# Happy happy joy joy or RTFM!

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [10 September 2018 00:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993 "2018-09-10T00:36:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@fil](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/fil)\
**Post date:** [10 September 2018 00:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/1 "2018-09-10T00:36:58Z")

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Huge FacePalm moment today when my flow of 263 nodes was finally working as required and i took 5 for a browse about, ending up looking at uninstalled nodes within the palette manager ..

And what did i find .. a contrib project that encapsulated my flow of 263 nodes into a single bl\*\*dy node ready for deployment, Allowing me to replicate the work of the last god knows how many months ( odd evenings..) in an hour or so using less than a dozen nodes in total!! (and i can already see a way to loosing 4 x more..

I am lurving the result But my face is so red n sore from the massive palm landing, im sure my jaw almost unhinged itself too as it dropped groundward.

> **[node-red-contrib-xiaomi-ble](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-xiaomi-ble)**
>
> Xiaomi Bluetooth4 (BLE) sensors

Tomorrow i will get back to working on my wheel...

dumb dumb dumb dumb..

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**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [10 September 2018 06:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/2 "2018-09-10T06:03:24Z")

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But think of how much you must have learnt by building it yourself 🙂

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [10 September 2018 21:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/3 "2018-09-10T21:38:26Z")

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Exactly what I was going to say 🙂

But yes, a little googling (or your fav. search engine) can go a looong way.

Most of us I guess (certainly I have) have been through many iterations of flows as we've built up knowledge and improved workflows.

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**Author:** ![JayDickson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/jaydickson/32/90592_2.png) [@JayDickson](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/JayDickson)\
**Post date:** [11 September 2018 00:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/4 "2018-09-11T00:20:40Z")

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That's how you get good. Lessons from a book often stick, but painful ones _really_ stick; both due to personal frustration and insights encountered along the journey.

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**Author:** ![fil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@fil](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/fil)\
**Post date:** [11 September 2018 10:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/5 "2018-09-11T10:36:32Z")

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All true, and i am further down the node red path than i was when i started..

And All my work so far has been proof of concept (to me) and learning the wrong way by trying it..

But the thing is i had been on the raspberry pi list that day! 'chatting' with a chap trying to do a similar thing with wired sensors, and i may have been a tad boasty about my node red solution.. which resulted in a diet of humble pie.. hrmmph!!  
at least i had the opportunity to reveal the better solution discovering it before my pi-pal could..

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [11 September 2018 11:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/happy-happy-joy-joy-or-rtfm/2993/6 "2018-09-11T11:16:04Z")

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Haha, we've all been there, that's for sure.

There is no doubt that NR makes an excellent prototyping tool. For all I like it and support it however, it isn't always the "final" answer.

As with any high-level tool, it carries an amount of baggage and restrictions. It is easy to forget that, especially when so many of us are using it primarily for non-professional uses.

We can sometimes get carried away with our enthusiasm and forget that there may be better ways of doing things.
