OH1.8: The name 'unkown' ... cannot be resolved to an item or type

[Max_G]

[EDIT] – Title from
InstantiationException on org.openhab.core.library.types.StringType
to
The name ‘unkown(XStringLiteralImpl,XStringLiteralImpl)’ cannot be resolved to an item or type.

As the InstationException has been resolved.

---

I am using a timer to check if an item updates been received on time, and if not update an item…
Whenever I receive an update on time, I also receive the InstantiationException in openhab.log.

The rule:

// ----- 170205 MaxG: Irrigation tank heart beat timer
var Timer Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = null

// ----- 170205 MaxG: check if tank is reporting its level continuously
//                    if not, there is a problem: power, network, controller...
rule "Irrigation tank update not received"
  when
    Item Tank_Irrigation_Level received update
    // which happens every 60 seconds (hard-coded in Tank Controller)
  then
    if(Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting == null) {
      logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation: creating timer")
      // create a timer to expire in 2 miutes
      Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = createTimer(now.plusMinutes(2), [|
        logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation: timer expired and setting to OFF")
        Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(OFF)
        Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = null
      ])
    } else {
      logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation: update received on time")
      Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(ON)
      Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.reschedule(now.plusMinutes(2))
    }
end

the item:

String   Tank_Irrigation_Reporting	"Tank Level reporting is [%s]"		<settings>

What I also noticed – after pulling the network plug – I get the same error in the OFF side AND the item is not updating to OFF, leading me to suspect the postUpdate to be incorrect… I have tried putting quotes around the ON/OFF in the postUpdate which creates even longer (non-sensical to me) error messages.

As usual, any hints / input appreciated.

[Max_G]

OK… what I found in the interim is that ON and OFF needs to be in double quotes, and both variants of the postUpdate do work… and to get rid of the InstantiationException error.

        Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate("OFF")
        postUpdate(Tank_Irrigation_Reporting, "OFF")

However, I get an error (that error that does not mean much to me), which only occurs when reloading the rules, after that is is working without a problem / error.

2017-02-05 15:32:46.291 [INFO ] [o.model.script.RefillStop.rule] - AllowIrrigationTankDemand....: false
2017-02-05 15:32:46.777 [INFO ] [o.model.script.RefillStop.rule] - AllowHouseBorewaterTankDemand: false
2017-02-05 15:32:59.465 [INFO ] [hab.model.script.IrriTank.rule] - Tank_Irrigation: creating timer
2017-02-05 15:33:59.412 [INFO ] [hab.model.script.IrriTank.rule] - Tank_Irrigation: update received on time
2017-02-05 15:33:59.700 [ERROR] [org.quartz.core.JobRunShell   ] - Job DEFAULT.2017-02-05T15:32:59.637+10:00: Proxy for org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.lib.Procedures$Procedure0: org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.impl.XClosureImplCustom@18a0cbc (explicitSyntax: true) threw an unhandled Exception:
java.lang.RuntimeException: The name '<unkown>(<XStringLiteralImpl>,<XStringLiteralImpl>)' cannot be resolved to an item or type.
        at org.openhab.model.script.interpreter.ScriptInterpreter.internalFeatureCallDispatch(ScriptInterpreter.java:67) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateAbstractFeatureCall(XbaseInterpreter.java:658) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor672.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateBlockExpression(XbaseInterpreter.java:321) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor694.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.evaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:204) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.ClosureInvocationHandler.doInvoke(ClosureInvocationHandler.java:46) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.invoke(AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.java:28) ~[na:na]
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy87.apply(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at org.openhab.model.script.internal.actions.TimerExecutionJob.execute(TimerExecutionJob.java:44) ~[na:na]
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:213) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        at org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool$WorkerThread.run(SimpleThreadPool.java:557) [quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
2017-02-05 15:33:59.746 [ERROR] [org.quartz.core.ErrorLogger   ] - Job (DEFAULT.2017-02-05T15:32:59.637+10:00: Proxy for org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.lib.Procedures$Procedure0: org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.impl.XClosureImplCustom@18a0cbc (explicitSyntax: true) threw an exception.
org.quartz.SchedulerException: Job threw an unhandled exception.
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:224) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        at org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool$WorkerThread.run(SimpleThreadPool.java:557) [quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: The name '<unkown>(<XStringLiteralImpl>,<XStringLiteralImpl>)' cannot be resolved to an item or type.
        at org.openhab.model.script.interpreter.ScriptInterpreter.internalFeatureCallDispatch(ScriptInterpreter.java:67) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateAbstractFeatureCall(XbaseInterpreter.java:658) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor672.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateBlockExpression(XbaseInterpreter.java:321) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor694.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.evaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:204) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.ClosureInvocationHandler.doInvoke(ClosureInvocationHandler.java:46) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.invoke(AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.java:28) ~[na:na]
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy87.apply(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at org.openhab.model.script.internal.actions.TimerExecutionJob.execute(TimerExecutionJob.java:44) ~[na:na]
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:213) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        ... 1 common frames omitted
2017-02-05 15:34:59.312 [INFO ] [hab.model.script.IrriTank.rule] - Tank_Irrigation: update received on time
2017-02-05 15:35:59.394 [INFO ] [hab.model.script.IrriTank.rule] - Tank_Irrigation: update received on time

The problem seems to be related to the timer…

Any ideas??

[Max_G]

After convincing myself that the logic of the rule is correct, I figured ti had to be something else…

I found a closing bracket I do not need, in this line:

     )]
    } else {

      ]
    } else {

However, I still get the ‘big’ error message…

EDIT:
Figured the bracket is actually needed to close the createTimer() function, but the other way around:

     ])
    } else {

However… still having this error…

[further edit:]

Looking up a bunch of examples, the createTimer() function has to written as:

      // create a timer to expire in 2 minutes
      Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = createTimer(now.plusMinutes(2)) [|
        logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation_Reporting: timer expired setting to OFF")
        Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate("OFF")
        Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = null
      ]

basically: createTimer(now.plusMinutes(int)) (<–closing bracket) then [|
do stuff
]

However… while I now believe this ruile to be correct, it still throws the error stated above.

[lfs_alp5 (Alpoy)]

Try defining the item as a switch, not a string

[Max_G]

Try defining the item as a switch, not a string

Not sure why this should make a difference… but why not give it a shot…?
The outcome was: no change… same error.

[lfs_alp5 (Alpoy)]

And remember a switch item expects the states OFF and ON, not the string “OFF” or “ON”.
Ex. Myitem.postUpdate (OFF).

Edit: if that doesn’t work try posting your whole rule and item config again.

[Max_G]

Thanks… have changed to a switch again, and changed the postUpdate w/o the quotes…
Here the relevant pieces…

// ----- 170205 MaxG: Irrigation tank heart beat timer
var Timer Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = null

// ----- 170205 MaxG: check if tank is reporting its level continuously
//                    if not, there is a problem: power, network, controller...
rule "Irrigation tank update not received"
  when
    Item Tank_Irrigation_Level received update
    // which happens every 60 seconds (hard-coded in Tank Controller)
  then
    if (Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting == null) {
      logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation_Reporting: creating timer")

      // create a timer to expire in 2 minutes
      Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = createTimer(now.plusMinutes(2)) [|
        logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation_Reporting: timer expired setting to OFF")
        Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(OFF)
        Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting = null
      ]
    } else {
      //logInfo("IrriTank.rule", "Tank_Irrigation_Reporting: update received on time")
      Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(ON)
      Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.reschedule(now.plusMinutes(2))
    }
end

.sitemap:

        Switch item=Tank_Irrigation_Reporting

.items

Switch   Tank_Irrigation_Reporting	"Tank Level reporting is [%s]"		<settings>

error:

2017-02-05 19:55:58.042 [INFO ] [hab.model.script.IrriTank.rule] - Tank_Irrigation_Reporting: creating timer
2017-02-05 19:56:57.696 [ERROR] [org.quartz.core.JobRunShell   ] - Job DEFAULT.2017-02-05T18:23:51.683+10:00: Proxy for org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.lib.Procedures$Procedure0: org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.impl.XClosureImplCustom@124358f (explicitSyntax: true) threw an unhandled Exception:
java.lang.RuntimeException: The name '<unkown>(<XStringLiteralImpl>,<XStringLiteralImpl>)' cannot be resolved to an item or type.
        at org.openhab.model.script.interpreter.ScriptInterpreter.internalFeatureCallDispatch(ScriptInterpreter.java:67) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateAbstractFeatureCall(XbaseInterpreter.java:658) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor672.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateBlockExpression(XbaseInterpreter.java:321) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor694.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.evaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:204) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.ClosureInvocationHandler.doInvoke(ClosureInvocationHandler.java:46) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.invoke(AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.java:28) ~[na:na]
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy87.apply(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at org.openhab.model.script.internal.actions.TimerExecutionJob.execute(TimerExecutionJob.java:44) ~[na:na]
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:213) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        at org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool$WorkerThread.run(SimpleThreadPool.java:557) [quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
2017-02-05 19:56:57.734 [ERROR] [org.quartz.core.ErrorLogger   ] - Job (DEFAULT.2017-02-05T18:23:51.683+10:00: Proxy for org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.lib.Procedures$Procedure0: org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.impl.XClosureImplCustom@124358f (explicitSyntax: true) threw an exception.
org.quartz.SchedulerException: Job threw an unhandled exception.
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:224) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        at org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool$WorkerThread.run(SimpleThreadPool.java:557) [quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: The name '<unkown>(<XStringLiteralImpl>,<XStringLiteralImpl>)' cannot be resolved to an item or type.
        at org.openhab.model.script.interpreter.ScriptInterpreter.internalFeatureCallDispatch(ScriptInterpreter.java:67) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateAbstractFeatureCall(XbaseInterpreter.java:658) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor672.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateBlockExpression(XbaseInterpreter.java:321) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor694.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497) ~[na:1.8.0_65]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.util.PolymorphicDispatcher.invoke(PolymorphicDispatcher.java:291) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.internalEvaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:218) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter.evaluate(XbaseInterpreter.java:204) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.ClosureInvocationHandler.doInvoke(ClosureInvocationHandler.java:46) ~[na:na]
        at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.invoke(AbstractClosureInvocationHandler.java:28) ~[na:na]
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy87.apply(Unknown Source) ~[na:na]
        at org.openhab.model.script.internal.actions.TimerExecutionJob.execute(TimerExecutionJob.java:44) ~[na:na]
        at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:213) ~[quartz-all-2.1.7.jar:na]
        ... 1 common frames omitted

I have not changed any other things in my config… and do not have errors in my logs… other than what I’ve posted here today. The system is running for almost a year, was an apt-get install on rPi2 Jessie… and OH1.8.3

---

Also: the error occurs only once after loading the .rules… and 1 minute after the timer was created. That means it errors when the first update is received (updates come in every minute).

[watou (John Cocula)]

It looks like what you are trying to accomplish with timers could be accomplished with the Expire binding?

items

Number Tank_Irrigation_Level { <other bindings or channels>, expire="2m" }

rules

rule LevelNotReported
when
  Item Item Tank_Irrigation_Level changed to UNDEF
then
  //  send an email, play a sound, etc.
end

[Oli (Oliver Stenzel)]

If you get the error only one time after a reload of your rules, I would say the problem is that the item is still uninitialised on the first run. If you have persistence on the item, maybe that is not working(any more)?

[Max_G]

Thanks for hanging in there…

Changed the Switch back to a String (as it behaves the same WRT the error).
Enabled persistence for both Tank_Irrigation_Reporting and Tank_Irrigation_Level… still the same behaviour = same error, only once after rules has been loaded and rule has been triggered the first time.

I have verified the rule by looking at others on various sources. It seems my rule has no errors.
The bracket was sorted by eliminating one command, bracket pair after the other.

I have no further ideas on what to do with this.

It looks like what you are trying to accomplish with timers could be accomplished with the Expire binding?

Multiple ways to skin a cat
Call me stubborn, but I want to get this work, because it should! I mean it does work, it is onyl the first trigger that fails… and I like clean code and results. So while some would be happy that it works most of the time, I am not.

It is one of these frustration-generating cases

[lfs_alp5 (Alpoy)]

have you defined the timer in the top of the rules file (just after imports)? As you cannot declare variables/timers between rules in the same file.

[Oli (Oliver Stenzel)]

Maybe it’s just a timing issue…in such as when the else-part comes to the timer.reschedule, the the timer actually expired and has been set to null again, thus throwing the error? maybe you should add a check for timer==null around the Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(ON) like:

if timer==null {
Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(ON)
//do the whole timer set routine
} else {
Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.postUpdate(ON)
Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting.reschedule(now.plusMinutes(2))
}

clutching at straws

[Max_G]

have you defined the timer in the top of the rules

Yes…

the the timer actually expired and has been set to null again

How can this be? The time is created for 2 minutes, and the error occurs after one minute…

I have the check for if(timer == null) written as:

 if (Timer_Tank_Irrigation_Reporting == null) { ... }

[Oli (Oliver Stenzel)]

The time is created for 2 minutes, and the error occurs after one minute…

Obvious now that you point it out. It sounded good at the time i wrote it

[Max_G]

It sounded good at the time i wrote it

You are a funny man… understand where you are coming from and appreciate you are thinking about this issue.

[Max_G]

And as far as the brckets in the createTimer are concerned:

Both are equivalent. From the Xtext docs: When a method call’s last parameter is a lambda it can be passed right after the parameter list. For instance if you want to sort some strings by their length, you could write : Collections.sort(someStrings) [ a, b | a.length - b.length ] which is just the same as writing Collections.sort(someStrings, [ a, b | a.length - b.length ]) Since you can leave out empty parentheses for methods which get a lambda as their only argument, you can reduce th…

Now I know why there are two (three) version for coding this timer business. Thanks Rich!

I installed the designer again; just to make sure there is no syntax error in my rule, and there are no red crosses in my rules (or elsewhere).

Should I just give it a rest – as in this is too hard?!
I have spent 6 hours reading the forum with related issues, and none of them got resolved (other than syntax errors)… is this a bug?

[rossko57]

When you reload the rules file, you almost certainly have a copy of the timer already running. Reloading the rules file will not destroy it, only the handle var.
I guess it will mess up when it completes; I couldn’t say how it might affect the “new” rule creating another timer but it might be an explanation.
Does that fit with error only seen on rules reload, but not at system startup?

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

The problem seems to be related to the timer…

Just quickly scanning the thread. I apologize if I’m way off base.

The problem you are seeing was one I say for awhile in OH 1 and OH 2. I don’t know when or if the problem went away (I’m pretty much exclusively using Expire binding now instead of Timers in Rules, I highly recommend it, makes rules a lot simpler).

The error appeared to be related to OH trying to cancel times that no longer exist on a rules reload. At least when I noticed those errors I would have one for each Timer I had active at the time.

function has to written as:

Both are correct. It was an unfortunate but of syntactic sugar the designers if the language chose. The [] denotes a lambda. If a lambda is the last argument to a method call you can define the lambda outside the closing ).

You will notice I always define my lambda inside the ().

In short, (time, [ lambda]) and (time) [ lambda ] are both correct.

not the string “OFF” or “ON”.

Actually it is perfectly valid to send the String “ON” to a Switch Item. The String must be all caps but the Switch Item knows how to parse it. If you use the Actions, the String “ON” gets sent even when you usesendCommand(MyItem, ON).

is this a bug?

Possibly. Something weird is going on for sure.

At this point I would consider the Expire binding as the more “correct” approach and recommend considering using it.

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Semper gumby.

[Max_G]

Does that fit with error only seen on rules reload, but not at system startup?

I haven’t tried the ‘reboot’ yet… all the stuff I’ve read on this forum does not get to the bottom of it…
… my system is running quite a few things, hence, rebooting is a last resort; and was a reason once to give up on Windows

Now that two smarty pants suggested the Expire binding, which I will now use.

I apologize if I’m way off base

… don’t you worry… always appreciate your replies.

I tried both versions of the time; same (error) result.

While I am open to change, I do not change just because I could… I am not on OH2 because of the many problems associated with it; this createTimer thing had tons of examples; yes, lots that had problems, but I thought there must be a few working ones out there (maybe they didn’t look at the log or ignored it) – and look at the effort I put into getting this right 8+ hours by now… however, given your and Watou’s reply to use the Expire binding, I will go that route…

Thanks to all for hanging in there trying to solve such an awkward error!

[Max_G]

Is the Expire binding working with OH1.8.3?
Where do I find it?
went there: https://github.com/openhab/openhab1-addons/wiki/Expire-Binding
which sent’ me there: https://openhab.ci.cloudbees.com/job/openHAB1-Addons/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/bundles/binding/org.openhab.binding.expire/target/org.openhab.binding.expire-1.9.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
which ended up as 404.

sudo apt-get install openhab-addon-binding-expire
said: Unable to locate package openhab-addon-binding-expire