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    HS4 ActionTiles Alternatives

    When we were on HS3 there were many options to get a nice wall panel interface to HS without the extensive work using HSTouch. Now it seems that most of those tools (ImperiHome, HSMetro etc.) have either been abandoned or sunsetted. Now I can bite the bullet and try to invest time into HSTouch again, but it seems that product has aged as well. The icons, graphic and controls are dated and the only alternative is to hunt the Internet for updated graphics and dedicate the time to making them work. I tried using HomeSeer Mobile, but it also has it's share of bugs (missing dashboard controls, no fullscreen options, etc).

    SmartThings users are blessed with tools such as ActionTiles which pulls in all of your devices and builds controls automatically without any major development. Couple that with Fully Kiosk Brower and you have a modern wall panel solution for your smart home.

    My question is, what are the modern alternatives to ActionTiles for HS4 users so we can build our wall panels to look like this:

    Click image for larger version

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    #2
    ...following....

    I think the goal of HSMobile was to also support tablets. I interested in seeing what folks are doing with their tablets.
    HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
    54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
    Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

    HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

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      #3
      I have seen some similar dashboards using Node Red, but that will require some setup and is not graphical. There is also the UI contrib for Node Red. The biggest thing is that I would not expect much input here since the HomeSeer/Node Red interface is relatively new.
      Karl S
      HS4Pro on Windows 10
      1070 Devices
      56 Z-Wave Nodes
      104 Events
      HSTouch Clients: 3 Android, 1 iOS
      Google Home: 3 Mini units, 1 Pair Audios, 2 Displays

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        #4
        I spent some time exploring the possibility of using UI "cards" in Home Assistant but gave up due to the constant "breaking changes" in Home Assistant. My thought was to use mcsMQTT to send MQTT messages from HS to HA and visa versa. I agree that HSTouch needs some love, and Rich has said it will get it now that HS4 is released.

        Fingers crossed,
        Ken
        "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

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          #5
          Fingers crossed as well. My goal is to hopefully have something like this setup all over my house.
          The addition of Fully Kiosk Browser adds things like gestures and motion sensing. Very modern!

          Click image for larger version

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            #6
            I'm about to get a Raspberry PI and set up Homeassistant to get the web based interface for tablets

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              #7
              Subscribed. kideon I'll be interested to hear if your experience is better than mine. I spent about two months messing with just the UI stuff and it seemed like every release broken something.
              "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

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                #8
                I'm not aware of an HS4 alternative that looks exactly like ActionTiles, but until such a tool exists you might want to consider HSBuddy. I had also struggled a bit with HSTouch in the past. HSBuddy is much more intuitive, and you can create a dashboard that provides very good functionality quite quickly.

                https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hl=en_US&gl=US
                http://hsbuddy.avglabs.net/index.html

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                  #9
                  Not sure HSBuddy is a good alternative as it has stopped updates in July and the developer has not been active for almost two months. There was another more generic HSTouch alternative mentioned in another thread that seems powerful but quite a learning curve (can't remember the name). After watching a couple of tutorials I quickly came to the conclusion that HST would be easier to learn. There are a few tutorials (not from Homeseer) that show how to do most of the feature you would typically want, here is one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b01...ature=emb_logo) The colors and icons shown are dated but there are loads of free icons for whatever your style. I was intimidated by HST but after playing with a test page and all the features I wanted, it is easier and more powerful than anything else I can find.

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                    #10
                    I've seen HSBuddy as well. It's more closer to HomeSeer Mobile than anything else. Not really the full screen tablet interface as ActionTiles. Another few that looked good was WallPanel and Home Habit, but of course, no support for HomeSeer, only Home Assistant, OpenHAB etc. Why can't we have nice things???

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                      #11
                      I wouldn't discount HSBuddy just because there hasn't been an update for a while. If that where the case, HSTouch should be ignored since it hasn't been updated in the last year and a half. BTW, I have several tablets around the house running HSTouch.

                      That being said, I took a look at WallPanel, and it doesn't seem like it's specific to Home Assistant. Yes, the examples are but that's just cause the developer uses HA. I passed over HomeHabit for now since it's a paid app.

                      To answer your question, the way we get nice things if for everyone who can to help develop and share those things. I'm going to see what would be involved in recreating one of my HSTouch layouts in WallPanel.

                      EDIT: Sireone - It turns out WallPanel is nothing more than a fancy kiosk browser with MQTT hooks to report status of the tablet hardware devices and to also control tablet behavior, such as display brightness. We still need a good content "generator" such as Jon00's web page builder package. I wonder if we could convince him to create a tile display version of his builder?
                      "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

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                        #12
                        Gran an iPad and use HomeKit as your Dashboard ?

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by kenm View Post
                          ...If that where the case, HSTouch should be ignored since it hasn't been updated in the last year and a half...
                          That's fine, but the HomeSeer devs should at least update the graphics/icons available in HSTouch to MATCH what they're using in HS4 to give it a fighting chance! Even Home Assistant is using modern FREE open source graphics from Google & materialdesignicons.com. Why can't HomeSeer do the same to stay relevant, especially since we're paying for it?

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Sireone View Post

                            That's fine, but the HomeSeer devs should at least update the graphics/icons available in HSTouch to MATCH what they're using in HS4 to give it a fighting chance! Even Home Assistant is using modern FREE open source graphics from Google & materialdesignicons.com. Why can't HomeSeer do the same to stay relevant, especially since we're paying for it?
                            Totally agree. HSTouch needs some love in many ways. Hopefully soon.

                            mik3 - Without native Homekit support, HS users rely on Homebridge + the HS4 add-on. We do use Homekit + Homebridge on our phones but as a dashboard, it's not very configurable when compared to other UIs.
                            "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

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                              #15
                              I wouldn't bank on homekit support anyitme soon. homebridge is a viable alternative. It should be noted that the dashboards you create in homekit are shared when you invite others to use it.

                              Of note it's been announced that HS touch/designer is getting updated. however it is in planning/outline stages so don't expect it anytime soon.
                              HS4 Pro on Shuttle NC10U, Win10; Z-NET
                              Number of Devices: 1005
                              Number of Events: 293

                              Plug-Ins: BLLock, DirecTv, EasyTrigger, Honeywell WiFi Thermostat, Marquis monoprice Amp, MeiHarmonyHub, PHLocation2, Pushover 3P, UltraM1G3, rnbWeather, Worx Landroid, Z-Wave

                              External applications: Homebridge-homeseer, Geofency, EgiGeoZone.

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