edentel Posted September 2, 2013 Posted September 2, 2013 I have a subset of programs that check for certain doors to open and send an email notification. IE: if we're away from home and the petsitter or babysitter starts roaming the house we get an email. Today I have them all grouped in a folder that tests against a variable to see if they should run. I have to manually edit that variable to activate the group of programs. The alternative would be disabling the individual programs and going in and activating them one by one when we leave. In an idea world there would be a virtual device that I could test against to enable/disable the set of programs but I don't see any support for this. The only other thing I can come up with is actually using a real switch to allow for this and that just seems a little silly. Am I being dense and missing an easier way to do this? Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks, -Ed
Jimbo.Automates Posted September 2, 2013 Posted September 2, 2013 Write a program to toggle or enable/disable the variable. Then you could use MobiLinc to run that program. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
apostolakisl Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 Most people would use a kpl for things like this and assign one of the buttons. That gives you a way to simple push a button in your house to activate/deactivate. Or a program as suggested to toggle the variable. The "then" could set it to "1" and the "else" could set it to "0".
edentel Posted September 3, 2013 Author Posted September 3, 2013 The physical keypad is something I'm trying to avoid as it is part of tracking 3rd parties. I don't want an easy way to disable it. I couldn't find an easy way to use a program to engage this. I'm looking for the control to go to Mainlobby with a pushbutton or something like eKeypad. In both of these situations I had to actually trigger a Run-If or Run-Then. If I simply run the program is couldn't find a way to abort it running other than issuing a disable which the. This made restarting it a pain as it required enabling it again. Maybe I'm missing something easy here? The smoothest way I could find to do this was utilize an Elk output as a trigger. A folder of my programs uses that output as the If-Then test to enable the programs in the folder. A virtual device in ISY would hugely simplify this but from scanning the archives here I'm dreaming as it looks like this has been requested before.
oberkc Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 as it is part of tracking 3rd parties I am unsure, and curious, what you mean here. 3rd parties? Are you talking unauthorized individuals? If so, put a switch in a desktop enclosure and hide it somewhere. In both of these situations I had to actually trigger a Run-If or Run-Then. I don't use mainlobby, or eKeypad, but I don't understand the difficulty in what you describe. One button to trigger run-then (variable = 0 or program = true) if staying home. Another button to trigger run-else (variable = 1 or program = false) if going away. If I simply run the program is couldn't find a way to abort it running other than issuing a disable which the. This made restarting it a pain as it required enabling it again. Sorry, I don't understand the issue of aborting or restarting anything. Maybe I'm missing something easy here? I suspect you are. I liked your initial approach (putting programs in a folder). I don't think it is difficult to change a variable from mobilinc, or by running THEN or ELSE paths of a program. There is no need to abort or restart anything that I can think of.
TJF1960 Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 This may be a reach but as I understand it with the x10 module you can create a virtual x10 device. I don't know if the device will show up in Mobilinc or not. Maybe someone more familiar with the x10 module can chime in.
TJF1960 Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 as it is part of tracking 3rd parties I am unsure, and curious, what you mean here. 3rd parties? Are you talking unauthorized individuals? If so, put a switch in a desktop enclosure and hide it somewhere. He is tracking the pet / baby sitters movements thru his house, If they are opening doors and going into rooms they are not supposed to be in.
apostolakisl Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 As mentioned, there is no need to ever abort anything. The program that would enable/disable the folder would run in a split second, you couldn't abort it if you wanted to, it would have already finished running. I would be quite surprised if you used some pet sitter who would start pushing unlabeled kpl buttons that might be at some random location in the house knowing that it might turn on/off tracking of them. Furthermore, if you put it in a room that is tracked, they wouldn't be able to get to it without triggering the tracking anyway. Like a KPL in the master bedroom. Lastly, if you have Elk, you can use the last user function to activate the tracking. I assume you have given your house sitter there own code, and Elk can simply enable that folder of programs whenever the last user was the house sitter, and disable when the last user was you. The last user function is only in Elk rules (not ISY), but you can have it turn a phantom output on/off which ISY would then use as a flag to enable/disable the folder. This of course is the slickest, since it requires no additional action on your part. .. it will function automatically.
oberkc Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 He is tracking the pet / baby sitters movements thru his house, If they are opening doors and going into rooms they are not supposed to be in. Then locate a button in some secret location. Or send a notification when the button is activated. Or use mobilinc. Or use fast-on (unlikely to be used by unauthorized individual). I would think there are ways to thwart or recognize unathorized use.
oberkc Posted September 3, 2013 Posted September 3, 2013 This may be a reach but as I understand it with the x10 module you can create a virtual x10 device. I don't know if the device will show up in Mobilinc or not.Maybe someone more familiar with the x10 module can chime in. An interesting idea. Yes, you could create an X-10 device (no physical device necessary). Yes, they show up in mobilinc (at least the android version of mobilinc). Perhaps, then, you could then trigger a program based upon reciept of an x-10 command. This assumes that the ISY sending out an X-10 command would also trigger a program. I don't think I have ever confirmed this. I like it.
apostolakisl Posted September 4, 2013 Posted September 4, 2013 I think I am going to use this idea. When we have a house sitter, I will have her Elk code activate a notify setup. If any light switches are turned on in the parts of the house she is not supposed to be in, it will send me an email.
edentel Posted September 4, 2013 Author Posted September 4, 2013 Crazy week at work so I haven't had a chance to deep dive on this but I do appreciate the replies everyone! This setup has been a great tool for us as we've has a problem with a babysitter and a pet/housesitter. We were away on vacation and found out the service was visiting every other day for a grand total of 2 minutes rather than the daily 30 minute visit we paid for. The last day they were there 15 apparently doing everything right before we came home. After that we decided to actually have the ISY email us on each alert so we knew sooner rather than just having a log at the end. I tried have a single program that activated but it continually looped toggling the variable back and forth. That was my final frustration before I stumbled on using an Elk output as the toggle. It was nice and clean for the activation and the test. I have to read over the responses in detail over the weekend as I'm sure there has to be a simple logical test staring me in the phase but I'm missing it. Thanks again! I think I am going to use this idea. When we have a house sitter, I will have her Elk code activate a notify setup. If any light switches are turned on in the parts of the house she is not supposed to be in, it will send me an email. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
edentel Posted September 4, 2013 Author Posted September 4, 2013 Oh! For anyone thinking of using this.... I am using hosted Exchange with a email distro list that not only hits our email but also texts our phones via the cel company's @vtext.com for Verizon. All the companies have an email to cel text message address and it comes in handy as a backup to email. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
Jimbo.Automates Posted September 4, 2013 Posted September 4, 2013 If your single program to toggle the variable was triggered off that same variable, and the variable is a state type, then the program will run continuously. You have to disable the program. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
edentel Posted September 4, 2013 Author Posted September 4, 2013 Exactly what I found when I lagged to GUI and was scratching my head till I saw the variable flipping. I added the disable and found I was have to send an enable and then a run-if....if I'm remembering correctly. That's when I went hunting for a virtual device and finally settled on the elk output acting as a virtual device to test against. If your single program to toggle the variable was triggered off that same variable, and the variable is a state type, then the program will run continuously. You have to disable the program. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4 Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
apostolakisl Posted September 5, 2013 Posted September 5, 2013 No, you don't have to enable a program to do "run if". Enable/disable only affects a programs ability to self trigger (from its own if clause). Other programs or manual trigger will always cause the program to run. If you are wanting to know when the house sitter comes and goes, All you need is to have it send an email with arm/disarm. I do that all the time, in town or out of town. Even with my wife coming and going several times per day, it only adds up to maybe 5 emails a day on average.
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