Handle failure to arm

[dgreif]

If a sensor is faulted when you try to arm the alarm, it will audibly tell you that sensors need bypass. This plugin doesn't currently handle this situation. First step will be calling the set callback with an error.

[peterzanetti]

Just came here to request this, I love this plugin and this is the only "missing" feature I've noticed that I need.

[dgreif]

@peterzanetti how do you think we should handle it? Obviously it should error, so that it doesn't look like the alarm got set when it doesn't. But should we be able to override it if you try again? There's not a good way to communicate the situation via HomeKit so i'm not sure what to do beyond erroring..

[peterzanetti]

Personally I wouldn’t need override, I just need to know that it failed and why it failed (sensor requires bypass).

[dgreif]

@peterzanetti give v4.5.0 a try. Now it should put the alarm into a No response mode when you try to arm it and it needs bypass. If you run a scene that sets the alarm via siri, she will say something like I tried, but the "Room Name" security system didn't respond. This is the best I can do within the constraints of HomeKit. The Ring app will need to be used to actually bypass the sensors.

[dgreif]

@peterzanetti did you get a change to test this out?

[peterzanetti]

Yes I have tried, and it does work mostly as you describe. It seems to take a while to recover from the No Response state.

I'm not sure if this is better or worse frankly, as the No Response state really shouldn't be piggybacked for something other than its normal purpose of indicating a connection issue.

But, I understand that there are simply no options here while working within the limitations of the Home app, so thank you for trying.

[dgreif]

Yeah, I was a little surprised by the way that it reacted. Basically when it fails to arm, I let homebridge/HomeKit know that there was an error. No response is how it reacts. I think this is the best we can do for now tho, thanks for testing it out!

[mbhforum]

What would also be ideal is some sort of push notification was sent to let you know when that condition happens but I don’t see how that’s possible with the constraints of HomeKit. The reason I say this is I have my Ring armed/disarmed automatically based on mode of my home (using Smartthings), so I just assume Ring is armed/disarmed appropriately, but a few times a sensor has malfunctioned and that has not been the case.

[dgreif]

Unfortunately HomeKit and HAP Node don't appear to have an option to send random push notifications. If anyone knows of a way to do it, I love the idea, but I don't think it's possible at this point. I think failing to arm is the best we can do at this point.

[EarthRise626]

I have been running into this as well, as I’ve recently had my most distant contact sensor start acting and preventing the automatic arming when I leave home. I’m wondering if there is a way in the Shortcuts app to generate a push notification based on some criteria. I’ll take a look and report back!

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On Aug 5, 2019, at 8:56 PM, Dusty Greif ***@***.***> wrote:  Unfortunately HomeKit and HAP Node don't appear to have an option to send random push notifications. If anyone knows of a way to do it, I love the idea, but I don't think it's possible at this point. I think failing to arm is the best we can do at this point. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[EarthRise626]

I haven’t been able to test this theory as of yet, as Apple removed the “Automations” tab from Shortcuts temporarily.

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On Aug 5, 2019, at 9:01 PM, Bradley Ward ***@***.***> wrote:  I have been running into this as well, as I’ve recently had my most distance contact sensor start acting and preventing the automatic arming when I leave home. I’m wondering if there is a way in the Shortcuts app to generate a push notification based on some criteria. I’ll take a look and report back! >> On Aug 5, 2019, at 8:56 PM, Dusty Greif ***@***.***> wrote: >> >  > Unfortunately HomeKit and HAP Node don't appear to have an option to send random push notifications. If anyone knows of a way to do it, I love the idea, but I don't think it's possible at this point. I think failing to arm is the best we can do at this point. > > — > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[dgreif]

Just a heads up, I decided to remove this change in version 8.1.0. The process of waiting for the system to arm before telling HomeKit if the SET call was successful or not is against the general practice of HomeKit/homebridge. If we wait to call the callback, the entire bridge (all of your homebridge accessories) is blocked until a response is given.

[peterzanetti]

That makes sense. Hopefully Apple will expand flexibility further in iOS 14.