Messages

1

Member Contributions / BlueDroid, an Android app for controlling a BlueSpray system

« on: August 07, 2016, 05:35:18 pm »

I've uploaded the first, very early, version of the app to GitHub, at https://github.com/divegeek/BlueDroid. I'll eventually put it in the Play Store, but not until it's a little more generally usable.

Right now, all it does is:

• Tell you if the garage door is open or closed, and since when
• Allow you to open or close the garage

Also, the IP address of the controller is hard-coded, so you can't use it unless you download the code, modify the address to the value of your controller, then build and install. This is actually pretty easy to do, even for a non-programmer, but obviously the app isn't ready for general usage.

My next step is to get it working through the account-based API hosted on www.bluespray.net, so you can enter your username and password into the app and then control your door from anywhere you have Internet connectivity.

After that I'll start adding more features. This is very much an "in my copious (ha!) spare time" project, so progress will come in fits and starts. Contributions are very welcome.

2

General Discussion / Anyone want an Android app?

« on: August 03, 2016, 10:11:33 am »

I've started putting together an Android app to control my BlueSpray controller. My plan is to publish the source code on Github, as well as to publish the app itself through Google Play.

If you're interested in an Android app, what would you like to see it do? I don't think there's any value in reimplementing the entire BlueSpray UI feature set; the web UI works fine for configuring programs and schedules. Mostly what I want in an Android app is quick access to manual overrides.

My initial focus is on the garage door control. So far I have an app with one big button, that allows me to open and close my garage door from my phone. I'm going to enhance that a little so that it shows the door status (open/closed and for how long) and allows me to change the auto-close time, mostly so I can "lock it open" for a period of time, while keeping the normal auto-close interval fairly short.

With regard to sprinklers, I'm planning to build controls that allow me to manually run one zone or a program, and controls that allow me to pause and resume the normal programs.

What else might be of interest? Keep in mind that if what you want isn't sufficiently interesting to me, I'll probably say "that's a good idea, why don't you do it?". That's the open source way :-)

Finally, here's something anyone can do to help: Can you suggest a name for the app? I can't use BlueSpray in the name; it's trademarked and the company isn't interested in giving me permission to use it. That's fine, but it means I need another name.