usage

[bachoo786]

hi there
Thanks for this wonderful application.

However being a novice and trying to get my head around on how to use this application I do not understand the usage section in the readme file.

After installing everything do I just navigate to my raspberry pi's address and go to /switch/......
E.g. 192.168.0.10/switch/.....

[nicolas-kuechler]

Generally I would recommend to run the application in a setup with Gunicorn and Nginx.
However, if you only want to try it out, you don't need them.

After installing everything on the raspberry pi, you should be able to reach the login endpoint:
{{ raspberry pi ip address }}/switchbot/api/v1/login
(don't forget to pass a name and the password)

Afterwards you can contact the endpoint which lists all switchbots with the token in the header you received from the login:
{{ raspberry pi ip address }}/switchbot/api/v1/bots

[bachoo786]

hey @nicolas-kuechler so I managed to run it but its asking for a password now

pi@raspberrypi:~/switchbot $ sudo pipenv run python src/main.py
Login Password (required for receiving bearer token):

[bachoo786]

ok so I put in a random password and it says its running on 0.0.0.0:5000. I try to navigate to {{ raspberry pi ip address }}/switchbot/api/v1/login but the page doesnt work. I cannot reach the login endpoint.

Can you help please?

[nicolas-kuechler]

@bachoo786
it asks you to set a password (you choose one).

it is the password that you then later need in order to receive a bearer token on this endpoint:
{{ raspberry pi ip address }}/switchbot/api/v1/login

if you already set a password but don't remember it (i.e. if you are not prompted again to enter one when you start), you can remove the switchbot entry in the keyring file which should be at this location: ~/.local/share/python_keyring/keyring_pass.cfg

[bachoo786]

yes I have set the password and now what? I try to go to 192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login but it doesnt return anything? I thought you mentioned there is a login ? like a web interface?

See below please:

[nicolas-kuechler]

you cannot access it with your webbrowser, instead you have to login with a post request.

I recommend to use postman (because there is a collection in the repo which you can import)

If you want to use curl, this is what you need to send:
(replace the PASSWORD in the request with the random password that you set)

curl --location --request POST 'http://192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ --data-raw '{ "name": "NAME", "password": "PASSWORD" }'

[bachoo786]

oh right
this is confusing for me sorry.

what I am trying to do is simply make my switchbot press on for 2 mins and then go back to off or its original state.

[bachoo786]

ok @nicolas-kuechler the curl command doesnt work either. I set the password and I used it in the curl command, but it says:

 curl --location --request POST 'http://192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ --data-raw '{ "name": "NAME", "password": "abcd123" }'
curl: (7) Failed to connect to 192.168.0.19 port 80: Connection refused
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[1/2]:  "name": "NAME" --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "name": "NAME"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[2/2]:  "password": "abcd123"  --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "password": "abcd123"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

do I need to provide name as well?

[nicolas-kuechler]

I think there is a different problem because you get the connection refused error.

What you should see if you open the url with your browser is the following message:
{"status":"405 Method Not Allowed: The method is not allowed for the requested URL."}

What you can try is to change http to https.

curl -k --location --request POST 'https://192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ --data-raw '{ "name": "NAME", "password": "PASSWORD" }'

I assume the switchbot program is still running, right? Does the cmd output show something?

[bachoo786]

@nicolas-kuechler I get the same connection refused error if I change it to https.

Please tell me a few things:

1). do I have to continue running this command: pipenv run python src/main.py when I do my curl command?

the command output doesnt show anything:

pi@raspberrypi:~/switchbot $ sudo pipenv run python src/main.py
/root/.local/share/virtualenvs/switchbot-rpEz6xuZ/lib/python3.7/site-packages/apispec/ext/marshmallow/common.py:145: UserWarning: Multiple schemas resolved to the name Timer. The name has been modified. Either manually add each of the schemas with a different name or provide a custom schema_name_resolver.
  UserWarning,
 * Serving Flask app "switchbot_api" (lazy loading)
 * Environment: production
   WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment.
   Use a production WSGI server instead.
 * Debug mode: off
INFO:werkzeug: * Running on http://0.0.0.0:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)

also there is no python_keyring folder in ~/.local/share. So I cannot locate this file ~/.local/share/python_keyring/keyring_pass.cfg

[nicolas-kuechler]

@bachoo786
yes, you have to keep this running.
This is a flask server, that continuously runs.

You might need to google for keyring locations or you can search the raspberry pi file system for a keyring_pass.cfg file.

[bachoo786]

ok I changed my password to "hello" and I ran the commands please see below:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ curl --location --request POST 'https://192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ --data-raw '{ "name": "NAME", "password": "hello" }'
curl: (7) Failed to connect to 192.168.0.19 port 443: Connection refused
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[1/2]:  "name": "NAME" --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "name": "NAME"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[2/2]:  "password": "hello"  --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "password": "hello"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ curl --location --request POST 'http://192.168.0.19/switchbot/api/v1/login' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ --data-raw '{ "name": "NAME", "password": "hello" }'
curl: (7) Failed to connect to 192.168.0.19 port 80: Connection refused
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[1/2]:  "name": "NAME" --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "name": "NAME"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

[2/2]:  "password": "hello"  --> <stdout>
--_curl_-- "password": "hello"
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

same issue.

what port is this running on? 443?

[bachoo786]

can I ask you something? I am also following this person's switchbot command but he doesnt specify any timers for the press action of the switchbot. Here is his python code:

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/mugifly/a29f34df7de8960d72245fcb124513c7/raw/2a7c03821d008d23ada21661447a2e2c03397644/switchbot-cmd.py

Can you please tell me what can I add to the python code to make the press command hold for 2 minutes?

I am not familiar with python but learning.

[nicolas-kuechler]

ohh sorry, I think you need to use port 5000.

http://192.168.0.19:5000/switchbot/api/v1/login

[nicolas-kuechler]

if you don't need the rest api and you just want a script which pushes the switchbot for 2 min.

The following script:

from switchbot import Bot
from switchbot import Scanner

scanner = Scanner()
mac_addresses = scanner.scan(known_dict={})

print(f"mac adresses: { mac_adresses}")

bot = Bot(id=1, mac=mac_adresses[0], name="your name")

# change the hold time to 2 minutes (you only need to do this once)
bot.set_hold_time(120)

# press the bot
bot.press() 

Place it in the folder switchbot/src on your raspberry pi with the name that you want and then execute from the root folder the following command. (you might require sudo because I think the scanner functionality relies on it)

pipenv run python src/yourname.py