simple repeating task does not run

[Eric Kruis]

I have a task that shoud run every 20 minutes from 7 am. So the only condition is: From 7.00 every 20 minutes till midnight. But on my S6 with Android 5.1.1. it runs only 2 or 3 times a day.

Suggestions anyone?

Eric

[Rich D]

> Suggestions anyone?

Check the run log. Menu / more / run log.

Could you post the exported profile description along with the run log?

To post your profile or task here...  Long press on the profile or task name / ( 3 dot menu with 4.0+ ) export / export "DESCRIPTION" to clipboard (not XML)

Any linked tasks will be exported with the profile they are linked to..

To be able to export, The beginner mode needs to be off and the profile needs to be named by you (Not the Tasker listed name.  Tasker will list your profile with the context name if you have not given it one).

[Eric Kruis]

Thank you for your time Rich!

To make it very simple I tested with a profile that just sounds a beep every 2 minutes:

Profile: BEEPTEST (61)

Time: From 08:00 every 2m

Enter: Anon (62)

A1: Beep [ Frequency:6000 Duration:500 Amplitude:60 Stream:5 ]

When the screen is on, everything is OK and the beep souds every 2 minutes. With the screen off, the task did run one more time, but 45 seconds too late, and thereafter: no more beeps.

In the log, the screen was on at 10:02, and turned off at 10:03. After 10:04:45 no more beeps. At 10:12 the screen was turned on again.

I have two more repeating tasks on my phone (checking mail every 20 minutes and syncing folders with NAS every hour), and they show the same behaviour: OK when screen is on, but tasks don't run when screen is off. I have checked the "run in foreground" option in Tasker.

Things used to work OK, only thing I can think of that has changed, is the update to Android 5.1.1. on my S6, but I have no idea if that can be the cause.

Thanks!!

Eric

Op donderdag 27 augustus 2015 11:15:55 UTC+2 schreef Rich D:

[Eric Kruis]

After posting the profile and log, the beep sounded every now and then, but at what seems random times. Just for your info.

Op donderdag 27 augustus 2015 11:15:55 UTC+2 schreef Rich D:

> Suggestions anyone?

[Dale Smith]

Check that Tasker Preferences Monitor Run in foreground is enable .

[Eric Kruis]

Thanks Dale, but it's checked, so that can't be the cause. And other tasks that don't involve time, run OK when screen is of (Cell/Wifi near-profiles, Bluetooth related profiles etc.). 

Op vrijdag 28 augustus 2015 16:55:51 UTC+2 schreef Dale Smith:

[Marta Hintz]

Did you check out the preference in Tasker with the Display Off Monitoring? maybe you need to adjust those to assit with the screen off tasks.

Marta

[Eric Kruis]

Yes, I checked. Strange thing is that everything has worked OK for years, but not anymore. Prime suspect is the update to Android 5.1.1 on my S6. But if that is the source of my problems, I would expect more posts here regarding this issue.

[Rich D]

Prime suspect is the update to Android 5.1.1 on my S6

I agree,  I have seen a few post of other contexts failing with screen off with lollipop.

One other possibility would be a bad tasker install on a update for tasker. You could try re- installing tasker  then restore a older backup of tasker.  

. But if that is the source of my problems, I would expect more posts here regarding this issue.
>

Perhaps you are the first of many.... :(

Was this a software upgrade or a new device with the new android OS. 

[Rich D]

> One other possibility would be a bad tasker install on a update for tasker. You could try re- installing tasker  then restore a older backup of tasker.  

Just to be clear on this one. If you do try deleting and re-installing tasker be sure you do not save the current data over any existing older back ups, if it is a tasker issue your current data is corrupted and can not be re-installed, you will need a back up made previously to the tasker update. 

[Stefan Berglund]

I have exactly the same problem. Periodic tasker profiles only run once in a while (almost randomly) and not according to the schedule. It's very annoying.

I have Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and it seems the problems started after the latest 5.1.1 update (i've had two 5.1.1 updates and the problem started after the latest).

It seems to also affect other applications such as Timely alarm app which is not at all reliable anymore.

[Eric Kruis]

Indeed, I also removed Timely because it had become unreliable.
Tasks based on time without repetitions (from 7:00 till 9:00) do work, but sometines 30-60 seconds too late

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

I'm in the same boat with my Samsung S6, updated and rooted.

I've been running a task every hour for years (just playing a chime sound) but with the new device it doesn't work.

Other profiles not time related do work correctly, though.

It looks like Samsung ROM is killing or forcing Tasker to sleep too deeply.

Will try to play with Display Off Monitoring and see what happens.

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

Heads-up on this issue: after experimenting various solutions I'm having good results with calendar-based triggers, so far (tested for only 24h so far).

I have recorded an appointment every awake hour of the day and set up a profile that reads the calendar and perform a task if a specific word is found on the appointment title.

The next step is to create a specific Google calendar, which I will call "Tasker", which will contain all the time-based triggers I need (luckily I got only two of them: one hourly and one twice a day).

If anyone comes up with a better solution I'll be glad to hear from you guys.

Cheers!

[Eric Kruis]

I have been using this for a long time to put my phone into silent mode during some meetings, and indeed it still works. It is a possible work around but lots of calendar entries for a task that runs every 20 minutes :-)

[Rich D]

> If anyone comes up with a better solution I'll be glad to hear from you guys.

Have you tried the dynamic time context? You can set the 'From' and 'Until' times with variables.  Then within the task just set the variables to the next instance you want. 

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

If I understand what you mean that's the way I had it set up before the Samsung S6 update: the profile was set upon a time event with a start from..., repeat every... and until... conditions.

That doesn't work reliably anymore after the update.

[Rich D]

> If I understand what you mean that's the way I had it set up before the Samsung S6 update: the profile was set upon a time event with a start from..., repeat every...

No, this would not use the 'repeat every' option. Just the variable time 'from' and 'until'

I have my doubts it will work but it is worth a try..

[Rich D]

> No, this would not use the 'repeat every' option. Just the variable time 'from' and 'until'

It would go like this..

Profile: Repeat
Context: Time / From %Repeat / until %Repeat
Task:
1. Variable set %Repeat to: %TIMES+300

This will repeat every 5 min   (5*60seconds)

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

That sounds good, but how to have the task begin at a specified hour?
What I need (and used to have) is an hourly trigger starting from 08:00 until 21:00.
Right now I'm experimenting with setting a variable at morning wake-up and adding to it during the day, but doing maths on time variable looks a bit complicated so far..

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

Unfortunately after a bit of testing I can say that this solution is not reliable, too (it triggered the first time but missed the second).

Back to iron out the calendar solution, then... :-(

[Eric Kruis]

The Calendar-solution isn't very accurate either. I tried it with an entry on 13.00. The log shows that the profile was triggered at 13.03:45, so almost 4 minutes too late. So not very useful when timing should be accurate. But at least it did something....

Op woensdag 2 september 2015 16:12:14 UTC+2 schreef Andrea Bruzzesi:

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

Yes, I can confirm that calendar events are not triggered on time.

I'm performing one more test, that is to make the profile trigger every half-hour to keep the device away from sleeping to deep.

If this test will go well and doesn't drain the battery, I'll change the task to ignore the half-hour event and do its stuff at the o'clock event (mmmh, did I just create a new form of speech here? :-)

I'll let you know how it goes, othewise I'll check E-Robot app out during the next days.

[Andrea Bruzzesi]

OK guys, for anyone interested the workaround I tested does work flawlessly!
Converting an hourly profile to a 30 minutes profile makes it perform 10 over 10 times; I already adjusted the task to ignore the half-hour event.
If somebody comes up with a better solution I'll be glad to hear.
Cheers!

[Alfeu Lucas Guedes dos Santos]

Hi,

I'm running Tasker in Marshmallow, and also got some issues with interval-based tasks.

Here is how I managed to make it work:

I have 3 new profiles to handle the interval workaround. The idea is simple, 2 of the profiles change a global variable's value in an interval of time,

and the third profile is activated when this global variable matches the value = 1. Below are the steps to create them:

- create a profile called 'Activate Interval' with the following :

    context:

        Variable Value - %Interval !~ 1

    actions:

      wait 30 seconds (or whatever time you want)

      set %Interval = 1

- create a profile called 'Deactivate Interval' with the following :

    context:

        Variable Value - %Interval ~ 1

    actions:

        wait 1 second

        set %Interval = 0

- create a profile called 'Interval Workaround' with the following :

    context:

        Variable Value - %Interval ~ 1

    actions:

        wait 10 millisecs (a profile needs some action to run, so the time here is irrelevant )

Now when you want a profile to trigger a task in any desired interval, you can use this 'Interval Workaround' profile as one of the contexts of your profile.

If you want, for example, to have a profile that runs in a 1 minute interval, just set your profile's cooldown to 1 minute.

No need to change the 'Interval Workaround' wait time.

Surprisingly, the battery use is not affected by it.

[Crystal McKenzie]

^ I am about to try this, but am puzzled about the description.  The second two profiles appear to have the same context, so why are three profiles needed at all?  I'd love to hear more about how this is actually implemented and whether there have been any improvements worked out since March.

Whatever the case, I am going to work something out for myself based on this idea and I will post back when I have done so.  Racken-bracken Marshmallow update breaking all my Tasker systems...!!!