Broke rule - maybe by mixing variable types

[jkister]

I had an existing/working rule where i also wanted to track a switch's on/off status in a variable.

so I added a local variable (number) and set the variable to a device attribute (switch). I didnt know what kind of variable i needed at the time, and figured I could change it later if needed.

I don't know if the number<->string mismatch is what's causing a problem, but if i try to view the rule, i get an odd error:

The log shows:

Can I do anything to save this rule - or do I have to remove it and start over? It's not terribly complicated but figured it might be fixable

[jkister]

well, one solution was to export the rule, edit the json so that the variable was a string instead of integer, then import the rule with a new name.

the imported rule had the ** broken action ** on the step that set the variable to the switch status, but that was easy enough to edit/fix.

I left the old rule in place in case there is some troubleshooting/etc that can be done to fix it easier.

[bravenel]

@jkister

I don't know if the number<->string mismatch is what's causing a problem, but if i try to view the rule, i get an odd error:

That doesn't seem like an odd error, given that you're trying to put a string into a number. Nevertheless, I will look into catching/preventing that from happening. Rules, and variables, are 'strongly' typed. It matters that you only put a number into a number, etc.

[jkister]

Yeah, I get it. I just didnt know/couldnt tell which the switch type would be. I could see it being integer/boolean- and my last thought was string. So my thought was to just try each.

is it interesting for you if I keep the old rule since I have the new one working?

[bravenel]

@jkister

is it interesting for you if I keep the old rule since I have the new one working?

No. I've put in the type checking for Custom Attribute.

For numbers there could still be a problem, for example there is no way (usually) to distinguish between a decimal attribute and an integer attribute. Trying to put a decimal attribute value into a number variable would still cause an error. Yet another level of type checking to catch that one!