Android tablet - remote control

sl4m · December 27, 2021, 5:53pm

Hello all,
I plan to use an old android tablet as an user interface for openhab in the living room. Currently I am running openhab 3.1. Therefore, I would want to use the “new” mainUI.
My question is if there is a way to remote control (display on/off, brightness, refresh page) the display via openhab?

Also it would be cool to have something like a darker standby screen with current weather information and news. MainUI should than be displayed if the user is pressing the screen. Is it possible to change the mainUI page to a standby page after xy minutes of inactivity?

Best regards and thank you!

sl4m · December 27, 2021, 6:58pm

I think the Fully Kisok Browser for Android devices should work according to this thread:

Is this still the best way?
Are there alternatives which someone can recommand?

rpwong · December 27, 2021, 7:37pm

HabPanelViewer can be configured to point to any URL you want, so you can use it with MainUI. You can also configure items for HPV and then use rules to control its behaviour.

HPV is discussed pretty extensively in the community, so I suggest reading its documentation and doing some searches to answer your questions.

github.com

vbier/habpanelviewer/blob/master/app/src/main/assets/help.md

# <a name="top">HABPanelViewer (HPV)</a>

HABPanelViewer is an Android home screen application visualizing HABPanel, a dedicated UI of openHAB.

Its functionality can mainly be divided into three categories: 
- [controlling the device](#control) in reaction to openHAB item state changes
- [reporting values](#reporting) to openHAB
- [usability features](#usability) making it easier to use HABPanel on a tablet

If you want to see which permissions are needed by HPV, check the [permissions description](#permissions).

## <a name="configuration"/>Configuration

**The following preferences need to be configured for the initial operation of HPV.**

### openHAB URL
This is the base URL of your openHAB instance and is required for the integrations (e.g Command Item, Sensor Reporting, Connected Indicator). If this URL is not configured, these integration options will not function.

This URL can be automatically discovered using mDNS if the device is on the same subnet as your openHAB instance by clicking the "Discover Server" button in the "openHAB URL" preferences.  If it cannot be discovered or you wish to manually enter it, an example for this base URL would be:

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sl4m · December 28, 2021, 9:01am

Thank you. Didnt know that it can also be used for the mainUI. I will give it a try! However I think the drawback is that no “screensaver” page can be displayed or? Full kiosk browser can switch to a screensaver URL after some idle time

rpwong · December 28, 2021, 8:42pm

It’s kind of right there in the documentation.

You would need a way to get it back to the start page when you pick it up. I suspect that could be done with sensors. I’d just have the screen turn off to save power, but that’s me.