As a new enthusiast diving into the world of smart home automation, I’ve been absolutely fascinated by the potential of openHAB. While HabPanel caught my eye initially, I quickly realized that I wanted to create something more personal—a custom UI that feels like a little art project. Why? Because I love the idea of having full control over the design and functionality, moving away from the grid-based widgets that come standard.
I’m a C# developer by trade, so my natural inclination was to build a custom controller using familiar tools. My vision is to create an external remote control client that communicates with openHAB, leveraging it as a device registration and communication broker. Here’s the basic flow I’m exploring:
- Add a smartbulb (like an ACME one) to my setup.
- Register the bulb as a Thing in openHAB using PaperUI bindings.
- Develop a UI app that reflects the bulb’s state and allows sending commands.
The big question is about communication. REST calls seem like a solid bet for sending commands, but I’m curious about the best way to keep the UI updated in real time. Is polling the REST API the only option, or can openHAB push state changes to my app? Any insights or alternative approaches would be invaluable!
I’ve started by experimenting with simple REST interactions, and while it works, I’m eager to explore more efficient methods. If anyone has experience with custom UI development in openHAB or tips on optimizing real-time communication, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
This journey is both exciting and a bit overwhelming, but I’m committed to learning and creating something unique. Let’s make it happen together! 