Dimmed screen stalls app

Howdy! So I'm finally getting back into HA after a bit of a hiatus and one thing I've been finally setting up is the wall mounted tablets I've had on a few walls for ages but never actually got around to using! Now I've got some control pages setup I'm noticing a problem with one of the tablet (which as best I'm aware is identical to the others but with a larger screen) where when the screen dims using the built in option on the software the control pages will stop updating, and won't refresh when the screen is woken again, I have to update the page manually. If I turn off the dim option it works fine.. any ideas what could be causing that? I presume you'd need more details on the tablets themselves, but before I start spewing out a lot of unnecessary information what specifically would be of use? They're generic tablets (ones designed for cars actually but they fitted the wall perfectly and didn't leave wires poking out the side so why not?) and they're running Android 9.

Any ideas? *tap tap* is this thing on?


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Fine, even though Matt & Jay were enjoying you being on hiatus I suppose I will go ahead and answer you. Hopefully they won't kick me off the forums for encouraging you!

Every now and then I have seen the page go completely white -- but haven't narrowed down a cause as it happens very infrequently here. I don't have any hard proof but the most likely scenario that I have found is that the device is freeing the memory from the control page (the auto-dim has a semi-transparent cover on top of the control page). The explanation is a bit programmy (new word) but basically the page's state is not being cleared, so it thinks the graphics are all loaded and it doesn't redraw but the graphics have been cleared. Basically, the app is not resuming from the memory clear well.

I am actively working on v2.0 -- had a several month hiatus myself due to work then started working on it and ran into all kinds of problems that turns out I was fighting ghosts and it was working fine on real devices just not in my testing bank (simulator). Sigh. So now back on track. Anyway, first release is going to be targeted at phones and second release will be for the tablet "console" type applications -- including a rework of the control page system. I probably can't look at addressing the resuming issue until that time (in terms of programmatically).

Some things you might try IF this situation is what is occurring on your end:
* Depending on your Android version, you may have some options for battery optimization -- make sure Domotics Pad is set to not be restricted
* Turn off any system wide (i.e. not app level) battery optimizations. I know Android 9 or 10 introduced some new settings but many manufacturer skins had options prior to that
* Make sure only Domotics Pad is running (kill any other apps). Potentially another background app such as music streaming, other HA apps for specific devices, etc. could use up RAM that make it more likely to need to free it up

Given it is identical to the others, I feel this is likely some kind of configuration difference. You could double-check the RAM I suppose and make sure this doesn't have less than the others just to be sure.

Fine, even though Matt & Jay were enjoying you being on hiatus I suppose I will go ahead and answer you. Hopefully they won't kick me off the forums for encouraging you!

I’ll have you know that Jay called me on the phone just the other night to tell me how excited he was that I was back, although he was a bit confused.. something to do with some kind of poison? I dunno what he was talking about.

Hmm actually that gives me some ideas. The “tablets” are very locked down with custom skins, i forgot that of course that can happen with android.. I’ll have a look see if there’s a way to pry it off, it does seem logical that there’s something suspending it when dimmed!

Good luck with v2, I’ll be interested to see what you do with it, what you’ve done so far is magnificent! The only thing I’ve thought that would be a nice feature would be the ability to control said brightness from indigo itself (just as a normal dimmer bulb I guess?).. that’d probably side skip the issue I’m having too as really I just want it to be bright though the day and dark at night!


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Good luck with v2, I’ll be interested to see what you do with it, what you’ve done so far is magnificent! The only thing I’ve thought that would be a nice feature would be the ability to control said brightness from indigo itself (just as a normal dimmer bulb I guess?).. that’d probably side skip the issue I’m having too as really I just want it to be bright though the day and dark at night!

Thanks for the kind words... that's an interesting thought about the dimming. For the console focused update I plan on making all communication completely independent of Google's cloud (as it stands now all communication from the tablet to Indigo is already so, but the communication from Indigo to the tablet for push notifications requires the push notification service connected, which requires internet access). SO, I am considering a new device type that would enable this and could possibly consider the screen dimming; that had never crossed my mind.

I’m all for removing as much connectivity using Google’s services!

It’s just a thought about the dimmer.. it’d just be nice to be able to have it set to a lower level at night or if we’re out of the house!


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