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Category: Controls · Sends commands: yes · Reads data: no

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Mental model

A Button is a doorbell. Pressing it fires a one-shot signal — it doesn’t hold a state, it just acts. Use it for “do this now”: start, reset, open, trigger. If you need something that stays on or off, use a Switch instead.

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When to use it

  • Fire a one-time command (START, RESET, OPEN, CAPTURE)
  • A momentary action that reverts on release (push / release)
  • Any “press to do X” interaction

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Settings

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General

  • Widget Title / ID — the ID is how firmware and triggers address it (see The General Tab)
  • Normal text / Pressed text — label in each state
  • Button icon · icon size · icon position — an optional icon
  • Button shape · size — pill / rounded / square; sizing

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Style

Full appearance controls — background (incl. gradient), border (color / width / radius), font (family / size / weight), padding, box shadow, and hover/active scale and animation for press feedback.

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Triggers

The Button’s whole purpose. Configure what it sends in the Triggers tab. Events it can fire:
EventFires when
clickA normal press
doubleclickTwo quick presses
longpressHeld down
pushThe moment it’s pressed
releaseThe moment it’s let go
hoverPointer over it
(common)load, ready, destroy, update, visible, hidden

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Example — a button that starts a device

Trigger (in the Triggers tab): 
WHEN     click
SEND TO  Current Device
EXECUTE  Operate
Action   START   params: {}
Firmware (Arduino) — handle it: 
device.setUserCommandHandler([](JsonObject &msg) {
  JsonObject start = device.findAction(msg, "Operate", "START");
  if (!start.isNull()) {
    // start the motor / pump / process
  }
});

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Momentary (hold-to-run) pattern

Use push and release as two triggers to run only while held: 
Trigger 1:  WHEN push    → Current Device → Motor → FORWARD
Trigger 2:  WHEN release → Current Device → Motor → STOP

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Script API example

The same interactions from a dashboard script: 
widget.on('startButton', 'click', () => {
  ws.send(context.deviceId, { command: 'START' });
});

// Hold-to-run via push / release
widget.on('startButton', 'push',    () => ws.send(context.deviceId, { motor: 1 }));
widget.on('startButton', 'release', () => ws.send(context.deviceId, { motor: 0 }));

Triggers in full

The WHEN → SEND TO → EXECUTE → Action model.

Switch

For on/off state instead of a one-shot.