I wish to build several scene tiles in a page.
Can more than 1 light be grouped under a single tile?
Can a group of lights be turned ON simultaneously with a tap on a single tile?
When a tile is tapped ON, can the associated group of lights be turned ON to a preset 80% brightness without having to manually adjust the brightness?
Can the tile show brightness percentage when tapped ON (as illustrated below)?
Appreciate your kind advice. Thanks.
Hi Bill. Thanks for responding to my queries.
For 1 & 2 scenarios, am I right to say I can always use THR Designer to group several lighting devices into/under 1 single tile action? I don’t necessarily need to use the default Philips Hue App to generate groupings/group tile correct?
For scenario 3, I might have a “scene tile” or “group tile” (don’t know which term to use here) example named as “Arrived Home”. When triggered, it will send multiple actions to turn ON a combination of lights - e.g. downlights at 80% brightness, while lightstrips and spotlights at 100% brightness. Now, as you can see, different light devices are turned ON at DIFFERENT brightness percentages. Would this be possible? Of course if this is possible, I wouldn’t want to show the brightness % status on the triggered tile then.
Pardon me for the long messages. I don’t know how best to describe in a shorter way! Thanks in advance Bill!
You are correct. However I do think a Hue group does have extra benefits. If you have a Hue system, definitely give it shot.
Yes. That is possible. The actions for your scene are however you wish to define them. You’ll have to choose a brightness to display on your SceneTile.xaml file. The default tile template for a Scene does not show any status. My recommendation would be to just pick a light & add a label for it to the tile.
Hi Bill. Aren’t the LightTile.xaml and DimmerTile.xaml files stored in the Templates folder in Explorer on the left? Why you say on the bottom right corner?
Yes. Those are the files. The Label on the bottom right is the Level percentage.
Bill. Again, thanks for answering. I think I am struggling quite a bit with the Designer. Can you point me to instructions readily available on this platform on how to add multiple tile.xaml tile into a single page? And also how to create a dashboard from zero, particularly for lightings control. Thanks.
Start with the apps. Add your devices to the apps, create a Backup, then open that file with the Designer. The apps will give you a working project that you can easily edit with the Designer. Attached is a SettingsReset.hrp file so you can revert the apps back to default settings in case you’ve already loaded something.
SettingsReset.hrp (1.3 KB)
I created a backup and load it in the Designer. However, I was not able to see any working pages (containing the tiles) except for the MainPage.xaml file which contains nothing. The tiles only shows when playing through simulation.
Locate the device you wish to edit in the Devices folder to see what templates were assigned to it. Then open that file in the Templates folder. Those are the files being used to control your device.
How do I modify or create the main page then? I thought I can change the position, size, general aesthetics of the main page.
I mean how do I get to this page but an editable one which I can make modification to the general dashboard UI design?
The default MainPage shows your Groups. You can rearrange your groups in the Groups folder.
If you don’t like Tiles, then you can create an entirely custom XAML page. Add a MenuItem for it to MainPage.xaml.
You can hide Group Tiles by setting IsGroupsVisible to False in MainPage.xaml.
Here are some How-To videos that can help you create non-tile based layouts.
