Calendar function

[JamesB]

Still holding my breath on such an important functionality for home automation.

I am outright shocked that there has never been any working calendar functionality.

It seriously blows me away ...

[sanders2222]

.. no reply huh? That looks really good to potential customers.

Very professional.

 

It's a good request But an old post.  Maybe some day....

 

But there is a workaround that has been in existence since variables were introduced.  There are some amazingly creative guys in this forum that came up with simple solutions that create the calendar date and the days that are Holidays.  There's even one that figures leap years!   I have been using them for years!  I may have pulled my programs directly from the posts over time but I think they may have the variable programs described in the Wiki somewhere as well. 

 

If you need/want the programs to make it happen now, I'm sure forum users will be happy to share with you.

http://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY-99i_Generic_Calendar_Using_Programs_and_Variables

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello JamesB,

 

I am sorry you are shocked. Alas - and now having gone through the WB/HAM migration nightmare - I am even more hesitant in implementing anything (as important as calendar) that depends on third party services. Perhaps a calendar import of sorts might be a better idea.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[apostolakisl]

Still holding my breath on such an important functionality for home automation.

I am outright shocked that there has never been any working calendar functionality.

It seriously blows me away ...

 

See this thread. 

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/13750-i-wrote-a-new-date-variable-program/

 

Calendar function does exist because variables exist, it is just not a native calendar.  But both sets of program I wrote work perfectly.  The first set is now several years running without an error, through power outages and reboots.  The second set is a little slicker though and if I were going to pick one to install, it would be the more recent ones I wrote.

[bipto]

... I am even more hesitant in implementing anything (as important as calendar) that depends on third party services. Perhaps a calendar import of sorts might be a better idea.

 

 

Oh, no...  Say it ain't so, Michel...     

 

"Hesitant" or "Unwilling" ..?

 

I thought that 5.0 was rumored to include native calendar functionality...  Hopefully this has not changed..?

[larryllix]

Oh, no...  Say it ain't so, Michel...     

 

"Hesitant" or "Unwilling" ..?

 

I thought that 5.0 was rumored to include native calendar functionality...  Hopefully this has not changed..?

I don't remember any calendar function promises.

 

However, I think there have been enough system variable access requests,  being implemented, which would preclude access to month and date separately so dates and calendar functions could be implemented without a defined year. This would give year "wildcard" conditions and allow programs to function repeatedly year after year without human intervention. This would also apply to the "5th of every month"  capabilities for smaller time repetitions similar to the at "5:01 PM every day"  triggers we have now.

[Bob P.]

It seems that geofencing is much more powerful than a calendar. Does your calendar know if you're going to be at home or away for the long weekend? Does it know if you're working late on Wednesday or going out for drinks on Friday? (well, maybe it knows that you're going out for drinks on Friday).

[larryllix]

Geofencing won't know to take out the garbage every two weeks and the following day on long weekends. It won't know how long you will be away either. Different needs for each.

 

I don't like my phone ordering the drinks for me anyway.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi bipto,

 

Unwilling, hesitant, reluctant, hibby jibbies, frightened, goose bumps are just a few feelings I can enumerate when I think about integration with things for which we have no control. WeatherBug migration and then all the HAM issues simply taxed us to the nth degree.

 

My preference - and echoing apostolakisl - is to either use variables OR provide predefined variables that can be set by other things on the network.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[sanders2222]

. . .

My preference - and echoing apostolakisl - is to either use variables OR provide predefined variables that can be set by other things on the network.

And the latter preference works just find!  Thank you Michel.

 

"If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features"

[Bob P.]

Geofencing won't know to take out the garbage every two weeks and the following day on long weekends. It won't know how long you will be away either. Different needs for each.

 

 

I guess I'm behind the curve. I haven't configured my Insteon network to take out the garbage for me.

 

 I should have said "It seems that geofencing is much more powerful than a calendar for controlling insteon devices"

 

Seriously, though, I would think the Google calendar link would primarily be used to let the network know when you're home and when you're away. Does anyone's system do different things if they're away for three days vs. two weeks? The geofencing has the added functionality of knowing whether you're home or away even if you didn't put it on your calendar, e.g. working late, home sick, etc.

[larryllix]

....

 

Seriously, though, I would think the Google calendar link would primarily be used to let the network know when you're home and when you're away. Does anyone's system do different things if they're away for three days vs. two weeks? The geofencing has the added functionality of knowing whether you're home or away even if you didn't put it on your calendar, e.g. working late, home sick, etc.

I have ten motion sensors in my house. Mostly for bedroom lamps in the middle of the night they come on about 15% bright and 100% during sunset to about 11 PM.

 

I have a resettable timer variable program that says the house is occupied.

 

- I have a MS in my laundry/mud room where I usually exit and enter.  If it triggers the timer the house gets marked unoccupied in 20 minutes.

 

- If another MS triggers the timer reset  the house gets marked unoccupied in four hours.

 

- The timer reset program has an "If" section with a dual purpose time range about 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM. As a time range condition it stops the timer from timing out and marking the house unoccupied during the night time when we should be sleeping and not triggering MS units. The time range nodes also trigger the timer to restart in the morning again and you get a fresh four hours to trigger another MS.

 

This whole sequence also does the same for another timer. The Vacation/Away variable / flag. After sixteen hours of no movements mark the house for vacation.

 

I am just starting to use Tasker WiFi disconnect to help trigger the Occupied mode but the "leaving home" algorithm needs work and may never work properly. It's signals has to override the importance of the lack of motion but if the signal fails to update it makes the whole system unreliable. Good for arrival with self time-out but not so good for leaving. This seems to be a common problem detecting negative conditions with positive triggers.

[sanders2222]

Does anyone's system do different things if they're away for three days vs. two weeks?

 

I use a keypad near the door into my garage to set different arming modes (going out or vacation).  The system does or allows things to work differently at the house depending on the armed status of the ELK (home, away or vacation).  Like larryllix, should the system not be armed "vacation", I have a variable counter that tracks changes in door status (from the ELK over a 24 hour period/end of next day).  If no door is violated during this period, the system will change to "vacation" mode. 

[apostolakisl]

I have ten motion sensors in my house. Mostly for bedroom lamps in the middle of the night they come on about 15% bright and 100% during sunset to about 11 PM.

 

I have a resettable timer variable program that says the house is occupied.

 

- I have a MS in my laundry/mud room where I usually exit and enter.  If it triggers the timer the house gets marked unoccupied in 20 minutes.

 

- If another MS triggers the timer reset  the house gets marked unoccupied in four hours.

 

- The timer reset program has an "If" section with a dual purpose time range about 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM. As a time range condition it stops the timer from timing out and marking the house unoccupied during the night time when we should be sleeping and not triggering MS units. The time range nodes also trigger the timer to restart in the morning again and you get a fresh four hours to trigger another MS.

 

This whole sequence also does the same for another timer. The Vacation/Away variable / flag. After sixteen hours of no movements mark the house for vacation.

 

I am just starting to use Tasker WiFi disconnect to help trigger the Occupied mode but the "leaving home" algorithm needs work and may never work properly. It's signals has to override the importance of the lack of motion but if the signal fails to update it makes the whole system unreliable. Good for arrival with self time-out but not so good for leaving. This seems to be a common problem detecting negative conditions with positive triggers.

 

I use Tasker quite a bit.  It is very powerful, but the logic is never as simple as you would hope.  It seems like it would be simple, but there are so many ways for things to happen in such a way that your logic fails.  I use the "near tower" function and "near wifi" to set various variables in Tasker.  It works, but I have found that you should put "waits" in there and then recheck things to confirm you really are moving into or out of an area.  I set lots of variables in Tasker based on various location conditions, and then you can reference those variables in tasks with unlimited "if" "then" "if else" and "else" lines.  Finally, when Tasker finishes one of these long tasks, it sets variables in ISY.

[larryllix]

'

I use a keypad near the door into my garage to set different arming modes (going out or vacation).  The system does or allows things to work differently at the house depending on the armed status of the ELK (home, away or vacation).  Like larryllix, should the system not be armed "vacation", I have a variable counter that tracks changes in door status (from the ELK over a 24 hour period/end of next day).  If no door is violated during this period, the system will change to "vacation" mode. 

I went around in circles with that logic but ended up that "Vacation" cannot be associated with 'Armed". What if I were on vacation and things shut down appropriately to save energy but something happens, like a neighbour comes in the feed the bird, or an Insteon device starts sending crap you may need to disable "Armed" but the house is in in "Vacation" mode.

 

If I had perimeter security devices I could be home with Armed enabled. I have a separate building that I arm automatically while I am in my house. I do run into it occasionally and set off that zone by mistake but it takes a while to get the neighbours attention.

 

My Vacation mode is automatic but he min house Armed is manually selected only.

[sanders2222]

I use Tasker quite a bit....... it sets variables in ISY.

I would have a use for an app that can recognize when the phone is in proximity with the home (e.g. near WiFi), then send a command.  Not too terribly complicated.

From the description of Tasker, it's not clear it can do this nor is it clear how it can send a command to the ISY.

[larryllix]

Tasker is a programming language with restricted commands and text via menus.

Tasker gives you access to everything you can think of in your Android phone.

Tasker can control everything you can think of in your phone.

Tasker  talks and I think can understand speech.

Tasker can access Internet locations and therefore can operate ISY variables through the REST interface built into ISY

 

Tasker can read text messages, parse for particular phrases and turn on your A/C via ISY.

 

Tasker has libraries of premade programs to install to do almost anything you can think of. The learning curve is really screwball for the first day or two and then it get's much easier,

 

 

Tasker is scary powerful. Imagine calling your phone, saying the right words and Tasker accesses your online bank accounts and transfers money from one account to another? Be afraid!,,, very afraid! 

[Jimbo.Automates]

I would have a use for an app that can recognize when the phone is in proximity with the home (e.g. near WiFi), then send a command. Not too terribly complicated.

From the description of Tasker, it's not clear it can do this nor is it clear how it can send a command to the ISY.

Tasker can do that very easily, but like the previous post mentioned, it sounds easy but in practice is not as easy as it sounds... My devices will randomly not see the wifi signal for a second, so Tasker will tell the ISY I am not home, then a second later say that I am home. That's why the previous poster mentioned building in wait timeouts.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[apostolakisl]

Tasker can do that very easily, but like the previous post mentioned, it sounds easy but in practice is not as easy as it sounds... My devices will randomly not see the wifi signal for a second, so Tasker will tell the ISY I am not home, then a second later say that I am home. That's why the previous poster mentioned building in wait timeouts.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

Precisely.  I would have issues as Jim mentioned, but the wait commands followed by confirmation seems to have taken care of that.

 

Tasker can pretty much send any REST command to your ISY.  It can directly control lights, programs, set variables, or whatever else.

 

My favorite Tasker proximity function is that it sets my google voice to deliver my cell phone calls to my home phone as well as turning my screen lock off.

 

Tasker will allow you to trigger profiles and run true/false based on being connected to or in the proximity of a wifi signal.  It can do the same things with cell towers proximity.  What I have found is rather than having Tasker directly accomplish a task based on those things, it rather sets variables.  Then the variables trigger another profile which runs a task.  These same variables can be checked within the execution of the task after a wait function prevent false changes to other things.

 

I also use Tasker as my ISY voice.  I have my ISY send text messages to me and Tasker will speak them out loud when the come from the ISY.  For example, when I open my back door on garbage day between 7 and 8 am, ISY picks up that my Elk received the door open signal, and ISY texts me to take out the garbage, which Tasker then has my phone read out loud.

[larryllix]

Precisely.  I would have issues as Jim mentioned, but the wait commands followed by confirmation seems to have taken care of that.

 

Tasker can pretty much send any REST command to your ISY.  It can directly control lights, programs, set variables, or whatever else.

 

My favorite Tasker proximity function is that it sets my google voice to deliver my cell phone calls to my home phone as well as turning my screen lock off.

 

Tasker will allow you to trigger profiles and run true/false based on being connected to or in the proximity of a wifi signal.  It can do the same things with cell towers proximity.  What I have found is rather than having Tasker directly accomplish a task based on those things, it rather sets variables.  Then the variables trigger another profile which runs a task.  These same variables can be checked within the execution of the task after a wait function prevent false changes to other things.

 

I also use Tasker as my ISY voice.  I have my ISY send text messages to me and Tasker will speak them out loud when the come from the ISY.  For example, when I open my back door on garbage day between 7 and 8 am, ISY picks up that my Elk received the door open signal, and ISY texts me to take out the garbage, which Tasker then has my phone read out loud.

I have requested of Michel to open a new Tasker forum where this should be exposed to users more. Tasker seems like the next exciting ISY extension, being great eyes, ears, mouth, and hands, for the ISY994i.

[ISYhbsh01]

I have requested of Michel to open a new Tasker forum where this should be exposed to users more. Tasker seems like the next exciting ISY extension, being great eyes, ears, mouth, and hands, for the ISY994i.

Absolutely agree.

[MWareman]

Personally, I'm waiting for 5.x Variable substitution in network resources will make Tasker integration much, much easier!

[larryllix]

My guess is that v5 will cause some major rewrites of coding.

 

I look forward to it but the layout of variables and program structure will be given a lot more thought before porting over to it.

Darn! I am getting ISY dependant! Need a spare.

[apostolakisl]

Perhaps a Tasker library for people to post their tasker profiles for others to import.  Other websites of course have this already, but the library here would be geared toward ISY and home automation.

[Bob P.]

MobilInc has great geofencing implementation, and the connect subscription isn't required to use it. It uses the phone (not wifi) to tell when I'm within a defined proximity to my home (or other multiple locations). When either of us is home, the heat is on. When we're both away, the offset kicks in, It's that simple. It doesn't matter if we're staying out late for dinner after work, staying home on a long weekend, or coming home early. No calendar required.

 

I can set "away" mode when both my wife and I are more than a mile from our house, and "vacation" mode when we're both more than 100 miles away.

 

I have another geofence around my vacation home. When I'm within 20 miles, it can turn on the heat, etc. I can automatically text my wife when I'm within 100 yards (although I may not necessarily want to).

 

So back to the original topic, I don't need a link to an online calendar to tell my ISY whether I think I'll be home on a given day, and at what time.

 

I also think it's a bit obnoxious to pester UD about how simple the tie-in to a third-party application is.