Scheduling based on calendar

[jch]

I'm new to the ISY, I just obtained an ISY-26 to see if an ISY can do what I want. I have been using MisterHouse on Linux up until now. There you write everything in perl, which has it's advantages and disadvantages....

 

One feature that I am not sure how to implement is having a different schedule based on a calendar. What I did in MisterHouse is have a calendar of school days and breaks. One example of differences would be ringing X-10 chimes when it was time to head to the bus. And in addition to school days and not school days there would be different times depending on band or sports practice.

 

Are there tools available to implement this with the current software?

 

Thanks.

 

Jeff

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Jeff,

 

Yes!

 

In the Program Details Tab

1. Create a new Program

2. Click on the If

3. Click on the Schedule button in the middle of the screen

4. Uncheck the Daily checkbox. This gives you specific dates

 

You can refine specific dates with days of the week by clicking on each desired day.

 

Now, you can either use this program as a variable in other programs. OR, you could incorporate your logic at a Folder level in which case all the programs therein run IF and ONLY IF the condition of the folder is true.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

I'm new to the ISY, I just obtained an ISY-26 to see if an ISY can do what I want. I have been using MisterHouse on Linux up until now. There you write everything in perl, which has it's advantages and disadvantages....

 

One feature that I am not sure how to implement is having a different schedule based on a calendar. What I did in MisterHouse is have a calendar of school days and breaks. One example of differences would be ringing X-10 chimes when it was time to head to the bus. And in addition to school days and not school days there would be different times depending on band or sports practice.

 

Are there tools available to implement this with the current software?

 

Thanks.

 

Jeff

[mozman]

Jeff,

 

If you are looking for the ability to set up a full calendar (with the bus chime ringing most, but not all Mon- Fri), the basic programming for the ISY does not quite accomplish this. [WRONG- my bad. See next post.] I dealt with this issue (wanting to have certain programs run only on school days, not just every Mon-Fri) by installing an eight button Keypad which doesn't directly control anything, but whose buttons are used to indicate various house statuses.

 

For example, one indicates a school day. If this button is lit, then certain programs run on that day. I have a program that sets this button on each Mon-Fri, but I can simply press the button to turn it off for school holidays. (Actually, the button turns on every Sun-Thurs evening at 8 PM to indicate that the following day is a school day, and I turn it off manually the night before a school holiday.)

 

Another button is used to indicate that we are away on vacation. Another is used to indicate a party, so that my Entire House Lights Off Program runs later than usual. Etc.

 

Hope this helps your decision making.

[mozman]

I just learned something by reading another post on this subject. (I could have just read Michel's post right here a little more carefully. I thought he was pointing out that you can uncheck the "All" button to get individual day of the week flexibility. Sorry - it's too late in the day for me....)

You can use an actual calendar to schedule events on specific days. In the schedule option for a program if clause, if you check "All" and uncheck "Daily", you can pick a specific date for the action. So, I can load each school holiday into a program (linked by "or") and use it to turn off my school day status KPL button automatically. (Alternatively, this could be part of the if clause for the program folder with the school day programs.)

[jch]

Michael, mozman,

 

Thanks for the info. For some reason I'm not getting notified of replies to my post so I'm just seeing this.

 

I'll give this a try.

[jch]

Setting this up I notice that both a date and time are required.

 

Give my program ``Is School Holiday'' that can be run at any time during the day, I should set the time to be 12:00:00 AM for 24 hours?

 

What about a multi-day school break? Set the day to the first day of the break and the time to a multiple of 24 hours?

 

Thanks.

 

Jeff

[mozman]

Jeff,

 

You could create a program such as the following, and name it "No School".

 

If

On Sat, Sun

From 12:00:01PM

For 23 hours and 58 minutes

Or From 12:00:01PM on 2009/10/12

For 23 hours and 58 minutes

Or From 12:00:01PM on 2009/11/11

For 23 hours and 58 minutes

Or From 12:00:01PM on 2009/12/21

For 335 hours and 58 minutes

 

Then

- No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Else

- No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

 

BTW, I start the No School status at 12:01 AM and end it at 11:59 PM. My guess is that you could start it at midnight sharp with a duration of 24 hours, but I've seen things hiccup when the trigger time is precisely midnight (on other timer programs, not ISY, but I haven't really tested ISY on this).

 

There are no actions in this program, but the status of the program will be true on Saturdays and Sundays, on 10/12/09 and 11/11/09 (Columbus and Veteran's Days), and two weeks for winter break; otherwise (i.e., school days), the program status will be false. We can then use this status in other programs. If you want something to happen (say an X-10 signal to a chime on H6) at 7:30 AM only on school days, you would use the following program:

 

If

Time is 7:30:00AM

And Program 'No School' is False

 

Then

Send X10 'H6/On (3)'

 

Else

- No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Hope that helps.

Moz

[jch]

mozman,

 

That is almost exactly what I did. I just changed them all to start and end one minute from midnight.

 

I'd like to adapt this to be a bit more like your scheme of having a KPL button and automatically set the button based on the calendar. I also sound chimes and make sure the kid's TVs are off at different times depending if it is a school night.

 

If I think about this I could probably do it with one KPL. Up until 9AM or so it indicates today is a school day, after that it indicates that tomorrow is a school day.

 

Thanks.

 

Jeff