ha-menu
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add support to multiple HA
would be nice to have support to multiple HA.
use case:
i have two HA one for home and one for work.. wold be nice to integrate them both
Nice idea, I'll have to think a lot about how to make a simple UI to manage multiple but will add it to the enhancement todo list.
maybe with wifi Id? when wifi changes change app configuration?
or a primary configuration and a secondary when wifi is recognized (every time my hone url is configured, just when i'm connected to office wifi the app switch to that config)
Another user here interacting with multiple HA instances. (Home, Work, Hackspace, etc.)
I suggest not to disable other configurations at all, but keeping all enabled at all times. Otherwise the UI messes with the muscle memory of users leading to a bad user experience. Disabling menu items for HAs that cannot be reached seems a more reasonable approach to me.
Why not use WiFi only as the basis for which config to enable? VPNs and Proxies are a thing and the SSID (or BSSID) alone is not a reliable indicator which HAs could be reached and which not. The only reliable way is to actually try and see if it times out or responds.
Just an idea how this could be solved in a user friendly way.
Group the items for Lights, Switches, Automations, Scripts, into a submenu per account each, IF there is more than a single account. This ensures, that for every switch it's clear what the context is. For example there might be multiple “entry light” or “coffee maker” switches which would otherwise not be distinguishable.
When looking at all the items of our Hackspace, there's a LOT of items available, but the ones that I regularly use, are but a few. (Like turning on the 2D printer, and a few light switches.) So a function to have a few selected as favourites and have them available at the top of the menu, grouped by HA server, but directly available would come in handy.
Preferences would need a list of HA servers, with a Name (for humans), a URL and the access token (which should be treated like a password field, so only show •••••••). Ideally the preferences also show if that particular server is currently reachable. Maybe similar to link status in System preferences > Network.
Thanks @MacLemon for the detailed used cases/suggestions, I'll certainly think about those when I get round to it. At the moment I'm a bit stuck as my experience of old style Mac UI dev is limited and the SwiftUI implementation is lagging a long way behind iOS, I revisit it occasionally to see if it's improved with each new release but until I can get a workable UI with that I'll be just doing minor changes. Frustrating for me as a developer and a user!
I just tested this, and when HA Menu is unable to contact my HA server, it completely removes all entries. As soon as I connect my VPN the menu gets populated with everything that I see when physically at that location. Not that it would make a lot of sense to remotely turn on my coffee maker, but it's goot being able to see status and maybe run a script.
So yes, HA Menu just works fine over a VPN.