This
action is used to control switches. Unlike a lot of the other actions,
this one can do many things with just one action. It can control several
switches at once, and it can do two separate switching actions with each of the
selected switches, and it can repeat these two actions as many times as you
like. You can also program delays between each switching action, and
specify a different delay before it repeats.
Name - This should be a brief description of the action. This is displayed in the action list so put something here that helps you figure out what this action is for. It puts a default there for you in case you're not very creative.
Description - If you like to be wordy, this field is where you would put all the nitty-gritty details about the action that you think are important. This field shows up in the selection list too, but otherwise isn't used.
Main Switch List - The main switch list shows all the switches that you've already set up (possibly from the Sensors and Switches window). To put any of these items in the Switches For This Action list, click an item in the list, or hold the shift key and click on a second item to select a range, or hold the control key on the keyboard and click on items to select or deselect multiple items. Then click the right arrow button to put these items in the Switches For This Action list. This will not remove them from the Main Switch List.
Switches For This Action - To get items into this box, click the appropriate switches in the Main Switch List and then click the right arrow. To remove items from this list, select an item, or a group of items in the Switches For This Action list, and click the left arrow button. This will remove it from the Switches For This Action list.
Add - If you haven't added a switch that you want to control yet, you can click the add button. This will add it to your list of switches.
Change - If you want to change a switch, you can click change to do so. Keep in mind though that this will change this switch for everything that uses it.
Delete - To delete a switch is no longer in use, select the proper item in the Main Switch List and click Delete, then click Yes to confirm. Be careful about deleting switches however because this switch will no longer be available anywhere after this.
First - This is the action to do first. You would normally use this action, however there is one exception. You may want to do the "After" switching without the "First" switching if you want to be able to turn a switch off after the sensors that triggered the macro have been inactive for a certain amount of time, but you don't want it to turn the switch on. This can be handy if you want the switch to only be turned on manually, but you want it to turn off automatically.
Delay - This indicates how long to delay before performing the switching action. You can choose a number of units and the type of units (seconds, minutes, hours, etc.). If Repeat is set, it will do this delay each time it is repeated.
Function - This indicates what it will do to the selected switches, such as turn them on, off or dim them.
Dim - If the Function is Dim or Bright it will use the Dim value as the amount to dim or brighten. You can select the dim value by entering a percentage or by using the slider control.
After - This is the switching action to perform after a period of time. This is usually to turn a light off after it's been turned on (in the First switching action). You select the amount of time to wait before doing this, and you can choose to make this the amount of time since the macro was first triggered by selecting "after triggered", or the amount of time since it was last triggered by selecting "of trigger inactivity".
Repeat - This lets you repeat the First and After switching actions a certain number of times, with a delay before it repeats it. It does the switching actions once even without repeat, so if the repeat quantity is set to 1, it will do the switching actions twice (does it once and then repeats it once).