Getting Started

It is really recommended to use a python IDE, for example PyCharm. The IDE can provide auto complete and static checks which will help you write error free rules and vastly speed up your developement.

First start HABApp and keep it running. It will automatically load and update all rules which are created or changed in the configured rules directory. Loading and unloading of rules can be observed in the HABApp logfile.

It is recommended to use HABApp from the console for these examples so the print output can be observed.

First rule

Rules are written as classes that inherit from HABApp.Rule. Once the class gets instantiated the will run as rules in the HABApp rule engine. So lets write a small rule which prints something.

import HABApp

# Rules are classes that inherit from HABApp.Rule
class MyFirstRule(HABApp.Rule):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        # Use run.at to schedule things directly after instantiation,
        # don't do blocking things in __init__
        self.run.soon(self.say_something)

    def say_something(self):
        print('That was easy!')

# Rules
MyFirstRule()
That was easy!

A more generic rule

It is also possible to instantiate the rules with parameters. This often comes in handy if there is some logic that shall be applied to different items.

import HABApp

class MyFirstRule(HABApp.Rule):
    def __init__(self, my_parameter):
        super().__init__()
        self.param = my_parameter

        self.run.soon(self.say_something)

    def say_something(self):
        print(f'Param {self.param}')

# This is normal python code, so you can create Rule instances as you like
for i in range(2):
    MyFirstRule(i)
for t in ['Text 1', 'Text 2']:
    MyFirstRule(t)
Param 0
Param 1
Param Text 1
Param Text 2

Interacting with items

HABApp uses an internal item registry to store both openhab items and locally created items (only visible within HABApp). Upon start-up HABApp retrieves a list of openhab items and adds them to the internal registry. Rules and HABApp derived libraries may add additional local items which can be used to share states across rules and/or files.

An item is created and added to the item registry through the corresponding class factory method

from HABApp.core.items import Item

# This will create an item in the local (HABApp) item registry
item = Item.get_create_item("an-item-name", "a value")

Posting values from the item will automatically create the events on the event bus. This example will create an item in HABApp (locally) and post some updates to it. To access items from openhab use the correct openhab item type (see the openhab item description).

import HABApp
from HABApp.core.items import Item

class MyFirstRule(HABApp.Rule):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        # Get the item or create it if it does not exist
        self.my_item = Item.get_create_item('Item_Name')

        self.run.soon(self.say_something)

    def say_something(self):
        # Post updates to the item through the internal event bus
        self.my_item.post_value('Test')
        self.my_item.post_value('Change')

        # The item value can be used in comparisons through this shortcut ...
        if self.my_item == 'Change':
            print('Item value is "Change"')
        # ... which is the same as this:
        if self.my_item.value == 'Change':
            print('Item.value is "Change"')


MyFirstRule()

Output

[HABApp.EventBus]     INFO |            Item_Name: <ValueUpdateEvent name: Item_Name, value: Test>
[HABApp.EventBus]     INFO |            Item_Name: <ValueChangeEvent name: Item_Name, value: Test, old_value: None>
[HABApp.EventBus]     INFO |            Item_Name: <ValueUpdateEvent name: Item_Name, value: Change>
[HABApp.EventBus]     INFO |            Item_Name: <ValueChangeEvent name: Item_Name, value: Change, old_value: Test>
Item value is "Change"
Item.value is "Change"

Watch items for events

It is possible to watch items for changes or updates.

import HABApp
from HABApp.core.items import Item
from HABApp.core.events import ValueUpdateEvent, ValueChangeEvent

class MyFirstRule(HABApp.Rule):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        # Get the item or create it if it does not exist
        self.my_item = Item.get_create_item('Item_Name')

        # Run this function whenever the item receives an ValueUpdateEvent
        self.listen_event(self.my_item, self.item_updated, ValueUpdateEvent)

        # Run this function whenever the item receives an ValueChangeEvent
        self.listen_event(self.my_item, self.item_changed, ValueChangeEvent)

        # If you already have an item you can use the more convenient method of the item
        self.my_item.listen_event(self.item_changed, ValueChangeEvent)

    # the function has 1 argument which is the event
    def item_changed(self, event: ValueChangeEvent):
        print(f'{event.name} changed from "{event.old_value}" to "{event.value}"')
        print(f'Last change of {self.my_item.name}: {self.my_item.last_change}')

    def item_updated(self, event: ValueUpdateEvent):
        print(f'{event.name} updated value: "{event.value}"')
        print(f'Last update of {self.my_item.name}: {self.my_item.last_update}')

MyFirstRule()
Item_Name updated value: "Changed value"
Last update of Item_Name: 2021-06-17T05:14:40.137878
Item_Name changed from "Some value" to "Changed value"
Last change of Item_Name: 2021-06-17T05:14:40.137878
Item_Name changed from "Some value" to "Changed value"
Last change of Item_Name: 2021-06-17T05:14:40.137878

Trigger an event when an item is constant

import HABApp
from HABApp.core.items import Item
from HABApp.core.events import ItemNoChangeEvent

class MyFirstRule(HABApp.Rule):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        # Get the item or create it if it does not exist
        self.my_item = Item.get_create_item('Item_Name')

        # This will create an event if the item is 10 secs constant
        watcher = self.my_item.watch_change(10)

        # this will automatically listen to the correct event
        watcher.listen_event(self.item_constant)

        # To listen to all ItemNoChangeEvent/ItemNoUpdateEvent independent of the timeout time use
        # self.listen_event(self.my_item, self.item_constant, watcher.EVENT)

    def item_constant(self, event: ItemNoChangeEvent):
        print(f'{event}')

MyFirstRule()
<ItemNoChangeEvent name: Item_Name, seconds: 10>