Simon 5 is coming soon!
Simon version 5 is currently in beta testing. It is a massive update, introducing a much-requested feature: syncing the Simon data between multiple Macs, plus a Simon Status service, a Link Checker filter, improved Find filter, iMessage and Speak Error notifiers, a new app icon, and much more.
Important: please note that Simon 5 requires a minimum of macOS 10.12 (Sierra), and will be a paid upgrade from Simon 4 after the beta. Purchasers since September 1, 2020 automatically get a version 5 license (that also works in previous versions).
Re: Super Smart Change Detection
Yes, I want to enhance the Smart Change Detection feature in a future version. I'm thinking of renaming it "Filters", and supporting multiple filters on the test output, that support comparison logic etc as you suggest.
In the meantime, I'm not sure how you could do it. Using the length of the value is a good idea, if you can figure out some way to do logic in a MySQL query.
Another idea could be to use a Script-based notifier. You could write a shell script, AppleScript, PHP, etc, to evaluate the {TestChangeText} or {TestChangeDifferenceWithoutHTML} values, and write to a log file or something if the value is reset.
The logic in MySQL would be
The logic in MySQL would be my preferred method, then I could just do detection for a particular word in the output. But I can't for the life of me get anything to work there.
So instead I've got a ruby script that takes the output via {TestChangeText} grabs the counter value and compares it against the value for last check, saving the current value and sending a notification email as needed.
Took a bit to get it working. 8)
Actually, I'm not actually certain that the MySQL service is working correctly though.
If I issue:
SHOW global status WHERE variable_name="Uptime"
the result in the preview window is:
MCPResult: (encoding : 4, dim 2 x 1)
Variable_name Value
2921 2921
And not
Variable_name Value
Uptime 2921
as the mysql command line returns. The variable name doesn't appear, and the value is repeated twice.
If it returned the variable name, then you could query for a series of status variables and make a more generic notifier than the one I've just made. I'll send you a copy, although since it's pretty specific it might not be of much use to anyone else.
Re: The logic in MySQL
Simon uses a third-party framework for the MySQL queries, so we may not have much control over the format of the output. It does seem not quite right, though.
I'll certainly be interested in seeing and perhaps sharing your notifier script.
Have you tried the command
Have you tried the command line mysql tool yet?
Something like:
mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u user -pPASSWORD -D db_Name -e statement
Capture the output in a shell script, and go from there.
Have you tried the command
Thanks for the idea, I had thought of that, and I'm using something similar on another machine. The MySQL server isn't running on the Simon machine (not a big deal), but having to go back to a command line to monitor things just felt wrong, like a betrayal to Simon. 8)
Re: Have you tried the command
That would certainly be an alternative. However, we were able to improve the MySQL plug-in to output the expected text. This change is in Simon 2.4.1, out soon. Wade's notifier script is available now on the Simon Extras page.