User Guide

Using Input and Output
17
Axcess Programming Language
The output change keywords are described in the table below:
Output Change Keywords
ON The ON keyword turns on a channel or variable.
If the channel or variable is already on, its status will remain unchanged. Here
are two examples:
ON [1,2] (* Turns on channel 2 of device 1 *)
ON [TEMP] (* Sets the value of the variable
TEMP to 1 *)
A variable is considered ON if it contains a non-zero number; in this case, the
value is 1. If a variable contains the value Ø, it is considered OFF.
OFF The OFF keyword turns off a channel or variable.
If the channel or variable is already off, its status will remain unchanged. Here
are two examples:
OFF [1,2] (* Turns off channel 2 of device 1 *)
OFF [TEMP] (* Sets the value of the variable
TEMP to 0 *)
TOTAL_OFF The TOTAL_OFF keyword acts in the same manner as OFF, except that it also
turns off the status of a channel or variable that is in a mutually exclusive set.
For more information on mutually exclusive sets, refer to Mutually Exclusive on
page 20.
TO The TO keyword is used to activate a channel or variable for as long as the cor-
responding device-channel of its PUSH statement is activated.
When the device-channel referenced by the PUSH statement changes from off
to on, the TO activates the device-channel or variable in the brackets following
it. When the device-channel of its PUSH is released, the TO statement stops
activating its device- channel or variable. For this reason, TO must be placed
underneath a PUSH statement.
The TO keyword has several conditions:
• It must be used only below a PUSH statement.
• It cannot be used with the WAIT keyword. For detailed information, refer to
Multiple Waits in the Waits and Timer Keywords section.
• It cannot be placed in the DEFINE_START section.
The channel or variable will act under the rules set by DEFINE_LATCHING,
DEFINE_MUTUALLY_EXCLUSIVE, and DEFINE_TOGGLING. For more infor-
mation, refer to the Channel Characteristics section. You will learn about these
definitions later, when you add more to your program.
MIN_TO This keyword operates like the TO keyword, except that the specified channel
or variable stays on for a minimum amount of time, even if the corresponding
device-channel is released.
The time duration is determined by SET_PULSE_TIME. MIN_TO follows the
same conditions of operation as the TO keyword.
PULSE The PULSE keyword turns on a channel or variable for a certain amount of
time. Once the time elapses, the channel or variable is turned off.
As an example, refer back to the discussion on DEFINE_START, in the Defin-
ing Start section. The PULSE keyword was used to activate a lighting preset, a
drapes change, and a screen change. The duration of this PULSE is one half-
second, but it can be changed if necessary with the SET_PULSE_TIME key-
word. The PULSE time is measured in tenths of seconds, and the Axcess
default is one half-second. The PULSE time remains the same value until it is
changed in the program. For example:
SET_PULSE_TIME(12)
This sets the current duration of future PULSEs to 1.2 seconds. It is always a
good practice to return pulse time to the default setting of .5 seconds, as shown
in the following example:
SET_PULSE_TIME(5)