Logicblock self-evaluation

[DanT]

From a user: “Any chance LogicBlocks will evaluate themselves in the future instead of having to use IFTTT to call the evaluation every hour?”

[Steven]

They do don’t they? I don’t call my logicblocks every hour and they work just fine?

[BOS]

Take a look to advanced options of logicblock…

[DanT]

I may be wrong but I think the user is asking for a logicblock routine to trigger a self-evaluation according to a schedule, say every 5 mins.

[BOS]

Hi @DanT,

I do not see any business case for a time-based evaluation if you can re-evaluate automatically at each variable value change…

The only thing that I see is if you have a condition based on a timing like “myvariable is true since 5 mins” ; in that case a self-evaluation of linked logicblocks at the end of the 5 min delay would be great (but I think it’s covered in another community topic)

[Anna]

Hi @BOS!

We now cover the case you describe, you can make a condition a trigger when it changes (false to true and true to false). All the details here:

Improved Conditions: giving you a more flexible and powerful way to run your logic

If you are a long-time Apilio user, you probably have used the option to automatically evaluate a Logicblock whenever one of the connected Variables changes. With this new update, we are supercharging our conditions and you’ll be able to use them as triggers for your logic going forward! [Apilio - new conditions with superpowers] Using variables to run Logicblocks (legacy) To prepare for this update, we started by moving that original option to evaluate the Logicblock from the Logicblock to …

And for anyone who is interested in evaluating a Logicblock with a regular time schedule, you can use Apilio’s native time conditions, you might be interested in our cron expressions for an extremely accurate control! Have a look at our documentation regarding timing and time control to find what best suits your logic:

• How to setup and use time conditions
• How to add a delay to IFTTT actions
• How to setup time constraints for Conditions: delays and timeouts
• Advanced: Cron time conditions - Intro and how to set them up

[saurabhtyagi2507]

Hi Anna,

I have gone through the given details you mentioned above but am still unable to understand how any Logicblock will self-evaluate.

Let me explain what I want:

1. I want when I am away, my tuya lights on and off at a random time - that I have achieved it after selecting the RANDOM delay option in actions.
2. I created an IFTTT applet with date/time, which evaluates every hour and checks if my Is_Away variable is true, then it will evaluate the Logicblock else skip.
3. When I return home, the Is_away variable is set to false, and Logicblock will be skipped by IFTTT when it checks every hour.
4. This is the thing I don’t like, running IFTTT every hour! I need a way in Apilio so that the Logicblock only runs when the Is_away variable is true until it is set to False again. This means logic block starts evaluating when I am away and stops when I get back home

[pebneter]

Hi @saurabhtyagi2507

first, if you wanted to continue using a scheduled trigger, I would recommend to use the built-in time conditions, as describe here: How to setup and use time conditions

But as you already mentioned, you can do this even better without a scheduled trigger.
You can mark the condition to trigger an evaluation when the condition changes (i.e. is_away becomes true). Here’s an overview of all methods:

Ways to trigger a Logicblock

When you create your Logicblock, you’ll find a few different options to launch it and make things happen. Apilio is so flexible that you might not be aware of all the different options available for launching your actions! Here’s a summary with all the different ways to trigger logic in Apilio 1. Trigger a Logicblock directly via IFTTT You can launch your Logicblock evaluation from IFTTT using an applet that: IF (something happens) THEN (evaluate Logiblock in Apilio). Thank…

[saurabhtyagi2507]

Thanks @pebneter for the sharing the article.

I managed to create the self-evaluating logic-block without IFTTT.
So this is how it works -

The logic block gets triggered when the Is_Away Boolean variable turns true. Inside the logic block, under the action, I have added the last action to re-evaluate the same logic block via webhook.
So it will keep running in the loop until the Is_Away variable sets to False again.

Thanks again
Saurabh

[pebneter]

You don’t need to create a loop. When the boolean of “is_away” is set to false, the condition result will change and this will trigger the logicblock evaluation again. Just this time, the result will be negative, so you can specify other actions.

[saurabhtyagi2507]

Why I have created the loop is because the duration I am away, my lights will keep turning on and off randomly. If I dont set it to loop, how will the action run again once they are completed?

[pebneter]

Ok, I see. I didn’t read the point about the random on/off properly.
How often do you want to switch on/off? What you could do is having multiple on/off actions in one action chain, but it might not be enough depending on the use case.

[saurabhtyagi2507]

Thanks for the response. I have 10 lights to be randomly on and off with random delay from 5 to 25 mins, all are in action under logicblock.
There might be a case where I am out for more than 10 hours so in that case one logicblock evaluation is not enough hence I set up self evaluation in the last.
Evaluation will stop when I come home as Is_away set to False.

Thanks
Saurabh

[DanT]

Super-good use case, thank you for sharing!