new apps and source selection

[apaperclip]

Two questions for you.

1. I have a branch ready to go that adds app entries for youtube tv and the new google tv launcher. Should I do the the pull request to dev or master?

2. Regarding https://community.home-assistant.io/t/firetv-app-not-opening-when-selecting-source/160091/2 Would it make sense to add this additional information to the constants? I'm digging into to see how HA launches the apps.

[JeffLIrion]

1. master, please.
2. HA launches apps via the launch_app method. It doesn't work for some apps, though. There's an issue about it: Select source wont work on firetv #40. But the simple solution is to figure out the right shell command to use and call the androidtv.adb_command service. Unless I'm misunderstanding your suggestion, adding constants won't help.

python-androidtv/androidtv/basetv/basetv_async.py

Lines 420 to 429 in d58ed18

	async def launch_app(self, app):
	"""Launch an app.
	Parameters
	----------
	app : str
	The ID of the app that will be launched
	"""
	await self._adb.shell(constants.CMD_LAUNCH_APP.format(app) if not self._is_google_tv else constants.CMD_LAUNCH_APP_GOOGLE_TV.format(app))

[apaperclip]

1. Thanks! glad I asked! I was ready to push to dev then I saw some other pulls using master.

2. That's what I've done as well, it's a nice flexible ability.. I'm still a novice at this so I likely don't have all the details but my general thought was to either create or update the dict in the constants to include the launch intent. If HA is using the constants to name<>id, could it also pull another value that is launch intent and use that for source changes?

I really like how you've given the user flexibility to define their own detection rules, app names, and send events. This approach could also be used to self-service define launch intents.

[JeffLIrion]

Regarding the second point, yes, adding a "start intent" field to the APPS dictionary would be the way to achieve that. The problems are:

1. Enabling users to configure this is kinda messy (not that custom state detection is simple!) and adding YAML configuration entries is no longer allowed.
2. If it were all handled in this package, I don't know whether a command that works for one person's device would work on everyone else's.

[apaperclip]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Great points.

Perhaps if you have config flow in your future there could be some more UX friendly ways to provide it while offering flexibility.

Also thanks for the , fix on the pr and for merging!

[JeffLIrion]

I think most people make Lovelace remotes/buttons for their Android TV device so that they can launch, say, Netflix by pushing a button that calls the appropriate service (media_player.select_source or androidtv.adb_command). Allowing such users to customize the command used by the media_player.select_source service adds complexity -- for both the integration development and the user configuration -- without impacting the UX for these users.

I don't plan to add config flow to the Android TV integration, for several reasons:

• I've never worked with config flow before.
• Beyond the basic host + name configuration, there are a lot of config options and some of them would be difficult to implement in a config flow.
• I like YAML.

That said, it would be great if someone wants to implement config flow for the integration. But I hope that they would support YAML, too!

[larena1]

I think I'm having an issue related to this. I logged the commands to switch to the HDMI inputs on my TV but currently there seems to be no way to add them to the source list where they'd obviously belong.

[JeffLIrion]

I think I'm having an issue related to this. I logged the commands to switch to the HDMI inputs on my TV but currently there seems to be no way to add them to the source list where they'd obviously belong.

The sources list in Home Assistant only includes the running apps.

[larena1]

The sources list in Home Assistant only includes the running apps.

You got my point. HDMI or other inputs should be sources too.

[JeffLIrion]

HDMI or other inputs should be sources too.

This package has all the necessary functionality to support that in the Home Assistant integration, at least as I envision that would be implemented.

The main thing that the Home Assistant integration needs is config flow. There was a pull request that allowed for listing all apps in the sources list instead of the running apps, but that was rejected because adding YAML configuration entries is no longer allowed.

Allowing users to include HDMI inputs in the sources menu is basically the same as the idea discussed above of allowing users to specify the command used to launch an app in the apps: configuration dictionary. But again, that requires config flow before those changes could be made.

One thing that would need to be decided upon is, if the HDMI input is "HDMI-1" and the current app is, say, Netflix, what should be shown as the source: Netflix or HDMI-1?

You could probably achieve a lot of this already using a universal media player, which you said you're already doing in a separate issue: #216

[larena1]

One thing that would need to be decided upon is, if the HDMI input is "HDMI-1" and the current app is, say, Netflix, what should be shown as the source: Netflix or HDMI-1?

I think that case can never happen because HDMI input is an app on its own. In my case it is com.mediatek.wwtv.tvcenter

You could probably achieve a lot of this already using a universal media player, which you said you're already doing in a separate issue: #216

Not really. With a lot of fiddling you could maybe manage to get a proper sources list but the select source service call can't be implemented with ump.

[JeffLIrion]

I think that case can never happen because HDMI input is an app on its own. In my case it is com.mediatek.wwtv.tvcenter

In that case, it should show up as the current app.

Not really. With a lot of fiddling you could maybe manage to get a proper sources list but the select source service call can't be implemented with ump.

I think the documentation is incomplete. select_source is used in some of the examples. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/universal/#chromecast--kodi-control-with-switches

[larena1]

I think that case can never happen because HDMI input is an app on its own. In my case it is com.mediatek.wwtv.tvcenter

In that case, it should show up as the current app.

It does but it requires a custom command with the desired HDMI input number.

Not really. With a lot of fiddling you could maybe manage to get a proper sources list but the select source service call can't be implemented with ump.

I think the documentation is incomplete. select_source is used in some of the examples. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/universal/#chromecast--kodi-control-with-switches

I'd want to keep the app sources and add the HDMI inputs as additional sources. But then there's no way to either call set source or adb command (for HDMI). It can only be one or the other.

[JeffLIrion]

I think this will work...

Make input_select.media_player_sources with the sources you want. In the UMP configuration, use:

commands:
  select_source:
    service: python_script.select_source
    data:
      source: '{{ source }}'
attributes:
  source_list: "input_select.media_player_sources|options"

Make a python_script.select_source that calls the appropriate service for the selected source. You could use a regular script but I think a python_script would be easier.

[larena1]

Too much fiddling and it'd also need another template to display current source (app or HDMI). Guess I'd rather modify the component as to my needs but for now I've just made 3 scripts for HDMI 1-3.

Thanks for your support though