Homebridge: This isn't sufficiently documented

[SamusAranX]

I just got a bunch of colorful LED strips and wanted to give them the HomeKit treatment with a bit of help from this guide, but halfway through I noticed it was absolute garbage, because it doesn't explain anything. Then I went here and found out that the readme doesn't, either.

My code looks pretty much like the one from the guide. After 8 hours of trying not to hurl my Raspberry Pi into the sun, my energy is pretty much gone, so I haven't been able to refactor that mess into something pretty yet.

Homebridge's output when moving the fancy sliders of Apple's Home app around is basically this:

[5/21/2017, 9:29:46 AM] [Farblicht] setPowerState() successfully set to ON
[5/21/2017, 9:29:47 AM] [Farblicht] setPowerState() successfully set to OFF
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] Caching Hue as 0 ...
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] _setRGB converting H:0 S:NaN B:100 to RGB:ffNaNNaN ...
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] Caching Saturation as 100 ...
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] _setRGB converting H:0 S:100 B:100 to RGB:ff0000 ...
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] _setRGB converting H:0 S:100 B:100 to RGB:ff0000 ...
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] ... _setRGB() successfully set to #ffNaNNaN
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] setPowerState() successfully set to ON
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] ... _setRGB() successfully set to #ff0000
[5/21/2017, 9:30:05 AM] [Farblicht] ... _setRGB() successfully set to #ff0000
[5/21/2017, 9:30:16 AM] [Farblicht] brightness is currently at NaN %
[5/21/2017, 9:30:16 AM] [Farblicht] ... hue is currently NaN
[5/21/2017, 9:30:16 AM] [Farblicht] power is currently OFF
[5/21/2017, 9:30:16 AM] [Farblicht] ... saturation is currently NaN
[5/21/2017, 9:30:30 AM] [Farblicht] power is currently OFF

I can set colors, but brightness, hue, and all the other fancy options seem to be completely unsupported.

Needless to say, this is unusable. Please provide documentation on what can go into an accessory object in config.json and what parameters and responses Homebridge expects. I suggest doing something like shairport-sync with its config file: Just list everything, put detailed descriptions behind everything and comment out the bits that aren't absolutely critical.

Just please, please don't make me read code to figure out how something works.

Thanks for your consideration.

[SamusAranX]

Just for clarity, I should perhaps add that I'm writing a Flask application that runs on a Raspberry Pi and, when the right URLs are called, interacts with the attached LED strips.

My config.json looks like this:

{
    "bridge": {
        "name": "AmbiencePi",
        "username": "CC:22:3D:E3:CE:32",
        "port": 51826,
        "pin": "031-45-155"
    },
    "description": "Homebridge",
    "accessories": [
        {
            "accessory": "HTTP-RGB",
            "name": "Farblicht",

            "switch": {
                "status": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/status",
                "powerOn": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/on",
                "powerOff": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/off"
            },

            "brightness": {
                "status": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/brightness",
                "url": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/brightness/%s"
            },

            "color": {
                "status": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/set",
                "url": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mote/api/v1.0/set/%s",
                "brightness": true
            }
        }
    ],
    "platforms": []
}

The brightness part is just a guess, based on scripts by other people, but it's not even working.

I'll need that documentation to get anywhere with this.

[gbougakov]

You need a plugin to control them. I suggest homebridge-better-http-rgb

[nicholas-ochoa]

Instead of submitting an issue with an entitled "I want this so you need to do it" attitude, perhaps something more constructive? You realize this is an open source hobby project right? Feel free to submit a pull request with some documentation if you feel so inclined.

[SamusAranX]

@GeorgeBgk Got it, thanks!

@rage8885 I won't even dignify that with a full answer.

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