Hi Adrian! You helped me also a lot with your app and with the pairing problem. When reading this topic again a few month later I had an idea, that may come in handy.
Probably this problem won’t get easier over time, so why not embrace that fact and handle it with a little les ambitious goal. Indeed it would be nice, to have a unique fitting set of icons and images for every product, but that turned out to be rather impossible.
Let me give a short recognizable example:
The problem shows similarities with the pairing of TV-remote controls and settop-boxes. A scenario with many brands and many different products with their own capabillities. So in that scenario the brands came up with “installing-code-lists”.
So when you try to pair your remote (so you can control both you settopbox and the tv), they let you press a standard set of buttons (e.g. the blue-knob and ok-knob for 5 secs, to enter the programming mode and than a 3-digit number with represents the most common combination for that brand. (a bit like this list: https://www.caiway.nl/klantenservice/televisie-en-radio/tv-codes).
After that you are asked to test if it is the right code, by turning your tv on and off, check if volume and channel up and down works and than you are a good to go. If the tv doesn’t turn on again, there is a "“code list”, with a few or tens of alternative codes that are most likely to help you getting the connection to work.
Now back to the Somfy Connection Kit and the different models of blinds, roller shutters etc. that we are trying to connect with homey.
Why not make a more general set of icons and images for the basic functions and tell users in advance (managing expectations) that the the basic needs will work and maybe also some extra features.
- opening the product
- closing the product
- stop the moving of a product at some point
- tilting or swivelling the product
Than create a evolving list (e.g. at start of this topic) together with this community and other owners of Homey in combination with their shutter/blinds.
That lists show various brandnames (Velux, Somfy, Duux etc).
Under each name the most common way (API) to pair it with Homey2023 / Homey 2019 / Bridge.
So when you have a certain device from Somfy (e.g. “Situo 1 Io Pure II”, or “Sonnenschutz Terrasse” and it turns out it can be paired with selecting “Awning / Pergola (io)” than that would be the best practice.
To avoid confusion, the API which is most suitable (in this example “Awning / Pergola (io)”, should be renamed as for example “method 1”
And for that “Method 1” you program only the basic features mentioned before.
As the dev-op, YOU know that API “Awning / Pergola (io)” matches “method 1”, and that info could be put in a seperate file for co-developers. For users that just want to pair their new shutter with Homey, clicking on “method 1” will be enough.
When a specific device like “schuifpui links” turns out to get paired by selecting "Velux interior blind (io)”, than that will be the method for that model, and could be renamed “method 2”
Now we can all send in our best practices, by pointing out:
- which brand+productname is succesfully paired
- with what type of Homey
- and the working name of the several given names in the app of that brand.
You couple the succesvol API to an existing “method” or create a new one and add it to the list
of that brand.
Maybe this will be a way to tackle this problem.
