Free software to automate Blue Iris with Amazon Dash buttons.

K

Kent Miller

n3wb
Jul 29, 2016
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After seeing several how-to articles on very basic re-purposing Amazon Dash buttons (cheap WiFi push buttons from Amazon) I came up with a tool that greatly simplifies and allows flexible control of automation with them one of the new features is Blue Iris integration.

The software is simple to use and with minimal configuration you can program one or several buttons to set a profile or trigger a camera. Along with Blue Iris support you control Hue lighting, Nest thermostats, WeMo switches, IFTTT (through tagged emails), send e-mails, send text messages or run any Windows application with specific parameters.

I have a button by my front door that is programmed to set the BI profile to 'Away', set the Nest thermostat to 'Away', turn off all but one Hue light.

The software is free. It started out as a personal hobby project but I figured others could get good use out of it as well.

http://dashrunnerapp.com

I'd love to hear some feedback about the program overall and any more suggestions for BI integration.
 
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A user pointed out a few things that weren't populating right (Thanks!). There were a few missing files.
Please re-download either the installer or the zip file and overwrite anything existing.
This should take care of a few outstanding issues.
 
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Hi Kent...

Thanks for making this! looks super cool, I've been debating the usefulness of these little buttons and felt like yet another way for Amazon to stick it's claws into me. But...this application looks like something I can make good use of. Very clever and opens up some interesting possibilities.

Going to get some of the Dash buttons this week and give it a try. Will report back to you with how I get along!

BTW...I'm sure you saw this, but it looks like Amazon has a "dev-enabled" button coming out:

https://www.amazon.com/AWS-IoT-Butt...3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469969858&sr=8-3&keywords=dash

Snap5.jpg

Going to buy a generic one and try your solution....but this looks like they are thinking along the same lines as you.
 
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Thanks for the feedback and compliments! I saw that dev-enabled button a while back (got some ideas cooking) but saw how quickly they sold out. Now that I have this developed (and am continuing to add more features) I wish I would have bought a dozen or so for $0.99 on Prime day.
You can actually download and try the software before you get the Dash button. I added a 'virtual button' feature that lets you assign actions, etc and test them out.
Let me know what you think after using it and any thoughts you may have. I'm currently working on having all of the setup wizard driven and a bit more non-technical user-friendly.
I set up a product forum for it at http://dashrunner.freeforums.net not to create yet-another forum to check, but to facilitate feature requests, etc. without clogging other forums.
 
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Hey Kent...

You got some ideas cooking for me as well! Now that I know you can do this, I'm thinking about a particular function that I think would be great. It's a bit "off topic" for the blue Iris forum, but I will try to use your system to program a button to perform a series of commands that I can send to my ISY home control unit. Quick background is....my wife likes to fall asleep to the sound of the TV (can't understand why but...) and in order to have it shut off, she has to navigate through a bunch of TV menus from the remote control. I think I can use this to have a single button she can "Physically" press and have it run the exact series of remote button presses to activate the sleep timer for her! Going to give it a try and let you know.

Thanks again for the heads up on this...looks like fun
 
Same wife-tv situation here. :) In addition in my case she doesn't keep her phone by the bed so when she turns the (Hue) light off, she has to get out of bed and flip the old-timey wall switch. This way there is a button bed-side she presses and it takes care of everything for her.
I'm not super familiar with ISY home control (brief glance, looks cool). If they have any way of controlling things from a command line windows program, you should be able to set it up. If not let me know and I can see what I can do to add functionality.
In the near future I will be adding the ability to issue GET, PUSH, SET, Json, etc. custom strings to any URI so that anything that can be controlled via web commands would work as well.

Also feel free to leave a message on the product forum for anything off-topic, etc.

http://dashrunner.freeforums.net/
 
Update added with requested Blue Iris support for Schedules.

- Enhanced WeMo setup with wizard style interface.
- Blue Iris: Added option to set Schedule.
- Added application update mechanism. (NOTE: You may get a UAC permission prompt if UAC is turned on. It requires permission to update files in the Program Files area to work.)
- Misc. bug fixes and enhancements

http://dashrunnerapp.com/download-free/
 
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Hi Kent, I ordered a button and while waiting for it to arrive I installed DashRunner and created a virtual button to change BI Schedules. When I select Set
Schedule it doesn't populate the next drop down field with available schedules (Inactive is displayed).
 
I probably should have pointed that out. The Blue Iris API does not have the ability to return a list of schedules (no idea why, profiles, cameras, etc. are listed).
That being the case, just type in the name as it appears in BI (ex. 'Default' or 'Schedule 1') and it should be fine.

I'm adding a note about this to that screen.
 
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No problem. (Great to hear!)
I'm working on some other things and hoping to get another update out tomorrow. At least now it will tell you when a new update is available when you start the program.
 
I notice the Update Available stays bold even after updating.

Also, looks like the program locks up if I select Start with no real buttons set up. If this is the case, maybe disable the start button until at least one Dash Button has been configured.
 
I was having fits with the 'update available' earlier. I need to tweak it a bit (clearly).
I think just the virtual buttons being set up and click start it must be stuck in a loop. I'll take care of that as well (thanks for pointing that out).
 
FYI, for those of you interested, I did just release an update that allows push-state tracking on a button so that actions can be done on what press number it is.
It basically allows it to act as a toggle instead of a "do one thing every time it's pressed". Ex. Set profile A on the 1st press when leaving the house, set profile B on the 2nd press, when you get home.
 
Kent Miller said:
The Blue Iris API does not have the ability to return a list of schedules (no idea why, profiles, cameras, etc. are listed).
Click to expand...

Actually, you can get a list of schedules as part of the response to a login. Which is kind of a pain, admittedly.
 
Now that you mention it, I do remember a bunch of environmental info in that response, I guess I should have looked at it closer for schedules. Thanks for the info! I'll definitely add that to the next version.
 
Just posted an update that has selectable schedule list instead of just a text box. (Thanks bp2008, the list was directly below the profile list, not sure how I missed that one.)
 
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