I'm lost on plugins for EISY

[tporada]

I'm drawing a blank on using them. I do have the Bluetooth loaded (via UD Mobile) and in my tree - I'm drawing a blank on what to do with it.

I looked for YouTube videos and could not find any nor could I find any documentation with any detail.

Help would be appreciated.

Using V5.9.1.

Thanks

[Guy Lavoie]

Plugins are used with the controller itself, to extend functionality and add new features. They're not specifically related to UD Mobile. For example the Hue plugin will allow you to control Philips Hue bulbs, they will appear as devices you can then control.

Ask a more specific question.

[tporada]

I get that the plugIns are used to add functionality and that is why I would like to play around with them.

I'm not into coding, least of all Python or other languages. I looked a bit into the HUE plugin documentation and turned away not understanding any of it but i get the concept.

Do you have an example of how to implement a very simple free plugin, perhaps the BlueTooth service, that you can share?

I sure could use a "PlugIns for Dummies". I learned a lot in the last with the ISY cookbook but I haven't found anything for PlugIns.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[Geddy]

43 minutes ago, tporada said:

I sure could use a "PlugIns for Dummies". I learned a lot in the last with the ISY cookbook but I haven't found anything for PlugIns.

Indeed there's kind of a blackhole for Plugin information. Each one behaves different at times (in my experience). The trick is reading the "more info" link on the plugin you are considering. And don't sweat "coding". There's generally nothing needed as deep as that. All you've got to do is setup a few things in the plugins for them to work. There's nothing to code...that's what the plugin developer does for you.

Since you mentioned the Hue plugin maybe I can help you just a little bit there...It's one that I run, but I don't do a lot with it (trust me....very basic). For the Hue plugin you install it through the PG3x web interface (found at http://eisy.local:3000 - or replace "eisy.local" with the IP address for your eisy). The login for PG3x is the same as getting into admin console.

• Go to the plugin store,
• Find a plugin you want to install (in this case Hue),
• click "install",
• select a slot to install,
• PG3x will install and pop up an alert on the lower right that the plugin was installed

Next go into the PG3x dashboard. You should now see the Hue plugin listed. It's probably showing "disconnected" or some error. Click on "details". There might be a blue bar on the screen telling you to push the button on the Hue Hub (doing this from memory because it's been a while since I set this up. Go and press the button on the top of the Hue Hub and give it a few seconds/minutes to communicate with the plugin. Once the plugin seems stable then you might need to restart the plugin. Just hit "restart" when you're looking at the details page.

Once the plugin has restarted it should fill in some "Nodes" for your Hue devices. You should see some "Node Names" and below that the name for the Hue device (bulb or other).

Now open Admin Console and you should see a "Hue" in the device tree. Right click that and you can "Group Devices" and that should put all the Hue devices into that tree listing in IoX. Like this:

There you go! You've just installed and setup your Hue plugin. Do know that the Hue plugin hasn't really been updated recently, but it works for me (and others). Some have had difficulty setting it up (see the Hue area in the forums for that discussion). It works and is a simple free version that allows you to incorporate the automation in the ISY world rather than the "simple"/basic (but functional) automation within the Hue app. 

Now...what do you want to do with it? Well, I use the Ring plugin and my Hue plugin to turn lights on when the (Ring) doorbell rings. Here's my simple program:

~Door-Ring - [ID 0058][Parent 0052]

If
        '~NodeServers / ~Ring / ~Fr_door' is switched Ding
 
Then
        Set '~NodeServers / ~Hue / Couch' On
        Wait  5 minutes 
        Set '~NodeServers / ~Hue / Couch' Off
         
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

There's unlimited possibilities for what people can do with plugins. The trick is trying to figure out what you want to do then just sorting out the best way to achieve that.

I just wanted a way to visually alert anybody inside the house that the doorbell was pressed. I have different programs for if it's rung in the middle of the night and also have a trigger on a different Ring unit (flood light cam) if it's triggered in the middle of the night. 

 

I haven't used the Bluetooth plugin yet so I can't help with that one. But I know there was a lot of discussion about it somewhere...it looks like kind of limited discussion in that part of the forums though: https://forum.universal-devices.com/forum/441-bluetooth/. I recall @Techman seemed to do a good bit with that plugin. Maybe start a thread in the Bluetooth area asking about use and setup if you need/want specific help with that plugin.