Blinking HUE lights (new feature for your projects)

Hello everyone,

If you're kind of like me, you'll never be satisfied with the basic implementations of your systems.

So today, I've decided to explore the Philips HUE official API.

I know that bOS has already implemented HUE control, but I wanted to use some cool features that are kind of hidden on normal apps: blinking lights!

The purpose of this implementation, is using Philips HUE blinking lights for multi purposes, like blinking when someone rings the door, etc.

You can rely on IFTTT to do that, using the WebHooks, but if you're like me, prefer to keep the most on local network and don't depend on external services.

In this example, what you'll get:

- Access Philips HUE API to create a username key

- Extract the username key

- Create a HTTP device on bOS

- Create a command to send the blinking command to Philips HUE hub

Suggestions: access your Philips HUE app, disable DHCP, and place a fixed IP address on your network so you can point to the correct IP address every time.

Step 1:

- Access the Philips HUE IP address

https://hub_address/debug/clip.html

- Create a username key

URL: /api

Message Body: {"devicetype":"comfortclick#dev"}

Click on the hub link button (the top round button on the hub with Philips written on it)

Click on POST

- Extract the username:

Copy the given username to a safe place, you'll need it for every command.

On my implementation, I want to blink all the lights on a specific light group, so I'll fetch the group number.

Step 2:

- Get the group ID's

URL: https://hub_address/api/your_username/groups

Message Body: leave the message body empty

Click on GET

In my case, the light group I want is ID 1

- Test the communication

URL: https://hub_address/api/your_username/groups/1/action

Message Body: {"alert": "select"}

Click on PUT

If it blinks once, perfect. Now you're ready to move to bOS.

There's two available commands for blinking: just once, or several. Depending on what you want, you'll have to change the Message Body for the correct code:

{"alert": "select"} will cause a short blink
{"alert": "lselect"} will cause several seconds of blinking

If you need to blink several times, you'll need to use {"alert": "lselect"} on the Message Body.

Step 3:

- Create HTTP device on BOS

Enable the HTTP device

Host URL: https://hub_address/api/your_username/groups/1/action

Create a Command, call it "Blink HUE"

Change the command method type to PUT

On Put Data, insert: {"alert": "lselect"}

That's it! Use the command as you want on your project.

On my case, I have the hue blinking when someone rings at my door.

If you want to explore other possibilites, please read the Philips HUE API, available for free. You can do the same on single lights, etc.

I'll post the example on the Examples Page of Comfortclick.

Btw, don't forget to at least say thanks! Most of us here, are either professionals or simple home users. I notice that most of the times someone posts something interesting, no one really cares. So don't just use the examples and don't pretend that you don't care. A simple "Thanks" is more than enough. Don't forget that every example posted here is not paid, it mostly depends on the time and patience of some members.

Happy easter.

Best regards