Use Pebble smartwatch to control Logitech Squeezebox Radio over Logitech MediaServer/SqueezeBoxServer/Slimserver

Logitech Squeezeserver + Android + Pebble = <3 !

I'm one of the (very) proud owners of a Pebble smartwatch, and a Nexus 4 running Android Lollipop. For those who don't know this brilliant smartwatch, check here. In a way you could consider it to be an extension, a 2nd screen, and/or a remote to your phone.
One of the first things I thought of doing with it, was to control my Logitech Squeezebox Radio with it: louder, next track, different station, etc.

It seemed to be a no-brainer, but apparently not too many people came up with this idea. After some research, reading forums, looking through documentations, I noticed most people got this working using a third party app.
I already have Squeeze Commander and Tasker on my phone, so I didn't want another app like Orange Squeeze or AutoSqueeze.


I have some experience in all sorts of aspects of the IT-world: I have Tasker on my phone, PebbleTasker on the watch, Logitech server running on my Synology NAS, and the radio in the living room. I knew the server has a web-interface, I figured it shoud have a command line interface, and maybe, just maybe, might be able to accept simple http-commands, and I didn't want to use any other apps if possible.
It was this last thing I was hoping for. Why? It's fairly easy to set up Tasker to go to a webpage. It's even easier to have your watch trigger Tasker's tasks. So 1 + 1 = "Pebble to radio remote control".

Yey for friendly documenters!

After I did some digging in how the Logitech server works, I stumbled upon this webpage: http://tutoriels.domotique-store.fr/content/54/95/fr/api-logitech-squeezebox-server-_-player-http.html
It has a lot of information on the parameters and the return-values of the Logitech server, and I can't thank the author enough for sharing!

After I found this, I started experimenting on the URL's. I don't bother with users and logins, since I'm the only one using the server, so basically URL > command > action is sufficient.
You can find some examples below, where <ip-address:port> should be the IP-address and port of your server, like "192.168.0.123:9080". It also has support for multiple players. In all my URLs I added the player ID, which basically is the MAC-address of the player you want to control. You can find this in the settings-page of the server, under the information tab.

In the http-URL, you can pass up to 5 paramters (p0-p4). I've noticed that using button-codes where possible work better than the documented paramters. The default button codes will me listed below, and you could consider them like being fysical buttons on a remote. So basically you pass the first parameter saying you want to press a button, and the second parameter you tell it which button you pressed. The last 'player'-paramter is the player-ID

So, examples:

Volume +5:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=mixer&p1=volume&p3=%2B5&player=<playerID>

Volume -5:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=mixer&p1=volume&p3=-5&player=<playerID>

Turn off:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=button&p1=power&player=<playerID>

Start to play, even when off:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=button&p1=play&player=<playerID>

Play preset 2:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=button&p1=playPreset_2&player=<playerID>

Skip to next track:
http://<ipaddress:port>/status.html?p0=button&p1=fwd.single&player=<playerID>

Last part: Tasker (& PebbleTasker)

Now that you know which URLs you want to use, start making tasks for them in Tasker!
It couldn't be more straightforward: New task > Add Action > Net > HTTP Get. In the field of 'Server:Port:, you put the URL you tested earlier. Run the task, and it shouldn't cause any problems.

Beware, as I said before: I don't have any users created on the Logitech server, so if you do, you might need to look into that. Maybe a simple http://user:password@192.168.1.123:9999 might work?

Now, in PebbleTasker, assign a button to the task, et voila! (tip:you can assign 2 tasks to the top and bottom buttons: short press & long press!)

My setup:
Top: Louder / On
Center: Presets (goes to new menu, Tasker task that repopulates the PebbleTasker menu with new entries)
Bottom: Quieter / Off

Presets-menu:
Top: Preset 1 / 4
Center: (nothing yet)
Bottom: Preset 3 / 6

My long-press-center-button brings up a quick menu, there I have a 'Close' task, which resets the PebbleTasker menu to defaults and exits the watchapp.

Closing & buttons

I hope any of you could find this helpful. I spent a while digging through forums and what-not, so I wanted to share what I learned in an easy and comprehensible way.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!

[common]

# Button functions that are common to all modes (unless overridden)

0 = numberScroll_0

1 = numberScroll_1

2 = numberScroll_2

3 = numberScroll_3

4 = numberScroll_4

5 = numberScroll_5

6 = numberScroll_6

7 = numberScroll_7

8 = numberScroll_8

9 = numberScroll_9

0.hold = preset_0

1.hold = preset_1

2.hold = preset_2

3.hold = preset_3

4.hold = preset_4

5.hold = preset_5

6.hold = preset_6

7.hold = preset_7

8.hold = preset_8

9.hold = preset_9

0.hold_release = preset_release0

1.hold_release = preset_release1

2.hold_release = preset_release2

3.hold_release = preset_release3

4.hold_release = preset_release4

5.hold_release = preset_release5

6.hold_release = preset_release6

7.hold_release = preset_release7

8.hold_release = preset_release8

9.hold_release = preset_release9

arrow_down = down

arrow_down.repeat = down_repeat

knob_right              = down

knob_right.repeat       = down_repeat

arrow_left = left

arrow_left.hold = home

arrow_right = right

knob_push = right

arrow_up = up

arrow_up.repeat = up_repeat

knob_left = up

knob_left.repeat = up_repeat

rew.single = jump_rew

rew.hold = song_scanner

brightness_down = brightness_down

brightness_up = brightness_up

brightness.single = brightness_toggle

brightness.hold = dead

brightness = dead

fwd.single = jump_fwd

fwd.hold = song_scanner

format = titleFormat

muting = muting

pause.single = pause

pause.hold = stop

play.single = play

play.hold = play

power = power_toggle

power_front = power_toggle

power_front.hold = dead

power_front.repeat = dead

power_off = power_off

power_on = power_on

add.single = add

add.hold = dead

sleep.single = sleep

sleep.hold = sleep

snooze.single = snooze

snooze.hold = sleep

stop = stop

voldown = volume

voldown.repeat = volume

volup = volume

volup.repeat = volume

volup_front             = volume_front

volup_front.repeat      = volume_front

voldown_front           = volume_front

voldown_front.repeat    = volume_front      

pitchdown = pitch_down

pitchdown.repeat = pitch_down

pitchup = pitch_up

pitchup.repeat = pitch_up

bassdown = bass_down

bassdown.repeat = bass_down

bassup = bass_up

bassup.repeat = bass_up

trebledown = treble_down

trebledown.repeat = treble_down

trebleup = treble_up

trebleup.repeat = treble_up

volume = volume

volumemode = volumemode

home = home

preset_1.single = playPreset_1

preset_2.single = playPreset_2

preset_3.single = playPreset_3

preset_4.single = playPreset_4

preset_5.single = playPreset_5

preset_6.single = playPreset_6

preset_1.hold = favorites_add1

preset_2.hold = favorites_add2

preset_3.hold = favorites_add3

preset_4.hold = favorites_add4

preset_5.hold = favorites_add5

preset_6.hold = favorites_add6

# playing display modes

now_playing = playdisp_toggle

playdisp_none = playdisp_0

playdisp_et = playdisp_1

playdisp_rt = playdisp_2

playdisp_pb = playdisp_3

playdisp_pbet = playdisp_4

playdisp_pbrt = playdisp_5

# textsize modes

size = textsize_toggle

textsize_small = textsize_small

textsize_medium = textsize_medium

textsize_large = textsize_large

# shuffle modes

shuffle.single = shuffle_toggle

shuffle.hold = randomPlay

shuffle_off = shuffle_off

shuffle_on = shuffle_on

# repeat modes

repeat = repeat_toggle

repeat_off = repeat_0

repeat_one = repeat_1

repeat_all = repeat_2

# special buttons

browse = browse

search = globalsearch

favorites.single = favorites

favorites.hold = favorites_add

visual = visual_toggle

favorites_2.single = favorites

favorites_2.hold = favorites_add

now_playing_2 = playdisp_toggle

search_2 = globalsearch

# menu shortcuts

menu_playlist = menu_playlist

menu_browse_genre = menu_browse_genre

menu_browse_artist = menu_browse_artist

menu_browse_album = menu_browse_album

menu_browse_music = menu_browse_music

menu_search_artist = menu_search_artist

menu_search_album = menu_search_album

menu_search_song = menu_search_song

menu_browse_playlists = menu_browse_playlists

menu_plugins = menu_plugins

menu_home = menu_home

menu_settings = menu_settings

menu_pop = menu_pop

menu_now_playing = menu_now_playing

menu_synchronize = menu_synchronize

# digital input

digital_input_aes-ebu = modefunction_Slim::Plugin::DigitalInput::Plugin->aes-ebu

digital_input_bnc-spdif = modefunction_Slim::Plugin::DigitalInput::Plugin->bnc-spdif

digital_input_rca-spdif = modefunction_Slim::Plugin::DigitalInput::Plugin->rca-spdif

digital_input_toslink = modefunction_Slim::Plugin::DigitalInput::Plugin->toslink

# analog input

analog_input_line_in = modefunction_Slim::Plugin::LineIn::Plugin->linein