Drivers

The Domotcl application itself only provides a framework. It doesn't know how to do much itself. It needs drivers for that. Drivers are grouped in several categories.

In addition to using the included drivers, you can also develop your own. You can even develop new nodes.

System drivers

A home automation system like Domotcl needs some basic functionality. This functionality is provided by the system drivers.

Timing

Many things a home automation system needs to do have a time-related component.

Time of day: Events that happen at the same time every day, with a possible random offset of up to 4 hours.
→ Time driver, clock type
Sunrise-/sunset-based events: Events that happen at or around the time the sun rises or sets, with a possible random offset of up to 4 hours.
→ Time driver, solar type
Periodic events: Events occurring at a regular interval, such as every 5 minutes or every hour.
→ Event driver, event type
Delays: Events happening at a set interval after some other event.
→ Timer driver, timer type

Variables

Properties of devices may have to be stored for later use, or they may require some calculations or other manipulations before they can be used as input for operating other devices.

Integer values: An integer variable can only hold numbers that have no fractional component. The possible values for integers range from -2147483648 to 2147483647.
→ Variable driver, integer type
Floating point values: A floating point variable can store (an approximation of) any numeric value, including fractional values.
→ Variable driver, float type
String values: Texts (a sequence of characters) can be stored in a string varaible.
→ String driver, string type
Timestamps: Timestamp variables hold a point in time (time and date) with a precision of 1 second.
→ Time driver, point type

File system access

Writing data to a file: Information that should be stored more permanently than a variable can be written to a file on disk.
→ File driver, file type
Executing a program: It is possible to run a file containing a script or binary executable with optional arguments. The process runs in the background and fires an event when it is finished.
→ Exec driver, command type