[Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Discussions about Z-Way software and Z-Wave technology in general
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Aegis »

Thanks for the detailed description. the ZWay API has numerous quirks and I believe the issue of hidden devices showing up should be fairly easy to fix. I'll look into it right away :)

I am also looking into adding support for remote access. I don't use it myself as I don't really trust it but perhaps I'll change my mind once I learn more about how it actually works and how credentials are handled.

When you say "mobile presence device", what do you mean exactly?

Thanks again!
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Alpha test

Post by Aegis »

Provo wrote:
02 Jan 2018 08:37
Could there perhaps be something fishy with the logic checking for "permanently_hidden" and "visibility", and possibly some other parameter like "deviceType"?
I ignore devices where visibility is set to false now. New update being published as I'm typing this ;)
Provo
Posts: 112
Joined: 19 Oct 2016 19:54

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Provo »

Aegis wrote:
02 Jan 2018 14:40
When you say "mobile presence device", what do you mean exactly?
By the looks of it, the Z-Way module part of your solution is forked from the official mobile app support module. The official one makes a test device for notifications and a presence device for each associated mobile phone. The latter doesn't seem to be functional, as it always has the status of "LOCAL". My guess is that it is intended to shift between "LOCAL" and e.g. "REMOTE" depending on whether the phone is on the same local network as Z-Way, but from skimming the module code, this part looks like it's not yet implemented – unless the phone app is supposed to "force update" the status of this vdev through the API and it just doesn't work for me.

As your code is a fork of this, your module also instantiates these two virtual devices, and the presence one seems equally non-functional. As this would be a nice feature, I was curious as to whether you had any plans to implement this in the foreseeable future. :)

As for the handling of credentials on remote access, I don't know which details you're thinking about, but at least it's encrypted through SSL, so that part is safe.
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Aegis »

Ah, gotcha. Your assumptions are correct. Since Habitat doesnt yet support remote access I havent gotten around to implement the shifting between local and remote states. :)

Also, fyi, once Habitat is out of beta I intend to migrate my codebase to Github.
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Aegis »

Btw, would you appreciate the option to show hidden devices in the app or would you reckon that always hiding them is what makes the most sense?
Provo
Posts: 112
Joined: 19 Oct 2016 19:54

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Provo »

Aegis wrote:
02 Jan 2018 15:06
I ignore devices where visibility is set to false now. New update being published as I'm typing this ;)
You will also want to ignore devices which have "permanently_hidden" set to true. Devices that are deactivated have this, while their "visibility" parameter could still be set to true. Deactivated devices are both hidden in the normal UI, and unusable in apps.
Aegis wrote:
02 Jan 2018 17:14
Btw, would you appreciate the option to show hidden devices in the app or would you reckon that always hiding them is what makes the most sense?
Personally I don't think I would use this feature, but others might find it useful, I don't know. But if you go for this, I suggest that even with "show hidden devices" set, it should still ignore the deactivated ones (the ones with "permanently_hidden" set to true).
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Aegis »

Provo wrote:
04 Jan 2018 08:26
Aegis wrote:
02 Jan 2018 15:06
I ignore devices where visibility is set to false now. New update being published as I'm typing this ;)
You will also want to ignore devices which have "permanently_hidden" set to true. Devices that are deactivated have this, while their "visibility" parameter could still be set to true. Deactivated devices are both hidden in the normal UI, and unusable in apps.
Aegis wrote:
02 Jan 2018 17:14
Btw, would you appreciate the option to show hidden devices in the app or would you reckon that always hiding them is what makes the most sense?
Personally I don't think I would use this feature, but others might find it useful, I don't know. But if you go for this, I suggest that even with "show hidden devices" set, it should still ignore the deactivated ones (the ones with "permanently_hidden" set to true).

Thanks for great feedback. I'll handle

Code: Select all

permanently_hidden
devices right away! I'll happily take any other ideas and suggestions you might have :)
fez
Posts: 147
Joined: 20 Jul 2015 23:03

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by fez »

I tried different methods (browser, old app, new app, this app) but all of them have some flaws.
Here are the ones I observed until now:
- elements generated by Forecast.io Weather App are not displayed (but this is no major issue since you embedded the weather info on top of the home)
- the UI element generated by the Heating Control App is not displayed/controls are not available
- custom icons are not imported
- in landscape mode the weather information takes almost half of the screen. on the remaining portion the elements/text size is small, disproportional
- there is no full-screen option
I really like that there is no remote connection. I just want a local status monitor on a tablet.
This is great work so far, I just wanted to point out the above points to make it even better for my use case: using it as a status display on a tablet in landscape mode.
Thanks.
Last edited by fez on 06 Jan 2018 12:18, edited 1 time in total.
Aegis
Posts: 37
Joined: 04 Jan 2017 22:26

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by Aegis »

Great feedback fez. I'll look into it.

- I will be updating the UI to be more compatible with both tablets and landscape orientations. The dashboard will be the first to be updated.
- I havent really considered a full screen option but I see your use case.
- Support for custom icons are on my to-do list and will hopefully be included in the next update.
- I have no experience with the "Heating Control App" so please feel free to elaborate on this issue.

Thanks again! :)
fez
Posts: 147
Joined: 20 Jul 2015 23:03

Re: [Android] Habitat - Open Beta test

Post by fez »

The Heating Control App generates a more complex UI element. Looks like this.
There are 4 controls buttons embedded and "rooms" button popping up an extra window with additional controls.
The icon (color) is changed depending on the current settings.

The new z.wave.me app displays it, but there the control buttons are also missing.
From this point of view I liked the old a z-wave.me app, because it displayed the same html content as through browser (but login is not properly done in the background, is slow, etc) .
I guess it's not easy to get this right.
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