Designer Difficult to Use with HomeSeer HS4

Feature Requests
#1

I’ve started building a new dashboard for my HomeSeer HS4 system and I’m having a lot of trouble with binding to the correct device. HS4 uses a parent/child device relationship (also called Root/Feature) but Designer doesn’t show the parent device name in the device binding list.

For example, I have 4x smart plugs in the same room named Back Office. They are called Plug1, Plug2, Plug3, and Plug4. These are “Root” devices. They each have a Feature called Switch. In the Designer device list and in the bindings list these appear as BackOfficeSwitch, BackOfficeSwitch1, BackOfficeSwitch2, and BackOfficeSwitch3. It would be great if they were BackOfficePlug1Switch, BackOfficePlug2Switch. BackOfficePlug3Switch, and BackOfficePlug4Switch. In other words, the Parent/Root name should be included in the device name.

Also, Location2 isn’t used in Designer device naming but it’s an integral part of my HS4 device naming convention.

Thanks,
Ken

#2

I have not yet got to interfacing Home Remote with Homeseer, but in Homeseer you can rename the child devices to whatever you want. Have you tried that to see if the new name will be picked up by Home Remote?

#3

I have tried renaming the child devices, which is a PITA, but Home Remote doesn’t pick up the name change. I assume I need to use ‘Synchronize Devices’ for this or is there some other method to refresh the device list?

#4

I do not know since I still have not got to Homeseer integration, but “Synchronize Devices” is a good guess, and what I would be first trying.

1 Like
#5

Synchronize Devices is will generate new device objects for items that don’t currently exist in your Home Remote config. It will also update the Capabilities on existing device objects in case they may have changed. It will not update the device Names or DisplayNames on existing objects. This function assumes that you may have edited the name in Home Remote so it doesn’t want to overwrite any changes you’ve made.

#6

Hi Bill,

I think David and I muddied the waters on the real issue. The real issue is with the original naming of the devices. for ‘child’ devices, the parent name is not being included in device name in Home Remote but I think it needs to be. This is critical to making the device name unique within HR. It would also be great to add an option to include Location2 to the device name as well.

Based, on your explanation, I found that I could delete a device from Home Remote and that it would come back with the updated name after a Synchronize Devices.

Thanks,
Ken

#7

The device name generation the Home Remote is using for HomeSeer already includes 3 different fields when building that string: Name, Location1, Location2. Now you want to include a 4th field:)? I don’t know:) I’m probably going to leave that alone.

The routine I currently have written was optimized over the years for the various HomeSeer integrators I’ve worked closely with. I don’t know that I really want to change that at this point. Everyone has a different standard of naming. One of the reasons the app doesn’t sync names is because of this.

#8

Thanks for getting back with me. I don’t see Location2 being used in the device naming. I only see Location and Name. The device naming routine seems to have been developed for HS3 prior to HST updating the device model. In HS3, every device was a standalone device. Now, in HS4, devices are either a parent or a child. A parent can have many child devices, but of course, a child can only have one parent. The confusing part is, for backward compatibility, HS4 still supports standalone devices.

I understand your position of not wanting to change the naming routine, but I also feel it should support the latest HS4 device model.

Thanks,
Ken

#9

Location2 is part of the naming function. The function only includes it if it is needed to provided a unique name. For example, if you have 2 devices named “Lights” that both have a Location1 value of “Kitchen”, then Location2 will be included. In this example, say Location2 for 1 of the devices is Upstairs & another is Downstairs, The name would be UpstairsKitchenLights. If you don’t have 2 Kitchens, then Location2 isn’t really needed. These names can sometimes get quite long. That’s why it’s only used when it’s needed to provide a unique name.