node-red-contrib-eztimer

eztimer

Timer/scheduler for Node-RED which allows you to enter on/off times as 24hr clock (e.g. 01:10) or suncalc events (e.g. goldenHour). It also allows you to offset times and randomise the time within the offset.

Forked from (retaining much of the code, including this document) schedex which was in turn inspired by Pete Scargill's BigTimer, so hat-tip to both those coders.

Emphasis has been put on creating a simple interface and utilising built-in Node-RED formatting helpers (such as creating a JSON payload).

Installation

via Node-RED GUI

Use the built-in Node-Red Palette Manager to find and install.

via NPM

In the CLI on your Node-Red box;

cd ~/.node-red
npm install node-red-contrib-eztimer

Development Builds

This isn't for most people - but I've thrown this in so I don't need to keep explaining it in GitHub issues. This assumes you have a default install of Node-RED.

cd ~
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mrgadget/node-red-contrib-eztimer/develop/index.js
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mrgadget/node-red-contrib-eztimer/develop/index.html
cd ~/.node-red/node_modules/node-red-contrib-eztimer
mv index.js index.js.bak
mv index.html index.html.bak
cp ~/index.js .
cp ~/index.html .

You will need to restart Node-RED for the change to take effect. You can put back your old version at any time simply by copying the backup back over top.

Configuration

Schedule

The scheduling days allow you to choose which days of the week to schedule events. Unticking all days will suspend scheduling.

Suspending Scheduling (aka Manual Mode)

The Suspend Scheduling checkbox allows you to disable time scheduling. If scheduling is suspended, eztimer will only generate output events upon receipt of input on and off events (see below).

This setting is provided for the situation where you temporarily don't want time based activation and don't want to rewire your Node-RED flow.

Times

Select the type of trigger from the dropdown and this will provide either;

• a dropdown for Sun Events, or,
• a textbox to enter either;
  • a 24hr time, or,
  • a duration (for the off event).

The below table denotes the permitted formats for Times/durations:

input	interpretation
"12:14"	12 hours and 14 minutes
"12:14:24"	Time of day, or 12 hours, 14 minutes and 24 seconds
"23h 5m"	23 hours and 5 minutes
"5m"	5 minutes
"90s"	1 minute and 30 seconds (90 seconds)
300	5 minutes (300 seconds) - integers are interpreted as seconds

These are valid both at UI/config-time and at runtime using payload input.

Offsets

The on and off time can have an offset. This is specified in minutes:

• -ve number brings the time forward. E.g. if the time is dusk and offset is -60, a message will be generated 60 minutes before dusk.
• +ve number delays the time by the specified number of minutes.

Randomisation of times

Both on and off times can be randomised by ticking "Use random time within offset period". For example, if you specify dusk with an offset of -60 minutes, every day a message will be generated at a random time in a 60 minute window before dusk.

Suppression of repeating events

In some circumstances it may be required to re-start the timer without re-sending the on event - this setting achieves this. It's available for both on and off events, but disabled in trigger mode.

Inputs

You can wire inject nodes to the input of this node and send the following string values in msg.payload.

msg.payload	Description
trigger	Causes eztimer to emit the configured trigger event.
on	Triggers manual on mode and causes eztimer to emit the configured on event. Manual mode is reset when the next on or off time is reached
off	Triggers manual off mode and causes eztimer to emit the configured off event. Manual mode is reset when the next on or off time is reached
info	Eztimer emits an object containing the on and off (or trigger) times in UTC format. It also contains the state which is either on or off (for on/off type).
cancel	Cancels the current run (if any) of the timer (without emitting an off event).
sync	Re-sends the last emitted event

Programmatic Control

This node supports programmatic time control as well as configuration via the NodeRED UI.

It is very important to note that properties set programmatically in this manner are transient. They will not persist over a Node-RED restart or redeploy!

Note that both the property-based and string-based specifications are overrides that violate the usual behavior. See here for further discussion https://github.com/node-red/node-red/issues/399.

You can set the following:

Property	Type
msg.payload.action	Accepts the standard input payloads of trigger, on, off, etc.
msg.payload.suspended	Boolean: true will suspend scheduling, false will resume scheduling
msg.payload.manual	Alias of suspended
msg.payload.tag	String value emitted as the tag for all events
msg.payload.ontype	Integer value: Sun Event [1] & Time of Day [2]
msg.payload.ontime	String value representing time of day (HH:mm[:ss])
msg.payload.triggertime	Alias of ontime
msg.payload.ontopic	String value emitted as the topic for the on event
msg.payload.onvalue	Output value for on event (must be same as configured type)
msg.payload.triggervalue	Alias of onvalue
msg.payload.onoffset	Number value as specified above for Offset configuration
msg.payload.onrandomoffset	Boolean value as specified above in Randomisation of Times
msg.payload.offtype	Integer value: Sun Event [1], Time of Day [2] & Duration [3]
msg.payload.offtime	String value representing time of day (HH:mm[:ss])
msg.payload.duration	String value representing a timespan (see Times)
msg.payload.offtopic	String value emitted as the topic for the off event
msg.payload.offvalue	Output value for off event (must be same as configured type)
msg.payload.offoffset	Number value as specified above for Offset configuration
msg.payload.offrandomoffset	Boolean value as specified above in Randomisation of Times
msg.payload.mon	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Monday, false disables it.
msg.payload.tue	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Tuesday, false disables it.
msg.payload.wed	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Wednesday, false disables it.
msg.payload.thu	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Thursday, false disables it.
msg.payload.fri	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Friday, false disables it.
msg.payload.sat	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Saturday, false disables it.
msg.payload.sun	Boolean: true enables the schedule on a Sunday, false disables it.

Change Log

1.2.6

• Fixed cancel action so that it correctly cancels the current timer run, and re-schedules the next on event. credit @wokkeltje13

1.2.5

• Added resend feature. Enabling this causese the last scheduled event to be re-emitted at the pre-defined interval. credit @JasonSwindle
• Included action in programmatic control - this enablings the sending of on/off events from a JSON input. credit @petter-b
• Hooked into HomeAssistant (where available) for latitude and longitude. credit @mingan666
• Added offtype and ontype programmables. Used for dynamically changing the event type - these changes are not saved (ie, they won't survive a Node-RED restart), and input is not validated, so use with caution. Required integer values are in the Programmatic Control table. credit @matt6575
• Added manual as an alias for suspended as it makes more sense with how some users use the node. credit @matt6575
• Fixed anomolous error upon input message. credit @marc-gist

1.2.4

• Change info to be sent with every output (under the msg.info). credit @Fires04.
• Updated on/off/trigger nextEvent property info to be Date object (rather than a string) - enabling easier programmatic usage (for example .getDate() for unix timestamp). This can be turned back in to a string if required using the .toString() method. This property may still be a string however, for example, if it is suspended or manual.
• Improved error when a null or undefined msg.payload is sent to the node.

1.2.3

• Fixed number output - added parseFloat() to ensure output is a number (rather than a string representation of a number). credit @bemmbix.

1.2.2

• Fixed scheduling suspended node status text.

1.2.1

• Fixed emitting of flow and global context values (node wouldn't pick them up as values previously)
• Fixed assignment of flow and global context values to store correct type. credit @LorenzKahl.
• Renamed Input Trigger off-type to Manual to align with the on-type of the same name.
• Fixed status reports for Manual off time. credit @moryoav.
• Permit blank on time - allows for full programmatic usage without errors being displayed. credit @moryoav.
• Simplified node status, removed auto/manual concept (inherited from parent, didn't really make any sense with the way the node works now).

1.1.7

• Fixed cancel to actually work - the node no longer emits the off event after a cancel call. credit @svwhisper.
• Added code to support flow and global contexts as assignment properties. When selected, these do not emit flow message. credit @LorenzKahl.

1.1.6

Fixes driven by issue #21 credit @jazzgil.

• Fixed the Node-RED info pane to correctly match the the programmatic options in this file (see Programmatic Control)
• Updated output function to correctly emit programatically set topic (ontopic or offtopic) - not previously sent.
• Added ability to set tag value programmatically.

1.1.5

• Fixed some bugs introduced in the info message (displaying on and off values) credit @Export33.

1.1.4

• Added some rudimentary validation to lat/long and made the fields only visible when required (as suggested in issue #15 by jhelmink).

1.1.3

• Modified info output be more informative and logical. Fixed issue where info wouldn't work for trigger timer type. credit @marc-gist.

1.1.2

• Fixed bug introduced in 1.1.0 where some inputs arguments ceased to function correctly. credit @marc-gist.

1.1.1

• Fixed timestamp value type (previously emitted a blank value) so it outputs milliseconds since epoch - the same as the built-in input node. credit @marc-gist.

1.1.0

A few changes in this one - have had it running in test for a month or two and believe it to be stable - as always, log any bugs at github issues and I'll tend to them as soon as possible.

• Added ability to change duration without resetting timer (enabling duration change while timer is on)
• Made duration more 'friendly' - 00:00, 00:00:00, 34m, 23s, 34m 4s, and even a plain integer (interpreted as seconds) are all valid for duration now.
• Added ability to Suppress Repeated Events. Meaning once an on event has been sent, repeatedly sending on inputs won't resend the on event (but it will restart the timer)
• Added cancel as input command (to cancel any existing timer run without emitting off event).
• Added tag config parameter. This value is emitted with all events to allow easy identification of specific eztimer node the message was emitted from. Defaults to eztimer.
• Fixed issue where, when 1) using a duration event type with 2) some days disabled and 3) the timer is run manually on a disabled day, the off event would schedule on the next available day (causing an abnormally long runtime).

1.0.14

• Added nadir to ordered sun event array

1.0.13

• Corrected invalid time received SunCalc based on events that don't happen at a particular lat/long by moving to the next closest valid event. ie, if night was chosen, but doesn't exist, nauticalDusk would be used. A warning is emitted each time an event is scheduled for a sun event different to that selected in the config. - credit @B0F1B0.

1.0.12

• Error gracefully when sun events don't happen at particular lat/long (due to polar nights/days) - credit @B0F1B0.

1.0.11

• Fixed programmatic alteration of day-of-week flag - credit @stu-carter.

1.0.10

• Fixed bug where a manual on event (with a duration-based off event) wasn't scheduling it's off event.
• Enabled the use of seconds for time-based events (was documented but always reverted to 0).
• Added [missing] input parameter payload.duration to allow prgrammatic adjustment of the duration.
• Adjusted default value for duration to 00:01:00 (1 minute) - was 0, which broke the node.
• Fixed re-schedule after manual off event.
• Fixed state reporting in info output payload.
• Added node name to info output. If no name is set, eztimer is returned.

Thanks to @stu-carter for detailed reports enabling the above fixes (related issue).

1.0.9

• Fixed manual variable being used before declaration - credit @marc-gist.
• Added UI tip for times and duration to make the HH:mm:ss requirement clearer - credit @stu-carter.

1.0.8

• Fixed next event status text for trigger.

1.0.7

• Corrected commands to set output value for on/off events - onvalue and offvalue are more correct, as it's not necessarily the payload you're updating.
• Added triggervalue as an alias to onvalue.
• Values must match the configured value type.
• Removed the string command examples as they don't function correctly - the payload must be a JSON object to update a property value.

1.0.6

• Enabled startup events for trigger, configured off by default. Caution required due to this being on by default for exisitng nodes.
• Fixed boolean data type to correctly output boolean rather than a string representation - credit @marc-gist.

1.0.5

• Fix ontime and offtime inputs, added triggertime as an alias of ontime.