composer Project Corruption? - Programming

[Gabi_Mac79]

Hi Guys,

I have a project at the moment that I'm getting some "Unknown Event"'s showing in detective suite, is this generally a case of project corruption or is there instances or when specific conditions are met that this can occur as a matter of course and quite normal thing to happen, if so what would be an example of both cases?

In the project I'm having some unusual behaviour where programming is not fully executing, ie the lights may not turn on but the LED (Programmed from the same action) is changing and showing an on status, but the light wont turn on unless some unrelated button is pressed.  -- I have gone through the programming with support so i know the actual programming is correct as we even took it out and rewrote part of it as an experiment but still got to the same issue.

I am just wondering whether I should be looking to re-build a project from scratch (earliest back up with out these events is pretty far back) , or to leave them as they are if they are not indicating a specific problem or just take out the related programming and rebuild that aspect and whether just doing that would resolve the issues.

Also if that was the case and I rebuilt the project whether running two instances of composer and copying and pasting the programming from a virtual to a live project would potentially remove these "Unknown Event" occurrences or would it be part of the xml that would be copied back across?. 

I'm just trying to decide which is the best way to move forwards with it as re-programming would take quite some time as there is quite a bit of programming in the project, and so would only really want to do this if its necessary.

Thanks Gabi

[msgreenf]

That doesn't mean anything is corrupt. It generally means that devices were deleted but the programming didn't clean out the way it was supposed to

[Cyknight]

Yup, that is a common thing. Very annoying, but doesn't affect the system itself.

I know of no situation where the UNKNOWN EVENT is either the cause of or direct consequence of a project corruption or other system issue.

 

The only one above that seems a bit odd the one for texecom and meeting room IF those driver still exist int he project. In which case you may want to consider removing those drivers (noting any programming attached to them etc of course) and re-adding them as needed.

 

[Gabi_Mac79]

Ok thanks guys, so could this happen for example if I've got programming against a agent (custom variable or timer) and a device driver, then remove the driver and re-add it back in, should I be re-programming all of these aspects every time I have to do this?

Maybe I should create more blocks of programming as macros as these could be reused much easier but I guess that would still potentially throw up the same issues.

And yes these drivers do exist in the project, I might strip the Texecom driver out and try re-adding with fresh programming, bit of pain but I guess if it has to be done its has to be done.

[Gabi_Mac79]

Just a side note:

So just for clarity do you know what the definition of an unknown event is? 

Does it mean that the programming has no link with a known device driver or agent? If so that's confusing because a lot of the programming is working normally? 

[Cyknight]

41 minutes ago, Gabi_Mac79 said:

, then remove the driver and re-add it

Each driver (and agent instance), when added, gets a unique device ID - so programming wouldn't automatically reconnect upon re-adding. The system doesn't attach programming to a driver's name but to that device ID: for example - deleting "DVD" and adding it back in (or adding a second one with the same name) doesn't attach/re-attach programming.

 

39 minutes ago, Gabi_Mac79 said:

do you know what the definition of an unknown event is

For the purpose of detective suite, it's AFAIK only thrown up for programming left behind by a deleted driver (be is a true device driver, agent item like a variable etc etc) so it's an event attached to something that no longer exists

 

Just to clarify, 'event' here is any trigger you can use to program off of in the system, and can range from a variable change to a button press, from room "play" command received to a light turning off.

 

45 minutes ago, Gabi_Mac79 said:

Does it mean that the programming has no link with a known device driver or agent? If so that's confusing because a lot of the programming is working normally? 

Based on your picture, there is no programming actually attached to those events at all.

[msgreenf]

as Cy said, every time you delete and re-add a device it's ID changes and all programming is gone.  You need to update drivers, not delete and re-add, to keep the programming

[Gabi_Mac79]

Thank you to you both, that makes complete sense, and clears up my thought process, I think in this instance its going to make sense to start from scratch and build it up again then copy in the programming from the virtual director that way it should be re-assigned to the device/agent that it is supposed to be attached to.

[msgreenf]

but you can't copy the programming from virtual director (as in copy and paste) because all the IDs will be different.  You can use it as a "guide" to manually program again...

[Gabi_Mac79]

Does it actually copy the ID's though along with the Programming? As you can copy and paste selected programming within composer between devices and agents, I'm thinking if it would copy the ID's then wouldn't this defeat the object of being able to copy and paste altogether as it would not bind correctly to the destination device trigger? 

[msgreenf]

11 minutes ago, Gabi_Mac79 said:

Does it actually copy the ID's though along with the Programming? As you can copy and paste selected programming within composer between devices and agents, I'm thinking if it would copy the ID's then wouldn't this defeat the object of being able to copy and paste altogether as it would not bind correctly to the destination device trigger? 

if you are copying in the project yes, but if you are deleting drivers, adding them back and then trying to copy programming back from the backup in virtual director that won't work

[Gabi_Mac79]

Thanks for that, do you know the reason why you can within the project but you cant across two separate projects, wouldn't it be the same process?
 

[msgreenf]

i think you aren't fully processing what I am describing.

When you add a driver, let;'s call it sony tv - it may be device 187 in that project

when you have another project with the same Sony tv it can be device 8 (device ID is literally the order in which they are added)

so that is why you can't copy

[Gabi_Mac79]

Yeah I get that completely, but what I was getting at was that when copied surely it wouldn't copy the device ID because then every other device trigger you pasted that into would have the incorrect device ID and wouldn't work so would then be pointless, I think this is the part that just doesn't make sense to me.

[mstafford388]

2 hours ago, Gabi_Mac79 said:

Thanks for that, do you know the reason why you can within the project but you cant across two separate projects, wouldn't it be the same process?
 

There literally isn't a way to copy from one project to another, nothing will happen if you try to do that.  Think of it like the clipboard your are copying to lives on the controller running the project.  It would be like hitting ctrl c on one laptop then ctrl p on another. 

[msgreenf]

48 minutes ago, mstafford388 said:

There literally isn't a way to copy from one project to another, nothing will happen if you try to do that.  Think of it like the clipboard your are copying to lives on the controller running the project.  It would be like hitting ctrl c on one laptop then ctrl p on another. 

Well Logitech flow....rofl

[mstafford388]

19 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Well Logitech flow....rofl

I want to put the green puke face emoji here but it doesn't seem to exist on this platform. 

[Gabi_Mac79]

No worries thanks guys I completely got all that but just was interested in the reason why it worked in that way, I always think its better to know the nuts and bolts so you can be proactive rather than reactive, its something I apply to all My work, that way you avoid more issues down the line. Anyway thanks for your help.