Add FPP-haCommands plugin to pluginList.json

[jessica12ryan]

fpp-haCommands — Bring Home Assistant INTO FPP and xLights Sequences

Most HA + FPP integrations work one way: they bring FPP into Home Assistant as a entity. fpp-haCommands flips that. It brings Home Assistant directly into FPP's command engine that can be used in playlists, scheduler, GPIO's, and xLights Sequences.

What it does

After installing and pointing it at your HA instance, every HA service (light.turn_on, switch.turn_off, cover.open_cover, etc.) becomes a dropdown option in FPP's playlist command editor — complete with entity pickers populated from your HA entities.

Features

• Entity dropdowns — pick any HA entity from a dropdown in the playlist editor, no manual typing
• All services auto-discovered — lights, switches, covers, locks, fans, media players, climate, and more
• Service-specific fields — brightness %, RGB color, color temp, position %, temperature, etc. appear automatically for applicable domains
• Get State command — fetch and log any entity's state mid-sequence
• One-click refresh — entities and services update on demand
• Quick Response — HA devices respond as quick as they would from within Home Assistant

Use cases

• Turn on/off lights when a sequence starts
• Trigger a Halloween prop via a smart plug mid-show or throughout sequence
• Close a motorized screen or cover mid-show or throughout sequence
• Lock/unlock gates synchronized to a playlist
• Change light colors to match the current song
• Trigger HA devices with an FPP GPIO
• Trigger HA devices throughout xLights sequences

How it works

Zero config files to edit. Enter your HA URL and token, click Update Entities, and every HA service appears in FPP's command list with your actual entities in the dropdowns. When the playlist hits the command, FPP calls the HA REST API directly.

Get it

https://github.com/jessica12ryan/fpp-haCommands

[jessica12ryan]

I've made several improvements on this plugin today.
There were several issues with installing and updating that originally went unnoticed. This is all fixed and should be ready to go now.

[AGFazio]

I manage the xlights zoom room Gems presentations. We would like to know if you would give a presentation on this. We record the presentations and post to the xLights Gems youtube channel. Please reach out if interested. xlights.andy@gmail.com or you can find me in the zoom room almost any evening. xlightszoom.com

[jessica12ryan]

I would be interested in doing a presentation. I will have to get back to you with a date as my schedule has been quite busy lately.

[AGFazio]

I would be interested in doing a presentation. I will have to get back to you with a date as my schedule has been quite busy lately.

Great!!! The presentations are Wed nights at 8pm ET.

[jessica12ryan]

@AGFazio
I can be free for this Wednesday Evening (the 15th) if that works!

[AGFazio]

@jessica12ryan YES!!! That would be awesome.

[darylc]

Hi @jessica12ryan Due to the large number of AI generated plugins being submitted to FPP this year. We are having a pause at the moment whilst we establish updated guidelines for plugin submission, plugin structure in FPP, the plugin json file and the intake process. We will tag you when the information is released over the next few weeks.

[jessica12ryan]

@darylc Sounds good.
I think this plugin will be useful to a lot of people as it brings functionality that has not been previously possible.

I would also like to suggest maybe a category field in plugininfo.json so there can be a dropdown to select categories, because the plugin page is kinda overcrowded, so I see where you're coming from. Anything not tagged with a category could default to "Other". This would give some organization when looking for a plugin. Maybe even not show incompatible plugins or have a couple checkboxes labelled "Show Incompatible Plugins" and "Show Untested Plugins". Could also add something like "FPP Approved Plugins". There's also plugins that haven't been updated in >10 years that have multiple issues reported on GitHub. These should be removed. Maybe a checkbox for show stale plugins and somehow filter like >5 issues AND >5 years without a commit.

There's also a lot of plugins that are in the list that have almost the same functionality as other plugins. We should look at these to determine if there's multiple plugins that do the same thing, if there's active maintainers, if there's unresolved stale issues and PR requests, things like that so that we can keep the ones that are up to date and ditch the ones that aren't.

I'd be happy to help out with reviewing some of this stuff and writing some commits to help with the organization and review of plugins.