Python Package - ABB Free@Home via Local Api

This is a Python library that will interact with an ABB Free@Home SysAp over the Local API. For more information about the api, please visit the ABB documentation.

Note: This is purely designed for the local api, these methods will not work when attempting to use the cloud api.

The primary motivation to building this library was to create a Home Assistant integration. Because of this the library will follow a lot of the same format and linting requirements as Home Assistant. Although this is designed with Home Assistant in mind, it's also designed as a completely independent library that can be used for any situation.

Activate Local API

Using the local API will only work if you have it enabled on the SysAP. To activate the load API navigate to:

SysAP Configuration > Settings > free@home - Settings > Local API > Activate Local API

Copy the username listed within that window (usually installer) to be used when invoking the api.

Device Implementation

The current devices implemented within the library.

Name	Primary Functions	Properties
CarbonMonoxideSensor		state
DesDoorRingingSensor
DimmingActuator	turn_on(), turn_off(), set_brightness()	state, brightness
MovementDetector		state, brightness
SmokeDetector		state
SwitchActuator	turn_on(), turn_off()	state
SwitchSensor		state
Trigger	press()
WindowDoorSensor		state, position

FreeAtHome Class Structure and API Interaction

The general structure of the Python libary looks similar to this:

FreeAtHomeApi
│
└───FreeAtHome
     │
     └────Devices
          │  MovementDetector (FID_MOVEMENT_DETECTOR)
          │  SwitchActuator (FID_SWITCH_ACTUATOR)
          │  SwitchSensor (FID_SWITCH_SENSOR)
          │  Trigger (FID_TRIGGER)

The FreeAtHome class (in general) would NOT update the state of any individual device (with the exception of the websocket callbacks). The device class would have access to the FreeAtHome api object to update or fetch it's own state if needed. The FreeAtHome class's only interaction with the FreeAtHomeApi would be to fetch the SysAP configuration, which it will use to "load" the list of Python device classes required for device interaction, and to listen for events on the websocket.

To make things simple and easy to test each device should map to a single Free@Home function. This is because each function would likely have a unique set up inputs/outputs to interact with the Free@Home device, requiring unique methods within the class to properly expose and update the device. But, it is possible that a device could have multiple functions if the functions operated identically to each other. This mapping can be applied in the FreeAtHome._get_function_to_device_mapping method.

Device Class	Function(s)
SwitchActuator	FID_SWITCH_ACTUATOR

If multiple functions share a number of the same properties but are slightly different we can create additional levels to the class inheritence hierachy as needed to avoid repeat code.

Device Api Interaction (Update Device)

Within the device class any number of methods and functions can be implemented in order to both expose the information from the api as device properties (e.g. lux, state) or set the state of a device in Free@Home using the api object.

Set Device Initial State

All device states can be derived from the inputs, outputs, and parameters class attributes that will be available to all device classes and is set in the Base device. The state of a device is generally set using the device outputs. An example if getting the current state of the SwitchActuator

def _refresh_state_from_output(self, output: dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
    """
    Refresh the state of the device from a given output.

    This will return whether the state was refreshed as a boolean value.
    """
    if output.get("pairingID") == Pairing.AL_INFO_ON_OFF.value:
        self._state = output.get("value") == "1"
        return True
    return False

This is called when the device class is initiated to know the current state of the device. Because the inputs, outputs, and parameters are fed to the device class from the FreeAtHome class, it does not need to interact directly with the api server. This is important, this ensures we don't have to invoke the Api every time we create an instance of a new device class.

Refresh Device State

There may be instances where the state of the device would need to be refreshed directly from the api. In general, it's unlikely this will need to be called often, the updated state of a device should come from the websocket and directed by the FreeAtHome with callbacks. But it's good practice to implement an api refresh.

To do this we can invoke the FreeAtHomeApi.get_datapoint function to fetch the state of the device. We can use the get_output_by_pairing_id function to fetch the correct output id based on what is needed from the api.

async def refresh_state(self):
    """Refresh the state of the device from the api."""
    _state_refresh_pairings = [
        Pairing.AL_INFO_ON_OFF,
    ]

    for _pairing in _state_refresh_pairings:
        _switch_output_id, _switch_output_value = self.get_output_by_pairing(
            pairing=_pairing
        )

        _datapoint = (
            await self._api.get_datapoint(
                device_id=self.device_id,
                channel_id=self.channel_id,
                datapoint=_switch_output_id,
            )
        )[0]

        self._refresh_state_from_output(
            output={
                "pairingID": _pairing.value,
                "value": _datapoint,
            }
        )

@property
def state(self) -> bool | None:
    """Get the state of the switch."""
    return self._state

Update Device State

To update the state (e.g. switch on device) of a device in the Free@Home system the api will need to be invoked. This is also done directly within the device class.

This will use the FreeAtHomeApi.set_datapoint function using similar methods as fetching the state of the device.

async def _set_switching_datapoint(self, value: str):
    _switch_input_id, _switch_input_value = self.get_input_by_pairing_id(
        pairing_id=PairingId.AL_SWITCH_ON_OFF
    )
    return await self._api.set_datapoint(
        device_id=self.device_id,
        channel_id=self.channel_id,
        datapoint=_switch_input_id,
        value=value,
    )

async def turn_on(self):
    """Turn on the switch."""
    await self._set_switching_datapoint("1")
    self._state = True

Installation

Create a directory and virtual environment and install the Python library using pip.

mkdir -p ~/test_abbfreeathome && cd ~/test_abbfreeathome
python3.12 -m venv .venv && source ./.venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade local-abbfreeathome

Replace python3.12 with your Python bash alias, double check which directory you want to install the virtual environment into.

Create any number of python files using the examples below (or your own code) to interact with the api.

Examples

Below are a number of examples on how to use the library. These examples use the above directory and virtual environment.

Api

There is one class which is designed to only interact with the api. This should be the only class that directory interacts with the api endpoints.

Get Configuration

There's is one endpoint that'll return the entire Free@Home configuration, including all devices. This example shows how to fetch and display that. Keep in mind the devices returned are are just Python dict objects.

from abbfreeathome.api import FreeAtHomeApi
import asyncio
import logging

if __name__ == "__main__":
    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

    # Create an instance of the free@home api
    _fah_api = FreeAtHomeApi(
        host="http://<IP or HOSTNAME>", username="installer", password="<password>"
    )

    # Pull SysAP Configuration
    _config = asyncio.run(_fah_api.get_configuration())
    
    # Print All Devices
    print(_config.get("devices"))

FreeAtHome

There an additional class called FreeAtHome. This class attempts to put it all together linking the FreeAtHomeApi class to usable Python objects.

Get Devices

This example will load the FreeAtHome class with all potential devices from the api. Once loaded another function get_devices_by_class is used to pull all devices that call under a specific "class".

from abbfreeathome.api import FreeAtHomeApi
from abbfreeathome.freeathome import FreeAtHome
from abbfreeathome.devices.switch_actuator import SwitchActuator
import logging
import asyncio

if __name__ == "__main__":
    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

    # Create an instance of the FreeAtHome class.
    _free_at_home = FreeAtHome(
        api=FreeAtHomeApi(
          host="http://<IP or HOSTNAME>", username="installer", password="<password>"
        )
    )

    # Load all devices into the FreeAtHome object.
    asyncio.run(_free_at_home.load_devices())

    # Fetch just the list of switches
    _switches = _free_at_home.get_devices_by_class(device_class=SwitchActuator)

    # Loop through each switch showing the name and whether is On/Off
    for _switch in _switches:
        print(_switch.channel_name, f"({_switch.state})")

WebSocket

The Free@Home local api also exposes a websocket. With this library you can connect to and lisen to events on the websocket. These events are changes in devices datapoints, parameters, etc. The library will give the ability to listen on the websocket and automatically update a devices state.

In addition, the library "devices" can register and run any callbacks when the state changes. Allowing outside code (e.g. Home Assistant) to get notified on changes.

from abbfreeathome.api import FreeAtHomeApi
from abbfreeathome.freeathome import FreeAtHome
from abbfreeathome.devices.switch_actuator import SwitchActuator
import logging
import asyncio


def my_very_own_callback():
    print("The switches datapoints have been updated.")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

    _free_at_home = FreeAtHome(
        api=FreeAtHomeApi(
          host="http://<IP or HOSTNAME>", username="installer", password="<password>"
        )
    )

    # Load all devices into the FreeAtHome object.
    asyncio.run(_free_at_home.load_devices())

    # Set the callback function on each switch.
    for _switch in _free_at_home.get_devices_by_class(device_class=SwitchActuator):
        _switch.register_callback(my_very_own_callback)

    # Start listenting
    asyncio.run(_free_at_home.ws_listen())

Output

In order to see any activity, you'll have you turn on/off a switch in the system.

INFO:abbfreeathome.api:Websocket attempting to connect ws://<IP or HOSTNAME>/fhapi/v1/api/ws
INFO:abbfreeathome.api:Websocket connected ws://<IP or HOSTNAME>/fhapi/v1/api/ws
INFO:abbfreeathome.devices.switch:Office Light received updated data: ABB7F62F6C25/ch0003/idp0000: 1
The switches datapoints have been updated.
INFO:abbfreeathome.devices.switch:Office Light received updated data: ABB7F62F6C25/ch0003/odp0000: 1
The switches datapoints have been updated.

TODO

There are a number of items that still need to be done.

• Implement format and linting checking in a GitHub actions pipeline using Ruff.
  • https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/integrations/
• Add GitHub actions for cutting a release and pushing to PyPi automatically.
• Implement unit testing.
• Implement SSL on both HTTPS and WSS requests.
  • The Free@Home system will provide a certificate which can be used to validate the connection, can this be used in Home Assistant?