Why can't a defined device access 'delta' attributes?

#1

Hi all. Wondering if I’m missing something simple. I’m not the most skilled with webcore but I do use it quite a bit and generally manage to figure out how to do what I need, albeit not in the most ‘pretty’ ways =p

I often like to define a device, then refer to that throughout a Piston. This makes it easy to reference a different device if needed (Eg if one is ever replaced) by changing a single part of the Piston rather than multiple references all the way through.

Generally this isn’t a problem and I find it works beautifully. But I don’t understand why it causes an issue with my latest project.

If I refer to the device directly, I can see this:

SmartSelect_20210825-083850_Chrome
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But if I use the defined device, I can only see one’ delta’ variable (whatever they are called) out of a list of possibly 15 deltas when references direct.

Hope that makes sense. Can anyone shed some light please? Ta!

=)

#2

What you call the ‘delta’ variables are device attributes that webCoRE doesn’t recognise because its internal list of capabilities is years out of date (on SmartThings), or because they are custom attributes created by developers. So attributes from newer or modified stock capabilities, custom capabilities (on SmartThings), and old fashioned standalone custom attributes are all marked with that symbol. There is also one named $status that webCoRE provides to give access to the online/offline status of the device in an attribute like way.

When you are editing a statement and are working with a specific device, webCoRE can lookup what attributes it has. However a device variable can contain multiple devices of differing device types so webCoRE doesn’t know what attributes it should offer. I can’t actually remember what it does offer (I no longer have a webCoRE installation) but it certainly can’t offer anything other than the stock attributes it knows about and $status. So sadly you have to improvise by starting with a known device to select the attribute, and then switching to a variable.

#3

Thanks for the reply. That’s perfect. Thanks!

#4

I only recently noticed this phenomenon - also with location/presence devices - but never got frustrated enough to investigate. The workaround is quite manageable compared to some of the convoluted steps involved in home automation, so I appreciate the tip!