jca001

I think my suggestion about using a variable was misunderstood. What I meant was since State variables are available now, it seems like it would be easy to use that underlying resource to have a variable associated with a scene. It would basically be read only. So if you had a scene called Kitchen_Lights there would be another class of variables called Scenes and would automatically get populated with ${Kitchen_Lights} and pretty much work like the current State variables, that is any program using them in an IF would be reevaluated if it changed. You just would not be able to change it directly as you can with State variables. So when a scene is turned on or off by a program, the Scene variable would change and cause an event and other programs would evaluate the new value.

Instead of a dummy device, what about being able to change the value of a variable? By using a state variable, then if it is changed it will cause and event that will trigger other programs.

Well as usual if all else fails with Windows, try rebooting. It works now.

Staying on the leading edge of technology always has its problems. Installed FireFox 4 today and now I can not access My Lighting to access my ISY-99. I access via http://10.11.12.202/admin. The screen updates with the normal page but with a message just under the Please Keep This Window Open! Java 2+ Required I already had Java 6 installed, but I tried updating just to make sure, but the same thing happens. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do to fix it.

Thanks for the quick reply. I found it and it first showed up in March. As I said it is still working, but I will change the battery real soon. I believe the MS has been in service since last September and sees a lot of activity because it is in the Living Room and covers hall and the front door. So any time someone walks in the hall or goes in and out the front door it sees motion. Another question: What should I use in my program if statement, Control or Status?

It has been a while since I connected to my ISY to check things. I noticed the low battery for one my MS is on. It seems to be still functioning fine, but I would like to know when the status changed. I quickly looked at the log file, but I did not really know what to look for and it goes all the 02-15-2010. So I need to know what key word to search for so I can find the message and know how long the battery has been low. I plan to add a program to send me an email when a MS get a low battery indication but I have been waiting to see the status first.

Beside the number of device and scenes, what are the differences between the STD ISY-99 and the PRO ISY-99, features?

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about that on my drive to work and was going to try it when I got home later tonight. It would be nice to have either a paren option like there is in the IF or a repeatend command.

I was changing a program today that had several duplicate steps that I determined could be shortened by using a repeat command. But then when I tried to add another command below the repeat group, I can not, it adds the command to the repeat group. Which is not what I want, because I do not want it repeated. EXAMPLE: (This is pseudo code because I am at work, but I think you will get the idea) repeat 2 times Turn on light 25% Wait 5 seconds Turn on light 50% Wait 5 seconds Turn on light 75% Wait 5 seconds Turn on light 100% Wait 5 seconds Turn light off send notification Each time I try to add the send notification, it gets included in the repeat command group. I really want to repeat some commands, then do a couple of commands that are not repeated and then do some more commands that are repeated.

1) I agree, because that is basically what I have seen other than the fact it is 2 minutes different that the event log that shows an on or off command seconds before the notification command not matter of the wait before the on or off command. 2) So if multiple events happen pretty much at the same time (give or take a second) that start programs that have no waits and has notifications in them, ISY will attempt to connect to the email server, deliver one email, disconnect and attempt to connect to the email server again to deliver the next email for each notification? 3) I agree, but that does not explain my examples as to why the time stamp in the email is 2 plus minutes different than the event log. In one program I wait 5 minutes then turn off a light (the event log shows when that happened) 5 minutes after the event that started the program. I wait only 2 seconds and then send a notification, but the time stamp in the email is 2 minutes different. Why? You really did not answer my last question 1 at the end of my last post.

Based on the time the event occurred + a delta for the time it took construct a notification object (in milliseconds) No. The notification object is queued up and sent by another thread. I do not think this could happen because events are queued and thus are evaluated sequentially. Question to answers: 1) If the program does a wait for some number of minutes is the time stamp in the email still based on the event time? See other information below. 2) None 3.1) Does this mean the multiple Send Notifications will try to connect to the email server at the same time? 3.2) If the answer to 3.1 is yes, then what happens if the email server only allows one connection at a time from an email client? ******************************************* Below is 2 pair of programs that process X10 Motion Sensor events, the emails from the Send Notification and the ISY log file for them. FPM Motion On: If Folder 'Front Porch Motion' is True And Program 'FPM Motion Status' is True And X10 'C5/On (3)' is Received Then Set Scene 'ApplianceLinc 1' On Wait 5 seconds Send Notification to All Wait 15 seconds Run Program 'FPM Motion Status' (Else Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ################################################## FPM Motion Timer: If Folder 'Front Porch Motion' is True And X10 'C5/On (3)' is Received Then Wait 5 minutes Set Scene 'ApplianceLinc 1' Off Wait 2 seconds Send Notification to All Wait 15 seconds Run Program 'FPM Motion Status' (Then Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ################################################## Email 1: FPM Motion On X10 C5/On (3) received at 11/19/2009 09:57:55. ---------------------------------------- At: 11/19/2009 09:57:55 Program: FPM Motion On Value: C5/On (3) ################################################## Email 2: FPM Motion Timer X10 C5/On (3) received at 11/19/2009 10:03:00. ---------------------------------------- At: 11/19/2009 10:03:00 Program: FPM Motion Timer Value: C5/On (3) ################################################## ISY Log during above time: X10 C5 Thu 11/19/2009 10:02:33 AM System Log X10 C5 On (3) Thu 11/19/2009 10:02:34 AM System Log Scene:Scenes / ApplianceLinc 1 On 255 Thu 11/19/2009 10:02:34 AM Program Log ApplianceLinc 1 Status 100% Thu 11/19/2009 10:02:34 AM System Log Scene:Scenes / ApplianceLinc 1 Off 0 Thu 11/19/2009 10:07:34 AM Program Log ApplianceLinc 1 Status 0% Thu 11/19/2009 10:07:34 AM System Log #################################################### NOTE: Both programs start at the same time, the first one turns on the light and sends a notification. The second one waits for 5 minutes and then sends a notification. The emails show the elapsed time between them is 5 minutes, which is correct. But the time stamp in the emails are different than the log file by several minutes. ======================================================================== FPT Motion On: If Folder 'Front Porch Test' is True And Program 'FPT Motion Status' is True And X10 'C7/On (3)' is Received Then Set Scene 'LampLinc Test' On Wait 30 seconds Send Notification to All Wait 15 seconds Run Program 'FPT Motion Status' (Else Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ################################################### FPT Motion Timer If Folder 'Front Porch Test' is True And X10 'C7/On (3)' is Received Then Wait 2 minutes Set Scene 'LampLinc Test' Off Wait 2 seconds Send Notification to All Wait 15 seconds Run Program 'FPT Motion Status' (Then Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') #################################################### Email 3: FPT Motion On X10 C7/On (3) received at 11/19/2009 09:47:54. ---------------------------------------- At: 11/19/2009 09:47:54 Program: FPT Motion On Value: C7/On (3) #################################################### Email 4: FPT Motion Timer X10 C7/On (3) received at 11/19/2009 09:47:54. ---------------------------------------- At: 11/19/2009 09:47:54 Program: FPT Motion Timer Value: C7/On (3) ############################################## ISY Log during above time: X10 C7 Thu 11/19/2009 09:49:43 AM System Log X10 C7 On (3) Thu 11/19/2009 09:49:44 AM System Log Scene:Scenes / LampLinc Test On 255 Thu 11/19/2009 09:49:44 AM Program Log LampLinc Test Status 100% Thu 11/19/2009 09:49:44 AM System Log Scene:Scenes / LampLinc Test Off 0 Thu 11/19/2009 09:51:44 AM Program Log LampLinc Test Status 0% Thu 11/19/2009 09:51:44 AM System Log ############################################################################ NOTE: Both programs start at the same time, the first one turns on the light and sends a notification. The 15 second wait before sending the notification is because both Motion Sensors could happen at almost the same time and I thought this may have something to do with why ISY had problems connecting to the email server. This is why I asked the questions in the first post. The second one waits for 2 minutes and then sends a notification. The emails show the time stamps as the same unlike emails 1 and 2. Again the time stamp in the emails are different than the log file by several minutes. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Other Information: Both pairs of programs are in different folders that do not have any conditions, but I have them testing to make sure the folder is true so later I can add a condition to the folder. The status programs for each pair are located in another folder called Status and both are NOT enabled and have no code. Questions: 1) So why do the 2 programs work differently as far as the time stamp in the email? 2) Why is the time stamp of the emails different by several minutes than the time stamp in the Log when the event happened? I thought this may have been corrected in 2.7.7.

I have a couple of question about the Send Notification command. I have several programs that receive X10 codes from Motion Sensors and then turns on a light and then send a notification. The same X10 codes starts another program that waits minutes and turns the light off and sends a notification. 1) Is the time stamp in the email when the event occurred or when the Send Notification was executed? 2) Does the program wait for the Send Notification to complete before doing the next command? 3) What happens if multiple events cause Send Notification to be executed at the same time? I just updated to 2.7.7 from 2.7.6, but the reason for the questions are based on before and after.

Because I think this is a bug and over 20 people have read this, but no one has posted a reply, I have posted the same thing in the "Current Release, Betas, and Bug Reports" list.

In the My Programs folder create 2 new folders, F1 and F2, then in each folder create a program with the same name, P1. My Programs ---->F1 --------->P1 ---->F2 --------->P1 ---->P2 The dashes above are used to show the structure because posting removes leading spaces. Now create a program called P2 in the My Programs folder. In the IF section of P2, select Action and then Program, when you click on the arrow to pick the program P1 only shows up once. I think it should show up 2 times and really with the Folder name in front of it so you will know which one is located where. In other words the path to the program if it is in a folder below My Programs. So if it was 2 or more folder down, then it should show all the folders to get to the program.

Chris: I read and re-read folder conditions and finally understand things better. Thou I don't completely agree with the concept that the program has to contain a test of the folder. This makes it so you can not just move a program from one folder to another without having to make changes to the program. If you don't then it will not work or it will run at the wrong time. I think there needs to be a built-in test caller PARENT when you go to select the program and/or folder for the condition. Then if you copy or move the program to another folder it will not have to be changed,

I do not have any other modules installed. Mine is a base ISY99i.

I had the problem today while trouble shooting another problem as to why programs were not running in a folder with a schedule condition on the folder. I was looking at the next scheduled time for the folder and the programs and was just looking at the time part. Then I noticed the year was wrong. It would seem the way the ISY-99i schedules certain things is to evaluate the schedule condition and then get the current time and add them and put that as the time it will run next. The when the time is met it runs. Well after doing that and then indicating it would run next at 2009/09/18 11:00 AM and then have the clock changed to 1941 it is going to be a very long time before the scheduled time is met. I will second the statement made by the first poster, the time should NOT be changed if it is plus or minus a certain value. This could be an option that can be set when you enable NTP. Then if the change would exceeds the threshold the notify feature could be used to alert someone. Along with this and/or if the notify feature is not being used, the red LED could be set to blink. Based on the last idea, there may be other things that should use the notify feature and blink the red LED and should be configurable. Then there would have to be an option to stop the blinking or automatically after 24 hours and no other new error conditions have happened.

Chris: That defeats the purpose of putting programs in folders and then having a condition on the folder. The example you have given is just using the folder as a variable. My main reason for using a condition on a folder and then putting programs in the folder was to structure / organize the programs and allow me to make adjustments in one place and not several. The example I have provided is just the start of things I plan to do. A program with no condition seems to always be false. I really should not have to have a condition in each program if the folder is controlling when the programs should run. There should be a condition of just true. But I can see that could cause some problems if the program was at the main level or the folder was always true, because there was no folder condition.

Markens: I do have a condition in the program of between sunrise and sunset. So if the condition on the folder is met, then it should evaluate the condition of the program and run the then part. But it does not. Before I set this up I did some testing of conditions on folders. It was not a scheduled condition, but a status of a RemoteLinc button. Then in the folder I put a couple of programs that ran if a button on a KeypadLinc was pressed. In other words if RemoteLinc Button 6 was on and I pressed button 2 on the KeypadLinc turn on an ApplienceLinc. That worked. If RemoteLinc button 6 was off, then pressing button 2 on the KeypadLinc did nothing. It did what I expected it to do based on what I have read. So the conditions are different but the concept is the same. If the status of the folder is true, then evaluate the condition in the programs and act accordingly.

Thanks for the suggestion. Here is what I tried, but it does not work for some reason. I created a folder called "Hourly 0900 to 1700" with: If Time is 9:00:00AM Or Time is 10:32:00AM Or Time is 11:00:00AM Or Time is 12:00:00PM Or Time is 1:00:00PM Or Time is 2:00:00PM Or Time is 3:00:00PM Or Time is 4:00:00PM Or Time is 5:00:00PM Then Allow the programs in this folder to run. -------------- The time for 10:32 was for testing. It will be 10:00AM when I get this to work. Then I added a program in the folder called "Turn Off Lights" with: If From Sunrise To Sunset (same day) Then Set Scene 'Back Light' Off Set Scene 'Front Porch' Off Set Scene 'Living Room Light' On Send Notification to All Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ---------- Setting scene 'Living Room Light' On and send notification are just for testing. At first I did not have anything in the If section, but Program Summary showed a status of False for the program so I thought that was why it did not run. So I added the sunrise to sunset condition. It did not run at the desired time. The Run Next time for the folder showed the 10:32 time and then after 10:32 updated to 11:00. If I go to Program Summary and select the program and then select Run (If), it runs and does what I expected it to do. So what am I missing in my logic or selecting the proper options? This is on a ISY99i with 2.7.6.

I am new to the ISY99i so I may have just over looked what I am about to ask. What is the best way to run a program or maybe even a group of programs once each hour no matter what? The hours are only during the day. I know about sunup and sunset, which I may use. I thought about creating directories like H0800 through H1700 and putting conditions on them to only be true for that hour. Then in the directory I would put the programs I want to run. The only thing is I would have to duplicate a lot of programs and if I decided something needed to be changed, I would have to make the changes in all the program. Or another though on this concept would to just have one program that called some common programs in another directory. The reason I want to do something hourly is to turn off certain lights during the day if they get left on. Things like turning on the front porch light because it is dark early in the morning and forgetting to turn it off as I leave. Sometime the outside back light gets turn on by mistake because it is next to the garage light.

Rand: Thanks for the quick reply. I will have to try it when I get home. So exactly what is Grouping Devices used for?

I have a 6 button KeypadLinc dimmer. I wanted to group 3 of the buttons to be mutually exclusive. It seem you can only select all, at least A - D. Then KeypadLinc is named (Living Room Light) and the buttons are (Living Room Key A) through D. These are all listed as individual items under My Lighting. If I select any one of the Key names and right click, and then select Group devices, it groups all 4 of them and makes them sub trees under Living Room Light. I can ungroup them and they become individual items under My Lighting again. If they are grouped or not, if I select one of them and then select Mutual Exclusive Button at the bottom of the screen I get a list that contains Living Room Light and the Living Room Key A through D, plus 2 scene item I do not have defined (Mutually Exclusive Buttons 1 and 2). The options to select then are OK, Cancel and Reset. I can not figure out what selecting Reset does or what else can be done with the list. Also if the buttons are grouped and show as sub trees, I can right click on one of them and it has the option to Group Devices. I tried it and it appears to not really do anything. I would think Group Device should not be listed or if it is and you select it, it should give and warning error.