Include hardware critical options in templates

[Teslafly]

There are some templates that require an option to go with them for the hardware to work correctly.

For example, many bulbs/led drivers require Option92 (PWMCT), SetOption37 (ChannelRemap), or Option68 (MultiPwm) to be set to work correctly.
My intuition is that a template should include everything needed for the hardware to work correctly.

It would be nice if it was possible to attach the setting of a non default option to a config
possibly something like:

base:
{"NAME":"OM100/RGBWW","GPIO":[0,0,0,0,416,419,0,0,417,452,418,0,0,0],"FLAG":0,"BASE":18}

with options:
{"NAME":"OM100/RGBWW","GPIO":[0,0,0,0,416,419,0,0,417,452,418,0,0,0],"FLAG":0,"BASE":18, OPTION[92:1,37:5]}
would additionally set option 92 to 1, and 37 to 5

Is this something worth considering? is it already possible and the output template doesn't include these hardware critical option settings?

[arendst]

It's worth considering for an input template. To make it work for an output template would be a challenge how to find which of over 100 setoptions need to be specifically set for this template...

Perhaps someone comes up with a very clever, low memory usage solution.

[meingraham]

After initial activation if the template and the initialization CMND is invoked, would the CMND string itself be cleared out of the character pool?

[barbudor]

If the template is hardcoded in the binary with #define USER_TEMPLATE, I would expect the CMND sequence to be re-executed after a reset 1/2.
If the template is entered in the GUI or console, it doesn't need to be saved as it wouldn't be re-executed any more.

[sfromis]

Yeah, with no "reset to initial + template only" command, the main utility of saving it would to aid the memory of the user, including reuse on another device.

[sfromis]

@meingraham Yes, the CR value in Status 2 very much suggests that the CMND string is not included there, and the Template command displays the template without the original CMND included. The command seems to be completely gone after having the initial desired effect.

[arendst]

Correct. Currently the string is gone once executed.

Another issue is that versions before 9.4.0.2 will report a json error on template load using the gui because the CMND field contained a semicolon which was handled by backlog command. I'm reluctant to replace the semicolon in the CMND field by a "|" as that introduces another special case.

[arendst]

The latest dev release (9.4.0.2) adds support for basic template related commands by extending the template with the CMND fieldpair.

In case of the OP it would look like this:

{"NAME":"OM100/RGBWW","GPIO":[0,0,0,0,416,419,0,0,417,452,418,0,0,0],"FLAG":0,"BASE":18,"CMND":"SO91 1;SO37 5"}

It will only be executed if the template is selected as module 0, either before the template is loaded, when the activate box is selected OR if the module 0 command is included in the CMND string.

[sfromis]

Just tested a template with CMND to establish a boot rule to yank ADPS9960 out of gesture mode. Worked nicely :-)

[digiblur]

That's down right awesome....

[nicandris]

tested also 👌 this simplifies things a lot in my setup! thanks for this, love it!!

[blakadder]

This is basically a backlog inside the template?

[arendst]

Yes but as the internal char array is very small only a few template related commands are supported.

Also, to provide backward compatibility the commands now need to be separated by a "|" character instead of the normal ";" character which would interfere with tasmota versions before 9.4.0.2 GUI template processing resulting in a JSON error.

[blakadder]

And how cmall is the array aka how many total chars can we fit in?

[arendst]

It all depends on how you enter the template and how many gpios have a different value than 0 or 1. The current tasmota input implemntations (serial, mqtt, gui other menu option, gui console and http al have different buffer sizes) define max total template length. This lenght is the complete template JSON message size.

• Using a serial console the max charactercount is dependant on the global serial input buffer being 520 characters including the template command.
• MQTT input is dependant on the max MQTT payload size being around 1040 characters, again in a global buffer.
• Gui other menu uses a global buffer fixed to 1200 characters.
• Gui console and HTTP use a global buffer fixed to 1200 characters max

All these max buffer sizes are the result of tuning tasmota memory, stack and heap usage and changing them will probably result in out-of-stack or out-of-heap exceptions.

So that's why I insist on using only a small number of template related commands. A complete rule of 500 chars (uncompressed) or even 800 chars compressed is a no go.

EDIT: Change code to support more characters in Gui other menu.