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Virtual On/Off Device

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:40 pm
by Seeker
Back to virtual devices, why do you HAVE TO associate them with an action group? Why not have them able to be dumb toggle devices, like controllable variables? I want a dumb virtual device to represent my phone's home/away status. I set up a virtual device but was forced to associate it with an on and off action group. So I made a dummy action group that does nothing. Why can this simple not be a dumb device?

Re: [ANSWERED](Virtual) Devices.

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:42 am
by marceltrapman
@Seeker +1

Re: Virtual On/Off Device

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 4:14 pm
by jay (support)
Virtual On/Off Devices are meant to implement a simple parallel to a non-dimmable light switch (or appliance module). Therefore, it has a single "on state" represented by ON and OFF (not by any other values such as home/away) and controllable by the standard UI's that Indigo presents. If you don't want to use the standard Indigo controls to operate the device (the UIs and turn on/turn off/toggle actions) then this is not the right device for you (in fact the first sentence in the docs regarding those devices explains it well: "people who want to create a device that can be turned ON and OFF").

What you're looking for I think is some kind of custom device which has custom states (and custom values for those states) and some way to set those states. That is a completely different kind of device because it's a completely different use-case. Creating such a device, while possible, is a pretty big task to get right. It's not currently on our radar but I'll add a request to our list for future consideration.

I think I'd just create a variable for each phone and manage the values as necessary.

[MODERATOR NOTE] Split from another topic since the originating topic was about Device Groups (not Virtual On/Off Devices) and moved to the right forum.

Re: Virtual On/Off Device

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:30 pm
by ckeyes888
Seeker wrote:
Back to virtual devices, why do you HAVE TO associate them with an action group? Why not have them able to be dumb toggle devices, like controllable variables? I want a dumb virtual device to represent my phone's home/away status. I set up a virtual device but was forced to associate it with an on and off action group. So I made a dummy action group that does nothing. Why can this simple not be a dumb device?


I use a plugin called Meta Device that does just that...creates a simple on/off device that does nothing.

Carl

Re: Virtual On/Off Device

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:50 am
by jay (support)
Or, for something that simple just use a variable.