Nodes for time scheduling

General
1

I am looking for a node that can schedule events over a calendar year. Searching pulls up only a couple of scheduling nodes that seem capable of this, none of which really inspire me to use. The BigTimer node may do what I want, but looks overly complicated for a "single shot" (fired once on particular days of the year) scheduler.

On the basis that there don't appear to be many of these types of event schedulers I wonder if I am missing something obvious. Do people use some other method, like just coding up a function node?

Thanks

2

@Bobo You can write a function inside a function node to get the current date of the day and can insert a loop to trigger an event if the required date matches the current date. If anything else please feel free to ask.

3

Have you looked at node-red-contrib-calendar-trigger? I haven't used it, but it sounds like a possibility.

4

@drmibell As @Bobo mentioned he wanted some kind of function to trigger or schedule an event, so that was the solution. i will look into the calendar-trigger node. but i feel the function node can be a great solution. Thanks

5

Thanks guys, I'll look at all possibilities, although what put me off with the calendar-trigger node was the fact it hadn't been updated in more than 3 years.

I guess I am also a little surprised that there aren't more nodes out there. Good idea for a new node maybe?

6

@Bobo You please use a function node and check for the scheduled date and return a true value and trigger your event. Thanks.

7

I don't know, but for a simple task once the node does its job, whats to update? unless nodejs version changes break it?

If it does what you need don't be afraid to use it, IMHO.

8

In addition to @wb666greene's point, the thing to watch out for in existing nodes is unnadressed issues. I note that there are no outstanding issues against the node, which is a good sign.

9

Both very fair comments. I shall give it a try.

Thanks

10

Old doesn't mean useless (he says, hopefully). Also, the node is dead simple, so fixing bugs or adding features might not be difficult. The function node approach could be worth a try, but I can see some implementation issues. @Bobo, please post on your progress.

11

Point taken. Unfortunately in the current world in which we live the impression given my many is that it does, and it is easy to fall into that trap.

But yes, it works as advertised, and is very simple in operation. I can see plenty of scope for additional features that could also be incorporated.

1 Like
12

This is the beauty of open source, you now have a starting point and can add whatever features you want and if you think they might be generally useful, you can submit them to the original author or contribute your own improved node.