[SOLVED] Handle Philips Hue dimmer switch events?

Add-ons Bindings
, ,
1

I would like to write a rule that reacts to events of a Philips Hue dimmer switch as outlined in the binding documentation:

rule "example trigger rule"
when
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered <EVENT>
then
   ...
end

But I cannot find any working example out there so I guess I would have to write one rule per possible event (= 16 in total) or one rule with all of the triggers like this

rule "rule with all events"
when
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered 1000 or
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered 1001 or
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered 1002 or
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered 1003 ...

to catch all events. According to the Channel-based Triggers documentation you can leave out the <EVENT> in my first example. But how can I find out what event triggered the rule so it can react to it (e.g. within a switch statement)? There seems to be no implicit variable to do something like this:

rule "my event handling"
when
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered
then
   logInfo("DimmerTest", "Dimmer switch event " + triggeredEvent + " was triggered")
   Switch(triggeredEvent.state) {
    case 1001:
    ...
    }
end

How can I achieve this? Or is there another best practice?

1 Like
2

Link an item to the Channel
My guess is that it’s a Number channel but I could be wrong:

Item file:

Number Hue_Dimmer_Event { channel="hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" }

Use the item as a trigger for the rule:

rule "rule with all events"
when
    Item Hue_Dimmer_Event changed
then
    ...
end
3

That sounds good. I will try that! Thank you!

4

Can you check if receivedEvent is working for you? Like this:

rule "my event handling"
when
   Channel "hue:0820:dimmer-switch:dimmer_switch_event" triggered
then
    logInfo("DimmerTest", "Dimmer switch event {} was triggered", receivedEvent)
    switch(receivedEvent.getEvent()) {
        case "1001": {
            ...
        }
    }
end
2 Likes
5

Just used this! Works for me! :slight_smile:

Although for some reason, my events all appear with a .0 at the end so I have to call them like that in my rules.

rule "Kitchen Dimmer"
when
   Channel "hue:0820:Southgate1:32:dimmer_switch_event" triggered
then
    logInfo("KitchenDimmer", "{}", receivedEvent)
    switch(receivedEvent.getEvent()) {
        case "1000.0": {
            AllKitchenLights_dummy.sendCommand("ON")
        }
       ...
    }
end
6

Great. Thanks for raising this topic. I used the opportunity to add it to the docs.

7

Thank you for the suggestion! Unfortunately, this did not work, neither with Number nor with String as type.

8

Yes, it works! Perfect!

I got my channel definition slightly different to work (I guess this is equivalent):

rule "MyHueDimmer event handling"
when
    Channel "hue:0820:<BRIDGEID>:MyHueDimmer:dimmer_switch_event" triggered
then
    logInfo("DimmerTest", "receivedEvent=" + receivedEvent)
    switch(receivedEvent.getEvent()) {
        case "1000.0": {
            ...
        }
       ...
    }
end

You are welcome! Many thanks for your excellent idea, Christoph!

9

Sounds good. I am happy that it is working for you.

10

After upgrading openhab to 2.5.0.M1 this does not always work

1 Like
11

Same for me after milestone.

12

Looks like we’re stuck with the problem too.

13

Same problem here. Any ideas?

14

Welcome to the openHAB community, @yulian! :grinning:

Unfortunately not. I am currently on milestone 2.5.0~M3-1 and it still does not work anymore. Every now and then an exception is thrown saying ‘getEvent’ is not a member of ... but the receivedEvent.getEvent() generally fails to do what it successfully did before.

15

Ok,
in last consequence i downgraded from 2.5.0~M3 back to 2.4.0.
Now the Dimmer Switch works as expected (like before) but the openhab2 system reacts slower.
But for me it’s better have a slightly slower system than have switches that didn’t work reliable.
The sadness is that i saw these problem on posts from late 2017 and nothing is going forward.
So i’ll stick on 2.4.0.

Anyway, many thanks for your answer!