Remote control with MQTT

[codegrau]

Hi there, thank you @MiczFlor and all contributors for this wonderful project.

Since mqtt is very common for smart home and home automation stuff I was wondering: wouldn't it be cool for phonieboxes to connect to a mqtt broker for other devices to know, which tune is playing and control phoniebox remotely?

• Publish "now playing" to a selected mqtt topic
• Subscribe to a mqtt topic for remote control

This way you could easily integrate phoniebox to openHAB or HomeAssistant or even use cheap ESP8266 to control or visualize phoniebox contents.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

[andreasbrett]

Awesome idea! Would love to use this as well with my openHAB setup.

[MiczFlor]

@codegrau @andreasbrett It's a great idea. I have no smart home, it's nice here, but not very smart ;) so I can't help with this idea. Makes sense though and I will be hovering over the pull requests - possibly you can create a small task group.

[andreasbrett]

I'll see if I can contribute to this feature. I need to dig into the phoniebox infrastructure first and see how and where to insert the mqtt stuff.

@codegrau any ideas on what exact features we would need to control/monitor via mqtt?

[andreasbrett]

@codegrau I think we can close this issue as it is implemented now.

[codegrau]

Sorry for my late response, but what you've achieved @andreasbrett is incredible! This is exactly what I meant! Thank you for this one!

[andreasbrett]

@codegrau thanks, it was easier than I thought. Let me know if there's something else that could be done with regards to MQTT.

[whenthelight]

Hey @ all i had massive problems with Openhab and Mosquito to get and read States (Commands are without Errors and i have it run till google Home can control my Box :-) , thats so awesome), so test step by step and figured some errors (dont know its only me on rasbian buster?) : 1st: its not phoniebox/attributes/attributeName ist phoniebox/attribute/attributeName 2nd: with sample Conf for service in systemd the working Directory must be WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/scripts not WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID without the directory scripts you wont get attribute Values

Hope this help someone

Thanks to dev for this awesome script and Idea of Mqtt

[andreasbrett]

1st: its not phoniebox/attributes/attributeName ist phoniebox/attribute/attributeName

Fixed the typo in the wiki, thanks for pointing that out!

2nd: with sample Conf for service in systemd the working Directory must be WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/scripts not WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID

Okay, I think I found the bug with that configuration. Typically my scripts are independent from the working directory as I use the script path. Thanks to your hint I found 3 attributes where I did NOT do so. maxvolume, idletime and volstep. Did you have issues with other attributes as well? Those 3 bugs will be fixed once @MiczFlor merges the pull request (https://github.com/MiczFlor/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/pull/593) into master. It contains some new features and I also added the fixes a minute ago.

[whenthelight]

1st: its not phoniebox/attributes/attributeName ist phoniebox/attribute/attributeName

Fixed the typo in the wiki, thanks for pointing that out!

2nd: with sample Conf for service in systemd the working Directory must be WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/scripts not WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/RPi-Jukebox-RFID

Okay, I think I found the bug with that configuration. Typically my scripts are independent from the working directory as I use the script path. Thanks to your hint I found 3 attributes where I did NOT do so. maxvolume, idletime and volstep. Did you have issues with other attributes as well? Those 3 bugs will be fixed once @MiczFlor merges the pull request (#593) into master. It contains some new features and I also added the fixes a minute ago.

Hey, so fast :-) i couldn't drink my Pale and have to sit down for testing . The Problem with the "scripts" path is wenn i start the service the "get/all" doesnt get Values in al Attributes. Not only these 3 but when it has merged i test some Attributes. actually this error appears only in the "get" and "attribute" topics , the cmd have no error and delivers without error. Also in the Syslog i see "get/all" empty Value . When start directly with python3 "script" no error and all topics become their Values

PS: the new Function for Folderplay(which is incredible when i get this work as Switch and then in Google Home :-)) need some Parameters , are these the directory Path to Musicalbums ? like : /RPi-Jukebox-RFID/shared/audiofolders/Album1 or only Album1 ?

thx

Update: Change your Commit et voila , thumbsup all works like charm.

[andreasbrett]

PS: the new Function for Folderplay(which is incredible when i get this work as Switch and then in Google Home :-)) need some Parameters , are these the directory Path to Musicalbums ? like : /RPi-Jukebox-RFID/shared/audiofolders/Album1 or only Album1 ?

You simply pass the folder name (Album1). BTW: I primarily use the Basic UI to control openHAB and therefore would implement that with a String element that is linked to the MQTT topic "phoniebox/cmd/playfolder" and make a dropdown in the sitemap with pre-set folder names. Something like that:

Selection item=phoniebox_playfolder mappings=["Album1"="Tool - Fear Inocolum", "Album2"="Slipknot - We are not your kind"]

So if I select the Slipknot album from that dropdown the value "Album2" would be sent to the playfolder command. Not sure how you would handle that with your Google Home though.

Update: Change your Commit et voila , thumbsup all works like charm.

Great!

[KingKahn123]

Hi, I still have an issue with the MQTT function. I have connected the Phoniebox to my MQTT server of my IPSymcon system, but only 4 entries are created:

The phoniebox/get/all attribute gets updated every 10 seconds when a music file is playing. However no data is written to this attribute. In the log files I can see that the payload for this attribute is NULL.

Any idea why no information is forwarded to this attribute?

Thx for your help...

Kai

[andreasbrett]

@kingkahn123 You misunderstood the documentation. Attributes are sent to /attribute/$attributeName (so e.g. /attribute/volume or /attribute/elapsed).

/get/$attributeName only triggers phoniebox to publish that attribute to /attribute/$attributeName. That's only used if you want to receive the updates quicker or at a specific time rather than waiting for the next interval. What you will have to do though is set your smart home tool to monitor each attribute separately (via e.g. /attribute/volume).

[andreasbrett]

Oh and I see that you're using the Spotify edition. Haven't tested that yet as I'm not using it. Let me know if it works like I described above.

[KingKahn123]

I have created now one additional attribute manually:

The details look like this:

However no updates are received for this attribute.

[KingKahn123]

In addition, as far as I understand the MQTT function from the Phoniebox is that all attributes are refreshed at a predefined interval, correct? That means during playback of any music file, the attributes are sent to the server every 10 seconds (depending on the config file). This would be recognized by my SmartHome system and the attributes would be created automatically. But only the four are created. So I assume that no data is transferred to my SmartHome system.

[whenthelight]

Hey, in Mqtt you have to subscribe to an Topic to receive an Attribute. You have to make an Status or SUB in your Software with phoniebox/attribute/Volume an no Value.

It seems that you set up an public with that Topic above and an Value

[KingKahn123]

But this is how my other attributes, where I receive some data from the Phoniebox, are defined.

---

Received information on startup:

This is how my MQTT server receives the publish get/all from the Phoniebox. The payload is empty. Should it not include some data?

 

[whenthelight]

Sure ;-) because you use publish to publish plusSpotify to the Topic phoniebox/edition You need an Function in your Ip_symcon that catchs the Values from the Topics not send some. Like https://github.com/thomasf68/IPS_MQTT. You received this in your mqtt server because you published that with your Action.

[andreasbrett]

Should it not include some data?

No. Please read again the documentation and my description above. The get topic NEVER is filled with payload because the topic itself will trigger an action and does not need a payload as all the necessary information is already in the subtopic (attributename). The reason why your tool detects this topic is because the periodic publishing of attributes is triggered by phoniebox sending /get/all to itself. Just ignore that.

The reason you're not receiving any attributes has to do with you being on the Spotify edition. I will have to check how the management of the player (which I guess is different to the classic edition) works for the Spotify edition.

[andreasbrett]

@whenthelight He is not publishing anything. His tool just subscribed to all possible topics and phoniebox indeed is sending 4 parameters at the beginning (independent of the player attributes).

Reason why he does not receive any attributes is because that function seems to crash due to some difference between the classic and Spotify edition.

@miczflor Are there major differences on how I can retrieve player data in the Spotify edition? As you see in my code I mostly use queries to mpd as well as the payout controls.sh script.

[KingKahn123]

Sure ;-) because you use publish to publish plusSpotify to the Topic phoniebox/edition You need an Function in your Ip_symcon that catchs the Values from the Topics not send some. Like https://github.com/thomasf68/IPS_MQTT. You received this in your mqtt server because you published that with your Action.

This mqtt module was now integrated in IPSymcon 5.1/5.2. No need to have this module any longer ;-) When I create this attribute initially the value field is empty... After reboot of the Phoniebox the value is filled in by the MQTT publish:

[KingKahn123]

@whenthelight He is not publishing anything. His tool just subscribed to all possible topics and phoniebox indeed is sending 4 parameters at the beginning (independent of the player attributes).

Reason why he does not receive any attributes is because that function seems to crash due to some difference between the classic and Spotify edition.

I think so as well as I now checked the log file of my IPSymcon MQTT server and I do not see anything else than the 4 parameters. The get/all is occurring every 10 seconds. But I now understood that it is ok, if it is empty ;-)

Thanks for looking into it

[whenthelight]

@whenthelight He is not publishing anything. His tool just subscribed to all possible topics and phoniebox indeed is sending 4 parameters at the beginning (independent of the player attributes). Hey im blind :-) didnt see that he is RX the Publish , sorry for missing this. I read the manual of the IPsymcon :-) Reason why he does not receive any attributes is because that function seems to crash due to some difference between the classic and Spotify edition.

@MiczFlor Are there major differences on how I can retrieve player data in the Spotify edition? As you see in my code I mostly use queries to mpd as well as the payout controls.sh script.

What is the output of journalctl -u phoniebox-mqtt-client.service there you see whats going on

[andreasbrett]

@kingkahn123 Could you please try the latest version of the mqtt daemon? It's not yet merged but includes some major changes that might already get rid of the errors.

You can get it here: https://github.com/andreasbrett/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/blob/mqtt-dev/scripts/daemon_mqtt_client.py

[KingKahn123]

What is the output of journalctl -u phoniebox-mqtt-client.service there you see whats going on

[andreasbrett]

You won't see the errors there as the function that causes the issue is called from a thread and not showing error messages on stdout/stderr.

Please try the latest dev version (see above) and check journalctl again. If I'm correct it should give more output and also attributes should pop up. If not... I will have to dig deeper.

[whenthelight]

Latest Dev gives a lot of Informations :-)

[whenthelight]

Spotify Edition use mopidy, customized Mpd

https://docs.mopidy.com/en/latest/api/core/#mopidy.core.mopidy.core.PlaylistsController

[KingKahn123]

Using the new script results in only two more attributes:

journalctl now only shows this:

[whenthelight]

All Music related Attributes are in the Spotify Edition others then normal, because mopidy act different then normal MPD.Thats why the Script cannot geht the Values for the Attributes. Thats why you get only the System Default Values

[andreasbrett]

@whenthelight But how does phoniebox web app work then? It uses the same ways of accessing player status.

@kingkahn123 Could you please add fetchData() at the bottom of the script right after client.loop_start()? This will allow us to see the error in journalctl -u phoniebox-mqtt-client.service

[KingKahn123]

@KingKahn123 Could you please add fetchData() at the bottom of the script right after client.loop_start()? This will allow us to see the error in journalctl -u phoniebox-mqtt-client.service

I have added it and this is the only output:

[andreasbrett]

That's weird. I honestly don't know what to do right now. Are you able to see and control your box in the web app? Additionally, could you run the following command:

nc -w 1 localhost 6600

Then enter status and press enter. This should output some lines of attributes of your mpd/mopidy server. Then enter close and then press enter to close that tool.

[KingKahn123]

Yes, I can control the box via the web app...

nc -w 1 localhost 6600 -->

status gives following "result":

[andreasbrett]

No, enter status while still in the mpd console (that you opened with nc)

[KingKahn123]

It is not opening anything:

[andreasbrett]

My bad. Use that command: nc localhost 6600

[KingKahn123]

Ah ;-)

[andreasbrett]

Okay, getting closer. Please save the following code to a file and name it test.py

import subprocess

cmd = ['nc', '-w', '1', 'localhost', '6600']
input = 'status\ncurrentsong\nclose'.encode('utf-8')
status = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, input=input).stdout.decode('utf-8')
print("result =", status)

Then run that with python3 test.py

[KingKahn123]

Done:

[andreasbrett]

Alright, that's a good thing.

Now please add the following lines to test.py and run it again.

regex = re.search('\nstate: (.*)\n', status).group(1).lower()
print("regex =", regex) 

[KingKahn123]

Where should I add it? Right at the end of the script after: print("result =", status) ?

[andreasbrett]

Yes, right there.

[KingKahn123]

Ok then I get following error message:

[andreasbrett]

Sorry change the first line of the script to

import subprocess, re

[andreasbrett]

(sorry for all the hassle. I'm on my smartphone right now and can't properly help)

[KingKahn123]

no worries... Thx for the help:

[andreasbrett]

Okay, that all looks very good. Could you try running the mqtt script?

First stop the service with sudo systemctl stop phoniebox-mqtt-client

Then run the script manually with python3 daemon_mqtt_client.py

[KingKahn123]

[andreasbrett]

Okay, this looks like the subscription to the /get/# topic did not work. Which mqtt server are you using? Could you try and send to /get/volume (any payload) from your smart home software? The daemon script needs to run while you're doing it. It should output that it received something.