Chromecast Binding

The binding integrates Google Chromecast streaming devices. It not only acts as a typical binding, but also registers each Chromecast device as an audio sink that can be used for playback.

When a Chromecast is used as an audio sink, the Chromecast connects to openHAB to get the audio streams. The binding sends the Chromecast URLs for getting the audio streams based on the Primary Address (Network Settings configuration) and openHAB HTTP port. These URL defaults can be overridden with the Callback URL configuration parameter.

This can be configured on the binding level:

Configuration Parameter	Type	Description
callbackUrl	text	optional Callback URL - url to use for playing notification sounds, e.g. http://192.168.0.2:8080 (opens new window)

Configure a Callback URL when the Chromecast cannot connect using the Primary Address or Port, e.g. when:

• proxying HTTP (port 80/443) using Apache/NGINX to openHAB (port 8080)
• openHAB is running inside a Docker container that has its own IP Address

Supported Things

Things	Description	Thing Type
Chromecast	Classic HDMI video Chromecasts and Google Homes	chromecast
Chromecast Audio	The Chromecast which only does audio streaming and offers a headphone jack	audio
Audio Group	A Chromecast audio group for multi-room audio defined via the Chromecast app	audiogroup

Discovery

Chromecast devices are discovered on the network using mDNS. No authentication is required for accessing the devices on the network. Auto-discovery is enabled by default. To disable it, you can add the following line to <openHAB-conf>/services/runtime.cfg:

discovery.chromecast:background=false

Thing Configuration

Auto-discovery is enabled by default, but if needed Chromecast devices can also be manually added. In case of manually adding a device the configuration parameter ipAddress has to be set. For an audio group also the port is necessary, that is available under advanced configuration. With manual thing configuration the parameter port for audio group must be determined manually.

Property	Default	Required	Advanced	Type	Description
ipAddress	-	Yes	No	String	The hostname or IP address of the Chromecast device.
port	8009	No	Yes	Integer	The port where the Chromecast is listening
refreshRate	10	No	Yes	Integer	The refresh (poll) interval in seconds.

Channels

Channel Type ID	Item Type	R/W	Description
control	Player	R/W	Player control; currently only supports play/pause/next and does not correctly update, if the state changes on the device itself
stop	Switch	R/W	Send ON to this channel: Stops the Chromecast. If this channel is ON, the Chromecast is stopped, otherwise it is in another state (see control channel)
volume	Dimmer	R/W	Control the volume, this is also updated if the volume is changed by another app
mute	Switch	R/W	Mute the audio
playuri	String	R/W	Can be used to tell the Chromecast to play media from a given url
appName	String	R	Name of currently running application
appId	String	R	ID of currently running application
idling	Switch	R	Indication on whether Chromecast is on idle screen
statustext	String	R
currentTime	Number:Time	R	Current time of currently playing media
duration	Number:Time	R	Duration of current track (null if between tracks)
metadataType	String	R	Type of metadata, this indicates what metadata may be available. One of: GenericMediaMetadata, MovieMediaMetadata, TvShowMediaMetadata, MusicTrackMediaMetadata, PhotoMediaMetadata.
albumArtist	String	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Name of the artist associated with the album featuring this track
albumName	String	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Album or collection from which this track is drawn
artist	String	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Name of the artist associated with the media track
broadcastDate	DateTime	R	(TvShowMediaMetadata) ISO 8601 date and time this episode was released
composer	String	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Name of the composer associated with the media track
creationDate	DateTime	R	(PhotoMediaMetadata) ISO 8601 date and time this photograph was taken
discNumber	Number	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Number of the volume (for example, a disc) of the album
episodeNumber	Number	R	(TvShowMediaMetadata) Episode number (in the season) of the t.v. show
image	Image	R	(GenericMediaMetadata) Image for current media
imageSrc	String	R	(GenericMediaMetadata) URL of image for current media
locationName	String	R	(PhotoMediaMetadata) Verbal location where the photograph was taken; for example, "Madrid, Spain."
location	Location	R	(PhotoMediaMetadata) Geographical location of where the photograph was taken
releaseDate	DateTime	R	(GenericMediaMetadata) ISO 8601 date and time this content was released
seasonNumber	Number	R	(TvShowMediaMetadata) Season number of the t.v. show
seriesTitle	String	R	(TvShowMediaMetadata) Descriptive title of the t.v. series
studio	String	R	(TvShowMediaMetadata) Studio which released the content
subtitle	String	R	(GenericMediaMetadata) Descriptive subtitle of the content
title	String	R	(GenericMediaMetadata) Descriptive title of the content
trackNumber	Number	R	(MusicTrackMediaMetadata) Number of the track on the album

Full Example

services.cfg:

binding.chromecast:callbackUrl=http://192.168.30.58:8080

demo.things:

Thing chromecast:audio:lounge_chromecast "Lounge Chromecast Audio" [ipAddress="192.168.xxx.xxx", port=8009]
Thing chromecast:chromecast:kitchen_chromecast "Kitchen Home Hub" [ipAddress="192.168.xxx.xxx", port=8009]
Thing chromecast:audiogroup:bathroom  [ ipAddress="192.168..xxx.xxx", port=42139]

demo.items:

Dimmer kitchen_chromecast_volume    { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:volume" }
Player kitchen_chromecast_control   { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:control" }
String kitchen_chromecast_appName   { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:appName" }
String kitchen_chromecast_artist    { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:artist" }
String kitchen_chromecast_albumName { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:albumName" }
String kitchen_chromecast_title     { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:title" }
String kitchen_chromecast_image     { channel="chromecast:audio:kitchen_chromecast:image" }

demo.rules:

rule "Turn on kitchen speakers when Chromecast starts playing music"
when
    Item kitchen_chromecast_appid changed
then
    logInfo("RULE.AUDIO", "Chromecast app id changed!")

    if (kitchen_chromecast_appid.kitchen_chromecast_appName.state == "Pandora" || kitchen_chromecast_appName.state == "Google Play Music") {
        kitchen_speakersystem_power.sendCommand(ON)
    }
end

demo.sitemap:

sitemap demo label="Main Menu" {
    Frame {
        Default item=Music
        Slider item=Volume icon=soundvolume
        Text item=kitchen_chromecast_appName
    }
}

sitemap chromecast label="Chromecasts" {
    Frame label="Kitchen: What's Playing" {
        Image item=kitchen_chromecast_image
        Text item=kitchen_chromecast_artist label="Artist [%s]"
        Text item=kitchen_chromecast_title label="Title [%s]"
        Text item=kitchen_chromecast_albumName label="Album [%s]"
    }
}

Rule Action

This binding includes rule actions for casting media.

• playURL(String url)
• playURL(String url, String mimeType)

Examples:

val castActions = getActions("chromecast","chromecast:chromecast:kitchen_chromecast")

rule "Show picture on Kitchen Chromecast on button press"
when
    Item button_item changed from Off to On
then
    val success2 = castActions.playURL("http://192.168.1.160:81/mjpg/front1/video.mjpg", "image/jpeg")
end

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