What's this?

LoxTemplater (LoxoneTemplater) is a tool to help you reusing complex logic for rooms in Loxone Config.

How?

1. The tool will take specified ("template") page in your project
2. Replaces Memory Flags with actual device I/O ports assigned to the given room
3. Adds the new page to your project

How, but with pictures

1. Initial Logic

Create the logic (e.g. AC automation) for a single room, using actual devices. Test it.

2. Clean Up Devices & Function Blocks

Ensure that devices and their outputs are

1. named consistently; they must be named the same for each room
2. are assigned to the rooms you want to generate a page for
3. in some cases it's enough to assign the parent device to the room (see picture)

3. Convert to Template

1. Every I/O (device sensors, actuators, output of other function blocks, like AQt of the Room Controller), that you want to assign per room, must be replaced with a Memory Flag (Merker).
2. Depending on the direction of the I/O, either the Memory Flag or its Input Reference needs to be used
3. Finally, place a new, disconnected Memory Flag for each IO; the tool will (try to) connect the actual IO ports here

• The green Memory Flags (Input References) will send data to Actuators, or inputs of Function Blocks
• The blue Memory Flags receive data from Sensors or outputs of Function Blocks

Naming

The general template is

Device or BlockName:Port Name

• Device or Block name:
  • For most extensions, it's the name of the extension, e.g. AO Extension
  • For Modbus, it's the name of the Modbus device (e.g. IntesisBox xxxx)
  • For the Miniserver, it's the name of the server, as listed in the Device Tree
  • For Function Blocks or Memory Flags, the name of the block/flag
  • The tool supports prefix matching, so it's enough to write Intesis, to match the device IntesisBox DK-AC-MBS-1
• Port Name:
  • Whatever is displayed in the device tree, or on the function block (e.g. HC1, Shd or ϑt)
  • Except, some IOs have suffix (which is also displayed in the Device Tree)
    • Modbus Actuators have the suffix AQ, e.g. OnOff AQ
    • Modbus Sensors have the suffix AI, e.g. OnOff AI
    • Virtual Inputs have the suffix VI

E.g.:

• MyMiniserver:External Temperature Threshold VI
• Intelligent:HCm
• IntesisBox:FanSpeed AI

Examples

The blue inputs will be connected to:

• ϑt, C1, and HCm outputs of the Intelligent Room Controller
• The output (AQ) of the Memory Flag ϑc
  • (This is based on name only, but in my template ϑc is a Mmeory Flag, not, e.g. Radio16)

4. Run the tool

Basic example:

LoxTemplater generate --rooms Attic Study --template "_Template1" c:\path\to\the\Project.Loxone

This will generate pages for Attic and Study, based on the page _Template1 and the output wil be saved next to the project file (with a timestamp in the name).

E.g:

After running the tool on a moderately complex tenmplate:

• Top-left block of AIs
• Purple AQs in the middle
• Bottom-left gray links

were all placed there by the tool.

Usage

Use the help command to get more information.

❯ LoxTemplater help
LoxTemplater 1.0.0
(c) 2022 enyim.com, Attila Kiskó

list        List entities in the project file

generate    Generate pages based on the specified template

help        Display more information on a specific command.

version     Display version information.

All parameters for the generate command:

❯ LoxTemplater help generate
LoxTemplater 1.0.0
(c) 2022 enyim.com, Attila Kiskó
USAGE:
Generate a page for Attic from AC_Template:
LoxTemplater generate --output path/to/saved/file.Loxone --rooms Attic --template AC_Template
path/to/the/project.Loxone

-r, --rooms          Required. Which rooms to generate pages for. Use 'list rooms' to get the list of room names from
                    the project.

-t, --template       Required. Name of the template page.

--page-name          Template for naming the generated pages. Use {Room} for the room name. E.g. "Heating - {Room}"

-o, --output         Target path for saving the project. If not specified a generated file name will be used.

-n, --dry-run        If set, the output will not be saved. Can be used for validating the source project.

--overwrite-pages    If set, pages with the same name as the generated pages will be overwritten in the project file.
                    Useful when reprocessing a project that contains both template and generated pages.

--delete-template    If set, the template page will be removed from the output project.

--help               Display this help screen.

--version            Display version information.

PATH (pos. 0)        Required. Path to the source project file

Supported Devices and Function Blocks

As of now, the tool supports the following

• Modbus Devices
• Virtual Inputs
• Memory Flags
• Intelligent Room Controller

Adding more is a matter of defining the POCO class for the extension/device and adding some extra logic to IOCollector.