There is a lot of institutional knowledge here on the forum and in the docs, but I just spent a couple of days updating a couple of my widgets, and I’ve been struggling. I’ve read through parts of a bunch of tutorials and documents and looked at many forum postings and looked at examples, but I sti…

Make sure to talk about those mysterious props somewhere :wink:

I like this outline a lot. [image] ErikDB: Make sure to talk about those mysterious props somewhere :wink: Widget Props is listed under 1.3. In the mean time, what do you find mysterious about props. Defining them? Using them?

[image] rlkoshak: [image] ErikDB: Make sure to talk about those mysterious props somewhere :wink: Widget Props is listed under 1.3. Oops. Reading too fast is a sin, but I keep falling into that trap, it seems… [image] rlkoshak: In the mean time, what do you find mysterious about p…

[image] ErikDB: Both. But I haven’t got a clear case at the moment, so no example to give, I’m afraid. Because it might inform the tutorial we are talking about on this thread, I can provide a bit of explanation. When creating a widget (or a rule template) you have a choice. Do I make this s…

[image] rlkoshak: Sadly, what I don’t know is when and why I’d want to use a propertyGroup. I think the groups are for layout only, so that properties are grouped under a heading with a name on the dialog where you fill them in. If I remember correctly, groups are ignored unless all propertie…

[image] Nadahar: I think the groups are for layout only, That’s kind of what I thought. I never experimented with them though. Most of the time I try to limit the number of properties. But maybe that’s a way to hide some properties behind the “show advanced” checkbox. That could be useful for…

[image] rlkoshak: I never experimented with them though. I think I’ve used them somewhere, probably on a widget. edit: Yes, it’s used here for example: [Color Bands Gauge Widget 3.1.0.0;6.0.0.0) - Add-on Marketplace / UI Widgets - openHAB Community edit2: That’s actually parameterGroups, n…

I can’t actually find anything about propertyGroup, but if you meant parameterGroup, I found this description: bundles/org.openhab.core.config.core/src/main/java/org/openhab/core/config/core/ConfigDescription.java 1a61dc02f * The {@link ConfigDescriptionParamet…

[image] Nadahar: I can’t actually find anything about propertyGroup, but if you meant parameterGroup, I found this description: That is what I meant. When you start a new widget in the Widget builder it prepopulates with a skeleton YAML which includes a parameterGroups section. props: para…

[image] rlkoshak: Sadly that comment in the code doesn’t really tell my much from and end user’s perspective. But I think I’ve enough info to experiment a bit and lear some more. If you look at the widget I linked to, it’s in use - and you can see both how I’ve used it and how it looks in the…

OH 5: MainUI Widgets Best Practices

Setup, Configuration and Use Widgets

JustinG (JustinG) November 16, 2025, 6:40pm 53

Tutorial 1 is now up:

I consider this very much a living document at the moment because it surely needs paring down and further clarification in some areas, so don’t be afraid to let me know where I missed the mark.