Ariela - Home Assistant Android Client

fbrinker · January 7, 2019, 10:10am

(1) ui-lovelace.yaml

title: Home Assistant
views:
  - !include lovelace-views/spotify.yaml

spotify.yaml

icon: mdi:spotify
path: spotify
cards:
- type: media-control
entity: media_player.spotify

(2) I have external access to my HA UI, but not to the MQTT broker. How does it communicate with the Broker then? Does Ariela read the config from HA and use the data (wouldn’t work) or does Ariela send MQTT updates over the Api via HA? Than everything is fine I guess - but I have to debug why it isn’t working

Is that the reason why we have to login with username and password and not the Token anymore?

(3) Thank you for the explanation. I had an endless amount of Android Toasts popping up saying that Ariela couldn’t reconnect once, while the app was not in the foreground - okay it was opened before… or i had the notification still active. Don’t remember and was just wondering

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 10:21am

Ariela will communicate with the broker via HA API. You can enable debug mode so i can check if Ariela sends any MQTT data. Also you can check if the enabled MQTT sensors appears in HA (developer tools → states).

The reasons i put the login with user & password instead on token was:

Eventually Ariela will automatically create its token
Some users used the old auth method (password only) but they use a HA version newer then 0.78 and doing that caused Ariela not to retrieve some data and malfunction( that’s because HA api do not send some info using old auth). In this way allowing them to login via user & password was easier.
Inserting a token is not that easy(think that some user do not know how to create a permanent token). Then you have to send that token to the phone, paste it in Ariela. This is not that easy. Ariela i build it to be easy to use for all users, even the setup or any part of the app.

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 10:59am

Hello all,
Version 1.2.5.6 is out.
What’s new:

show only lovelace badges from configuration
fixed issue when lovelace view without title is not showed
fixed Wi-Fi MQTT sensor configuration
small other fixes
small UI change to camera view

fbrinker · January 7, 2019, 12:34pm

Wow you are fast. I just had to buy the app \o/
Works perfect now and using the icon names is a great idea (i guess that’s what you are doing).

I understand your reasons for the login method. Interesting approach to create the token on your own, but a good alternative.

@3 True but a password should also be as strong that you need to use a password safe or similar. Call me paranoid, but I don’t like entering account login credentials in any client

So entering just a token as an alternative would be great. The current method can be default of course.
I love the principle of using (revocable) api tokens without the need of changing my account passwords every time i stop using an api client (theoretically).

But this is just fine tuning. Maybe sth. for your todo list.

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 1:14pm

Yep, that’s how its done

Yes, i could do that, like a checkbox or similar, i will see

Klagio · January 7, 2019, 1:48pm

media_player card cannot change source or adjust volume?

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 2:00pm

Not today, but tomorrow it will Adding this as a top priority (also adding TTS for media_player).

Klagio · January 7, 2019, 2:03pm

Two of my lovelace view are totally missing

Maybe because one has inside
custom:bignumber-card

and the other has
entity-button and entity-filter (official card)

?

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 2:10pm

That custom card is not supported yet. But i will add to my todo list

Entity button card is not yet supported, the entity filter it is. Can you send me the logs of Ariela so i can investigate why the entity filter is not showing? Note that if the entity filter does not have any entities that match the card state, that card will not be shown.

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 6:14pm

Hello all,
Version 1.2.5.7 is out
What’s new:

fixed setup issue when configured with Wi-Fi off
added possibility to mute media player
added possibility to select source in media player
added possibility to select sound mode in media player
added possibility to set media player volume
added ability to use media player TTS
fixed white screen when using web login on SSL connection
small UI changes

Please test it and let me know any issues found. Thank you.

Klagio · January 7, 2019, 8:01pm

Source selection is wrong, it goes to sound selection. Also when I press the on button it doesn’t turn off (it does turn on from off)

Ionut · January 7, 2019, 8:09pm

Please enable the debug mode and send me the logs so i can investigate the issue. Thank you.

Ionut · January 8, 2019, 9:32am

Hello all,

The update from today will contain a new MQTT sensor: Bluetooth.
This means that HA server will know:

if the Bluetooth device from phone is enabled / disabled
list with all Bluetooth devices paired with the phone
list with all surrounding Bluetooth Devices with the phone (one surrounding device will have informations like name, mac address, rssi -> maybe you can make cool things like detecting room presence using bluetooth informations? :D)

Please let me know what kind of other features you need from the phone Bluetooth Device.

Yoinkz · January 8, 2019, 12:14pm

Hey,

Can this custom component https://github.com/MCrissDev/HANotify be added to the custom updater and should it be added under the lovelace like other custom components?

I don’t see anything about that in the description?

elRadix · January 8, 2019, 12:39pm

Is it possible to enable/disable through mqtt the wifi, bt, and gps or other functions?
Also is it possible to get caller ID (nr or name) whose calling? Receive text messages content ?

Ionut · January 8, 2019, 1:36pm

I do not fully understand what you mean. Can you explain a bit please?

Yes, this is already on my TODO list.

Yes it is possible to implement such functions but unfortunetly google will not going to aprove the app on play store. Until 1 week ago in Ariela it was possible to use the phone to send SMS from Home Assistant, but because of the Google policies, this functions was dropped. I suppose such functions can be implemented in a apk that is not on playstore but doing this will mean you will not going to have updates (will need to check and manually update the app).

matisaul · January 8, 2019, 2:13pm

Wow, nice feature!!

I downloaded the app like a minute ago, but bluetooth sensor isn’t on the list…

baz123 · January 8, 2019, 2:35pm

I presume that ‘MQTT Sensors’ are the sending of data via MQTT i.e. the phone is acting as an MQTT Client.

Are you assuming the MQTT broker is on the same machine / IP as the HA installation?

If so that is a bad assumption. I use a separate machine for my MQTT broker and it requires authentication.

Ionut · January 8, 2019, 2:40pm

The update is not posted yet in Google Play, but it will be in few hours.

As long the MQTT is configured on your Home Assistant the Ariela will be able to send MQTT data. You said that is on separate machine the MQTT broker, can you confirm that the data send by Ariela isn’t sended?

elRadix · January 8, 2019, 3:04pm

At the minimum the caller id details?

If a separate apk can be acquired why not… depends how if you automate your deployment flow. I would use the sms function specifically for alarm notifications

or alternatively create a sub app for sms like you did for the notifications ?