Made a automation that when a powerpoint in home switches off

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Made a automation that when a powerpoint in home switches off

I have made a automation that when a powerpoint in home switches off, it will do a convert to short cut action ( which is a little complex) the thing is, when in the setup of this, I can press the play button and the complex set of actions works and also if I press test the automation everything works. But then when I save it and then go and switch the powerpoint off, the shortcut wont run. I have done a control test, where I set up another automation and just have it trigger a simple shortcut and this works. Any ideas what the more complex shortcut will not run?

I have also restarted the home hub ( Apple TV 4K 2nd gen) and made sure there are no other home hubs running on the network

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on May 9, 2023 10:52 AM

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Answer 1

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Camelot

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55,305 points

May 9, 2023 12:52 PM in response to chandie

There isn't enough in your post to answer the question directly, and troubleshooting this kind of thing isn't easy.

Ultimately, in situations like this, you probably need to simplify (which it sounds like you did with testing a 'simple shortcut'), but you need to go further.

The problem, is likely with one of the steps in your shortcut throwing an error - when that happens the entire workflow bails.

So I'd rewrite the shortcut to the barest minimum and test it, then add back in one step at a time, testing as you go, until you find which step is the one that's failing. Once you identify that we can probably look into solutions, but at this point we're flying blind.

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Answer 2

chandie Author

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8 points

May 9, 2023 1:08 PM in response to Camelot

but that's the issue - when I do it step by step and add the show result at each step in the short cut and press play it works perfect, and I get all the value and everything. I hav been through it step by step and they all work. the whole short also works when I press the test the automation button, it just doesn't work back in the actually app when the powerpoint is meant to trigger it

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Answer 3

Camelot

Level 9

55,305 points

May 9, 2023 1:12 PM in response to chandie

You're missing my point.

Strip the shortcut to a single step - apply it to your automation and see if that one step works when you switch off the outlet.

If that works, add the next step, apply it to your automation and see if it works when you switch the outlet.

Then add the next. etc. until you find which step stops it from working.

It's already clear the workflow works when you run it manually. The process here is working out which step(s) prevent it from working outside of testing.

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Answer 4

chandie Author

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8 points

May 9, 2023 1:19 PM in response to Camelot

ok, I see your point, I kinda thought that was a what I was doing by adding the the show results in the process to check each part of the shortcut, but I see your point, make several small automations with the same trigger to try and find out the part that is messing it up. I'll give it a shot and let you know

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Answer 5

chandie Author

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8 points

May 10, 2023 1:32 AM in response to Camelot

I think figured out the issue - the homehub does not have a built in calculator. So when I run it my iPhone or Mac, the expression is done locally and that is why it works, then when I try and run it from the hub, it can't actually do the math.... I think this is the issue.... can someone correct me if I am wrong?

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Answer 6

chandie Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2023 9:41 AM in response to Camelot

well my work around for now, which is working rather nice and tested today with minimal battery drain, is that I made that shortcut in the shortcut app, then added the express *run shortcut* at the end , and pointed it back to itself, creating a loop, then just ran it on my iPhone. seems to work just fine, as its the only shortcut I am running on the phone. So far it has run all day with no issues, but I guess if my phone lost internet or went flat , that would stop my shortcut.

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