I'm surprised folks aren't piling on after that question. Here are a few of the things keeping me using Active Tiles, mostly UX stuff, but I understand some of it is non-trivial to implement:
Relabeling of tiles (some of my devices have quite long names or codes that the wife would never understand)
Media tiles, tap to enlarge/shrink (eg a weather map, or security cam @ 3x2 tile normally, but sometimes i want to see it BIG for a moment)
Structure ... In AT, the tiles auto-reorganize when the resolution or aspect ratio of the browser window changes, if stuff doesn't fit you just scroll down the page for some of it. Whereas Hubitat Dashboards seem to focus on tiles keeping their relative positions, instead of rearranging themselves fluidly, they resize ... but at the same time the tile contents don't resize. So what looks ok on my computer, leads to an overlapping mess on my phone. It's not practical to make a different dashboard for every different resolution I might need.
All I can do is laugh! You should understand that Dashboard is in its infancy, implemented only weeks ago, ActionTiles is about 4 years old. I remember when ActionTiles was called ActiON, and it was a few weeks old.
Having said that, Terry and Alex have shown no interest in porting ActionTiles to Hubitat, having hitched their wagon to Samsung SmartThings evidently. We tried to talk them into it, but to no avail. We and others ported SmartTiles over with minimal effort, but that has distribution restrictions.
We will take your comments as good suggestions for improvement going forward! Thanks.
Oh I totally get it ... but, you know, technically ... you did ask, and if folks don't say how else would you know?
I can understand them wanting to back a horse and just be done with it, the install-base for ST is quite large. It's a pity they can't see what I see ... although everything is relative I guess and they'd say the same thing right back at me probably.
Bruce,
Where could I find information on the API to interact with hubitat from another system? I will be working on an iOS app by end of year to provide a kiosk type interface like actionTiles for my newly remodeled home. I want something clean, and easy on the eyes which there is no current solition.
There is no special API per se. I would suggest you take a look at the source code for Other Hub SmartThings integration for examples of how to do this sort of thing.
I have been working on improving the install process to lower the barrier of entry for HousePanel (aka HP). Today the complex manual install process has kept many people from using it. Another barrier was it used to require coexistence with SmartThings buy HP now has a Hubitat only mode so that barrier is now gone. Once you have it installed users enjoy having an open source local solution in the spirit of Hubitat and a fully customizable panel via CSS or a GUI editor - plus an API mode that works across both HP and ST platforms. I have hub #3 and have been working on this off and on ever since I talked with @patrick to discuss the possibilities, leveraging his old OpenDash brand. I am open to working with Hubitat to improve HP further and make it more of a standard for the platform but they have shown no interest. Without further help, progress will continue but only at the rate that my weekend hobby coding pace will enable.
The source is all out there as usual for anyone to jump in and help. I will consider any seriously offered and well conceived pull requests. The next release will come later today that will hopefully lower the install barrier further but I still havenāt figured out how to implement the OAUTH flow in the Hubitat ecosystem, and I havenāt added Hubitat support for some of the newer device types yet, so these areas would be a great place where my Hubitat friends could help out.
It's a shame you direct to third party code when Hubitat themselves have a similar app 'Hub Link' that would be of great use in controller to controller integration . I would love to look at that for a bidirectional Hubitat to Hubitat Hub adaption. However Hubitat are not making any of their apps source code available - or their device drivers.
I find this very strange given their online documentation is so sparse. Everyone could learn from these example and be producing new apps. In fact it's one of my main worries about Hubitat currently (cf SmartThings) .... that they are now evolving this into a closed rather than open system. Couldn't you release some of your app code Hubitat, and inparticular for me the HubLink code which I guess is fairly compact ?
I moved the release that I posted over to the HousePanel original thread where it belongs. Sorry about that folks. Here is the link. Please check it out.
Iām most interested in having a system that works.
ST made a lot of their device handler and smartapp code available to community developers, but then they never created a marketplace that actually works, so community devs had no workable platform for sharing their work product with others (either for a fee or free of charge).
And their cloud architecture has always been like two seconds away from total failure.
Ahh.. not implying that I might move back to SmartThings, not going back there, more that I want an open platform to build my system around and hoped Hubiitat was that. Stability is undoubtedly better if you restrict people from adapting your code, but that's the users choice.
I have a need to build an app and I would like to do it in a sound way by adapting an existing Hubitat app as the base I want to link my Hubitat hubs and also a couple of other systems in a bidirectional co-operative way rather than the Hub Link which is single directional.
I also have an existing AngularJS based dashboard front end within which I would like to incorporate Hubitat devices and control.
Ooops apologies I see I responded to an API doc post in an ActionTiles thread so have hijacked topic. Not the right thread for this.
We made a conscious business decision not to be open source. That may not be your preference, but that's what we decided for a number of reasons. And you are right about stability. Most of our effort in support is for people who are banging the heck out of the hub with custom code, some of it buggy. Guess what happens if you unleash a driver throwing events in an infinite loop! We have to decide how to deploy our resources, protecting developers from themselves or improving the platform for everyone else.
Our goal is for the platform to cover the needs of the vast majority of our customers with built-in apps and drivers. The purpose for Hubitat is to support home automation. It's not our purpose to create and support a developer platform, although we obviously have made it possible for customers to write their own apps and drivers. There's a balance to be struck, and we have struck ours.
We earnestly tried. We asked them to work with us and they refused. They are wed to ST, and don't want to put any effort into this platform. The effort would not amount to much, so, evidently they have concerns about their relationship with Samsung. Their choice. Go figure...
What features of ActionTiles do we not yet support in Dashboard that you need? Unlike ActionTiles, Dashboard is free. We will close whatever gap there is, obviating any need for ActionTiles.
I've noted your request for more icons, its on the todo list.
As for moving the tiles around, since we use CSS Grid, you can place them exactly where you want, but it requires some interaction to move a tile around. Besides clicking the arrows how would you want to move the tiles around (besides drag and drop, which is on the request list)?
Floating tiles... like how WordPress let's you move boxes around in the admin page. You click on the horiztonal 3 lines and it lets you move the box anyplace.
Thanks for posting here. As an ActionTiles customer and a reformed former ST user I have left feedback on the ActionTiles forum promoting an integration with Hubitat. My personal view is that any success that a small home automation business experiences is beneficial to the entire smart home community and its enthusiast (which I'm guessing would be most of us); so it's nice to see dialogue between companies and communities. Hopefully one day everybody will be able to integrate with every product out there.
That said Hubitat is destined to take over the DIY smart home market...
You have options: Hubitat Dashboard, SharpTools, HousePanel, and SmartTiles (if you own a copy), but Terry's last two comments really sum up what their sentiments are at this point in time.
Co-Founder of Thingterfaces LP, the producer of ActionTiles.
"Samsung is unlikely to have customer losses (Y%) exceed gains (X%). If the situation becomes dire, they have a $ billion they can throw at the problem - something Habitat and ActionTiles can't do (and hopefully won't ever have to !).
Thanks for the feedback, but our Answer for Hubitat remains as shown above - we're waiting for them to establish significant growth and prominence; heck, we get many more requests for Wink and Home Assistant and Homeseer and Vera than Hubitat; so far!"
Hubitat has created their own specialized web-app which mimics a lot of the functionality of ActionTiles . We're happy to see that product continuing to evolve and attract interest.
"Realistically, we have plenty of consumer facing and non-consumer facing SmartThings related development to focus on before we can even consider diversion of resources to a niche platform. SmartThings is our birthplace and it is the platform of all our supportive customers' homes. The Votes on this Topic indicate that the future is open to many possibilities and the door remains open to anything ... eventually."
The future isn't ever set in stone. Remaining open to new ideas is key.
"Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition," Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes told the Motley Fool in 2008. "It's more Wal-Mart and Apple."
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