[BUG] MQTT commands don't work

[briodan]

Describe the bug
I cant get MQTT commands to work from Home Assistant

To Reproduce
I have setup MQTT on the device and I see it publish sensor and connection data to MQTT however MQTT commands do not get picked up by the device

this is the command I issue for a reload, note HA translates " to " when pasted into the GUI and will not allow payload: "{"reload": true}", i have also tried payload: "{reload': true}" with no success.

action: mqtt.publish
data:
  evaluate_payload: false
  qos: 0
  retain: false
  topic: wallpanel/los1_wp/command
  payload: "{\"reload\": true}"

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: ThinkSmart View
• OS: Android 8.10 (Lineage OS)
• Applicaiton version: v0.12.0 build 0

[nathan815]

Same issue. I am publishing messages via MQTT Explorer macOS app and WallPanel is not reacting to any commands. I see the messages being published by WallPanel.

[nathan815]

I just found the issue. It's due to the base topic setting. Basically, the app is not adding a / at the end automatically, so it's subscribed to topic {base_topic_name}command. If you look at the topics it's publishing the sensor messages to they follow the same pattern.

If you publish a message on wallpanel/los1_wpcommand, you'll see it works.

Fix is to append a / at the end of the base topic name in the app settings.

Arguably this is a bug. The app should append it if missing IMO. However, fixing it would be a breaking change.

[briodan]

I just found the issue. It's due to the base topic setting. Basically, the app is not adding a / at the end automatically, so it's subscribed to topic {base_topic_name}command. If you look at the topics it's publishing the sensor messages to they follow the same pattern.

If you publish a message on wallpanel/los1_wpcommand, you'll see it works.

Fix is to append a / at the end of the base topic name in the app settings.

Arguably this is a bug. The app should append it if missing IMO. However, fixing it would be a breaking change.

OMFG i was staring at the commands in MQTT viewer and it looked strange but did not figure out that missing piece. adding the trailing / in the app config got it working.

Thank you very much.

Might not require an app change but maybe a clarification in the documentation.

[nathan815]

Haha, yep! I was staring at it for a while too and thought the topics looked strange, but I just chalked it up to an oddity in the way it publishes messages. I came across an old HA forum post from a few years ago where someone mentioned a trailing slash. I was shocked when I published to that topic and it worked :D

I agree, clarification in the documentation will help.

[briodan]

had another look at the documentation and the screenshots show the ending "/" but the text description does not, put in PR #175 to clarify the need for a trailing /.

will leave this open until that's merged, in case others run across it.