[WIP] A basic proposal setup of entity representations as c# classes

[Devqon]

Please review and comment for using such a setup. I want to have specific classes that represent the HA entities in my (to-be developed) project.

Addresses #12

Features:

• Extends HADotNet.Core (separate project, probably separate NuGet?)
• Exposes an EntitiesService with methods to retrieve entities in the form of strongly typed C# classes. Currently implemented:
  • Base Entity (State, LastChanged, LastUpdated, Attributes)
  • Light (TurnOn, TurnOff, Toggle)
  • BinarySensor
  • Sensor
  • Switch (TurnOn, TurnOff, Toggle)
  • Climate (TurnOn, TurnOff, SetTemperature, SetHvacMode)
• State updates

Proposed (extra) features/nice-to-haves:

• Extensions per domain for specific actions, for example TurnOn(this IEnumerable<Light> lights) to turn on a collection of lights (maybe in a separate project/NuGet package?)
• DI friendly
  • Currently the EntitiesService only. Probably also make the Clients DI friendly?
• Predicates/filters in GetEntities method

Example usage:

var entityClient = ClientFactory.GetClient<EntityClient>();
var statesClient = ClientFactory.GetClient<StatesClient>();

// Initialize an instance of the EntitiesService
var entitiesService = new EntitiesService(entityClient, statesClient);

// Get all light entities
var lights = await entitiesService.GetEntities<Light>();

// Turn on all lights
await Task.WhenAll(lights.Select(light => light.TurnOn()));

[Devqon]

TODO: Handle state updates

[Devqon]

TODO: This doesn't work. Sealed classes cannot be mocked. Either delete unittests, use another constructor, or add interfaces.

[qJake]

So, I want to take a step back here before anyone adds more code to this...

Please see my comment here: #11

Ultimately, my goal for this library specifically is to provide a C# layer on top of the REST API that Home Assistant provides out of the box. Basically a 1:1 command mapping with this: https://developers.home-assistant.io/docs/api/rest

Now, I completely understand the value here - I totally agree that you should be able to do something like:

Entities.Lights["my_light"].TurnOn();

However, I'd envision that as actually a completely separate project/repo/NuGet package from this one. Reason being, there are folks that just want exactly what this library provides - a nice REST wrapper - and nothing more.

And then there are a different set of folks who actually want the super-friendly, easy-to-use C# interface that may give you some ease of use while sacrificing some performance.

The way I see it, there are really three layers here:

Home Assistant
-------------------
HADotNet (Core)
-------------------
HADotNet (???) Unnamed Library

If there is enough interest in this, I'd be happy to start up a repo and a codebase and start accepting PRs. I think if all of these libraries are under the same name, it may lessen some of the confusion - and I can even add a page to https://hacc.dev that explains these, since they're ultimately the same "family" of products/libraries.

Thoughts?

[qJake]

CC @Devqon @PockyBum522

[Devqon]

@qJake I understand your thoughts completely, which is also a reason why I've made everything in a separate project apart from yours (except for the constants, but they could be in the extra project too). The idea was also to put it in a separate NuGet package.

It is totally valid to say this does not/should not belong here. My attempt was only for fullfilling mine and maybe other's extra needs. Because the base was already made by you, I thought it was suitable to extend it from here. If you would rather have this to be a separate github project, no problem at all! Then I'll just move it to my own github (or a new project under yours).

[Devqon]

@qJake @PockyBum522 I've moved the code to a separate project on my github:
https://github.com/Devqon/HADotNet.Entities

This PR can be closed