sjjanz Posted April 29, 2022 Share Posted April 29, 2022 I have been trying to do some programming for some LED strips that requires a "while" command. Basically, "continue looping through this activity while this condition exists." I read through the Home Composer Manual and it does specify how to do this. However, when I actually go into Compose HE (3.2.4) this function is not available. In fact, the whole "Looping" tab outlined in the HE instructions where this while command would be seems to be missing. Anyone else experience this? Is there a way to get this tab back? If not, is there another way to create the command in aggregate? Thanks for any advice on this. https://www.control4.com/docs/product/composer-he/user-guide/english/revision/T//composer-he-user-guide-rev-t.pdf The instruction for the While command are on Page 181-183. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 It's missing by design. While Director is looping through your Composer code, nothing else is happening in the system. It's easy to lock up Director. It was decided early on that HE would not have the functionality. The best way to do it (whether you have it available or not) is to use a timer. Start a timer, then check the condition on each timer tick. Though I have ComposerPro, I don't believe I have a single while loop in my Composer code. RyanE Neo1738 and crazybuppie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 Timer timer timer. Too many support calls I'm sure, even with it only being available in Pro. A timer allows you to set the actual interval (ie toggle a light every 200 ms - or every 2 seconds) AND more easily change it at that (by just changing the timer length) RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjjanz Posted April 30, 2022 Author Share Posted April 30, 2022 14 hours ago, RyanE said: It's missing by design. While Director is looping through your Composer code, nothing else is happening in the system. It's easy to lock up Director. It was decided early on that HE would not have the functionality. The best way to do it (whether you have it available or not) is to use a timer. Start a timer, then check the condition on each timer tick. Though I have ComposerPro, I don't believe I have a single while loop in my Composer code. RyanE Hi Ryan - thanks for the reply. I remember seeing your name on the forums when I started as a dealer back in 2009. Had to give it up for some personal reasons a couple years ago so stuck with Composer HE I am. It's funny, in training the WHILE command was all the new rage. I guess it didn't quite turn out that way? My only regret is that since the HE manual wasn't updated to reflect this change, I spent A LOT of time looking for it that I didn't need to. I am trying to mimic a rotating color palette of some existing Converging system LEDs I have. If you know the system, you know this comes standard when you call Effect 3. The problem is that I am adding two more LED controllers (ILC400s) with much more processing power than the original system. Thus, if I call Effect 3 on all of them simultaneously, the two new ones cycle through the colors faster than the old ones do. Thus, I have to manually program the two new ILC400s with a slightly longer cadence between colors to match up the whole system (or drop $3k on a whole new set of controllers which I would rather not do). The only drawback I saw with a timer is I don't know exactly how long the sequence is and there could be some delay that could throw my manual programming off from the default converging systems programming. I have never checked a timers' status though which sounds like it will achieve what I am looking to do. I will play around with it and see if I can make that happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 I don't know about 'all the new rage', since WHILE was in ComposerPro from before product was sold, but yeah, timers are better for the system, by far. RyanE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjjanz Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 20 hours ago, RyanE said: I don't know about 'all the new rage', since WHILE was in ComposerPro from before product was sold, but yeah, timers are better for the system, by far. RyanE Well, it was important enough for Mark Ohlwiler to bring it up, review it, and show some examples at one of our local C4 trainings. That's the only reason I knew about it. I used it sparingly in my installs but I thought in certain situations it made sense. I do agree that timers can be very useful though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 8 hours ago, sjjanz said: to bring it up, review it, and show some examples at one of our local C4 trainings It is - if for no other reason because it can be such a system killer when used wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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