HTTP | Fabulous Home Automation

ere’s the HTML and CSS you’ll need if you want to follow my guide over on my YouTube channel on how to create a custom user interface using HTML for Domoticz.

I’ve been asked many times for the code for my HTML interface and others have asked how to develop their own, so this step by step guide should help you to build a great looking interface that you can be proud of, and your family can use with ease.

In the index.htm file, when copied into a text editor, change the line:

var domoticzurl="192.168.1.163"

to the address of your Domoticz system.

Go to the Domoticz folder, then to the www folder, then create a folder called whatever you want your creation to be called. I’ve called the folder fab for now.

Copy the three files into the folder. Once complete, the Domoticz HTML server will serve up the page to whomever requests it.

Try it out by opening any browser and typing in

addressofyourdomoticzsystem:port/yourfoldername/index.htm

In my case this would be

192.168.1.200:8080/fab/index.htm

If all is well you should see your masterpiece! Have a go at changing the names and idx codes of the devices and re-uploading and testing again.

As this HTML code sends HTTP requests, your browser may ask if you want to enable content. This has happened on my desktop version of Google Chrome a few times.

There is some code at the top of the index.htm page that tells your browser that if you’re using a smartphone to open this page, you can save it to your homescreen. The next time you open it, there will be no address bar and it will look like a web app.

save this text as index.htm


<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<head>
<title>Home Control</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=0" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black" />

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="description" content="" />
<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
		<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" />
		<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="iphone-icon.png"/>
		<link rel="icon" sizes="196x196" href="logo.png">
		<link rel="icon" sizes="192x192" href="logo192.png">
		<link rel="stylesheet" media="(orientation: portrait)" href="portrait.css">
		<link rel="stylesheet" media="(orientation: landscape)" href="landscape.css">

		<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Baloo|Comfortaa" rel="stylesheet">
<head>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">

var domoticzurl="192.168.1.163"

function MM_goToURL() { //v3.0
 var i, args=MM_goToURL.arguments; document.MM_returnValue = false;
 for (i=0; i<(args.length-1); i+=2) eval(args[i]+".location='"+args[i+1]+"'");
}
function speak(textToSpeak) {
 // Create a new instance of SpeechSynthesisUtterance
 var newUtterance = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance();

// Set the text
 newUtterance.text = textToSpeak;

// Add this text to the utterance queue
 window.speechSynthesis.speak(newUtterance);
}

function switchon(devicecode){
 execute('PUT', 'http://' + domoticzurl + ':8080/json.htm?type=command&param=switchlight&idx='+devicecode+'&switchcmd=On', '');
}

function switchoff(devicecode){
 execute('PUT', 'http://' + domoticzurl + ':8080/json.htm?type=command&param=switchlight&idx='+devicecode+'&switchcmd=Off', '');
}

function toggle(devicecode){
 execute('PUT', 'http://' + domoticzurl + ':8080/json.htm?type=command&param=switchlight&idx='+devicecode+'&switchcmd=Toggle', '');
}

function dim(devicecode,dimlevel){
 execute('PUT', 'http://' + domoticzurl + ':8080/json.htm?type=command&param=switchlight&idx='+devicecode+'&switchcmd=Set%20Level&level='+dimlevel, '');
}

function execute($method,$url,$message){
xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.open($method,$url,true)
xmlhttp.send($message);
}

function toggleDiv(divId) {
 $("#"+divId).toggle(100);
}

function hideDiv(divId) {
 $("#"+divId).hide();
}

window.addEventListener("load", function(){
 hideallDivs();
});;

function hideallDivs() {
 hideDiv("lights");
 hideDiv("devices");
}

</script>

</head>

<body>

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="navtitle">Lights</span></a>
<div id="lights" class="navlights">
Desk Lamp

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(594,16);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">Max</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(594,12);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">75%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(594,8);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">50%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(594,4);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">25%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="switchoff(594);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">Off</span></a>

<hr width="90%" style="dashed" color="#FFFFFF" size="2">

Ceiling Lamp

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(81,100);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">Max</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(81,75);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">75%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(81,50);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">50%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="dim(81,25);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">25%</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="switchoff(81);toggleDiv('lights');"><span class="buttontext">Off</span></a></div>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="toggleDiv('devices');"><span class="navtitle">Devices</span></a>
<div id="devices" class="navlights">
Dehumidifier

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="switchon(29);toggleDiv('devices');"><span class="buttontext">On</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="switchoff(29);toggleDiv('devices');"><span class="buttontext">Off</span></a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick="toggleDiv('devices');"><span class="toggletext">Auto</span></a></div>
</body>

Save this text as portrait.css

html {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
background-color:#000000;
}

div.navlights {
display:block;
text-align:center;
position:relative;
width: 100vw;
margin:0vw;
background-color:#CCCCCC;
font-family: 'Comfortaa', cursive;
font-size:6vw;
font-color:#000000;
}

span.buttontext {
background-color: #ffffff;
color: #75099b;
font-size:6vw;
display: inline-block;
padding: 3px 10px;
margin: 1vw;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 5px;
}

span.toggletext {
background-color: #FF66CC;
color:#ffffff;
font-size:6vw;
display: inline-block;
padding: 3px 10px;
margin: 1vw;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 5px;
}

span.navtitle {
color: #FFFFFF;
font-size:5vw;
display: inline-block;
margin: 3vw;
font-family: 'Baloo',cursive;
font-weight: normal;
}

And finally save this as landscape.css

html {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
background-color:#000000;
}

div.navlights {
display:block;
text-align:center;
position:relative;
width: 100vw;
margin:0vw;
background-color:#CCCCCC;
font-family: 'Comfortaa', cursive;
font-size:40px;
font-color:#000000;
}

span.buttontext {
background-color: #ffffff;
color: #75099b;
font-size:36px;
display: inline-block;
padding: 3px 10px;
margin: 5px;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 5px;
}

span.toggletext {
background-color: #FF66CC;
color:#ffffff;
font-size:36px;
display: inline-block;
padding: 3px 10px;
margin: 5px;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 5px;
}

span.navtitle {
color: #FFFFFF;
font-size:50px;
display: inline-block;
margin: 5px;
font-family: 'Baloo',cursive;
font-weight: normal;
}

I cannot overstate the impact that equipping the flat with Philips Hue lights has had. These seemingly innocuous light bulbs behave much like any other. You can switch them on and off at the wall like normal bulbs, but the magic happens when you command them to change colour, brightness and saturation via the Philips Hue app, or like me via a direct command to the Bridge via a http request.

The Bridge is a puck-shaped device that you plug into your router and this then communicates with all the bulbs within its radio-range. For bulbs that are too far away from the Bridge, the message is communicated through all available bulbs. This way a command can reach all the way through a large house (or comfortably through a small flat like ours).

Here’s the Hue Bridge (the circular device with the blue lights). You can see that I’ve found a cool place to tidy away all my home control devices: in the empty space previously occupied by a obsolete hot air heating system vent. The Hue Bridge shares its home with a Hive controller, a Sonos Bridge and a LightwaveRF Link. All devices are out of view until I need to look at any of them.

The Philips Hue App vs. direct control

The app itself is not great, purely because it takes a while to load up, and I don’t like the way that it behaves. I think the app was not designed for someone like me, who wants to press one icon and get the lights exactly how I want them.

A rather extreme example: how lighting can change the atmosphere within a split second (don’t worry, our bathroom isn’t often that pink!)

Direct control (http request) is the best way to control Hue as far as I am concerned. I do away with the app altogether and use the control pads throughout the flat. This incidentally was before Philips brought out a new device that can do this – the Hue Tap.

Basically, the pad is pressed to select a colour, this sends a radio signal which is picked up by the transciever attached to the Raspberry Pi. Domoticz acknowledges that the button was pressed, and then sends an appropriate request or requests to the Philips Hue Bridge via the network. I say requests because you can send as many commands in one go as you like, up to about 10 per second.

You can get a list of all the commands you can send to the Bridge, as well as how to set up the Bridge to accept these commands at the Philips Hue API site.