# Categories

Categories in openHAB are used to provide meta information about Things, Channels, etc. UIs can use this information to render specific icons or provide a search functionality to for example filter all Things for a certain category.

# Differences between categories

We separate the categories into functional and visual. Therefore we treat Thing categories as how the physical device looks like and Channel categories as something that describes the functional purpose of the Channel.

# Thing Categories

The Thing type definition allows to specify a category. User interfaces can parse this category to get an idea how to render this Thing. A Binding can classify each Thing into one of the existing categories. The list of all predefined categories can be found in our categories overview:

Category	Description	Icon Example
Battery	Batteries, Energy Storages
Blinds	Roller shutters, window blinds, etc.
Camera	All kinds of cameras
Car	Smart Cars
CleaningRobot	Vacuum robots, mopping robots, etc.
Door	Door
FrontDoor	Front Door
GarageDoor	Garage Door
HVAC	Air condition devices, Fans
Inverter	Power inverter, such as solar inverters etc.
LawnMower	Lawn mowing robots, etc.
Lightbulb	Devices that illuminate something, such as bulbs, etc.
Lock	Devices whose primary pupose is locking something
MotionDetector	Motion sensors/detectors
NetworkAppliance	Bridges/Gateway need to access other devices like used by Philips Hue for example, Routers, Switches
PowerOutlet	Small devices to be plugged into a power socket in a wall which stick there
Projector	Devices that project a picture somewhere
RadiatorControl	Controls on radiators used to heat up rooms
Receiver	Audio/Video receivers, i.e. radio receivers, satelite or cable receivers, recorders, etc.
Screen	Devices that are able to show a picture
Sensor	Device used to measure something
Siren	Siren used by Alarm systems
SmokeDetector	Smoke detectors
Speaker	Devices that are able to play sounds
WallSwitch	Any device attached to the wall that controls a binary status of something, for ex. a light switch
WebService	Account with credentials for a website
Window	Window
WhiteGood	Devices that look like Waschingmachines, Dishwashers, Dryers, Fridges, Ovens, etc.

# Channel Group Categories

Channel Groups can be seen as a kind of sub-device as they combine certain (physical) abilities of a Thing into one. For such Group Channels one can set a category from the Thing category list.

# Channel Categories

The Channel type definition allows to specify a category. A Binding should classify each Channel into one of the existing categories or leave the category blank, if there is no good match. There are different types of categories for Channels, which are listed below.

# Widgets

Category	Icon Example
Colorpicker
Number
Rollershutter
Slider
Switch
Text
Group

# Weather

Category	Icon Example
Sun
Moon
Clouds
Sun_Clouds
Rain
Snow
Wind
Humidity
Temperature

# Properties

Category	Icon Example
BatteryLevel
LowBattery
CarbonDioxide
Energy
Gas
Oil
Water
Light
ColorLight
Temperature
Smoke
SoundVolume
Pressure
Fire
Motion
QualityOfService
Moisture
Noise
Flow
Price
Time