Whistle V3 API

#1

About this Component

Whistle is a gadget you attach to your dog’s collar and it tracks exercise and location (GPS)

Previous versions had a web interface so it was pretty easy to figure out what the API was like. Version 3, though, only works with Whistle’s mobile apps.

No problem: after a bit of sniffing, I created a Python package that consumes this API (Pypi package)

I can now display my dog’s status in Home Assistant, using a custom component: Source Code

Setup

Put whistle.py (from above) in {CONFIG}/custom_components/device_tracker/

Add the platform to configuration.yaml:

  - platform: whistle
    username: !secret whistle_username
    password: !secret whistle_password
    monitored_variables:
      - WHISTLE

Note that an additional attribute is supported: entity_picture which can be used to match one of the Whistle service’s picture sizes (default: 60x60) – I am not sure how to use this one right now and I am using a gravatar instead to display my dog’s picture, in the view itself.

If you look at the Pypy source file you will see that the library can retrieve much more information. I have not figured out what would make sense to integrate in HA, yet, beyond device location, so let me know if you have suggestions.

2 Likes
#2

Update: I have now updated the homeassistant tracker to support activity-related summary data.

So, how do we use this with Lovelace?

In configuration.yaml you can create a few templates (yes, I have a dog named Charlie):

  - platform: template
    sensors:
      charlie_goal_minutes:
        friendly_name: "Activity Goal"
        icon_template: mdi:trophy-outline
        value_template: '{{ state_attr("device_tracker.whistle_charlie", "activity_goal") }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "minutes"
      charlie_goal_streak:
        friendly_name: "Activity Streak"
        icon_template: mdi:chart-timeline
        value_template: '{{ state_attr("device_tracker.whistle_charlie", "activity_streak") }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "days"
      charlie_active_minutes:
        friendly_name: "Active For"
        icon_template: mdi:dog-side
        value_template: '{{ state_attr("device_tracker.whistle_charlie", "activity_minutes_active") }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "minutes"
      charlie_rest_minutes:
        friendly_name: "Rest For"
        icon_template: mdi:sleep
        value_template: '{{ state_attr("device_tracker.whistle_charlie", "activity_minutes_rest") }}'
        unit_of_measurement: "minutes"
      charlie_battery_level:
        friendly_name: "Battery Level"
        icon_template: mdi:battery
        value_template: '{{ state_attr("device_tracker.whistle_charlie", "battery_level") }}'
        unit_of_measurement: '%'

In ui-lovelace.yaml I am using the awesome fold-entity-row card to make this data available, but not in your face:

              - type: custom:fold-entity-row
                head: device_tracker.whistle_charlie
                items:
                  - sensor.charlie_battery_level
                  - sensor.charlie_goal_minutes
                  - sensor.charlie_goal_streak
                  - sensor.charlie_active_minutes
                  - sensor.charlie_rest_minutes

Here is the end result:

Charlie

3 Likes
#3

Just want to chime in to say that this is a great project, and it has worked flawlessly for me. Thanks for your work!

1 Like
#4

signed up for the forums just to offer thanks! this is great!

One question - where exactly does one put the templates? I keep getting a config error when I try and use it.

1 Like
#5

sensor.yaml file

#6

bummer, didn’t work. I created that file, didn’t get any errors, but still don’t see the sensors available.

#7

This is amazing! My dog does not run, but she’ll feel free to wander given the opportunity. The Whistle 3 has afforded us peace of mind for nearly 2 years. I’ve asked the company via email to allow access to the API, with no response, so I really appreciate the work by @Fusion and hope that this can evolve into a very useful project.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to get this working. I’ve installed pywhistle via pip:

% pip install pywhistle

And put whistle.py at

/home/homeassistant/.homeassistant/custom_components/device_tracker/whistle.py

My configuration.yaml contains:

device_tracker:
  - platform: whistle
    username: !secret whistle_username
    password: !secret whistle_password
    monitored_variables:
      - WHISTLE

But I get this error message when trying to use the platform:

Integration whistle not found when trying to verify its device_tracker platform.

Any thoughts? And thanks again!

#8

I suspect this has to do with some breaking changes in HA. I am still running 83.3 but googling similar errors I am seeing references to similar issues with other components in releases >= 89

I will try an upgrade and see how well/poorly things shake out.

#9

Any luck @Fusion? I’ve attempted to call the service and was able to obtain an access token, but not able to access /pets (404) or anything else.

#10

Chiming in to say that I’d be more than happy to chip in on a bounty or beer fund for an updated version :slight_smile: - broke for me when I went from .85 to .95

#11

I just upgraded to the latest version. I am trying to figure out the changes now.

#12

It’s ready!

Now with its own README, too.

#13

Nice! How can we buy you a beer/coffee?
everything is working for me - including the templates. Really nice work! thanks Chris!

#14

Eh… no need.

On the other hand, if anyone has any idea how I could get a discount on a replacement Whistle device…my stupid dogs keep trying to catch a skunk and, not too surprisingly, the device doesn’t seem to enjoy being regularly bathed in sulfur!

#15

Thanks for a great addition to Home Assistant. I recently setup a new instance and I’m running into an issue. After cloning from Github and adding to my sensors.yaml I get the following in my logs. I’m new to Python and I’m not even sure where to start looking.

2019-08-13 20:23:32 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.config] Failed to get platform sensor.whistle
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/app/homeassistant/config.py", line 795, in async_process_component_config
    platform = p_integration.get_platform(domain)
  File "/usr/src/app/homeassistant/loader.py", line 235, in get_platform
    "{}.{}".format(self.pkg_path, platform_name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 965, in _find_and_load_unlocked
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'custom_components.whistle.sensor'
#16

Hi Brandon, not much information to go on in that trace, but I am sure we can figure it out (eventually)

Couple questions for now:

  • What version of HA are you running?
  • Does your file hierarchy look like this (if you have a pycache feel free to ignore it):
[email protected]:~# ls -lR .homeassistant/custom_components/whistle
.homeassistant/custom_components/whistle:
total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   31 Jul 26 04:40 __init__.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3479 Jul 26 04:20 device_tracker.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  268 Jul 26 04:39 manifest.json
[email protected]:~#
#17

Hey Chris, I was hoping for more information in the trace as well but that’s all I could find. To answer your questions I’m running 0.97.2 in a Docker container. My hierarchy does match.

[email protected]:/# ls -lR /config/custom_components/whistle
/config/custom_components/whistle:
total 20
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3071 Aug 13 19:59 README.md
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   31 Aug 13 19:59 __init__.py
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 13 20:03 __pycache__
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3478 Aug 13 20:25 device_tracker.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  268 Aug 13 19:59 manifest.json