ActionTiles and Scripting

I’m writing this mostly for me, but obviously by putting this up here, I’m also writing it for you. A couple of friends turned me onto ActionTiles for home automation and use on a tablet, but it took a bit for me to spin it up to a point I was happy with.

Of course, if you are playing around with home automation, you are probably willing to geek out a bit and make it all work as well. Not all of us are developers though, so I thought I’d share a few of my python scripts for anyone who wants to use them for their own ActionTiles setup or really wherever.

My basic setup to start is this:

• Android Tablet running 4.4.2 (Kitkat, and apparently never to be upgraded more)
• ActionTiles license
• Samsung SmartThings hub
• Philips Hue Bridge
• Lots and lots of Echo devices
• Synology NAS (runs my scripts, and is the local web server)

As fun as ActionTiles is, it is currently limited in how it can load pictures or galleries. The limitations of my tablet means I can’t really use Fully or other tools that would let me have a screensaver or alternate methods to run both ActionTiles and [insert your preferred app here]. So I started small, began experimenting with what I could do with the Media tile, and worked my scripts complexity and scope up from there.

I’m posting each script separately so they are easier to reference, and easier to update over time as I fix problems or add features. If you are somehow still with me, then please feel free to peruse the scripts and use any that you would like. I make no guarantees, etc etc.