Home Buddy + NFC Task Launcher

Hi there!

I’dd like to toggle a scene when my NFC enabled phone touches a nfc (rfid) tag.
I use the app: NFC Task Launcher.

It write a command to the tag to launch a specified app. Really easy 'n conveniënt to use.
There also is an option to launch a task within an app…

But what do I have to fill in to directly start a scene? (Just like the homebuddy widget does…)

Thanks a lot for any opinion! (Also see picture)

Bert

I actually have this on my list to build into Home Buddy for a future release. But I guess you can do this with NFC Task Launcher as well if it supports firing Intents. You would to set it up similar to how you would for Tasker. Please check out this page for more details:

The above link (at the time of this writing) shows how you would do it in v0.27. Note that in the next release (currently in beta), the intent format would change to support multiple Vera instances. The new format will look something like this:

homebuddy://activate?vera=&scene=

Great, Thanks!

I discovered that I can link a tasker task to NFC task launcher. Problem solved.

Now nice: Opening the frontdoor by touching the door :slight_smile:

[quote=“bbredewold, post:3, topic:171359”]Great, Thanks!

I discovered that I can link a tasker task to NFC task launcher. Problem solved.

Now nice: Opening the frontdoor by touching the door :)[/quote]

this is freakin’ sweet! i need to upgrade to a new phone!

I just want to report that I have this working as well. It would be nice to fire shortcuts or intents from within NFC Task Launcher, but the Tasked method only took a few more minutes and workslights

I’ve got one tag on my front door to turn fire my come home scene, and another tag on the nightstand to kill all the lights.

Next step: Use my soon to come Pebble Watch to control my lights.

For those of you using NFC and Tasker with Home Buddy, where do you get your NFC stickers?

Check out the website of NFC task Launcher, they have excellent websites on their forum.

Cool thanks, I’ll check it out.

Anyone else having issues with running the Tasker Action and it says “Unfortunately, Home Buddy has stopped.” Report/OK

I have the action as Send Intent

Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Data: homebuddy://activate?vera=<18560>&scene=<196>
Target: Activity

everything else left alone.

Run test and recieve the above error.

[quote=“Thinkfire, post:9, topic:171359”]Anyone else having issues with running the Tasker Action and it says “Unfortunately, Home Buddy has stopped.” Report/OK

I have the action as Send Intent

Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Data: homebuddy://activate?vera=<18560>&scene=<196>
Target: Activity

everything else left alone.

Run test and recieve the above error.[/quote]

You need to remove the < and the > symbols from your data line for both the vera and the scene.

It should read: homebuddy://activate?vera=18560&scene=196

Awesome - can’t wait to try this out! I get up in the middle of the night to go downstairs to the kitchen. Unlocking my phone or tablet then clicking the shortcut seems a bit awkward vs. turning on switches as a go.

Swiping my phone against a tag seems to make more sense.

But actually I think you need to unlock your phone for the NFC action to fire, kind of defeats the purpose a bit, but I believe that’s just an OS limitation.

More a security limitation. It’s for your protection to prevent others from getting your phone to scan tags that you are not aware of. Also have a look at my AutHomation app which has similar features. You can also control devices via shortcuts and nfc tags and not just scenes. These features are available in the beta release.

  • Garrett

I currently use scene-based shortcuts for Home Buddy on my Nexus 7 and Grasshopper on my Windows 8 phone. There are pretty quick, but they still force you to pull up your phone, swipe and/or enter your code, then click the shorcut. It doesn’t really flow. It makes you stop and do several steps before leaving the house and turning off all the lights.

For NFC by the time you’ve stopped, unlocked the phone, etc. - clicking a shortcut might even be easier than putting your phone against an NFC sticker.

The z-wave remotes are < $10 on Amazon right now and would involve just clicking a single button, but I’d have to mount the remotes and they aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing. The quickest, most usable solution here might be a sensor that you just swipe your hand against, but the current sensors are $60-80.

I know why the NFC security is in place, but the user should be allowed to override it for specific NFC actions like turning off/on lights. It’s more relevant for wallet-type functionality.

Or there is this remote: https://shop.micasaverde.com/index.php/scene-controller/evolve-lcd-1-controller-wall-mount.html.

It’s the same cost of a 7" tablet computer (e.g. Nexus or Kindle Fire HD).

That is the default NFC behavior, if you search XDA for using NFC with the screen off you will see some very easy mods that change this to ALWAYS read NFC stickers regardless of the screen or lock state… I understand why it was implemented this way but I just don’t agree with it :slight_smile:

NFC won’t take off until they change this.