Replacing "Not Specified" in programs suggestion

[TJF1960]

I have two suggestions, hopefully minor to implement but useful to others as well.

When a device (say a SWL) has to be deleted and re-added to the ISY any programs it is in list its former entry as Not Specified which is great, makes finding all the programs it was in easy. My suggestion is that when the Not Specified line is selected that the commands (whether the commands are Is, Is Not, Off, On, Dim, Query or whatever) is carried down to the drop down selection boxes. There have been numerous times I have forgotten to change some of the drop downs, I was focusing on just selecting the SWL especially when having to correct lots of programs.

 

The other suggestion may or may not be a good idea. When using the Find function box, being able to “Find†Not Specified in programs and being able to replace them with the re-added device. I could see some problems with this suggestion though. One would have to make sure there were no Not Specified items before the deletion of the device, or make sure afterwards that the device was added only to the programs it was intended for. This sure would speed up the process however.

 

Thanks for your time,

Tim

[apostolakisl]

To avoid this "not specified" problem, I would suggest that you do not delete a device in the fist place unless you truly don't want it anymore. Use "replace with" and dump all the info to another spare switch. Of course this does require having a spare switch.

 

I know in the past someone had suggested that ISY implement a "phantom" switch where one could deposit all of the settings of a switch should they need to temporarily delete the device. My recollection is that the ISY people didn't like that idea because it didn't fit into the programming architecture. So, again, a spare switch makes the most sense.

[TJF1960]

To avoid this "not specified" problem, I would suggest that you do not delete a device in the fist place unless you truly don't want it anymore. Use "replace with" and dump all the info to another spare switch. Of course this does require having a spare switch.

Thank you for your kind suggestion and yes, in many cases I have done that with great success. But in other cases I have had, for whatever reason, corrupted links in the ISY. So “replace with†just forwards a corrupt set of data. In the end you end up with what you started with.

With SWL since you are only dealing with one node replacing its instance in a program is not too big of a deal. The one I just re-added only had 4 programs it was in. I have though had to re-add a kpl one time that had probably 40 or more programs associated with it. It was a nightmare.

[apostolakisl]

Just trying to help with a here-and-now work-around, but I should have realized that you have been around the block and probably already knew that.

 

But I think a great addition to isy would be the ability to search for instances of anything in a program, not just "not specified".

 

Case in point, I have a lot of programs that work together with other programs, so changing a program sometimes has unintended consequences. It would be nice to be able to search for all programs that contain a reference to another program, or to a switch, or to a particular variable, and so on. Bascially, just a search function.

 

Also, I didn't think that a corrupted link would transfer to a replace with command. It was my impression that ISY would write the links as shown on the screen, over-writing any corrupted issues and getting rid of orphan links when using a replace with command or a restore command.

[TJF1960]

Just trying to help with a here-and-now work-around, but I should have realized that you have been around the block and probably already knew that.

Understood and I appreciate your suggestions. True, I have been around a while but there are still a lot of tricks to be learned.

 

But I think a great addition to isy would be the ability to search for instances of anything in a program, not just "not specified".

 

Case in point, I have a lot of programs that work together with other programs, so changing a program sometimes has unintended consequences. It would be nice to be able to search for all programs that contain a reference to another program, or to a switch, or to a particular variable, and so on. Basically, just a search function.

Do you mean a way other than using "Find/Replace>Raw Text" and typing in what you are looking for?

 

Also, I didn't think that a corrupted link would transfer to a replace with command. It was my impression that ISY would write the links as shown on the screen, over-writing any corrupted issues and getting rid of orphan links when using a replace with command or a restore command.

Sorry, I meant a corrupted link or file in the ISY relating to a device or devices. For a long time I had 2 devices that would suddenly stop working properly. I would factory restore the device then restore the device via the ISY. Wouldn't help. I would have to delete the device from the ISY, factory restore the device then relink the device to the ISY. Then correct all of the programs and recreate all of the scenes. This was the only way to correct the issue. I did try "replace with" as well but the new device acted the same as the old.

I believe these problems weren't necessarily the fault of the ISY but in how I was using it. But I have had one or two cases since then where I did have to delete then re-add to fix an issue…and I am not sure why.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Guys,

 

You can indeed look for Raw Text (including Not Specified) ... simply click the drop down next to Find and choose Raw Text.

 

As far as the ability to keep the original settings for devices that do not exist, the problem is that ISY is quite type-sensitive so the actual permissible values for those drop down boxes depend on the device type. So, when the device is unknown, it's a little difficult to maintain the relationship.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[apostolakisl]

Hi Guys,

 

You can indeed look for Raw Text (including Not Specified) ... simply click the drop down next to Find and choose Raw Text.

 

As far as the ability to keep the original settings for devices that do not exist, the problem is that ISY is quite type-sensitive so the actual permissible values for those drop down boxes depend on the device type. So, when the device is unknown, it's a little difficult to maintain the relationship.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Well, for a guy who has been around the block, I never noticed that find feature. Always learning something new.