Thing status exact syntax confusion

  • Platform information:
    • Hardware: MacMini, late 2012, 2.5 GHz, core i5, 16 GB RAM
    • OS: MacOS Mojave 10.14.6
    • Java Runtime Environment: 8.0.252
    • openHAB version: 2.5.5
  • Issue of the topic: Can’t unravel the ‘getThingsStatus’ command syntax.
    A newbie coming from Vera. Have system set up and lots of stuff working. Trying to monitor the online status of a Smart Switch plug as an experiment. Have a rule which ‘seems’ to work but frustrated by EXACT syntax for getting status of things and doing ‘if then’s’ on it. Forum posts examples and docs vary between using ‘getThingStatusInfo’ (“theUIDofmydevice”) and then proceed to assign that to some declared variable, ‘Status’ foer example. But then there’s a ‘.getStatus’ appended to that variable to query it. Sometimes it has brackets ‘.getStatus()’, sometimes extra stuff '.getStatus().toString() and sometimes there are no brackets! What’s the role of these closed empty brackets? I’m lost! Sorry but I have made lots of progress and am delighted with openHAB but am usually a GUI man who’s new to config text files. Am using Visual Studio Code to link items and create sirtemaps and rules. Coping, but the ‘thing status’ and the syntax variations have me very confused. Any VERY simple examples and clarifications on the nuances involved would be most welcome. Thanks for your patience.
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