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Schedule File Transfers?

wgreenwgreen Posts: 15
in NetLinx Studio
Does anyone have any thoughts on a way to schedule the transfer of files? It is almost impossible for me to just send files to one of our rooms without looking up a complete schedule of availability and then hoping to catch it when the system is not in use. I was hoping to be able to set up a transfer in the middle of the night when no one is using the rooms but I do not see any type of scheduling options available within Studio or File Transfer 2.

Comments

  • Thomas HayesThomas Hayes Posts: 1,164
    That would be an great add-on capability to have. Most of my rooms can only be done after 10PM and at that time of night I'm busy playing World of Warcraft.
  • annuelloannuello Posts: 294
    Scheduled transfers

    I've had the same problem here at my university where rooms are used back-to-back. Just this last week I've added a volatile variable to my code. My program has a "shutdown" function, which operates more like a standby function. In the shutdown function I test a bRebootAfterShutdown variable to see if it is set. If it is, a popup notice appears on the touch panel saying that a reboot is happening, then the master reboots. (On reboot, the notice is removed.)

    So.... when I want to roll out at change during the day, I upload the code to the master, but DO NOT set the reboot checkbox in the file transfer dialogue. Then I connect to the master using NLS Debug, and set the bRebootAfterShutdown to 1. (VOLATILE variables don't appear in the variable list in v2.3, but you can set them anyway.) When the system shuts down, it reboots and the new code is applied. The nice thing is that the data projectors usually take around 90 seconds to cool down, but the master (NI-3000) takes around 50 seconds to reboot and reconnect to the touch panel.

    I've only been using it around a week, so I'm not sure if it is a good way to go, long-term wise. Obviously it relies on a touch panel rather than MSP, but you may be able to create a suitable alternative. Feel free to critique my approach...

    DEFINE_VARIABLE
    volatile char bRebootAfterShutdown

    DEFINE_FUNCTION RebootAfterShutdown (){
    send_command dvTp, "'!T',varTextNotice,'Please standby while|the AMX system reboots.||(Approx 50 seconds.)'"
    wait 30{
    send_command dvTp, '@PPX'
    send_command dvTp, '@PPN-Notice'
    wait 10
    reboot(0:0:0)
    }
    }

    DEFINE_FUNCTION Shutdown (){
    ...
    //shutdown data projectors, etc.
    ...
    if(bRebootAfterShutdown)
    RebootAfterShutdown()
    else{
    //Initalise panel variables ready for the next session.
    }
    }

    An alternative approach (if you have a spare master) is to add the remote system to the URL list of your spare. Load your new code into the remote master WITHOUT the reboot in the file transfer dialogue. On your spare master, write a short program which sends a REBOOT to the desired remote master at the specified time.

    Hope this is useful to you,
    Roger McLean.
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