Philips Hue plugin

[Aquila]

A pulse at max/min would be good. Having red at both ends of the hue value could be a bit confusing to the end user also. Maybe just have the hue values (0-60000). I was thinking small steps with a autorepeat macro.

I can't limit the hue values. This is due to the Osram bulbs that can be used with the Hue Bridge, they show green for value 0. I think I will make a option to puls on max/min.

If I make the steps configurable each user can use it for their own needs. With a autorepeat macro it is important to remember the Hue Bridge limit of 10 calls to lights per second or 1 call to a group per second.

[yokel22]

I was wondering if autorepeat macro would overwhelm the bridge . I hadn't tried it yet. Configurable stepping is what I'd pictured.

[Aquila]

I have posted a new version of the plugin in the first post.

- New function: "cloneLight", "cloneLight2Group" and "cloneGroup". Copy settings from one light/group to another.
- New functions: "satGroupUp", "hueGroupUp", "satGroupDown" and "hueGroupDown". Increases or decreases hue or saturation of a light by a choosen step. (NB! Changes from current GROUP setting, individual light
setting may be diffrent.)
- New functions: "satUp", "satDown", "hueUp" and "hueDown". Increases or decreases hue or saturation of a light by a choosen step.

The up and down function for Hue and saturation is based on a suggestion by yokel22.

Please note that groups retain settings given to this group. If you control a light with a different group or a light command the light will change (and the light setting), but not the group setting. Even if all lights in a group has changed status due to other commands, the setting of the group will not change. This is due to the functionality of the Hue Bridge.

[Aquila]

I was wondering if autorepeat macro would overwhelm the bridge . I hadn't tried it yet. Configurable stepping is what I'd pictured.

Try out the new version!

Have you ever manged to overwhelm the bridge in a normal user case? I have flooded the bridge in a test scenario, but never found a useful case that the bridge can't handle.

[yokel22]

I played around with it a bit yesterday. Everything seems to be working well. The pulse at min/max is effective in alerting you. Maybe add a pulse to the dim max.

I've never flooded the bridge in general use. Even when running crazy strobe patterns. Autorepeat macro works quite well for single bulbs. I have it set to .2 repeat. For groups its easier to just press the button every second than holding it down for long periods.

[Aquila]

Thank you. I have already added pulse to the dimUp and dimGroupUp functions. Took me 30 seconds. I'm working on the errorhandling in the plugin. So I'm going over every function to add errorhandling, quite a great task. So it may be some days before I publish next version. With changes in every function the bugtesting will take some time.

[Siutsch]

Thank you for this fantastic plugin.

Just bought a Philips Hue Stater Kit (after I found this topic) and testet this plugin with Eventghost.

Everything seems to work very good!

[Aquila]

Thank you for this fantastic plugin.

Just bought a Philips Hue Stater Kit (after I found this topic) and testet this plugin with Eventghost.

Everything seems to work very good!

Thank you!

Any input to changes are welcome.

[krad23]

I just installed eventghost to try out your plugin. So far it's been working great on the simple tasks I've tried.
I haven't developed anything big like I have on Tasker+AutoHue though, not yet at least.

[krad23]

I couldn't really understand when catchEvents() gets called..

But it gave me this idea. Would it be possible to have a continuous listener that generates events whenever a lights status changes? For example if I turn it on or off from a different source like HueTap or my mobile phone

[Aquila]

I couldn't really understand when catchEvents() gets called..

But it gave me this idea. Would it be possible to have a continuous listener that generates events whenever a lights status changes? For example if I turn it on or off from a different source like HueTap or my mobile phone

catchEvents() runs in the background every 2 seconds. At the moment it throws events if a light gets unreachable or if a HueTap button is pushed. It's a "pull" prosecess, so the plugin have to ask the bridge everytime to get a new status. This means that there will allways be a delay. For some events its between 1-3 sec (button push), (un)available lightbulb is 5-45 sec as far as I have tested.

What you ask for is possible. The plugin would have to keep track of the status of every light and check if it is changed. It would put a load on the bridge to have this done, so I would have to put in a delay that would mean that a respons would be slow. If people need this I will put it on my "to-do" list.

[krad23]

while making my own plugin for the iKettle (and basing it on your plugin), I've realized that you should also kill the thread in a __close__, otherwise it might hang when closing eventghost

[Aquila]

while making my own plugin for the iKettle (and basing it on your plugin), I've realized that you should also kill the thread in a __close__, otherwise it might hang when closing eventghost

That explains my Eventghost hangig. :p

Thanks, will work this in to next version. Next version will also have the new username/register function Philips is pushing out, the old system will be removed soon so have to change it.

[Aquila]

I have published a new version of the plugin, it is available in the first post as usual.

0.3.6 by Aquila 2015-08-04
- Added configuration of Daylight sensor. (Built in sensor in Hue Bridge, depends on date/time and positon NOT real light. Leave position to 'none' to not use.)
- Added button in Configdialog to get random username from bridge. (Philips Hue have removed the posibility to choose own username.)
- Removed "register" function due to new method to connect to bridge.
- Fixed small output bug in errorhandeling
- Eventthread is now stoped on close also, so plugin should no longer hang Eventghost after closing. (Thanks to krad23 for pointing me to this problem.)
0.3.5 by Aquila 2015-04-17 (Not published)
- Option to print errors and results.
- Improved errorhandeling.
- Removed puls from "saveStatus". The Hue bridge does not reset puls setting when it is done pulsing, so saving status with puls setting would restart puls on recallStatus.
- Added option to pulse light on max brightness in "dimUp" and "dimGroupUp" functions.

So this new version gives you more controll over the output of errormessages. It also comes with the new way to get a username from the bridge, you can no longer choose your own username. This is due to changes in the Hue API on this part.

Also the daylight sensor can now be setup in the configdialog. This is not very usefull if you only use Eventghost with Hue, but it has been requested.

I'm working on better events, so that Eventghost can be notified when other apps changes a setting or a light or something.

Please write here if you discover any buggs or if you have requests or comments.

[Aquila]

Whoops, there was a bug in version 0.3.6 than made it very hard for new users to use the plugin. This should now be fixed. New version (0.3.6.1) is available in the first post.

Please post here or send me an e-mail if you have any difficulties using the plugin.