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Thread: Home Control App URL schemes?

  1. #1
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    Home Control App URL schemes?

    I couldn't find any documentation if the Home Control App supports URL schemes... Does it? If not, is this something that could be added. I think it would be very useful.

    URL schemes work like this. You enter a URL (in safari, or with an app like Launch Center or IFTTT), and it opens an app and does things within that app. So, you could have an URL like this: HomeControl://activateScene?name=Home or HomeControl://activateDimmer?name=outdoor&value=75. Basically its a way to activate a specific scene or light from outside the app.

    Use cases I'm imagining would involve using the IFTTT app on my phone to automatically activate a scene when I arrive home or when I leave. By using URL schemes the IFTTT app is essentially able to tell the Home Control app to activate a particular scene.

    Thanks
    -Ray

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  3. #2
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    That would be great if this was possible.

  4. #3
    Authorized Lutron Contributor
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    You can launch Lutron Home Control+ from another iOS app using the URL "LutronHomeControl:"

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Craig W. View Post
    You can launch Lutron Home Control+ from another iOS app using the URL "LutronHomeControl:"
    That's a start, but does the app have support for triggering any specific commands (scenes, loads, etc)? That's where the magic happens.

  6. #5
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    That would be great and HomeKit support (see other threads) for the same purpose.

  7. #6
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    Most apps don't provide the capabilty to add paremeters to the url schema used to launch their app and I don't know what benefit it would have in regard to Lutron's except to open to a specific room or keypad to control. If you could pass in a command to turn on a specific light or scene you'd most likey want to immediately exit the Lutron app as soon as it opened since the desired task was complete. Better off just interfacing directly wiht the processor and not opening lutron's app at all unless you want to do something else.
    VAV
    Danbury, CT

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by vining View Post
    Most apps don't provide the capabilty to add paremeters to the url schema used to launch their app and I don't know what benefit it would have in regard to Lutron's except to open to a specific room or keypad to control. If you could pass in a command to turn on a specific light or scene you'd most likey want to immediately exit the Lutron app as soon as it opened since the desired task was complete. Better off just interfacing directly wiht the processor and not opening lutron's app at all unless you want to do something else.
    The benefit would be that other programs on your phone could activate lighting scenes. For example, when I arrive home, my phone knows that, and can trigger a welcome home lighting scene. All this can happen with the phone just sitting in my pocket and me not having to do anything.

    I do not follow the second part of your post. Other than through the Lutron app, how could my phone interface directly with the main repeater?

  9. #8
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    The url schema doesn't actually allow you to control apps from outside of the target app but instead launches the app with a few additional parameters to act upon once open.

    I get what you want to do but typically that's done through security system integration, by door contacts, motions or armin/disarming and then they trigger relays to lutron io's or direct serial or ip comms. I don't have smart phone so I don't know how it determines where it is and how it control that logic. Does it use gps or the home wi-fi to determine it's home and then what happens when it falls asleep and then awakes would the home event trigger again? Where would you create the conditional logic to ensure this happens just once. Much easier through security system integration tehn if armed and door opens, turn lights on, if no subsequent disarm then flash, etc. What you want to do could be possible if lutron supported additional paramters but does the iphone logic control when home is triggered and does it trigger each time it wakes, I don't know and don't have one to test.

    To control lutron directly you'd need a 3rd party integration device and app but there may be some apps that could communicate directly over ip but I don't know anything other than some telnet apps and thos aren't convenient or practical for what you want. There are doszens of 3rd party integration products that can do what you want and allow you the conditional programming capabilites to make it work in a way that makes sense and won't trigger "home" in the middle of the night when you wake up your phone to check for messages or surfing.
    VAV
    Danbury, CT

  10. #9
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    Software to do location tracking on the iphone is pretty sophisticated. A lot of it is built into the OS, and it uses a combination of GPS, wifi, and I believe even cell towers to roughly track location while using very little battery power. I have been experimenting with two apps that work very well together to accomplish this. IFTTT (IF This Then That) is a web service (and now iPhone app) that basically acts as a middleman to trigger things based on various events. It has hooks into lots of web services, and the iPhone app can trigger events based on location. LaunchCenterPro is another app that can trigger actions based on location, a schedule, etc... The logic built into these apps is very solid, I have seen no false triggers or duplicate triggers.

    Beyond this, things like iBeacons could also be used to trigger actions from an iphone or other smartphone.

    The application I'm thinking of using this is pretty simple. I have a roller shade over my back door and I'd like it to automatically open when I get home, since I enter the home through the back door. Right now I take my phone out of my pocket, unlock it, open the Lutron app, and hit the shade toggle button on the keypad that I have set as my favorite. It works fine, but I think it would be even nicer if this could happen automatically.

    I know there are other ways to do this, like a long range RFID reader/tag in my car that closes a contact on a VCRX, but I figure since I carry a sophisticated computer in my pocket every day I might as well take advantage of it. I suppose if I ever get a more sophisticated automation system running on top of RadioRa2 (like CQC), then the phone could probably communicate with CQC, but that seems like a little bit of overkill.

  11. #10
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    I know I'm a bit of a broken record on this, but I DO believe that if Lutron implements HomeKit, Apple's infrastructure could make this easy.

    What I think could be possible is a geofence that will fire a command to the Lutron app. This could work just like reminders, i.e. Siri, when I get home please open the Back Door Shades.

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