Request to extend Pimatic core with a new Device and actions to send generic commands

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So I just thought about a generic device which would be interesting to have.

A device that supports sending commands to it, like for instance a telnet connection or serial port connection. Other devices could than extend this device, like a SerialPortDevice, a IRDevice or a TelnetDevice

The supported action for rules would look like:

when <something> then send "<command>" to <device>

Currently there are different devices who already implement this kind of behavior, these plugins would benefit from a more generic approach:
Pushbullet
Mail
LIRC
Kodi

Ok, I just developed the needed ActionProvider and ActionHandler I had in mind. This would give every Device which has a sendCommand method a rule like

when <something> then send "<command>" to <device>

or

when <something> then send command "<command>" to <device>

  _ = require 'lodash'
  M = env.matcher

  class SendCommandActionProvider extends env.actions.ActionProvider
    constructor: (@framework) ->

    parseAction: (input, context) =>
      # Get all devices which have a send method
      sendDevices = _(@framework.deviceManager.devices).values().filter(
        (device) => device.hasAction('sendCommand')
      ).value()

      device = null
      command = null
      match = null

      # Match action
      # send "<command>" to <device>
      m = M(input, context)
        .match('send ')
        .match('command ', optional: yes)
        .matchStringWithVars((m, _command) ->
          m.match(' to ')
            .matchDevice(sendDevices, (m, _device) ->
              device = _device
              command = _command
              match =  m.getFullMatch()
            )
        )

      # Does the action match with our syntax?
      if match?
        assert device?
        assert command?
        assert typeof match is "string"
        return {
          token: match
          nextInput: input.substring match.length
          actionHandler: new SendCommandActionHandler @framework, device, command
        }
      return null

  class SendCommandActionHandler extends env.actions.ActionHandler
    constructor: (@framework, @device, @command) ->

    executeAction: (simulate) ->
      return (
        @framework.variableManager.evaluateStringExpression(@command).then((command) =>
          if simulate
            Promise.resolve __('would send command %s to %s', command, @device.name)
          else
            @device.sendCommand command
            Promise.resolve __('sended command %s to %s', command, @device.name)
          )
      )

I’m now working on a SerialDevice to send commands over the serial interface to a device I have which will use these ActionProvider and ActionHandler

Ok, I have now successfully created a SerialDevice, however I need to send binary data, would it be possible to include hex data in the command string in a generic way? Any ideas how to solve this?

@rrooggiieerr How about stringified Hex? , For example, "0x7f8b3456"

Regarding your request for a new Device type, I guess this should rather be a mix-in to add the action to given device type.

Yes, ok, of course I could use hex, but is there default functionality in Pimatic? Like the matchStringWithVars handles variables in the string

What do you mean with mix-in?

Thinking a bit longer about it, I don’t think a new Device should be needed, but the SendCommandActionProvider and SendCommandActionHandler are a very generic solution and something I think is very reusable in other devices

Yes, I would very much welcome that. I could also use these handlers in my AVR plugins.