System information

i.LON SmartServer 2.0 Programmer’s Reference
9-1
9 Scheduler
You can use the Scheduler application to schedule periodic updates to the data points in your network.
You will select a data point, or group of data points, for each Scheduler you create. These data points
will be updated to specific values on the dates and times that the Scheduler is active. The dates and
times that the Scheduler is active, as well as the values the Scheduler will assign to the data points, are
user-defined. This section provides an overview of how the Scheduler application works.
Day-Based Schedules
For each event schedule, you will create up to seven day-based schedules. Each day-based schedule
will apply to certain days of the week. For example, you could set up one day-based schedule that is
active Monday through Friday, and another that is active Saturday and Sunday. Or, you could set up a
separate day-based schedule for each day of the week.
You will define a series of day-time values for each schedule, meaning that you will be allowed to
specify what value you want your data points to be assigned at any given time during the days that the
schedule is active. For example, you could create a Scheduler that sets a SNVT_switch data point to
on (100.0 1) at 8:00 and off (0.0 0) at 17:00 on weekdays Monday through Friday, and leaves the data
point set to off on Saturday and Sunday.
Date-Based Schedules
You can create date-based exceptions for each Scheduler. These exceptions will allow you to select
specific dates which require a unique schedule, such as holidays, and assign them a schedule that is
different than any of the day-based schedules. You will be able to set up a separate set of day-time
values for each exception. This allows you to specify what value you want your data points to use on
each exception date at any given time, and gives you complete flexibility when creating a Scheduler.
The date-based exceptions must be created with the Calendar application. This is described in Chapter
10.
Sunrise and Sundown Events
You can schedule events to occur at sunrise or sundown (or a configure period of time before or after
sunrise or sundown) in a day-based or date-based schedule.
#UNLOCK and #LOCK Events
You can schedule #UNLOCK events that enable lower-priority events to write updated values to the
data point in the Scheduler, and you can schedule #LOCK events that prevent lower-priority events
from updating the data points. You can schedule #UNLOCK and #LOCK events in a day-based or
date-based schedule.
Data Points
The Scheduler application allows the integrator to dynamically select data points of any standard or
user-defined network variable type to be updated by a Scheduler. These outputs should be bound to
network devices that require activation on a scheduled interval. The data points must be created and
added to the Data Server before they are used by the Scheduler application.
Refreshing Exceptions
You can use the Calendar application to create the exception points that define the date-based
schedules for your Schedulers. Chapter 10 describes this procedure. The exceptions you create are
stored in an exception list (a list of exceptions in UNVT_date_event format) that is stored within the
Node Object. The Node Object maintains the exception list, and it receives this list via the
nviDateEvent point.
All Schedulers on the SmartServer read the exception list from the local NodeObject internally
(without a binding), and as a result only use current exception configurations. By default, the data
points of the NodeObject and the local Calendar are configured in a loop, so that this exception list