"No states found" yet SmartThings shows state

#1

1) Give a description of the problem
WebCORE noob so apologies if this is obvious. I want to change the dimmer level on a bulb at a certain time but only if the bulb is switched on (which I’m assuming is an “on state”). I’m looking at the device in my SmartThings IDE and the “Current States” value is “No states found”. I’m assuming that means that it’s not reporting its state back to SmartThings.

However, when I look in the SmartThings app, it accurately shows the state of the device, even if I’ve altered its state without using SmartThings.

Does this mean that SmartThings is keeping track of the state due to events it’s receiving? Or am I not looking in the wrong place to find the state?

Either way, what would be the best way to find out which states this device can report, if any?

2) What is the expected behaviour?
For Current States in the SmartThings IDE to show a list of states the device reports

3) What is happening/not happening?
Current States: No states found

#2

OK, I’m not sure if this answers my question, but I’ve just discovered that with a light bulb, I can use Switch and Level rather than $status.

#3

$status is a special variable that queries ST for the connectivity status of a device (i.e. ONLINE or OFFLINE).

Current States: No states found would be unusual for a device controlled by a legacy device handler as it shows the attribute values like switch and level. ST has something of an issue with conflicting terminology, so attributes are called states in certain contexts, even though a device has another property named ‘state’.

It may be that your devices are integrated using ‘new’ methods rather than legacy handlers. The IDE is built on the legacy API so only works with ‘new’ stuff to a limited degree.

#4

That’s helpful. Thanks very much