[SOLVED]: How to refresh device after change to device.xml

Greetings,

If I make change to a plugin's device.xml file the only way I have found to get the device to see the change is to delete the device and then add it as new. Is there a simpler way to do this?


kind regards,

Z

Hi Z,
Take a look at the documentation for: Device Base Class Instance Methods

If you use the following code when you invoke deviceStartComm(self, dev) then it should refresh the definition:

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dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged()

Hope this helps.

Greetings,

Thanks to you for reply but I tried adding this method to deviceStartComm(self,dev) but it does not make the change I am looking for. The change I made to the devices.xml file was to add "SupportsStatusRequest" like this :

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         <Field id = "SupportsStatusRequest" type = "checkbox" hidden = "true" defaultValue = "true">
            <Label>Enable status request / refresh button:</Label>
         </Field>

If I delete the device then add it again the "Send Status Request" button functions but if I use dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged() the button stays grayed out.

kind regards,

Z

[matt (support)]

The dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged() method only updates the states list, not the properties of the device. It is used because states are static and cannot be modified outside the XML (thus if you do modify the XML Indigo needs to be told they changed).

For any property changes you can do it at runtime whenever you want like this:

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props = dev.pluginProps
props["SupportsStatusRequest"] = True
dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)

Greetings,

I added your suggestion to my deviceStartComm as below

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def deviceStartComm(self, dev):
        props = dev.pluginProps
        props["SupportsStatusRequest"] = True
        dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)

When I add a new device to the plugin it starts deviceStartComm and begins to do a loop adding and removing the device like this from error log;

props updated for device new device 2
<<-- entering deviceStartComm: new device 2 (9258035 - pluginDevice)
added device "systematicRB""
exiting deviceStartComm1 -->>
<<-- entering deviceStopComm: new device 2 (9258035 - pluginDevice)
removed device "systematicRB"
exiting deviceStopComm -->>

I am need to use your code differently?

kind regards,

Z

Hi Z - unless I'm mistaken, the behavior you're seeing is because replacePluginPropsOnServer() automatically calls deviceStartComm() (putting you in an infinite loop.)

If you are changing the props of the device one time (for example after changing the device's XML file) calling dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged() within deviceStartComm() will be all you need. However, if you will be updating the device more frequently, dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer() should be used and called at the point you need it--but not from deviceStartComm().

And something that Jay most helpfully reminded me recently: "One thing to keep in mind about props: if you call dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(), that doesn’t automatically update the dev instance with the new props. So if you reference dev.pluginProps again, you’re going to get the old ones, not the new ones until you get a fresh copy of the dev instance (you can call dev.refreshFromServer() to do that)."

Dave

As Dave says, you are in a loop

You need to do something like this if you are going to include the logic in your device start:

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      props = dev.pluginProps
      if not "SupportsStatusRequest" in props:  # Check if property exists and if it doesn't just add it to the props, save it on the server and return as the device will be restarted
         props["SupportsStatusRequest"] = True
         dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
         return
      elif props["SupportsStatusRequest"] != True:  # Check if property's required initial value and if not update the property, save it on the server and return as the device will be restarted
         props["SupportsStatusRequest"] = True
         dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
         return
# At this point the property exists and is set to the correct value - you can now continue starting the device


This code will ensure that the property is set-up and initialised with the required value when the device is started.

Greetings,

Thanks to you gentlemen who replied assistance. I didn't realize that when dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)was called it called deviceStartComm. Obviously this caused the loop.

I moved the code to startup(self) like so and now it works fine:

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   def startup(self):
      self.debugLog(u"startup called")      
      for dev in indigo.devices.itervalues("self"):
         props = dev.pluginProps
         props["SupportsStatusRequest"] = True
         dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
         self.errorLog("props updated for device %s" %dev.name)

The results are exactly what I was looking for like dis:

Systematic Debug startup called
Systematic Debug props updated for device 1
Systematic Debug props updated for device 2
Systematic Debug props updated for device 3
Systematic Debug props updated for device 4
Systematic Debug props updated for device 5
Systematic Debug props updated for device 6
Systematic Debug props updated for device 7
Systematic Debug props updated for device SystematicRB

My reason for this is to get devices in my plugin to see changes I have made in the devices.xml. Using the dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged() method will not work as Matt so kindly explained below.

The dev.stateListOrDisplayStateIdChanged() method only updates the states list, not the properties of the device. It is used because states are static and cannot be modified outside the XML (thus if you do modify the XML Indigo needs to be told they changed).

The reason I am using this code is during plugin development I make many changes to the devices.xml and having to delete the device and then add it again is time consuming. Now I can make changed, restart the plugin and I see my changes. Once my plugin is finalized I remove this bit of code.

kind regards,

Z