HS3 Pushover Plugin

[travisdh]

I have taken a look at the Pushover client API and it is quite good, there is a HTTPS Post / Get requirement to get the Secret key for a user, and to register a device and download messages, but they provide a websocket server which sends simple commands to prompt when a new message has been received and needs to be downloaded.

If this is something that could be incorporated into the plugin I think it would be amazing, then HS3 could actually trigger events based on messages being received, we could trigger based on priority, title, message information, URL, Regex among other things.

If you are able to add this as a feature, and need any help don't hesitate to yell, I have only played with the cURL parts so far .

[Automated]

Some of my clients are on a different API key than the default/main users. In HS2, you added a provision that in the ini file I could specify a different API key for some users if needed. Could you please add this to the HS3 version, or is it already there?

[kideon]

That is correct, I would like to receive pushover alerts into homeseer and trigger events and scripts based on their content, priority etc.

[mrhappy]

I have taken a look at the Pushover client API and it is quite good, there is a HTTPS Post / Get requirement to get the Secret key for a user, and to register a device and download messages, but they provide a websocket server which sends simple commands to prompt when a new message has been received and needs to be downloaded.

If this is something that could be incorporated into the plugin I think it would be amazing, then HS3 could actually trigger events based on messages being received, we could trigger based on priority, title, message information, URL, Regex among other things.

If you are able to add this as a feature, and need any help don't hesitate to yell, I have only played with the cURL parts so far .

I get a bit confused at this, I am not averse to adding new features but I don't know what this one will really get unless you have some other Pushover server dishing out messages from somewhere. Is that something people actually have? It looks basically like you can develop your own client application if you so want - nice but I don't think that this really is something for a HS plugin is it? The HS plugin is just sending the messages to the servers to then send them onto a client.

I could see a stand alone app being useful to sit in the system tray and pop up a notification window when Pushover messages come in but that also is something I see little point in because you could just send messages to an open TCP socket (does one of Jon00's tools not do this?) and have a client.

If I have missed something glaringly obvious that is not going to be surprising so you are going to have to spell it out to me if that is the case.

Basically I think I am saying is why would you be sending messages from Pushover to HS - the other way around of course is the main function of the plugin.

[Automated]

Some of my clients are on a different API key than the default/main users. In HS2, you added a provision that in the ini file I could specify a different API key for some users if needed. Could you please add this to the HS3 version, or is it already there?

MrHappy, did you see this?

[mrhappy]

MrHappy, did you see this?

I was just in the process of replying...you should still be able to do this in the ini file if you so want however a couple of posts up I said about this in the plugin. I only ever intended for it to be used as one application (on pushover) with one API key. Then from there you could have multiple devices under one application or a delivery group. I did not foresee the option of multiple applications with multiple users and I think that from instinct this will be difficult to keep a track of but I might check whether I can do it.

If changing the API key in the ini file works (it should work exactly the same as HS2) on the fly then you can use it but I know that is not a particularly elegant solution.

[rileydogmi]

I don't use the plugin (yet) but I would definitely use it if I could reply back to HS to execute an event.

For example, if house is empty and security is not on, push notify me this situation and ask me if I want to activate the security system. Then, I can push back the phrase "turn on security" and HS would execute the turn on security event - then, I would be pushed notify that the security system is now set.

To make it easy, the phrase should match a named event in homeseer (or I suppose a script name)...

As a bonus, if I text back something that doesn't exist in HS (the event is not found), then HS could push back "Huh? Not understood" or something to the like...

And, as a big bonus, the ability to pass parameters - for example if I have a script for turn off the lights, then I might have when (time in minutes) as a parameter - So I push back "Turn off lights 10" would mean turn off the lights in 10 minutes (10 is passed as a parameter to the script) -- it isn't that this plugin is doing all this, it is just shoveling data to an existing event/script...

Very exciting stuff!

[mrhappy]

I think that is the problem, Pushover is in the main one way (save for the fact HS can know when you have acknowledged an emergency message or one has expired), you send it a message and that is it, there is no ability to reply. I think our very own Travis has been asking for this here http://www.reddit.com/r/pushover/com...notifications/

What I think you are more along the lines of is something like an SMS plugin (of which there are some already available), I did this many years ago with a SMS API from a web service (no hardware needed but there was a cost per message) and could send an SMS to the HS web server, it made an attempt to process the reply ("Heating 17" changed the set point for the thermostat, "Event xxxx" executed a named event) and then replied if good/bad and did what is required.

What would be more ideal would be something like a Facebook/Whatsapp type (I know API's exist for both) contact that was in fact your HS server and you could talk to it live time, I don't think that is going to be easy unfortunately. I would say that your best bet with something like that would be HSTouch, you could have a screen that had a text message input box, you send HS your instructions, it does what it can with them and then replies in a text element. It is not an out of the box solution but the easiest in terms of HS interaction.

If Pushover do implement the reception of messages then I will look at what I can do however I have my doubts that they will.

[rileydogmi]

Thanks - but doesn't the "new" API allow this function to happen?

https://pushover.net/api/client

The API (in beta) adds the ability to login and read messages. I am not a fan of going the SMS route since that would mean I would need a data plan and other equipment to achieve this (not to mention my HS server is in a steel room in the basement - thus, no cell signal). And, I don't like the app route - I use a VPN to communicate remotely - I would need to login to the VPN, load the touch app - go to where I want, execute, leave, logout VPN... Very time consuming and difficult to maintain. And, email is cumbersome - slow, less predictable, more work.

Anyhow, just a thought and thought I would add my $0.02

[travisdh]

Yeah, so the new API does allow user clients to 'receive' messages as well which is the feature I was most interested in.

The way that it works, is after a (new) open desktop device is registered it provides the client with a deviceID which gets stored. The client then connects using the device ID and a secret key (which is a one time lookup) and their websocket server sends one of three characters, one signifies keepalive, the other signifies a new message has arrived, and the final one signifies please reconnect.

When the websocket server sends the command for a new message, the user client then connects using a URL get call, which provides the message information, the client then does another call which deletes the message, and acknowledges it if an emergency message etc.

All of this is being done against the pushover servers, so the user does not need to have any of their own servers or anything like that.


The reason i think this would be a great feature, is that it would allow HS to act on messages received through the pushover server for that device ID, for example lets say you have a mail server on your network, if it goes down a pushover monitoring service might pick it up and send a message to your HS3 server, that determines the internet is up (so the message is recieved) and then restarts your mail server. That is just one of many options, but the important thing is that it would actually be reacting to pushover messages, rather than just specifically sending them.

[travisdh]

I think that is the problem, Pushover is in the main one way (save for the fact HS can know when you have acknowledged an emergency message or one has expired), you send it a message and that is it, there is no ability to reply. I think our very own Travis has been asking for this here http://www.reddit.com/r/pushover/com...notifications/

What I think you are more along the lines of is something like an SMS plugin (of which there are some already available), I did this many years ago with a SMS API from a web service (no hardware needed but there was a cost per message) and could send an SMS to the HS web server, it made an attempt to process the reply ("Heating 17" changed the set point for the thermostat, "Event xxxx" executed a named event) and then replied if good/bad and did what is required.

What would be more ideal would be something like a Facebook/Whatsapp type (I know API's exist for both) contact that was in fact your HS server and you could talk to it live time, I don't think that is going to be easy unfortunately. I would say that your best bet with something like that would be HSTouch, you could have a screen that had a text message input box, you send HS your instructions, it does what it can with them and then replies in a text element. It is not an out of the box solution but the easiest in terms of HS interaction.

If Pushover do implement the reception of messages then I will look at what I can do however I have my doubts that they will.

In my case, i was not so much after direct 2 way communication (e.g. full duplex) , but just the ability for the HS3 server to 'monitor' my pushover communications. In my system the intent would not be for a pushover message to be recieved then to have the app send another one but rather to 'watch' the messages and when certain messages come through (since you could create a group with your HS3 server, and phone for example) to trigger an event accordingly. It does look like the open beta would allow this quite easily

This would in essence become a bridge between various apps which may not have direct HS3 support (through url calls and so on) but the HS3 server could record / log infomation of use, like server monitoring: http://www.phpservermonitor.org/

[Automated]

I was just in the process of replying...you should still be able to do this in the ini file if you so want however a couple of posts up I said about this in the plugin. I only ever intended for it to be used as one application (on pushover) with one API key. Then from there you could have multiple devices under one application or a delivery group. I did not foresee the option of multiple applications with multiple users and I think that from instinct this will be difficult to keep a track of but I might check whether I can do it.

If changing the API key in the ini file works (it should work exactly the same as HS2) on the fly then you can use it but I know that is not a particularly elegant solution.

I checked, and it doesn't appear possible, because the ini format has changed. Before, there were sections like [Client1], [Client2], and etc. Now there is a single [Clients] section, so each entry under that is for a client, and no place to put a different application key.

[mrhappy]

I checked, and it doesn't appear possible, because the ini format has changed. Before, there were sections like [Client1], [Client2], and etc. Now there is a single [Clients] section, so each entry under that is for a client, and no place to put a different application key.

I'll take a look at this tomorrow compared with hs2, I didn't think there was any change here with ref to the api key. As I wrote the hs2 one on the hoof so to speak with no real planning I know I ended up confused in places. Unfortunately if this is the case then the more I think about it the more I think I can't really now add an event action to specify an api because people may have hundreds of events already set up to send messages and I run the risk of breaking existing events.

The best I could suggest would be to perhaps look at a script to send the messages instead of the plugin.

[kideon]

I would use this as a way to send pushover messages from IFTTT. It may be a moot point since Homeseer is working on getting IFTTT integration

[mrhappy]

Thanks - but doesn't the "new" API allow this function to happen?

https://pushover.net/api/client

The API (in beta) adds the ability to login and read messages. I am not a fan of going the SMS route since that would mean I would need a data plan and other equipment to achieve this (not to mention my HS server is in a steel room in the basement - thus, no cell signal). And, I don't like the app route - I use a VPN to communicate remotely - I would need to login to the VPN, load the touch app - go to where I want, execute, leave, logout VPN... Very time consuming and difficult to maintain. And, email is cumbersome - slow, less predictable, more work.

Anyhow, just a thought and thought I would add my $0.02

yep I agree it allows you to look at and download the messages but they would have to be coming from somewhere else. You cannot send pushover messages from the clients on your devices, it is feasible that you do indeed have other applications sending you pushover messages that you may want to see in his which I will cover in the below post.