Change Control Page on Device from Server

For those interested and brave... I have added a new ability to Domotics Pad targeted towards those using devices as mounted/house consoles (but which may be of some limited use in other situations) -- the ability for the server to request that Domotics Pad display a specific control page on the device.

Example use cases include popping up a security camera page upon the doorbell being clicked, reseting to an appropriate "morning" page at midnight each night, going to a weather page on a severe weather alert, etc.

Here is how it works -- the new Domotics Page Indigo Plugin (linked below) has a new action to request the display of the page. This is sent via a special push notification so you must have the device in Indigo and paired up. On the client, a new setting exists for Professional / Ultimate users to control when the control page display is honored - Never, Always, Only when displaying another control page, etc. If this condition is met then the device switches to the page automatically - ideal for wall or table consoles. If the condition is not met (e.g. on your phone you choose "Never" or you are not in the app and have "Only when in App" is selected), then you will get a notification in the shade. You can swipe it away or click on it to load the page.

This features is very much in BETA and thus only published to beta testers; you will get the update via the Google Play store as normal but must install the plugin "manually" from the link below.. As always, anyone may join the beta test program:

Google Play BETA Test Sign Up
Indigo Plugin v2.0

Please leave any feedback, suggestions, etc. on this feature here. It is very much beta so we have time to incorporate changes / suggestions as necessary as well as, of course, fix any bugs found.

Adam

Awesome stuff Adam! In my limited testing at 3:00 am this morning, it seems to work well, with a couple of curiosities.

1) There seems to be a 3-5 second delay between an Indigo trigger firing that initiates a CP change and that change actually happening on the device. Is this expected?
2) Regardless of the setting on the client, the CP change only happens when DomoPad is running and active on the display. If it's in the background, nothing changes with respect to DomoPad on the client.

Re: #2, Maybe I'm misunderstanding the options, but I was thinking that when "At any time" is selected, and another app is front-and-center (The Sonos app, usually) that the tablet would switch to DomoPad and show the requested CP. I do get the shade notification, and have verified that the "At any time" option is selected and have restarted the tablet just to make sure. All testing was done on the giant HP Slate 21 Pro (Android 4.4.2) mounted in the kitchen. I'll try some other tablets/versions once the family wakes up...

Terry

This sounds really cool, but I'm unaware of how to get (say) tablets into Indigo as devices that Indigo understands in terms of control pages. Is this a feature of the plugin?

This sounds really cool, but I'm unaware of how to get (say) tablets into Indigo as devices that Indigo understands in terms of control pages. Is this a feature of the plugin?

You need to have the Domotics Pad application running on the device. Then, within the Domotics Pad plugin in Indigo, you create a Domotics Pad Plugin device that's paired to the individual Android device. Then in Indigo, you create a new Action Item: When X happens, display 'Some Control Page' on device Y. I'm presuming (Adam doesn't say here) that the control page Action is targeted to a specified device and not all of them simultaneously.

This is a very useful and cool new feature.

Ahh, so just for Android devices. Got it.

Ahh, so just for Android devices. Got it.

Yes. Domotics Pad is for Android only.

1) There seems to be a 3-5 second delay between an Indigo trigger firing that initiates a CP change and that change actually happening on the device. Is this expected?

It really depends on the device - that definitely isn't outside of the realm of expectations in some circumstances. Basically, the server is sending out a push notification that, upon receipt, the application will act upon by either pushing a notification to the shade or executing the transition. SO, it partly depends upon the Google Cloud Messaging connection of your device and how fast that operates. I am considering attempting some form of local-only messaging for those like yourself with wall mounts which would be incredibly faster... but have to be careful with that as listening on a port for the message requires keeping some form of wake lock open; maybe I can have it do that only when plugged in (and set in the settings of course). Hmm, maybe there could be a couple of "profiles" to automatically adjust all settings to recommended defaults for consoles versus regular-use phones, etc.

2) Regardless of the setting on the client, the CP change only happens when DomoPad is running and active on the display. If it's in the background, nothing changes with respect to DomoPad on the client.

Is this perhaps an Android v4.4.x device? I've had some "inconsistent" behavior on those versus Android v5.0 - v7.0 devices... on both the "Always" and the "Dimmed" control pages especially. The OS responds to some of the intents differently from what I see, so I do plan on working on that area. I suspect I may just need to set slightly different parameters or input for those devices to ensure they open properly. Unless this was an intentional operation change on Google's part. Hopefully will have some time to delve into that shortly though.

Just saw you mentioned it was v4.4.2... so yes, I think that issue of not opening the Domotics Pad app is expected at this particular moment, but the intent is to get it to open properly like it does for v5.0+ (or should, works on mine).

One reason I am releasing this on the beta channel with an announcement is that getting push notifications, and thus testing/debugging, on the emulator can be a PITA at times. So this definitely is not as tested as usual for my development efforts...

How do i install this on my blackberry?

*flee*

How do i install this on my blackberry?

New BlackBerry devices run Android...

Troll Level: Amateur

I'm sorry did i say blackberry? I mean raspberry.

PPTTTBBBBBBBBBBBB

Just saw you mentioned it was v4.4.2... so yes, I think that issue of not opening the Domotics Pad app is expected at this particular moment, but the intent is to get it to open properly like it does for v5.0+ (or should, works on mine).

One reason I am releasing this on the beta channel with an announcement is that getting push notifications, and thus testing/debugging, on the emulator can be a PITA at times. So this definitely is not as tested as usual for my development efforts...

Yeh, I thought that may be the case. Unfortunately, it looks like HP has abandoned the Slate Pro and it is forever locked at 4.4.2. The modders aren't really doing anything with it either, too bad as it's a nice device; maybe I can used it as a touchscreen monitor with an android stick or android on a rPi once 4.4.2 is just too old.

I've inquired about this POE wall mountable tablet.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1280-800-IPS-screen-Android-tablet_60423128901.html
If a qty 1 is orderable, I'll get one in on a slow boat from China and post a review. We'll be moving to a new house in the spring (no clue where yet) and I really want to go with POE for tablets and cameras moving forward. There are a few Android tablets that support it, all in China... The Sonos app will be a problem then though, as it actively looks for a wifi connection and will not launch if wifi isn't present, even if the tablet is functioning on ethernet. Oh well, one problem at a time.

Terry

I'm sorry did i say blackberry? I mean raspberry.

PPTTTBBBBBBBBBBBB

Still not helping the Troll points; Android runs on the rPi too! Be safe and go with PalmOS!!

Terry

I'm sorry did i say blackberry? I mean raspberry.

PPTTTBBBBBBBBBBBB

Still not helping the Troll points; Android runs on the rPi too! Be safe and go with PalmOS!!

Terry

Yeah I kinda thought that but figured the irony worked for me. :p

Stuff it.. how do I load this onto my Apple ][e running ProDOS 2.0.3?

How about Pocket PC 2000? That couldn't run itself.


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