Android Dash Board Browser with Motion Detection and MQTT

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1

Hi,
HADashboard 2 motivated me to stick an Android tablet to the wall. Only problem is the standard browsers are missing some features. So i wrote an app to display a full screen website and switch on the screen when the front camera detects motion.
Since i was on it i also added MQTT for remote control and for reading the tablet sensors.

You find sources, app and configuration details on github https://github.com/ray0711/homeDash
Under releases you find a self signed app. To install it you need to enable untrusted sources in the Android settings. Or you build it yourself form sources.

I’m happy about forks and pull requests.

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2

Definitely will be checking this one out. Sounds like it’s a perfect fit for what we’re doing with HASS vs the generic Kiosk applications out there and I love the remote control capabilities for URL and such, never thought of wanting that!

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Heck - that’s JUST what I needed!

I have two Samsung 8" inch tablets (possibly two more if this works well) which will be wall mounted.

I have an idea here too.

It might be good to be able to swtich on the tablet display over MQTT ::::: HOLD THE PHONE! - You’ve done that too! That means if there is an external trigger (say, motion detected on another camera, or a persistent_notification being displayed) - we can forcibly turn on the tablet screen. NICE!

This is really neat.

Being just a little security conscious - how can we be sure your app is playing nice? I’m only asking - not accusing! One must always ask questions :slight_smile:

B

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4

Grab the source, review it, and compile it yourself… that’s why it’s on Github :slight_smile:

5

Cool

However loaded to my phone, and because I am not home it cannot connect to my HA machine.

Now my phone is stuck on an error message, full screen, with no escape. Soft buttons do not even work. I can however reboot my phone with the on/off hard button.

"Android Logo
Webpage not available

The webpage at http://xxxxxxxx/ could not be loaded because:

net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED"

EDIT: workaround to escape: highlight something on the error message and choose “search the web” - the app then backgrounds. However this is only a workaround.

6

Is there any means to specify a username and password for the MQTT connection? Wasn’t able to guess any format with the URI, not familiar with the android MQTT code

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Hey, not all of us are hardcore devs - some of use us are just-core devs. Just enough to get in trouble :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

You should be able to pull up from the bottom screen border to get the Android controls (like back and home).

I wouldn’t run the app on my phone without charger it is not really optimized for energy saving. Camera and sensor keep the device busy.

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Not yet implemented. Looks like the library doesn’t accept username/password in the url but needs it as separate options.

I try to add it over the weekend. If you want it faster add something here

HomeDashService.java:124
  MqttConnectOptions mqttConnectOptions = new MqttConnectOptions();
+            mqttConnectOptions.setUserName(...);
+            mqttConnectOptions.setPassword(...);
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Fair enough. :slight_smile: didn’t mean to be snarky there but really in the end there’s that trust factor in everything right…

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You might just suck me into setting up a VM or Docker with an Android build environment by the weekend :slight_smile:

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Just dawned on me that there is no apk to download. Bummer! Not within my skillset to build a working dev stack to compile this… Let me know how you go.

13

i also love to try this, but i have no idea how to install this on my android tablet.

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It’s all there…
Releases: https://github.com/ray0711/homeDash/releases

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15

unfortunaltey i get error by parsing :frowning: i am running android 5.0 … i never built app by myself but is it possible to compile a version for 5.0?

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or even downwards?
i am running android 4 on my tablets.

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Pulling up from the bottom was probably the one thing i didn’t try, thank you.

Yes I just put it on my phone out of curiosity. I’ll be trying on my tablet tonight.

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Ok somehow I’ve pulled out of my butt being able to compile this and add the MQTT usernames and passwords mod :slight_smile: Although I’m curious why it doesn’t display the current setting like the others do? I suppose that’s more an Android development question than a homeDash question – I have not done Android apps before.

19

Sure is - Too eager to stop and read - my bad.

Installed!

1 Like
20

Awesome!
First question: does it work?:smiley:

Displaying the current value happens somewhere by binding a change listener… But likely we don’t want to display the password anyway

Waiting for the pull request.