Possible Error .... slider variable behavior

[forumlw06]

Hello Roland,

is it possible that if i set the value of a "Number Slider" variable SP ("setVariable('SP', curpos);" and use this variable in a shortcut, that the slider is not showing up?

URL of the shortcut (GET): http://r1.fritz.box/cm?cmnd=ShutterPosition%20{{{SP}}}
(This is to move a shutter controlled by Tasmota to a specific position)

I was trying to kind of initialize the slider variable that it starts off with a specific value. But as soon as i do the setVariable, the slider is not showing up!

Once i remove the setVariable instruction the slider is showing up as expected.

Not sure if that is a bug, or if slider variables are just not meant to be initialized??

My use case: i can control my shutters via "HTTP Request shortcut", via Tasmota Interface or physical button. In the latter 2 cases, "HTTP Request Shortcuts" does not know the actual position of the shutter. Therefore i get that position from tasmota and wanted to assign this as initial value for the slider.

I know that the slider variable can remember its value, but this may be wrong if the shutter was moved directly in tasmota or via physical button.

Thanks for any insights!

Regards Rainer

[Waboodoo]

Hi Rainer,

This isn't an error, it's intended behavior, albeit a bit confusing.

Basically, setVariable does two things:

1. It changes the stored value of the variable.
2. It sets a value for the variable in the current shortcut execution. Since the variable now already has a value, it won't do its usual value resolution behavior (e.g. showing the slider dialog).

In your case, you only want part 1 to change the stored value (which acts as the initial value), but not part 2, since you still want the variable to be resolved normally.

You can achieve this by passing true as the 3rd parameter to setVariable:

setVariable("my_slider_variable", 123, true);

I'll see that I can make this more discoverable, as currently it's only mentioned at the end of the setVariable documentation here: https://http-shortcuts.rmy.ch/scripting#set-variable

Hope this helps.
Cheers

[forumlw06]

Hi Roland,

thanks for your answer. I obviously still have to better understand the concepts behind this app when it comes to scripting.
I played a little bit with your infos and my shortcuts and now i am more confused before.

My Scenario:

• slider variable VPOS (0..100)
• shortcut1:
• GET http://r1.fritz.box/cm?cmnd=ShutterPosition%20{{{VPOS}}}
• no scripting

If i execute this shortcut, the slider variable dialog pops up as expected, and if i select a value my shutter is moved to that direction. If i call the shortcut a second time, the last selected value is preset and i can change it. So far, so good

• shortcut2
• GET http://r1.fritz.box/cm?cmnd=ShutterPosition (this gets the data on current shutter position as JSON)
• script after execution:

const position=JSON.parse(response.body).Shutter1.Position
const debug='getShutterPos: VPOS = '+getVariable('VPOS')
//const debug='getShutterPos: VPOS = '
setVariable('VPOS', position, true);
showDialog(debug)

Why is the slider dialog popping up again? i "only" want to query the VPOS value and then set it to the actual value of the shutter position (this might have changed, if i moved the shutter outside HTTP Request Shortcuts App).

My hope was that if i call shortcut1 again after shortcut2 (which only should get the real position of the shutter), then the slider dialog will be initialized with the real shutter position.

Maybe this scenario is too complicated. If you have any tips, i appreciated it, but don't spend too much time for that.

I really like this app, as it helps to collect and automate the http requests. Probably i do not even see, what all is possible, because i have to dive into many new things (like javascript, different types of http requests, not even talking about intents and headers ....)

Kind regards Rainer

[Waboodoo]

I see, so you have shortcut 1 which you use to control the shutter, and you want to use shortcut2 to fetch the shutter's current state and use it as the initial value for the variable used in shortcut 1.

Why is the slider dialog popping up again?

It pops up because you use getVariable('VPOS') in your debugging on line 2 in shortcut 2. This triggers the value resolution of VPOS. If you remove that line (and the last line which references debug), it should behave as expected.
(There is currently no way to read a variable's previously stored value without also triggering the variable value resolution, i.e., the slider dialog in this case.)

If your goal is to make sure that in shortcut 1 you always get the shutter's actual current value as the initial value, then my suggestion would be the following: In shortcut 1, in the "Run before Execution" block, add the following piece of code:

const result = sendHttpRequest("http://r1.fritz.box/cm?cmnd=ShutterPosition");
const position = JSON.parse(result.response.body).Shutter1.Position;
setVariable('VPOS', position, true);

With this, your shortcut 1 basically includes what shortcut 2 does, so you won't need shortcut 2 anymore.

[forumlw06]

Good evening,

thank you for the explanation about why the dialog is popping up, when i did not expect it. As this just was meant for debugging there is no harm not using it!

I tried your suggestion and it worked! Thanks!

Need to play around a little bit further, as i plan to extend shortcut1 "after script processing" a bit. I plan to wait for approx 30 seconds (this is the time my shutters need to open/close) and based on the position value change the Icon of the shortcut. However you are writing that the "wait" command is blocking the app (and for this 30 seconds is too long). So maybe i need to find a way with "enqueueShortcut('shortcut2', null, 30 * 1000)" (which is non blocking as far as i understood).

But i am progressing!

Thanks!

Rainer

[Waboodoo]

Yes, for this using the enqueueShortcut is probably the better approach. Or you could try with the wait approach, and to avoid having the blocking command preventing you from using the device for 30 seconds, you could change your shortcut to run in the background instead. You'll find this option in the "Trigger & Execution Settings" section, at the top.

[forumlw06]

Thanks for your reply Roland! Wasn't aware of that background option and will try.

What would be your preferred way: enqueShortcut or "wait and background processing"? Is either one more performant / uses less cpu, battery?

[Waboodoo]

In terms of performance and resource use, there's no real difference that I'm aware of. enqueueShortcut has less precise timing, but for your usecase that probably doesn't matter. The background processing is new and somewhat experimental, so it might be unreliable for yet unknown reasons. I'd say either is fine for this.

[forumlw06]

Thanks for your insights! I went with enqueShortcut. That works fine!