Robo-Tank Web App - Development

[Rob F]

Time for a little update. I'm making some gains but it will still be another month at least, I've decided I need more done before releasing but I'm quite happy with how it's coming along, everything has been working great.

I got through quite a few more minor details for what was already working and added an .htaccess file to finally sort out caching different file types, there was a problem with icons sometimes not updating because it was reading cached files instead of from the server so that little mystery is solved.

The pins available table I posted above has been changed so all available pins are in the same table. I added a little color so it's easier to spot which pins are used vs available. Again this is just temporary, later it'll be converted to step by step guides but this will remain non the less. This auto updates when new I2C devices are detected.




Schedules

The new addition is the scheduling system, I haven't added it to the backend yet as I want to get the custom rules and custom modes running at the same time as they all work together in some form. 

I like the DataTables jQuery library I was using, the above table is it however it looks horrible on mobile and doesn't fit the screen, you have to scroll horizontally. That's why making the schedules took longer than I planned as I decided to make my own sortable table with customizable pagination which was a bit of a challenge, at some point I'm going to see if I can add an instant Ajax search function like DataTables as that is a sweet feature and then I can get ride of it. For large tables that search will be needed. 

I'm not 100% happy with the look but will tweak over time. On the right side of the top header you can see 7 icons, those are to filter what you're viewing and your selection is saved. There's a setting to change this to a dropdown box as well, a picture following shows it. You can filter by All schedules, AC, DC, Dosing, Feeding, Custom Rules or Custom Modes. You can click on any column to sort ascending or descending. In the image below it's sorted by schedules on Mondays. The up/down grey icon turns aqua and icon changes to a ASC or DESC icon, 3 icons total.

You can change how many schedules show per page but I've yet to place that setting somewhere, it is saved as well.

This view is on desktop, when the screen size shrinks as in different devices being used columns will auto hide so it always fits on the screen. The last couple images is a screen that's 380 pixels wide.

Like the light modes you can enable/disable a schedule, delete a schedule or edit basic parameters using the icons on the right side.

Forgive the poor schedule examples, I quickly added and duplicated data to get the table working.



If you click on a row in the table it will expand and spell out what the schedule will do and eventually show the next schedule upcoming. The 2nd line saying "If maintenance is running schedule will run" will be changing as I've decided to go a slightly different direction with feeding and maintenance modes. I'll explain that later.



This is filtered to show only AC outlets, you can see the dropdown box instead of icons on this picture. Yes looks like that dropdown needs to be sorted.   



The picture below you can see the available features on the scheduling side. All schedules except for lights use the same millisecond system. Basically all schedules in the system backend are converted to millis and then goes through each as time goes by.

You can select if schedule is on or off and what days or X number of days it will run. If you only wanted a schedule to run every 30 days you can tick the "repeat" box, the days will disappear and enter how many days between schedules you want. I'll also be adding the option for a one time schedule that deletes it's self after running. If you wanted someone scheduled every Monday and every 30 days you can create two schedules, there's no limit on how many you can set for any piece of equipment.

The option at the bottom will be moved to the custom modes system which can be used for maintenance, feeding or whatever you desire. 



The next two pictures are at 380 pixels wide, same as my phone. 







Custom Rules

Currently I'm throwing together something to get the custom rules running. Custom rules are what you use to control various equipment using any available parameter. The main widget page will have a table showing all custom rules similar to schedules but I haven't made it yet. 

When you create a custom rule you first select how the rule will be triggered, it can be via schedule, sensor or manually. 




If you select sensor the next page will show all sensors in system, water, temp, various probes, flow meters etc, anything that outputs info. Later I'll expand it to respond to AC/DC port statuses. The names under the icons is the custom name you use for them. I'll do better with the icons later.




Once you select the sensor, in this case a temperature sensor, it'll ask to set the level. The initial value shown will be whatever the sensor currently reads, then you can adjust the whole or decimal number using the buttons and select if <= or >=. This will be the same screen for pH type probes, humidity etc. 



If you selected an optical sensor, non-contact sensor or float switch the option would be "Touching Water" or "Not Touching Water". 



That's as far as I got.   

After this step it will ask what equipment you want to control, everything connected will be available and you can select multiple pieces of equipment including ability to run a dosing pump that's been setup to do it's thing.
Next based on equipment selected it will ask a few more very important questions but you need to stay tuned for those.