Kickin' Scenes and modes
Macros, Room Scenes, and House Modes (cont.)
The second way Macros are used is to utilize the macro’s Voice and DTMF touch-tone recognition capability to initiate rule evaluation. When using Macros in this manner, it is a good idea to put as few actions as possible in the macro, and let the real work be performed in associated rules.
In the sense of how they are used then, there are two types of Macros. We call them “Action Macros” and “Trigger Macros” to distinguish them.
Room Scenes
Room Scenes are also Macros. Very little serves to distinguish them. The philosophy behind having Scenes as a separate entity is that Macros are intended to be house-wide in scope while Room Scenes are intended to restrict their effect to a single room. All other characteristics of Macros are identical to Scenes. Where we use the initial keyword of the macro name to tie related macros together, we can use the room name to as a keyword to tie related Room Scenes together.
For all practical purposes Scenes and Macros are interchangeable and only distinguished by usage. Perhaps the concept would be more useful if Scenes were renamed "Trigger Macros" and the category were used to contain all the trigger type macros.
House Modes
House Modes are also Macros, but they have an interesting and useful twist. Modes can be thought of as an array of Flags arranged so that only one flag may be true at any given instant. Setting any one flag to true, automatically ensures the others are false.
A perfect example of how to use modes is illustrated by using two simple modes Normal and Away. Normal Mode is when the house is occupied and Away Mode is when the house is unoccupied. Setting mode to Away will execute any actions associated with the macro, while setting the mode to Normal executes any actions associated with that macro.
Further, a change of house mode can also act as a Trigger Event (TE) for a rule, allowing the programming of different actions upon leaving or returning home based on secondary conditions. HAL can turn on the porch light, for example, when leaving at night, but not in the daytime.
In addition, house mode can be tested as a Secondary Condition by any rule, allowing conditional execution based on house mode. Triggers that might turn on lights, for example, may be blocked from doing so when mode is Away.
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