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March 23, 2012 • Alcorn McBride ProTraXX User’s Manual • Rev 1.4
Scheduler Control
For an easy way to
make a schedule, use
Schedule Builder
available at
http://www.alcorn.com
If you plan on using the
Scheduler, you should
verify that the
ProTraXX’s time, date,
timezone, and daylight
savings mode are set
correctly.
The ProTraXX has a built-in real-time clock, which can be used to trigger
events based on time and/or date. For example, a schedule could be created
to play a sound at exactly 3:00PM on January 15th 2015, or start looping a
sound at 8AM every morning and stop looping it at 8PM every night.
The ProTraXX can accomplish this type of task using a feature called the
Scheduler
. With a user-created schedule file, the Scheduler can execute any
event listed in the
Command Protocol
section of this manual. These
scheduled events are accurate down to the minute, and can be programmed
to execute once, or repeat periodically (i.e. repeat every Monday, every
January 1
st
, every morning, etc.).
The ProTraXX obtains schedule information from a file on the Compact
Flash card named
schedule.scl
.
This file is created using either a text editor
(i.e. Notepad) or a free Alcorn McBride application called
Schedule
Builder
. The remainder of this section contains information on how to make
this schedule file using either method.
Schedule File Format
The
schedule.scl
file itself is nothing more than a formatted ASCII text file.
In this file, each line contains a ProTraXX command as well as data fields
that specify when that command should be executed. This section covers
these fields and how they are used to schedule command execution.
Field Summary
Here is a list of the fields that can be used within a scheduled event. Below
this table, there are several examples that show how these fields can be used
to change the behavior of a scheduled event.
Delimiter
Field
T:
Starting time (hh:mm) (military time – leading zeros
for hours required)
D:
Starting date (mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy . You can
use periods, slashes, or dashes to separate dates)
I:
Ending time (hh:mm) (military time)
A:
Ending date (mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy . You can
use periods, slashes, or dashes to separate dates)
E:
Event – This field always contains the COMMAND
event
1:
Parameter 1 – This always contains the ProTraXX
command wrapped in quotes.
R:
Repeat Number: repeat after this number of periods
has expired
P:
Repeat Period: Time to wait between executions,
used with Repeat Number and Set when necessary
S:
Repeat Set: special case usage described below
;
Although not a field, this marks a comment
