Events not states? How to handle double click?

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Hi,

I’m looking for some home automation gear and considering a whole load of things. Which brings me here

Reading the docs, looking at rules, etc. it appears they are more based on status of items (inputs, sensors, etc) rather than events.

To elaborate, let’s look at lighting. A pimatic rule appears to be something like:

“IF some-light-swtich is on THEN output-light-relay-lounge = on”

I’m curious as to how double pressing (and other non on/off mechanisms) for inputs are meant to work with this? Eg, what’s the pimatic way to control a lounge light from two different switches:

“IF click-switch-by-lounge THEN output-light-relay-lounge = toggle”
“IF click-switch-by-hall THEN output-light-relay-lounge = toggle”

Or to have an ‘all off’

“IF triple-click-switch-by-front-door THEN turn-everything-off-and-close-shutters”

Thanks

@Rob_in
I think double pressing a button does not differ from one click. So your action would be executed twice

In the then Part of a rule actions can be concatenated with an and
This way you can create an all-off button

edit:
eg
if ... then switch lamp1 off and switch lamp2 off and switch lamp3 off

“IF click-switch-by-lounge THEN output-light-relay-lounge = toggle”
“IF click-switch-by-hall THEN output-light-relay-lounge = toggle”

should work in general (syntax isn’t sufficient)

I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear about the state versus event. When a momentary switch is pressed it’s state changes from off to on, to back off again. That’s completely different to a single ‘click’ or ‘press’ event.

When you say a double click will simply execute an action twice… well… I’m confused based on the definition of what a click is versus reacting to changing status.

If one can recognise a click and seeing it twice simply repeats an action that’s also a problem. One would usually want a double click, triple click or long press to do something completely different to a simple, standard press and release.

I’m sure this is a very common use case. Are there any examples of using momentary switches somewhere?

If you can hardwire the momentary switch to your pi, it shoudldn’t be a problem.
Question is if detecting the multiple clicks should be in Pimatic or in a script.

Scripting would be easy : count the clicks within xx ms and trigger a rule in Pimatic after that. Detecting in Pimatic would require some rule(s) with a variable and adding a count to the variable eacht time there is a click.

In short : yes it could be done. Long : it would require some scripting skills and the ability to wire to the Pi.

A total other option would be adding a Arduino or ESP local to the momentary switch and let that device count the clicks. After that, send the result to Pimatic.

@koffienl said:

A total other option would be adding a Arduino or ESP local to the momentary switch and let that device count the clicks. After that, send the result to Pimatic.

Sorry, but to ask again, how exactly does one send an event to Pimatic rather than have it use rules based on states?

@Rob_in said:

@koffienl said:

A total other option would be adding a Arduino or ESP local to the momentary switch and let that device count the clicks. After that, send the result to Pimatic.

Sorry, but to ask again, how exactly does one send an event to Pimatic rather than have it use rules based on states?

With current Pimatic and plugins : you can’t.
For this you should create a plugin that counts clicks within a certain timeframe and make the outcome available to the framework. That;s why I suggested testing with variables and rules to create a proof of concept.

@koffienl said:

For this you should create a plugin that counts clicks within a certain timeframe and make the outcome available to the framework. That;s why I suggested testing with variables and rules to create a proof of concept.

Any clues as to where to start? Plugins that do similar things?

Not that I’m aware off.
I wouldtake the following approach:

Create a python script with interrupt on the pin. Count the clicks wihtin a maximum timeframe. Send the counted clicks to pimatic variable with API command. Let Pimatic do it’s thing with rules based on the number in the variable. After processing the rule, reset variable to zero.

Another idea:

Handle it all in the python script. The rule can be executed via API as well (you can trigger the then … part)

Python? Yerch!

Surely it would be better to handle things as a Pimatic module?

I’m considering the UniPi device which spits out Websocket messages for state changes if that alters any opinions.

@Rob_in said:

UniPi

Such a big board for just detecting a few clicks?

I really think there are 3 options:

• Create something with scripting
• Create your own plugin
• Wait until it’s supported in Pimatic or a plugin

With a little effort and scripting technology you would be able to get this working withing a day

A double click could be detected by a Pimatic rule I think, not sure though if it is usable for you.

You need different rules:
if click and variable-click is 0 then set variable-click to 1 and set variable-click to 0 after 2 seconds

if click and variable-click is 1 then all-off

so now if you switch twice it will switch all lights off

probably not the nicest way but works

@koffienl said:

Such a big board for just detecting a few clicks?

To be fair, that board has plenty of opto-isolated inputs and relay outputs (for driving 240v loads), a 1-Wire bus & RTC. I’d be glad to hear about anything that provides opto-isolation for Pi GPIO that doesn’t involve soldering if someone knows.

I’m more than happy to play with a Pimatic plugin but just need a few pointers as to where to start is all.