Building Cloud-connected Device Types

Cloud-connected devices use a third-party service to accomplish device communication. An example of such a device is the Ecobee thermostat.

When developing a Device Handler for a Cloud-connected device, you must create a Service Manager SmartApp that will handle authenticating with the third-party service, communicating with the device, and reacting to any device changes that occur.

This guide overviews the concept of the Service Manager/Device Handler architecture and also gives an example of both the Service Manager and Device Handler creation.

Table of Contents:

• Division of Labor
  • Service Manager responsibilities
  • Device Handler responsibilities
  • How it all works
• Building the Service Manager
  • Authentication using OAuth
  • Discovery
  • Handling adds, changes, deletes
• Building the Device Handler
  • The Parse method
  • Sending commands to the third-party cloud
  • Receiving Events from the third-party cloud
  • Generating Events at the request of the Service Manager