Lua scripting 101 ... advice

[AutoFrank 372]

Hi,

I'm new to Lua and I have read what I could find within the forum discussions. I'm trying to master the basics before I move on and wanted to check from one of the experts that my simple scene is structured as it should be.

I have a HC2 and am running the latest FW 4.070

 

My scene below sets a global variable 'TOD_LightMode' to night, dusk or day depending on the light level from an outside sensor. It runs the scene and then sleeps for 15 mins and repeats. It seems to work okay and I have checked the global variable is available to other scenes and I have used it to trigger other activity.

 

The few questions I have and hopefully somebody can provide advice...

1) do I have all the variables declared correctly ? (I have seen some included in the header in some examples but am not sure what to include there)

2) Is my autostart code correct ?

3) I have a lot of scenes in mind that would be "waiting" scenes. Many people use the while true do or while (someglobalvariable == "somevalue") method. Is there a limitation as to how many of these types of scenes can be running at the same time before it starts to use all the CPU/mem resources ?

4) Is there a simple error checking or logging method that I could/should be using with my scripts.

5) Any other suggestions that would be better practice or make my code more efficient

 

Any help or suggestions very welcome ?

Thanks

-F

 

Code as follows...

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[chaicka 195]

Made a mistake where there was a missing 'end' at the bottom. Here is a revision:

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[chaicka 195]

Hi,

 

I am pretty new to LUA scripting too and learning from others in this forum. I have started to try and standardize scripts so that there is sort of a baseline template. Maybe one day, all the scripts collection in this forum will have some sort of consistency in baseline structure so new ones who joins can have an easier learning curve to pick up the knowledge.

Check this out ->

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I will have some thought later when I get home and share with you on those questions you asked. One thing that come across now is how to share codes in forum. Using the "<>" button on the top of reply editor dialogbox allow to paste code in proper manner and even adding the starting line number, and this makes it easier for others to look at your script/code.

[AutoFrank 372]

Thanks chaicka for the help

 

I amended the original post to use the <> as suggested 

[chaicka 195]

Line 34's "else" seems redundant to me. Otherwise seems decent. Line 5's "TOD_LightMode" is not necessary since you are not using the global variable as a trigger.

[AutoFrank 372]

Thanks

What about the variable declaration in the header

I'm using OutsideLuxSensor = 217 and have seen some people put the ID and and whats been referenced in the code so it would appear like 

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I'm not sure why its added and if its necessary

[chaicka 195]

I have not tested this out. Think it looks more structured and easier to troubleshoot or comprehend.

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[AutoFrank 372]

Thanks for that 

I'll pick my way through it this evening but at first glance it looks like a reusable format that's well structured

 

I assume that the "Validate Number of Scene Instance" is to make sure that no more than one instance is running at any point in time ?

 

Any thought on my query about running a good many of these type of 'while do' scripts/scenes

Does the HC2 have the limit to the number it can run (if we were to take these basic scenes as a sample)

[chaicka 195]

Thanks for that 

I'll pick my way through it this evening but at first glance it looks like a reusable format that's well structured

 

I assume that the "Validate Number of Scene Instance" is to make sure that no more than one instance is running at any point in time ?

 

Any thought on my query about running a good many of these type of 'while do' scripts/scenes

Does the HC2 have the limit to the number it can run (if we were to take these basic scenes as a sample)

 

I am still new to LUA scripting. I know there are others with 200+ scenes and HC2 has no issue. Don't worry about how many scenes HC2 can support cause it is an Intel board after all. Worry about proper scripting so that there is no looping or loose-end conditions cause usually that is what causes HC2 instability issues.

[AutoFrank 372]

Good idea and thanks for all the advice

I only have about 10 elscenes and will re do them in your format before adding more

-F