CoRE - Variables 101

[whoismoses (Eric)]

I don’t have all the answers but…

Questions:

1. When should you use a local variable vs. a global variable?
   I try to just use local when I don’t want to share the value of the variable with other pistons.

2. When a variable is global, does that mean it is available to all Pistons?
   Yes

3. When entering the name of a global variable, do I place a @ or $ before it? Is there a difference?
   When creating it just type the name you want to use “variableName”. When using the variable in text you need to use “{variableName}”.

4. Where do you print the result of a variable? i.e. which screen shows the output of a variable for testing?
   You can do a sendNotification

5. Must you set the name and initialize a global variable under Global Variables on the main page? If not, what is the Global Variables on the main page meant for?

I can’t remember.

I don’t think you want to use “Save attribute” and “Load attribute”. I think you want to use “Set Variable”.

Here is an example of me using a variable… “diningRoomLightsOnByThisPiston”.

I might not be talking about the same thing you want. However, here is a post where someone is discussing average temp and core.

CoRE - Get peer assistance here with setting up Pistons

So I thought I would close the loop on this question/discussion. The best you can do with my use case is 2 pistons. The first piston being used to calculate the average temperature and save it to a global variable. And then the second piston has several triggers with individual actions. And with the way the triggers are setup only one can possibly be true when the average temperature changes. House - Calc Avg Temp [image] House Fans - Auto-Adjust [image] I tried getting it down to one piston but that isn’t possible because variables (global or local) aren’t available to later conditions within the same piston.