, saved the preferences and saved the device.

Here I pushed the button on the dashboard to turn it on:

Here I am turning it off:

Doing that does turn the LED on or off, so it is working to that extent. But then why doesn't that then turn the Master Bedroom ceiling fan and light on or off per this rule:

BTW, is there anyway Hubitat can monitor what I'm doing in real time so I can say "I'm pushing the physical switch" or now "I'm pushing the dashboard button" and they can see how it is reacting?

[bertabcd1234]

@Stu_The_K

The events from the device that is supposed to run that rule is what I had posted just a bit ago

I don't think so. The rule you posted triggers with "Master Bedroom Ceiling Light" or "Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan." The events you showed are for "Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right Switch." I'm curious about the events for the rule devices, assuming the suspicion is that their events fail to trigger the rule (specifically wondering if there are, in fact, any).

@Stu_The_K

all logging

The logs I'm wondering about would be for the rules. Logging is totally up to the driver or app and won't necessarily show what events actually happen, though descriptionText logging for drivers should. (Hence my curiosity for "Events" on the device detail page.)

[Stu_The_K]

OK. Give me a few. I'll take screen shots of the events for the ceiling fan and light.

[Stu_The_K]

When I push the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right switch from the Dashboard no events are generated for the ceiling fan light or switch.

When I push the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right physical switch here are the events it generated for itself:

And here are the events for the fan:

And here are the events for the light:

Finally, once again, here are the events for the Master Bedroom Stuart's Closet Far Right switch from the Dashboard:

[bertabcd1234]

OK, so based on those, it looks like the rule should have triggered -- there appears to be a matching event. One possible problem ruled out.

Here's what I'd do to figure out the rest:

1. Open the problematic rule and just hit Done (this might fix things on its own in case the problem is that the rule was never "initialized" to get these subscriptions set up).
2. Enable all logging (triggers, actions, and events) for the rule.
3. If it fails to run as expected, see what logs for the rule say after one of the supposed trigger events happens. Assuming there are any logs from the rule, they should provide some clues. (Again, rule, not device.)

[Stu_The_K]

I hit Done in the simple Button Rule. That didn't wok. I then turned on logging for the rule (BTW there were only Triggers and Actions shown, there was no "Events"). Here you can see I have logging for the rule turned on:

When I do the physical button I get this in the log for the rule:
Off:

On:

When I use the dashboard button no events are generated. But, I do see the LED go off or on on the physical switch and the app button changes accordingly. Plus, inside the device itself I see the Current States for "switch" change accordingly.

[bertabcd1234]

@Stu_The_K

When I use the dashboard button no events are generated.

Do you mean log entries or actual events? It would be good to know what event, if any, is generated from this if that is the part that isn't working. "Events" on the device detail page will again be the best clues.

(EDIT: I should add that everything above appears to be OK from what I understand about your setup and desired outcome...)

[Stu_The_K]

Both. Neither the physical nor dashboard generate any events when pushed. Here is the event page for the app after I used the physical button.

From the device itself I used the dashboard to turn on the light at 5:36. Here is a screen shot of that:

To get apples to apples I then turned off the switch physically and then turned it back on at5:38 . Here is a screen shot of that:

The only difference I can see is that when I used the Dashboard it starts with a command-on from the Dashboard. Then the lastActivity for north shows the device as the switch, the switch is on and the level is 99.

BTW, I've already tried deleting the dashboard tile and re-doing it. But, just for the heck of it I went and deleted the tile from the Master Bedroom dashboard and then re-added it. There is no change. If I turn it on or off from the dashboard everything says the dashboard and physical device are in sync, but the fan and light never turn or or off when done from the dashboard.

[bertabcd1234]

@Stu_The_K

events

Your first screenshot is app events (from I don't know what, though it doesn't matter); it is very rare that apps put anything here. I'm looking for device events. It looks like the last two screenshots show the events getting generated correctly in both places. The only reason this shouldn't work as a rule trigger is if you have phyiscal switch specified instead of just switch as the trigger. If you're looking for a button event instead, I don't see that in the event history at all, though if you're using the Inovelli LZW36, that would be on the parent instead of any child device.

In case it isn't clear, what I'm asking you for is to figure out what events are actually being generated on the device from physical (on-device) or digital/virtual (from the hub) actions, then making sure that whatever app/automation you're using is actually subscribed to those events, waking up in response to them, and executing your intended actions — or where the breakdown is occurring if that's not happening. Everything you're doing sounds like it should generate some event, so the trick is getting the app subscription to match the event, however it works in the app you're using.

[Stu_The_K]

Is there any way you could possibly do a Zoom call with me so I can show you exactly what I'm doing and you can be sure I'm showing you the logs/events you want to see?

When I go into the rule itself and click Run Actions for the on and off (1 pushed and 1 held) everything works fine.

[bertabcd1234]

Probably wouldn't have time to do that until next week, unless maybe you're in a different time zone and still have some chance of being up when I'll get home.

But with this extra information:

@Stu_The_K

click Run Actions for the on and off (1 pushed and 1 held)

the thing I'd make sure of is that you're actually getting these events on your button device (the parent LZW36, it looks like?) for both real and virtual "presses" (push/hold) of the button. For Dashboard, you'd need the "button" template to do this, as a switch (on/off) template will not generate button events for scene dimmers like this, only switch events (or really commands that would normally result in an event, but similar idea).