Create a simple door alert system with the Funhouse and Adafruit IO. It'll update your dashboard and send an email whenever a certain door is opened or closed.

Parts

New to Adafruit IO? You can read all about it in this guide. Go ahead and get your account set up, and come back to this page when you're ready.

A window will pop up with your Adafruit IO key and username. Keep a copy of them in a safe place, you'll need them later.

Setting up Adafruit IO Feeds

You'll create a feed called door to receive the door switch status data sent by the Funhouse.

To create the feed for the door, navigate to the Adafruit IO Feeds Page and click Actions->Create a New Feed. Name the new feed door and then click Create. 

• If you do not know how to create feeds, head over to the Adafruit IO Basics: Feeds for a quick overview of this process.

Creating the Adafruit IO Dashboard

Next, you"ll create an Adafruit IO Dashboard to display and control our feeds. Navigate to the Adafruit IO Dashboard page and click Actions -> Create a New Dashboard.

Name this dashboard Funhouse Door Alert and click Create. You'll be re-directed to the new Dashboard.

Using Adafruit IO, you can create automated email alerts so you receive an email whenever a feed condition is met.

Here are two different ways to do it, one uses Adafruit IO and IFTTT, the other uses Adafruit IO+ (this is a paid service) with its built-in Actions.

Email Alert with AIO and IFTTT

The IFTTT (If This Then That) service can be integrated with AIO quite easily. You'll create an IFTTT applet that watches one of your AIO feeds, and when a certain value appears in the feed, IFTTT will send an email.

First, head to https://ifttt.com/ and create an account or log in if you already have one.

Email Alert with AIO+

Adafruit IO+ Actions

With a paid Adafruit IO+ subscription, you can use the Actions to send an email to your account email address.

Here, you'll fill out the conditions and action to take. In this example below:

If door Is equal to 0 Then email me door value and time.

Click create and you're done! The next time your feed value equals the conditional number, you'll get an email.

Install CircuitPython

The first think to do is install CircuitPython on your Funhouse. Follow this guide to get it set up with the latest release version.

Shhhh... Secrets

In order for the Funhouse to connect to the internet, you'll need to include a secrets.py file on the board that contains your WiFi access point ssid and password, as well as your AIO key.

Follow this guide page to get your secrets.py file set up.

Text Editor

Adafruit recommends using the Mu editor for using your CircuitPython code with the Funhouse. You can get more info in this guide.

Download the Project Bundle

Your project will use a specific set of CircuitPython libraries and the code.py file. In order to get the libraries you need, click on the Download Project Bundle link below, and uncompress the .zip file.

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 Scott Shawcroft, written for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021 Melissa LeBlanc-Williams & John Park for Adafruit
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
from adafruit_funhouse import FunHouse
from adafruit_debouncer import Debouncer


RED = 0x200000
GREEN = 0x002000

funhouse = FunHouse(default_bg=None)
funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)

switch_pin = DigitalInOut(board.A1)
switch_pin.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch_pin.pull = Pull.UP
switch = Debouncer(switch_pin)


def send_io_data(door_value):
    funhouse.peripherals.led = True
    print("Sending data to adafruit IO!")
    funhouse.network.push_to_io("door", door_value)
    funhouse.peripherals.led = False


send_io_data(0)

while True:

    switch.update()
    if switch.rose:
        print("Door is open")
        funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(2000, 0.25)
        funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
        send_io_data(0)

    if switch.fell:
        print("Door is closed")
        funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(800, 0.25)
        funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(GREEN)
        send_io_data(1)

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 Scott Shawcroft, written for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021 Melissa LeBlanc-Williams & John Park for Adafruit
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
from adafruit_funhouse import FunHouse
from adafruit_debouncer import Debouncer


RED = 0x200000
GREEN = 0x002000

funhouse = FunHouse(default_bg=None)
funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)

switch_pin = DigitalInOut(board.A1)
switch_pin.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch_pin.pull = Pull.UP
switch = Debouncer(switch_pin)


def send_io_data(door_value):
    funhouse.peripherals.led = True
    print("Sending data to adafruit IO!")
    funhouse.network.push_to_io("door", door_value)
    funhouse.peripherals.led = False


send_io_data(0)

while True:

    switch.update()
    if switch.rose:
        print("Door is open")
        funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(2000, 0.25)
        funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
        send_io_data(0)

    if switch.fell:
        print("Door is closed")
        funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(800, 0.25)
        funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(GREEN)
        send_io_data(1)

How it Works

The Funhouse Door Alert acts a bit like a simple switch that sends out a REST message when its position is changed. To do this, you first import some libraries.

Libraries

import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
from adafruit_funhouse import FunHouse
from adafruit_debouncer import Debouncer

import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
from adafruit_funhouse import FunHouse
from adafruit_debouncer import Debouncer

The board library provides pin definitions. digitalio is used to check the switch.

adafruit_funhouse allows simple access to the Dotstar LEDs, via the peripherals layer, as well as the network layer used to connect to the internet and send REST or MQTT messages (in the case of this project you'll use REST, which is simple and robust).

adafruit_debouncer make it easy to check for switch open and switch close events.

Setup

Next you'll do some setup including setting LED color variables, creating the funhouse object, setting up the door sensor switch on the A1 pin, and creating the debouncer object on that pin.

RED = 0x200000
GREEN = 0x002000
 
funhouse = FunHouse(default_bg=None)
funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
 
switch_pin = DigitalInOut(board.A1)
switch_pin.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch_pin.pull = Pull.UP
switch = Debouncer(switch_pin)

RED = 0x200000
GREEN = 0x002000
 
funhouse = FunHouse(default_bg=None)
funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
 
switch_pin = DigitalInOut(board.A1)
switch_pin.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch_pin.pull = Pull.UP
switch = Debouncer(switch_pin)

Send IO Data Function

You'll create a function to send either a 0 or a 1 to the AIO door feed when the switch is opened or closed.

def send_io_data(door_value):
    funhouse.peripherals.led = True
    print("Sending data to adafruit IO!")
    funhouse.network.push_to_io("door", door_value)
    funhouse.peripherals.led = False

def send_io_data(door_value):
    funhouse.peripherals.led = True
    print("Sending data to adafruit IO!")
    funhouse.network.push_to_io("door", door_value)
    funhouse.peripherals.led = False

Main Loop

The main loop of the program checks the switch pin with the debouncer's switch.update() function.

Two if statement do the rest. If the switch state rises, the door has just opened and the feed is sent a message with the data value 0.

If the switch state falls, the door has just closed and the feed is sent a message with the data value 1.

This configuration of triggering only on a state change is helpful, because it means the board won't be constantly spamming the AIO feed with data!

switch.update()
    	if switch.rose:
        	print("Door is open")
        	funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(2000, 0.25)
        	funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
        	send_io_data(0)
 
    	if switch.fell:
        	print("Door is closed")
        	funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(800, 0.25)
        	funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(GREEN)
        	send_io_data(1)

switch.update()
    	if switch.rose:
        	print("Door is open")
        	funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(2000, 0.25)
        	funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(RED)
        	send_io_data(0)
 
    	if switch.fell:
        	print("Door is closed")
        	funhouse.peripherals.play_tone(800, 0.25)
        	funhouse.peripherals.dotstars.fill(GREEN)
        	send_io_data(1)

Door Sensor

The door sensor is a type of switch called a reed switch. It consists of a wired switch and a separate magnet. When the magnet is within about 1/2" of the sensor, the internal switch mechanism is pulled open. When the magnet is further away the switch closes.

Here's a design file for a mounting bracket -- you can use it as a template for cutting your own by hand, with a laser cutter or mill, or as a jumping off point for modeling one for 3D printing.

Now, when the door is opened, you'll get an alert!