Re: [Perl-workflow-devel] Using Workflow for managing home automation

[Alejandro I. <ai...@p2...>]

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Sebastian Stuecker
<seb...@go...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> let me shortly follow up on my approaches until today.
>
[...]


>
> until I am happy...
>
> A test implementation with 8 different states now works...maybe I will find
> out that I am on the wrong approach later when I design complexer systems
> but for now...I am happy :)
>

Glad to hear because I having a hard time understanding your examples.
My mention of Petri vs. EPC was because __this__ Workflow is mostly of
type EPC, or if I'm wrong please someone correct me!

This means that this particular WF is not designed to guarantee a
perfect cycle or optimized routes, etc. You may very well define dead
ends, etc. because that is the nature of this EPC design. As the doc
says it's just a bunch of states! but it's a pretty awesome WF engine
IMHO. What I love about this WF is the easiness of integration to
other code. I've configured some pretty complex stuff using this
module and still haven't found any major limitations.

Anyway, happy to hear you are using it for Automation like stuff
because I've had a similar idea for a while in my head and maybe I'll
use it for brewing some homemade beer ;-)

Cheers,

-- 
Alejandro Imass



> Regards
> Sebastian
>
>
> 2012/4/15 Alejandro Imass <ai...@p2...>
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 5:55 AM, Sebastian Stuecker
>> <seb...@go...> wrote:
>> > Hello folks,
>> >
>> > I hope it is ok to post to this list. If not, please tell me.
>> >
>> > I am trying to utilize the workflow framework that you guys have created
>> > and
>> > I am fascinated about the possibilities and the way it is so generic and
>> > configurable.
>> >
>> > However, there is one thing I am not sure if it is achievable. I have
>> > defined a workflow with a bunch of states and I use this to control a
>> > computer. This may sound weird. This "computer" can have several states:
>> > On,
>> > Off, Booting, Halting, Unknown.
>> >
>> > Now, a user requests this computer to be just on. The user does not care
>> > about the current state. The damn thing shall be on as quickly as
>> > possible.
>> >
>> > But if the computer is currently in the off state, it cannot be on
>> > directly
>> > from there. It has to move through the booting-state and only if the
>> > booting
>> > succeeds it will be on. I have actions defined how to move from off to
>> > booting ( i just have a radio controlled socket to switch it on, but it
>> > could also be wake on lan, etc.) and I have an action to move from
>> > booting
>> > to on (some tests have to perform ok).
>> >
>> > I am looking for a way of "path-finding" from the actual state to a
>> > desired
>> > state like I can do this for example with the Graph CPAN module which
>> > can
>> > find the shortest path between two nodes.
>> >
>>
>> Coming from the automation world I find your post quite interesting
>> and in that sense the state-action-state paradigm is similar somewhat
>> to ladder logic on a PLC. What I don't understand is this last bit...
>> why do you need this path-finding stuff? As I see it, you should
>> simply stick to the event-based (e.g. EDA, SEDA, EPC, etc.) model just
>> like you would if you were automating using ladder language. Going on
>> a limb, but IMHO I think you are confusing EPC-style workflows with
>> Petri-net style WF engines.
>>
>> --
>> Alejandro Imass
>>
>>
>> > Is there any way to achieve this or do you think my whole idea is crap?
>> > :)
>
>