Rules

AutoStandByPro is designed to process user defined rules. Each rule has an associated Trigger (certain condition) and an associated Action to be executed when the condition of the trigger is met. The Creation of rules in AutoStandByPro has been designed to be simple, intuitive and explanatory to the average user but at the same time be powerful enough to meet much of the user needs. This is done in such a way that it does not sacrifice the functionality of a more traditional (If, else, not statements etc) rule-based system.

A rule can be Created or Modified through the “Create Rule” window. A rule can be in one of two different states either Enabled or Disabled. The difference between the two states is that enabled rules will be loaded into the AutoStandByPro’s kernel for processing while disabled one(s) will not.

After AutoStandByPro executes the action of a corresponding rule then that rule will either be disabled or reset (see Rule Settings for more info). After a rule is disabled then it can be re-enabled again through the “Rules Table” window. For more info see Managing Rules.

Combining Rules
User can combine two or more rules to get the preferred result. AutoStandByPro will process all enabled rules and combine them according to following conditions:

1. If a rule that has an associated action “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation” is activated then NO other action will be executed. Additionally AutoStandByPro will notify the "Windows" OS that the computer is needed to remain on.
2. If there is no active rule that has an associated action “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation” present then AutoStandByPro will check the remaining rule(s). For each among the active remaining rule(s) AutoStandByPro will select the one that has the least Remaining Time and execute its associated action when that time reaches zero.

In any case AutoStandByPro will display the next action to be executed in the “Next Action” of the “Activity Monitor” window.

Note 1: When creating a rule you can set a rule to ignore any other rule that is active and it has an associated action “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation”. In this case the rule will executed its associated action when its Remaining Time reaches zero. See Actions for more info.
Note 2: Any Time-Based Rule that is loaded to the "Activity Monitoring" window with Remaining Time less than zero will be automatically disabled.
Note 3: Any rule that is activated when its Remaining Time is less than zero then it will either be reset or disabled based on the corresponding setting in the Rule Settings window.
Note 4: Any rule that is activated and it has associated action "Prevent Display Sleep" it will execute its associate action and prevent the display from sleeping even when there is some other active rule with associated action “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation”.

Example 1
For example let’s assume that you wish to put the computer to sleep when there is no user activity for a period of 5 minutes and when there is nobody connected on the computer using Microsoft terminal services (remote desktop). We create two rules:

• The first rule will put the computer to Sleep when there is no user activity for a period of 5 minutes.
• The second rule will have have action to “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation” when there is a connection with a remote machine on local port 3389 (default port for remote desktop).

When AutoStandByPro detects a connection with some machine on local port 3389 will not execute any other action and will reset the windows idle timer. When every user connected to the computer through remote desktop terminates his/hers connection, then if there is no user activity for a period of 5 minutes AutoStandByPro will put the computer to sleep. For more info see Create a Rule.

Example 2
Another example can be to Hibernate a Home Theater PC when no user is playing any video or using the computer for 5 minutes. We create two rules:

• The first rule has action to Hibernate the computer when there is no user activity for a period of 5 minutes.
• The second rule will “Prevent Sleep/Hibernation” if the display is "On".

While a user plays a video the display will remaing on and the AutoStandByPro will not execute any other action and will reset the windows idle timer. If the video stops and if nobody is using the computer then the display will go off after some time*. Then when more than 5 minutes have passed without user activity AutoStandByPro will execute the action Hibernate and put the computer to hibernation. For more info see Create a Rule.

*Please note in order for the above to work you have to set up the "Computer Display" to go off at the Window's Power Options when there is no user activity for a period of time. This can be accomplished by setting the "Turn of the display:" option to something other than "Never" under the current power scheme.

Example 3
Another example can be to shutdown the computer after it has finished copying files and folders to a network drive. We create just one rule:

• If the disk activity is less that 10% for a period of 1 minute then shutdown the computer.

When AutoStandByPro detects disk activity with more than 10% will not activate the rule. When the computer finishes copying files and the disk activity goes below 10% then AutoStandByPro will activate the rule and wait for one minute before executing the action "Shutdown". If the disk activity remains below 10% for a period of one minute then AutoStandByPro will shutdown the computer. For more info see Create a Rule.

Please note that the examples shown here can vary from situation to situation. When designing a rule set you should test different values to make sure that are adequete for each scenario.