Simple Programming Enhancements to Increase Flexibility?

[Richard]

As a newbie, I may be missing the boat, but I couldn't find a way to do some things in setting up and modifying a simple but long program which would enhance navigation. The program has one IF clause which sets a day and time for it to begin running. The THEN clause is a long sequence of Insteon ON and OFF commands with varying WAIT times between them. This type of program will be my main use of the ISY99 and the Insteon modules.

 

What would make it easier to work with such a program would be 3 things:

(1) The ability to insert a command at a specific location in the sequence rather than it being added to the end of the sequence and having to move it up to the desired spot.

(2) The ability to add (insert) line separators in the THEN sequence so that sections of the sequence can be more easily seen and analyzed.

(3) The ability to add LABELs (i.e., a one line COMMENT) in the THEN sequence so that different sections of the sequence can be further identified; such as Wakeup, Bedtime, Dinner, etc.

 

If any of these things can now be done, please let me know so that my newbie ignorance can be rectified.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Richard,

 

Thanks so very much for your suggestions. First of all, I think it would be much simpler if you divided your LONG programs into folder and smaller programs. This way, by looking at the program summary, you can immediately see the status of your programs, which ones are running, when did they run last, what's their status, etc.

 

Secondly, I strongly recommend creating scenes for those LONG sequence of actions. This way:

a. All devices turn on/off simultaneously

b. No network traffic

c. You can include ramp rates

 

Please let me know if my suggestions do not make sense.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

As a newbie, I may be missing the boat, but I couldn't find a way to do some things in setting up and modifying a simple but long program which would enhance navigation. The program has one IF clause which sets a day and time for it to begin running. The THEN clause is a long sequence of Insteon ON and OFF commands with varying WAIT times between them. This type of program will be my main use of the ISY99 and the Insteon modules.

 

What would make it easier to work with such a program would be 3 things:

(1) The ability to insert a command at a specific location in the sequence rather than it being added to the end of the sequence and having to move it up to the desired spot.

(2) The ability to add (insert) line separators in the THEN sequence so that sections of the sequence can be more easily seen and analyzed.

(3) The ability to add LABELs (i.e., a one line COMMENT) in the THEN sequence so that different sections of the sequence can be further identified; such as Wakeup, Bedtime, Dinner, etc.

 

If any of these things can now be done, please let me know so that my newbie ignorance can be rectified.

[Richard]

Michel,

 

Thanks for your quick reply and suggestions. Though I realized that I could divide my long programs into folders and small programs, it doesn't seem to be a optimal solution for my setup. My use of Insteon will be limited to setting light schedules for religious holidays (though I may be adding thermostat control - and this not being limited to holidays), with alternate sequences for some holidays, in particular the Sabbath. As it is I have been planning to create a folder for each holiday and then have a separate program for each alternate sequence. So for the Sabbath, I will have at least a regular sequence, and out-for-dinner sequence, and a guests sequence. I could create subfolders for each sequence and then put the smaller programs in each of those subfolders. But then I have the option of giving simple names to each of those small programs, such as bedtime, wake-up, or coming up with more complicated names so I can know what's what in the program summary. Having one wake-up or bedtime program which each of the alternatives could call is not a good solution, as those programs may need to vary for each of the alteratives. So I come back to feeling that one long sequence with the options I set out in my first posting, would be the easiest way for me to go.

 

As for checking on the status of the programs in the program summary, having one long program for each holiday alternative would allow me to see more quickly what I have enabled to run (I won't be able to check on their status during the holiday because of religious restrictions). And if I have multiple programs with the same name, or even multiple small programs, use of the program summary will become much more cumbersome.

 

Regarding scenes, I have also given that some thought. They may end up useful in certain simple circumstances, but depending on the time of day and the holiday, I will have different groupings of lights going on or off, or both. In programming I will then have to remember which lights are in which scenes, some being in more than one scene (can that be done?), and every time I want to modify the sequence I would have to spend time sorting out where things are in which scene. And as I have simple ICON non-dimmers, ramp rates are not an option for me; nor are they necessary. If I do make some use of scenes, I would still think they will work best for me in one long program for each holiday.

 

With the programming options I suggested -- labels and line separators could be 2 additional options in the drop-down box for defining an action -- ISY99 users would have another way to set things up with reasonable efficiency, leaving it to them to choose.

 

Anyhow, that's how I see it for now.

 

Richard

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Richard, please send me an email (tech@universal-devices.com). We do have a prepackaged set of programs for Jewish holidays that you might want to try. The essence is to use the holidays as flags and then have other programs which check the status of those flags.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

Thanks for your quick reply and suggestions. Though I realized that I could divide my long programs into folders and small programs, it doesn't seem to be a optimal solution for my setup. My use of Insteon will be limited to setting light schedules for religious holidays (though I may be adding thermostat control - and this not being limited to holidays), with alternate sequences for some holidays, in particular the Sabbath. As it is I have been planning to create a folder for each holiday and then have a separate program for each alternate sequence. So for the Sabbath, I will have at least a regular sequence, and out-for-dinner sequence, and a guests sequence. I could create subfolders for each sequence and then put the smaller programs in each of those subfolders. But then I have the option of giving simple names to each of those small programs, such as bedtime, wake-up, or coming up with more complicated names so I can know what's what in the program summary. Having one wake-up or bedtime program which each of the alternatives could call is not a good solution, as those programs may need to vary for each of the alteratives. So I come back to feeling that one long sequence with the options I set out in my first posting, would be the easiest way for me to go.

 

As for checking on the status of the programs in the program summary, having one long program for each holiday alternative would allow me to see more quickly what I have enabled to run (I won't be able to check on their status during the holiday because of religious restrictions). And if I have multiple programs with the same name, or even multiple small programs, use of the program summary will become much more cumbersome.

 

Regarding scenes, I have also given that some thought. They may end up useful in certain simple circumstances, but depending on the time of day and the holiday, I will have different groupings of lights going on or off, or both. In programming I will then have to remember which lights are in which scenes, some being in more than one scene (can that be done?), and every time I want to modify the sequence I would have to spend time sorting out where things are in which scene. And as I have simple ICON non-dimmers, ramp rates are not an option for me; nor are they necessary. If I do make some use of scenes, I would still think they will work best for me in one long program for each holiday.

 

With the programming options I suggested -- labels and line separators could be 2 additional options in the drop-down box for defining an action -- ISY99 users would have another way to set things up with reasonable efficiency, leaving it to them to choose.

 

Anyhow, that's how I see it for now.

 

Richard