Groups vs virtual items?

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
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1

I’ve been trying groups but having issues probably because the items are not the same type (Color, Switch) but all I know is it’s not working well. I’m thinking of just using virtual items instead and having a rule control them. It’s a little more setup work but it seems it’s more flexible since you can then include any item in the group and have additional logic. Has anyone else done this?

2

Not sure what your use case and what your problems are, too little info here.
Having said that, if you search the forum you will find ways where you can develop rules that may work on group members with individual actions if you query the item type (object type) and then decide on a an appropriate action to be performed.
Right now my imagination is a little bit stumped by why you would want to group color and switch and what exactly the common command/feature/state is that you would like to apply to all.
For example, you can group whatever you want if you would like to present them as a group item in the sitemap, but if you want to exercise actions or do anything with their state, things quickly may get more complicated.

3

Hue lights are color, normal light switches are, switches. I want an LivingLights group but when I change the value of a Hue light the group value becomes undef. It seems one of my motion sensors is Contact while the others are switches and I get weird values (decimal) for the groups when values change. I also want a MudroomActivity group that contains door and motion sensors.

Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF) gLightsAll      "All Lights"
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF) gLightsLiving   "Living Room Lights" (gLightsAll)
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF) gLightsKitchen  "Kitchen Lights" (gLightsAll)

Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF) gMotionAll  "All Motion Sensors"
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF) gMotionMudroom "Mudroom Motion Sensors" (gMotionAll)

Group:Contact:OR(OPEN,CLOSED)  gDoorSensorAll "All Door Sensors"
4

Not sure I fully follow, but that may be my lack of understanding.
Hue lights can be mapped to up to 6 different channels http://docs.openhab.org/addons/bindings/hue/readme.html
Not all channels have the same input. Did you see the various posts on how to address members groups through rules?
maybe that post may help, especially on how to deal with different items in a group:
Configurable scenarios
and here another one focusing more on similar items in a group, but definitely one of my favourite posts:
Design Pattern: Working with Groups in Rules
hope this helps

5

Thanks, I think it’s actually a bug.

I broke it down to two normal switches this morning and I was getting the same result. I guess I’ll go the virtual switch route for now and watch this bug.