Pilot: Home Automation Control (iOS app)

[patoo77]

I will immediately demand my boss to get me iphone6

Hell yeah! And the watch!

[Steven84]

Patrick,

Security panel works like a charm. Would it be possible for the future to not return to the overview after switch the alarm in to a status.
I'am thinking of putting a phone on the wall en user it as a security panel. But when i enter the code i go back to the overview.

[hjvingen]

Alarm panel shows status not correctly.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk

This has to do with the translation, the dutch text are much longer.
When I switch my phone to English the layout is OK.

To solve this we need a shorter dutch translation or change the layout (move ARM HOME up or down)

[Steven84]

Why translate? Just arm home etc


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk

[patoo77]

Why translate? Just arm home etc

Yeah, that's exactly what I ended up doing

[Bikey]

** EDIT ** I may have found the reason (of regular polling form Pilot): I was using the Pilot widget, I guess that is doing the polling if you open the iPhone homescreen?
Have removed the widget, see what happens.

That should be the notification center widget, yup please let me know if it gets better now!

I can confirm that removing the widget stopped the polling. I guess this is better for battery life and use of my mobile data.

I'am not the developer of this app, maybe he will implement x509 but it's also not native supported by Domoticz.

Soon you will be able to use the reverse proxy server my.domoticz.com directly within Pilot. Lots of stuff to be done on the mydomoticz service first, but that would definitely be the easiest way to connnect to your Domoticz server from the outside, and securely.

I think not everybody will like to use my.domoticz.com, as it is another "man in the middle" and not so secure as solutions using VPN or client certificates.

Therefore I would really love it if Pilot would also implement x509 support as that is really a secure way to protect your home-network from the risks of the Internet. Is this something you consider to implement?

[patoo77]

** EDIT ** I may have found the reason (of regular polling form Pilot): I was using the Pilot widget, I guess that is doing the polling if you open the iPhone homescreen?
Have removed the widget, see what happens.

That should be the notification center widget, yup please let me know if it gets better now!

I can confirm that removing the widget stopped the polling. I guess this is better for battery life and use of my mobile data.

I'am not the developer of this app, maybe he will implement x509 but it's also not native supported by Domoticz.

Soon you will be able to use the reverse proxy server my.domoticz.com directly within Pilot. Lots of stuff to be done on the mydomoticz service first, but that would definitely be the easiest way to connnect to your Domoticz server from the outside, and securely.

I think not everybody will like to use my.domoticz.com, as it is another "man in the middle" and not so secure as solutions using VPN or client certificates.

Therefore I would really love it if Pilot would also implement x509 support as that is really a secure way to protect your home-network from the risks of the Internet. Is this something you consider to implement?

You shouldn't be too worried about your mobile data. Data used by Pilot is very low.
I can have a look at x509. Can't promise anything though.

[Bikey]

Some feedback on the latest beta: the swipe control to switch a lamp on or really works nice. Nice change in last update is that it is now easier to distinguish between setting a lamp on at 100% or setting it on with the previous dimming level.

There is only one dimming behaviour with the swipe control that is implemented quite unintuitive:

I understand the idea that swiping to the right is increasing the dim level and to the left decreasing.

The problem with this is that if the lamp is off and for example you want switch the lamp on at 50%. Now sometimes you have swipe to the left and sometimes to the right, depending of the previous set level, if it was respectively greater or smaller then 50%. So you first have to look at the % in the circle and then figure out to which side you should slide. Very cumbersome and against consequent design conventions.

So please, change the behaviour so that the sliding to the right always sets the dimming level using the full scale from 0 - 100%. Remove the dimming action when sliding to the left, only use this to switch the lamp off.

[patoo77]

Some feedback on the latest beta: the swipe control to switch a lamp on or really works nice. Nice change in last update is that it is now easier to distinguish between setting a lamp on at 100% or setting it on with the previous dimming level.

There is only one dimming behaviour with the swipe control that is implemented quite unintuitive:

I understand the idea that swiping to the right is increasing the dim level and to the left decreasing.

The problem with this is that if the lamp is off and for example you want switch the lamp on at 50%. Now sometimes you have swipe to the left and sometimes to the right, depending of the previous set level, if it was respectively greater or smaller then 50%. So you first have to look at the % in the circle and then figure out to which side you should slide. Very cumbersome and against consequent design conventions.

So please, change the behaviour so that the sliding to the right always sets the dimming level using the full scale from 0 - 100%. Remove the dimming action when sliding to the left, only use this to switch the lamp off.

Bikey,

Thanks for this feedback!
Some people prefer absolute swipe (the way its implement in the current 1.6 release), some others prefer the relative swipe (the way its implemented in the 1.7 beta).

Since the slider is already an absolute control (the one that appears after tapping a cell), I decided to make the swipe control relative. I will keep it that way, see how people react to this change.

@dannybloe: any thoughts?

[dannybloe]

The problem with this is that if the lamp is off and for example you want switch the lamp on at 50%. Now sometimes you have swipe to the left and sometimes to the right, depending of the previous set level, if it was respectively greater or smaller then 50%. So you first have to look at the % in the circle and then figure out to which side you should slide. Very cumbersome and against consequent design conventions.

I agree that this is a problem.

So please, change the behaviour so that the sliding to the right always sets the dimming level using the full scale from 0 - 100%. Remove the dimming action when sliding to the left, only use this to switch the lamp off.

I don't agree with your proposal. You throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think there is an easy and better solution to this particular problem:

When the device is off, swiping is always absolute: you always start at 0 or at 100 (depending on the direction) and when you release it, the device is turned on at the release level. When the device is on, swiping is always relative.

If, however, when the device is off and you want to turn it on at the previous dimming level, you click on the device and press 'Turn on'.

[dannybloe]

The good thing about beta versions is that you can try some patterns. And maybe it requires some fine tuning or ditching ideas completely. But, when done well, you end up with a better UI.

I think that already (apart from this fine tuning) this beta is already so much better than the current release. Good work Patrick! I am more and more using Pilot over the web interface.

[patoo77]

What dannybloe is suggesting would work well if Domoticz knew for sure what the current state of the device was.
But that's not always the case.

If the device is ON but Domoticz shows it as being OFF, it doesn't make sense anymore in my opinion.

Yup, throw all your ideas, thats what betas are for

[Bikey]

When the device is off, swiping is always absolute: you always start at 0 or at 100 (depending on the direction) and when you release it, the device is turned on at the release level. When the device is on, swiping is always relative.

Ok, that could work!

If, however, when the device is off and you want to turn it on at the previous dimming level, you click on the device and press 'Turn on'.

No, that works great as it is now: if you slide fully to the right - way past the 100% - it switches the lamp on at the previous dimming level. Please don't change that, it should not be needed to tap two times to switch a lamp on!

[dannybloe]

If the device is ON but Domoticz shows it as being OFF, it doesn't make sense anymore in my opinion.

Why would this be any different then? Pilot would believe it is OFF (Domoticz is the only holding the truth even when it is wrong) so all you can do is assume it is OFF and you make swiping absolute. But what happens when the next upstream update comes in? Will the device be ON? Or will it still be OFF? In either case... I don't see if that makes it any different. If Pilot thinks it is ON, the user also thinks it is ON (that's what he sees in the app, right?) so when he starts swiping he is increasing or decreasing. And if Pilot thinks it is OFF, it would be absolute: turn it on to a specific level.

Now, the funny part is when Pilot says it is ON but the user is literally sitting the dark . Pilot presents relative swiping, the user wants light so he swipes to the right. The device will be turned ON probably with a higher level that it was previously. Well... so be it. You can always open the device panel and press the buttons in that case and use the traditional slider.

Or get some money and get zwave device who report the level properly (eh... mostly ).

[dannybloe]

No, that works great as it is now: if you slide fully to the right - way past the 100% - it switches the lamp on at the previous dimming level. Please don't change that, it should not be needed to tap two times to switch a lamp on!

Oh yeah, forgot about that. There goes the consistency . So, at one point you want to turn on the device at a specific level, other than the previous one. So I suggest absolute swiping. But then you say: oh, but 100% is not 100%, no, it is the previous level. Now wouldn't that be confusing? What if the previous level was 5% and I want to turn on the light at 100%? I would swipe all the way to the right only to see the lights come up at ... 5%.

[dannybloe]

Let's extend this a bit further then....

Device is OFF (5%), you swipe to the right to 100%, you see 100% in the slider, you release, you get 100%
Device is OFF (5%), you swipe to the right to 100% and .. even further, 100% is replaced by ON, you release, you get 5%.

Is this confusing? Perhaps not because you see the percentage while you are swiping and you release at the level that satisfies you need (either 100% or ON).

I also thought that maybe, you could just double tab on a device to quickly toggle the state. Still indirect so no accidentals (yelling wives coz the bedroom light was suddenly turned on at 100% while she wanted to go to bed early while we are still playing around with Domoticz) but you don't mix sliding/dimming with toggling.

[dannybloe]

Let's extend this a bit further then....

Device is OFF (5%), you swipe to the right to 100%, you see 100% in the slider, you release, you get 100%
Device is OFF (5%), you swipe to the right to 100% and .. even further, 100% is replaced by ON, you release, you get 5%.

Is this confusing? Perhaps not because you see the percentage while you are swiping and you release at the level that satisfies you need (either 100% or ON).

Oh crap.. it is already working like this
Never mind.. I agree.. that part works well as it is now. It's getting late here, LOL

[Bikey]

Please look at the current implementation if then lamp is currently off at e.g. 5% you can swipe to the right and set it on in one swipe at any % between 5 and 100%. Or swipe it fully to the right and see the icon change from 100% to "On" and just setting the lamp on at the previous level. It should always work like that. Absolute dimming is best!

[Bikey]

Ah, our answers crossed. It looks like we agree

[dannybloe]

Absolute dimming is best!

Yes, but for me, only when it is off