Logitech Harmony commands based on activity

Configuration
1

Hi,

I’m going through building a UI for a basic remote based on the logitech harmony. I’m wondering if there is an easy way to send command based on the current activity rather than send the command to a selected device.

For example, if the activity is Play Xbox the commands for up, down, left and right need to be sent to the xbox device. However, if the activity is Watch Fetch, those commands need to be sent to the Fetch TV box. The physical remote is setup to do this, but I cannot find a service option to send command to an activity (so the hub can decide the code) rather than device.

At the moment I’ve simulated this by using scripts like this

'1579329073616':
  alias: HarmonyButtonEnter
  sequence:
  - service: remote.send_command
    data_template:
      entity_id: remote.lounge
      command: >
          {% if is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Watch TV") %} 
            OK
          {% elif is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Watch Fetch") %} 
            Select
          {% elif is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Play Xbox") %} 
            Ok
          {% else %}
            Ok
          {% endif %}
      device: >
          {% if is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Watch TV") %} 
            38539290
          {% elif is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Watch Fetch") %} 
            38539289
          {% elif is_state("sensor.currentactivity", "Play Xbox") %} 
            46058342
          {% else %}
            38539290
          {% endif %}

But that means creating a script for every option, and then calling that script from a button in the UI.

Am I overcomplicating it, or is this the only approach?

1 Like
2

Hey @dgaust,

did you ever find a simplified version? I want to do the exact same thing.

3

I made an appdaemon app that does that. Let me tell you, it’s complicated. After creating it, I can tell you that there is no easy way do accomplish your request.

Here’s the appdeamon app, I haven’t added it to hacs yet, but it’s set up pretty much. Just no documentation yet.

and here’s my configuration for it at the moment for appdaemon:

anchors:
  roku: &roku
    activity: Roku
    device: Roku Ultra
  xbox: &xbox
    activity: Xbox One
    device: Microsoft Xbox One
  ps4: &ps4
    activity: PS4
    device: Sony PS4

hac_living_room:
  module: harmony_activity_controls
  class: ActivityControls
  remote: remote.living_room
  activities:
  - <<: *roku
  - <<: *xbox
  - <<: *ps4
  commands:
  - Rewind
  - Play
  - Pause
  - command: FastForward
    name: Forward
  - DirectionUp
  - DirectionLeft
  - command: OK
    name: Confirm
  - DirectionRight
  - DirectionDown
  - Back
  custom_events:
  - event: HomeButton
    icon: mdi:home
    name: Home
    activities:
    - <<: *roku
      command: Home
    - <<: *xbox
      command: Xbox
    - <<: *ps4
      command: PS
  - event: MenuButton
    icon: mdi:menu
    name: Menu
    activities:
    - <<: *roku
      command: 'Options*'
    - <<: *xbox
      command: Menu
      icon: mdi:xbox-controller-menu
    - <<: *ps4
      command: Options
  - event: LowerLeft
    activities:
    - <<: *roku
      name: Search
      command: Search
    - <<: *xbox
      name: View
      command: View
      icon: mdi:xbox-controller-view
    - <<: *ps4
      name: Info
      command: Info
  - event: LowerRight
    activities:
    - <<: *roku
      name: Exit
      command: Exit
    - <<: *xbox
      command: OneGuide
      name: One Guide
      icon: mdi:xbox
    - <<: *ps4
      name: Share
      command: Share

  - event: BottomButton
    name: Confirm
    activities:
    - <<: *xbox
      entity_picture: /local/images/xbox_a_transparent_2.png
      color: rgba(100, 189, 54)
      command: A
    - <<: *ps4
      entity_picture: /local/images/playstation_x.png
      color: rgba(107, 139, 200)
      command: Cross
  - event: RightButton
    name: Back
    activities:
    - <<: *xbox
      entity_picture: /local/images/xbox_b_transparent_2.png
      color: rgba(255, 24, 43)
      command: B
    - <<: *ps4
      entity_picture: /local/images/playstation_circle.png
      color: rgba(246, 69, 75)
      command: Circle
  - event: TopButton
    name: Search
    activities:
    - <<: *xbox
      entity_picture: /local/images/xbox_y_transparent_2.png
      color: rgba(255, 185, 49)
      command: 'Y'
    - <<: *ps4
      entity_picture: /local/images/playstation_triangle.png
      color: rgba(43, 220, 150)
      command: Triangle
  - event: LeftButton
    name: Backspace
    activities:
    - <<: *xbox
      entity_picture: /local/images/xbox_x_transparent_2.png
      color: rgba(0, 61, 142)
      command: X
    - <<: *ps4
      entity_picture: /local/images/playstation_square.png
      color: rgba(219, 142, 196)
      command: Square
  log_level: INFO
  make_scripts: True

It creates a script file for you for each command…

remote_living_room_rewind:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'Rewind'}

remote_living_room_play:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'Play'}

remote_living_room_pause:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'Pause'}

remote_living_room_fastforward:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'FastForward'}

remote_living_room_directionup:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'DirectionUp'}

remote_living_room_directionleft:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'DirectionLeft'}

remote_living_room_ok:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'OK'}

remote_living_room_directionright:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'DirectionRight'}

remote_living_room_directiondown:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'DirectionDown'}

remote_living_room_back:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'Back'}

remote_living_room_homebutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'HomeButton'}

remote_living_room_menubutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'MenuButton'}

remote_living_room_lowerleft:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'LowerLeft'}

remote_living_room_lowerright:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'LowerRight'}

remote_living_room_bottombutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'BottomButton'}

remote_living_room_rightbutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'RightButton'}

remote_living_room_topbutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'TopButton'}

remote_living_room_leftbutton:
  sequence:
  - event: remote_living_room
    event_data: {'command': 'LeftButton'}
1 Like
4

Unfortunately not… still using the approach in the first post.

5

Hi @petro
I’m relatively new to HA and I’m curious about your App. Regarding

and here’s my configuration for it at the moment for appdaemon:

A few questions:
where does that code end up?
what do you add apps.yaml?
Are the devices and activities manually added?

From the last question, I’m interested in parsing the harmony…conf file to get the activies and IDs, and devices and IDs. I can pull use the activities without the IDs with the python script below (and the devices with a variation of it), but I have no idea how to do that with .conf file. Do you have any ideas for directions to head to pull IDs and the associated devices/activities from the .conf file?

harmony_activities = hass.states.get(
    'remote.harmonyhub').attributes['activity_list']
all_activities = []
for activities in harmony_activities:
    all_activities.append(activities)
service_data = {'entity_id': 'input_select.harmony_hub_activity',
                'options': all_activities}
hass.services.call('input_select', 'set_options', service_data)