thoughts on extending "match brightness" action type

i just noticed an action type that i hadn't seen before. it is device actions > light appliance controls > match brightness. this command lets you specify a target device to be changed and another reference device (which presently must be a dimmable device). it sets the brightness f the target device to that of the reference device. a nice change, however it immediate occurred to me that this could be made more useful if it were generalized.

suggestion 1. either stretch the semantics of "match brightness" or create a new analogous command that allows the reference device to be an on-off device. if the target device is also an on/off device that's on, just send the corresponding on/off device to the target. if the target is a dimming device, just send it an normal on/off command anyway (if it is an insteon device, it will of course use default on value and ramp rate).

though this seems simple, the benefits would be a nontrivial reduction in the number of triggers. example: an open/close sensor on a closet door. i now need separate triggers to turn a light ON when the door is opened and a separate one to turn it OFF when it is closed. these could easily be done by the same trigger using the sensor as the reference and the light as the target. similarly with motion sensors.

suggestion 2: similar to above but allow the target device to be an on-off device as well. in this case, if the reference device is also an on-off device, this is a simple copy-through of the corresponding on or off command. or if the reference is a dimming device, simply map all non-zero brightness values to ON and zero to OFF before sending.

examples of where this would be useful: turn on a vent fan when a motion detector turns on. or automatically turn on an air cleaner in a room when the lights are turned on.

suggestion 3 (higher difficulty): generalize the reference device in the description above to be any indigo device state that is so that you specify the reference device the same way you specify the referent of a "device state changed" trigger. this would let you use things like keypad buttons as the reference device (with the same caveats regarding mapping of on-off to brightness or vice versa).

examples of where this is useful: turn on/off a water heater based on a keypad button. power on a dehumidifier based on when the fan state reported by a thermostat.

I like this idea

[jay (support)]

Thanks for the feedback.