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This document is a one-page compilation of the on-device userguide
intended for printing out for use as a reference.
Tasker Userguide
- Profiles
- Contexts
- Tasks
- Scenes
- Variables
- Miscellaneous
- Web Links
Main Screen
This is the first screen shown when you startup Tasker. It allows you
to organize and configure Tasker's four main 'building blocks':
Profiles, Tasks, Scenes and Variables.
Main Tabs
- Click on a tab to view a list of the relevant things
- Long-click on a tab to get options
Profiles
Each item in the list represents a profile. The profile links contexts (conditions) on
the left to tasks which should be run on the right. The profile name is green if
the profile is active. There are three main parts to each profile.
1. Title Bar
This shows the profile name (or description if it has no name) and the
check-mark icon on the right shows whether the profile is enabled or not.
- Click on the name to expand / collapse the profile. When expanded, the contexts and tasks (described below), are visible.
- Long-click on the profile name to get profile options
- Click on the check-mark icon to toggle whether the profile is enabled or not.
- Click-and-drag the area at the right side of the title bar
drag it around. Note that the enable icon can also be used for dragging.
Important: the check-mark does not mean the profile is active
(will run its tasks), it means that the profile can become active
if its conditions are met.
2. Contexts
On the left hand side of the profile are an icon and text for each context in the
profile. The contexts dictate when the profile should become active.
- Click on the context to edit it
- Long-click to show management options, such as editing or adding a new context
You can configure what clicks and long-clicks on contexts do in Menu / Prefs / UI.
3. Tasks
On the right hand side of the profile are one or two tasks to
carry out based on its activation status.
- Click on the task to edit it
- Long-click to show management options.
A task indicated with a green, right-pointing arrow is an
entry task, executed when the profile first becomes active.
A task indicated with a red, left-pointing arrow is an
exit task, executed when the profile becomes inactive again.
Exception: a profile containing an event context or a repeating
or non-ranged time context has two green
arrows, to denote that both tasks are executed immediately because
the profile activation and deactivation is instantaneous.
Tasks
The task list shows the named tasks which have been created.
- Click on a task to edit it
- Long-click for options
- Click-and-drag at the right hand side to drag the task (e.g. to the trash bin)
Note that a profile can be assigned an anonymous task (one without
a name) which is not accessible in the task list, only via the
relevent profile in the profile list.
Scenes
The scene list shows the scenes which have been created.
- Click on a scene to edit it
- Long-click for options
- Click-and-drag at the right hand side to drag the scene (e.g. to the trash bin)
Scenes marked with a star icon have been created but may be visible or invisible.
Variables
By default, all global user-variables that Tasker knows about are listed, which includes any that have a value set or are mentioned somewhere in a profile or task.
- Click on a variable to edit it
- Long-click for options
Note that variables whose names are all lower-case are local variables and not shown because they are only valid within the task that refers to them.
At the bottom of the variable list is an upwards-pointing faded arrow.
It can be dragged up to show variable filter controls.
- Indexed (button)
includes variables whose names end in a number e.g. %LOC3, otherwise they are excluded.
- Empty (button)
includes variables which have currently have no value assigned, deselect to show only variables that have a value.
- Referenced (button)
includes variables which are referenced in profiles or tasks.
Deselect to show 'orphan' variables.
- Filter (textbox)
excludes variables which don't contain the specified text somewhere in their name (case-sensitive)
Unlike most screens in Tasker, changes made in the variable list cannot be cancelled.
Bottom Controls
Cancel Button
Discard all changes to user data that have been made
since starting the Tasker UI.
Accept Button
Apply the changes that have been made since last starting the Tasker UI.
Pressing the Back hardware button has the same effect. Home has the same
effect unless a dialog is showing.
Plus Button
Create a new Profile, Task, Scene or Variable, depending on the current tab.
On/Off Toggle
Tasker does not do anything when you leave the user inteface, unless
this button is set to On (green light showing). When you set
it to off, Tasker's event monitor is immediately stopped if it was
previously running.
Projects
Tasker allows organisation of profiles, tasks, scenes and variables
into groups called Projects, each with a separate Project Tab.
The projects tabs are accessed by dragging entity tabs down
via the faded arrow just underneath them. Drag the other way
to hide them.
- Click-and-drag a profile, task or scene to a project
tab to move it to that project
- Click on a project tab to switch to viewing only
things in that project
- Long-click on a project tab for options, including
adding a new tab
The first tab has a slightly special status, it cannot be removed
and anything which is not a member of another project is placed there.
Menus
Menu Item: Browse Solutions
Links to websites with projects, profiles etc offering solutions for common
problems. Important: once downloaded you need to import the file into
your active user data. For example, profiles are imported by long-clicking
the profile tab and selecting Import.
Menu Items: Data
Clear
Removes all data that has been created to that point. Does
not remove preferences (use Menu / Preferences and click Defaults for
that) or variables (long-click on the Variables tab for that).
Backup
Saves the existing user data to a backup file on the SD card (if present).
The file is /sdcard/Tasker/userbackup.xml.
Restore
Replaces the existing profile configuation with that from the SD card.
Application Context
An Application Context is activated when the selected application is running
in the foreground and deactivated otherwise.
The button in the bottom right indicates whether the context is inverted
or not. If the button is lit-up, this context will become active when any
application apart from the selected one is launched.
Application Checking
When any profiles have application contexts specified, Tasker checks frequently
to see if one of those applications has been launched. The default is every
1.5 seconds.
If you would like quicker response, or you suspect this is severely increasing
your battery usage, you can change this value in preferences
(select Menu / Preferences / Monitor from the main screen).
Time Context
A Time Context specifies a particular range, or one (or more) points in time.
There are three major components in the selection dialog, one of which must be selected (by enabling
its checkbox on the left):
- From Time: the starting time of the range. If it's not specified,
00:00 is assumed.
- To Time: the end time of the range. If it's not specified, 11:59
is assumed.
- Repeat: if no repeat is selected, the context is assumed to be
a continuous range which starts at From Time and ends at To Time.
If a repeat is specified, the first occurrence is at From Time and then
every X hours or minutes until End Time.
Notes:
- to specify a precise time, set From and To times the same. In that case, the context is treated as an instant event,
it it only active for a fraction of a second, so no setting restoration is done.
- each repeat (if Repeat is set) is also treated like an instant event.
Day Context
A Day Context allows specification of one or more months and/or days of the
week/month.
Month Specification
The months are listed at the top, any of which can be selected. Selecting no
month has the same meaning as selecting every month i.e. has no restriction
on when the profile will become active.
Day of Week/Month Specification
Days of the week (Sunday, Monday etc) and/or month (1st, 9th etc) can be selected
independently with the pulldown centre-right. This will initially be for Week Days if
there are any defined, otherwise Month Days.
Selecting no day has the same meaning as selecting every day.
If you select both days of the week and days of the month, it requires both
conditions to be fulfilled for the profile to become active
e.g. selecting Mon,Tue and 11th means the profile will become active when the
day is a Mon or Tuesday and simultaneously the 11th day of the month.
If you are unsure if you have specified the day(s) you require, click the Done
button and you will see a verbal description at the top of the Profile Edit screen.
You can click on this to try again if it's not correct.
Location Context
A location context specifies a circular geographical area in which
it is active. It is formed by a centre point (latitude, longitude) plus
a radius around that point.
Location Providers
A location provider is a method of supplying geographical coordinates. Tasker must
use one or more location providers to be able to decide when a location context
should become active or inactive.
GPS
The most accurate provider available (around +-10m), but its performance degrades quickly
indoors and it uses a relatively large amount of power.
To set the frequency of GPS fixes, see Menu / Preferences / Monitor.
GPS Check Time determines the check frequency in seconds while the device
is awake, Off Check Time while the device is asleep.
GPS will only be used for a particular context if it is specified in the location
edit screen.
Network
This provider uses a combination of cell-towers
and WiFi information (if wifi is enabled) to determine the device's geographical location. It is
less power-hungry than GPS, but also less accurate (sometimes +- several kilometres)
and requires data network availability.
Network will only be used for a particular context if it is specified in the location
edit screen.
See also:
Location Edit
This screen allows configuration of a Location Context.
Map Display
The map shows:
- The location (base of the flag icon) and names of all defined location contexts
- The radius of the location currently being defined (the inner circle)
Location contexts other than the one currently being defined have a small fixed-radius bluish
base.
Map Controls
Use a long-click on the map to select a location for this context.
Use the pull-down selector under the map to specify the radius
for this context.
Important: if your radius is too small compared to the accuracy of
the fixes you are receiving, your context may never go active. If you can't get
a fix, try increasing the radius. Typically, a good radius would be around twice the
accuracy of the fixes you are receiving.
Tap on the map to bring up zoom controls and buttons to enable the Satellite
Overlay (left) and Street View (right). Note that the Street View sometimes does
not update until the map is dragged slightly.
If you have no internet available in order to retrieve the map tiles, you can still use
the Get Fix button (see below) to specify your current location.
Bottom Buttons
Net Button
The Net toggle button specifies whether to use the
Network location provider
to monitor for this location
GPS Button
The GPS toggle button specifies whether to use
GPS
to monitor for this location
(assuming it is available on the device). If GPS is not used, the network will need
to be available in order to query for location fixes based on cell-towers or WiFi
data.
Get Fix Button
Acquires a location fix using the enabled and available providers (make sure the GPS
Button is clicked first if you want to use GPS).
Once a fix is acquired, the latitude, longitude and radius of this location context
are set according to it. If you reduce the radius after a fix, Tasker may no longer
accurately detect whether you are in or out of the context.
When trying to determine current location, Tasker will keep going with fixes until they stop improving (e.g. as the
GPS locks on to more satellites). If you get impatient you can press the Get Fix button
again to stop the process (its label is changed to Stop while a fix is being
acquired).
State Context
A State Context allows specification of the continuing state
of a software or hardware entity.
The State Edit screen allows configuration of the state and its
parameters.
State Name
The name of the state is given at the top of the screen.
Clicking on it allows changing to another state type.
Next to the name is a button to show help for the
displayed state type and its parameters. Be sure to check the
help text if you have trouble with a particular state.
State Parameters
General Parameters
All states have parameters to specify more details about the state.
Text parameters are treated as pattern matches.
Invert Parameter
All states have an invert parameter, which specifies that the context should
become active when it would usually be inactive, and vice-versa.
Event Context
An Event Context allows specification of an event
which is needed to activate its profile e.g. SMS received,
screen has gone off.
Events are a little different to other contexts because they
are instantaneous whereas other contexts usually have
a duration.
This means that it is nonsensical to specify that e.g. the
screen brightness should be set to X for the duration of the
event, so Tasker assumes that all settings
actions should persist beyond the event.
For more information about specifying events, see
the Event Edit screen.
Event Edit
This screen allows configuration of an Event Context.
Event Name
The name of the event is given at the top of the screen.
Clicking on it allows changing to another event type.
In the top right is a button to show help for the
displayed event type.
Priority
Only present for relevant events.
Selects the priority at which this event will be detected.
An event can be processed by other Tasker Profiles, other
installed applications and system processes.
If priority is high, then this profile will be more likely
to detect the event before other processes, and vice versa.
Stop Event
Only present for relevant events.
If checked, then once this profile has dealt with the event,
other user or system applications will no longer be able to
see it.
You can achieve different effects by combining Priority
and Stop Event. For instance, if you want to show a Tasker menu
when the camera button is pressed, you would set Priority High
and check the Stop Flag, because you do not want the
camera application to appear afterwards.
Event Parameters
Some events have paramaters to specify more details about the event.
To get help on particular parameters, click the question-mark icon
at top right.
Text parameters are treated as pattern matches.
If you would like to make more complex comparions (e.g. mathematical expressions), leave the event parameter
blank and instead put a condition on the first
action of the task you execute with the profile.
Tasks
A task is simply a set of actions which are performed one after the other.
Named / Anonymous Tasks
A task can be given a name. This allows:
- the same task to be used in more than one profile
- easier identification of what the task does
- in the case of a task widget/shortcut,
it provides a label for the icon on the home screen.
When creating a profile, widget or shortcut,
often the associated task will consist only of one or two actions which will not
be reused. For this case, Tasker allows you to create a task without a name
(an Anonymous task).
Task Visibility
Anonymous tasks are only visible when editing the profile that they are associated
with.
Named tasks are visible on any screen that allows task editing.
Any changes made to the set of tasks in any screen is reflected in all the other
screens.
Task Icon
Each task has an associated icon, by default a question mark. The icon is used
- to represent the task on the home screen when it is used as a
widget or shortcut
- in some popup actions
- for easier identification of the task within the Tasker UI
Deleting Tasks
Named tasks can only be deleted via the Delete button on the
Task Edit screen. Unnamed tasks
are deleted automatically when the profile they are part of is deleted,
or a named task is selected for that profile.
Named tasks cannot be deleted while a profile still refers to them.
When a task is deleted that is referred to by a previously created named
widget or task, the widget will stop working.
Android does not allow Tasker to automatically remove the widget from the
Home Screen.
Task Scheduling
When there is a single task waiting to be executed, it's actions are executed one-by-one
until finished.
When there are several tasks in the queue at once, it's important to understand
how they are handled:
- only one action from the same action group can be executed at once to
prevent interference
- the task in the queue with the highest priority goes first and blocks lower priority tasks
- tasks with the same priority take turns executing an action
each, starting with the most recent addition to the queue
Task priority, 0 to 10 inclusive, is determined according to whatever causes the task to run.
- tasks run by profiles have the priority specified in Profile Properties, the default is 5
- tasks run by widgets or shortcuts can be set in
Menu / Prefs / Action, the default is 7
- tasks run from scene elements have priority one more than the task which showed the scene
- tasks run from the Test button in the task edit screen have priority 10
A couple of guidelines are:
- if you want a particular task to always interrupt other tasks that may be
executing, give it a high priority
- if you have a task that lasts for a while,
you probably want to give it a low priority so it doesn't block other tasks
from being executed.
Action Groups
Actions are divided into groups for scheduling based on how long the action takes to execute and what it
interferes with:
- Speech:
Say, Say To File
- Fix:
Get Location
- Voice:
Get Voice
- Proxy:
Display Brightness, Query Action, Photo, Photo Series, Photo Series Time
- Proxy Scene Enter Key, Menu, Popup, Popup Task Buttons, Variable Query
- Other Scenes: the name of the scene being shown
- Normal: all other actions
Wait Actions
Wait and Wait Until are special cases. The rules for handling them are complicated
and try to do the 'best thing' dependent on the situation.
Collisions
Sometimes a task needs to be executed of which a copy is already executing.
This can happen quite often e.g. when a task widget button is pressed twice quickly,
or a task contains a Wait action or shows a dialog.
The way in which a collision is resolved is specified by the user. There are
3 options:
- the new task is ignored (the default)
- the existing task is aborted and the new one starts from its first action.
The current action of the previous task is finished if it is already being carried out.
- both tasks run simultaneously
Note that the last option can lead to several copies of a task all running at once.
Behaviour When Device Off
By default, after a few seconds of the screen being off Android will power down the device and thus running
tasks will be paused.
In the Task Properties dialog, it can be specified that a task should keep running.
Dialogs
An action that shows some kind of dialog (such as a lock screen, popup, menu)
blocks execution of any other action, even one of higher priority, until it is completed.
Wait / Wait Until
These are exceptions. A wait action can be interrupted by another task's action and
will resume (if necessary) when the other task's action is finished.
Killing Tasks
If you have a problem with a task that never ends, you can manually end tasks
with the Kill button in the Task Edit screen.
Task Edit
This dialog allows editing and deletion of a task.
Action List
The main part of the screen is a list of the actions contained in the currently
selected task.
- Click on an action to edit it
- Long-click on an action for options
- Click-and-drag at the right hand side of the action to move it around e.g. to the trash bin
On the right of each action is an icon stipulating whether the
action is a setting or not. See here for
more information.
Condition and Block Colours
If an action has had a condition set for it, the condition is shown with
a red or green bar next to it; green indicates that the condition is currently met (the action will execute), red indicates the opposite. Of course, when the task is executed it could be that it changes things so that the condition is then met.
If an action is within an If / End If block it is displayed
indented with a red or green margin. The colours have the same significance
as for individual action conditions described above.
If an action is within a For loop it
is displayed indented with a grey margin. If the For
action has a condition on it which is not met, the margin will be red
(because the actions in the loop will never execute, like an If / End If block).
Task Control Row
Directly underneath the action list is a row of buttons with icons.
- Add Action: add an action on the end of the task.
- Task Properties: show extended properties for the task.
- Task Icon button: shows the icon associated with the task. Clicking on it
allows changing of the icon.
Bottom Row Buttons
Test Button
Run the task. Be aware that if the Task e.g. loads another
activity, you must return to Tasker and press save otherwise all changes made
while in the Task Edit screen will be lost.
Tasks run via the Test button have priority 10.
Kill Button
This button in the bottom right will stop all running tasks. It is not
displayed if there are no running tasks.
Menu Items
Action Labels
Toggle display of action labels (which are specified in the Action Edit screen).
Param Names
Toggle display of the name of each action parameter.
Icons
Toggle display of the setting/action indicator icon for each action.
Action Edit
This screen allows configuration of a single action in a Task.
General
At top left is the name of the action. Tapping on this allows it
to be changed.
Bottom-right is a help button. Please be sure to read the action help
of every action before you use it for the first time, there may be e.g. device specific restrictions you should know about.
Action Parameters
A parameter gives extra detail about how the action is to be carried out.
Text Parameters
- are sometimes optional: in that case the text Optional
will appear as a hint unless the entry box has already been filled in
- sometimes have a dialog to help you fill in a value
which you can access by clicking the magnifying glass icon next to them
- can have variables automatically inserted by clicking the tag
icon next to them.
Numeric Slider Parameters
Clicking the arrows icon next to numeric sliders allows you to specify the
number textually or use a variable for the parameter instead, if the value
will not be known until the action is actually executed.
If (Condition) Parameter
(most actions)
Allows specification of a condition which must match if
this action is to execute.
Please see the section on Flow Control for more information.
Continue Task After Error Parameter
(selected actions only)
By default, if an action fails with an error (e.g. the user specified to delete a file that doesn't exist)
Tasker will stop the task immediately and the remaining actions will never be executed.
This parameter specifies that the task should continue even if this action fails.
In addition, if it's checked, errors will be logged in the system log as diagnostics instead of errors
and error popups will be surpressed.
Label Parameter
(all actions)
A label for the action which is shown on the Task Edit screen. This parameter
could also be used to add comments to actions to help understand
how the task works.
Labels are also used with Goto actions to jump from one part of
the task to another.
Scenes
Introduction
A scene is a graphical user-interface consisting of a collection of elements to which tasks can be attached to be run when the user interacts with them e.g. by tapping them.
Tasker uses scenes for things like popup dialogs, menus and getting input from the
user but scenes can actually be displayed by the user whenever desired, meaning
they can be used for things like creating simple user-designed applications or showing extra controls over the top of (selected) existing applications.
Scenes are completely user-customisable via a drag-and-drop graphical editor.
Displaying Scenes
Actions: Enter Key, Lock, Menu, Popup, Popup Task Buttons and
Variable Query
These actions use a built-in scene with the same name as their action.
After creating a task with such an action, the associated scene can be found
under the Scenes tab on the main Tasker screen. That scene can be edited so that
e.g. all Popup actions have the same style because they all use the same scene.
The parameters specified in the action are applied to the scene before it
is show. For instance, if the scene has a Title element it will be
set to the title specified in the action and the scene resized appropriately.
It might be desirable to have a different style for e.g. some Popup actions, in which case:
- clone the built-in scene long-clicking on it in the Scenes tab
- edit the clone to change the contents
- in a
Popup action, specify that the cloned scene should be used
by clicking on the Layout parameter in the action edit screen.
Scene Category Actions: Create Scene, Show Scene, Hide Scene, Destroy Scene
These allow a completely free hand over when a scene should be displayed and it's
life-cycle. They all act on scenes pre-designed in the Scenes tab.
Usually, only Show Scene and Destroy Scene will be
used, however sometimes it's useful for a scene to be created but not visible to
the user:
- by hiding a scene instead of completely destroying it, the settings of the elements
are retained for next time it is shown
- the values of the elements in the scene can be changed to track certain
events so that the scene can be immediately displayed when required without any
configuration
Scene Elements
Each scene is comprised of a number of elements.
An element has three main components:
Geometry
It's size and position on the screen. An element's geometry is specified in
the scene editor.
Content
How it looks on the screen.
Specified under the UI tab in the element editor. Some
elements also have a Background tab. A Menu element has an additional Items tab.
Event Tasks
What should happen when the user interacts with the element.
Specified under the right-most tabs after clicking on the element in the element editor.
There are different events depending on the type of element. For instance, a Button has
tap and long-tap events while a Slider has a value-set event.
Event tasks are run at priority one higher than the task which displayed the scene
Local variables set by event tasks are visible to all tasks in the same scene.
Scene Element Actions
In the Scenes action category, there are several actions for setting
the properties of scene elements. You can use these for a wide variety
of purposes e.g.
- when a slider value is set, change the zoom of an associated map element
- set the size of an element depending on current light level
- animate elements around a scene
Note that actions that affect scene elements can only be used when the scene has
already been created (via Create Scene or Show Scene).
The scene does not have to be visible.
Scene Edit
The scene editor is used for designing custom scenes.
The editor consists of three areas:
Display Area
The main part of the editor, where the position and size of elements are arranged.
The display area has two modes dependent on the setting of the magnifying glass icon in the corner.
Preview Mode
This mode shows the scene as it will appear when displayed.
- CLick-and-drag on the edge of the scene to resize it
Editing Mode
This mode is zoomed to make editing easier.
- Long-click on an empty area to create a new element positioned there
- Long-click on an element to get options for the element
- Click on an element to edit it.
- Click-and-drag on the centre of an element to move it
- Click-and-drag on the edge of an element to resize it
When moving and resizing, the sides of elements are snapped to a grid to make alignment
easier. The grid size is unique to each scene and can be changed via Menu / Grid Size.
Tool Bar
Undo
Allows undo of all operations, up to 20 steps in the past.
New Element
Create a new element in the middle of the scene. Useful if the scene is already
cluttered with a lot of elements so there is no free space.
Touch Mode
There are three touch modes which decide the effect of taps on the
display area. Normal Mode is described above. Move Mode is intended to make it easier to reposition elements. Resize mode
is for making resizing easier.
Menu Options
Background Colour
A complex background can be set by long-tapping an element and specifying it as
the background element. If a uniform colour is sufficient, it can also
be specified with this menu option.
However, there is a special case where it's a good idea to specify a background colour even
if you already have a background element. A scene is resized to fit the container
into which it's placed, but in some cases (e.g. when it is shown as a full screen activity) there will be margins left on one
side of the container because the aspect ration of the scene
(the relative size of its width and height) of a scene is never changed. In such a
case, the margins are coloured with the background colour specified here.
Element Long-Click Options
Set Background
An element which is set as the scene background is resized to always fill the whole scene
and interferes less with selection of other elements. To reverse this, long-tap on it and
select Set Foreground.
Pin
When an element is positioned satisfactorily, it can be pinned to make it easier to
select and manipulate other elements. To reverse this, long-tap on it and select
Unpin.
Set Depth
Each element has a particular depth which is unique to it. Deeper elements are obscured
by shallower elements which overlap them.
Scene Element: Button
About
A standard Android button enhanced to allow display of an icon, text or
both.
Parameter: Position
If both a Label and Icon are specified, the Position parameter refers to
the position of the Label. The Icon is then placed opposite the Label.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Doodle
About
A Doodle is an image created by the user with a simple finger-painting
screen.
Click the Doodle parameter to edit the doodle.
Doodles are stored on external storage in the directory /sdcard/Tasker/cache/doodles
in case they are masterpieces which demand publishing.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Image
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Oval / Rectangle
About
Shape elements are intended mostly for decoration but can also be used
as invisible 'launchpads' for e.g. stroke events.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Map
About
A Map element is a view onto the same kind of map window used by Google Maps
but is much more automateable than the standalone app.
It's only possible to have one Map element per scene and Map elements
cannot appear in Overlay scenes.
Related Actions
Events
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Menu
About
A menu displays a variable selection of items and can have a separate action, text and
icon defined for each item in the list.
Parameter: Source
Items can either be filled manually or from a variable array. In the case of an array,
the list shows all the items starting at the first index; %var(1) %var(2) etc.
In the case of manual specification, click on the Items tab in the element editor
to specify the items.
Parameter: Selection Mode
There are three selection modes:
- single: tapping an item deselects any other item selected
- multi: several items can be selected at the same time
- none: tapping an item never selects it
Selected items are highlighted. There are two ways to find out the selected
items:
- assign a task under the Item Tap element event tab. Every time an item is
tapped, the selected items are available in the local variable %select_indices
- query the selected items at any time using the action
Element Get Value
Parameter: Item Layout
Specifies how each item within the list will be displayed. Each item has exactly the same layout. To change the layout, click on it. Each Menu element has it's own unique item layout.
There are two pre-defined layouts you can choose from (click the magnifying glass icon). 'Icon and Text' is the default.
Events
Related Actions
Scene Element: Slider
About
A standard Android 'seek bar' enhanced to allow specification of the
thumb icon and display indicators for the min, max and current values.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Text
About
Displays non-editable text for labels etc.
Parameter: Position
Where to place the text within its box
Parameter: Text Width Scale
A horizontal scaling factor to squash up
(negative values) or stretch (positive values) the text.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: TextEdit
About
A standard Android box for text entry.
TextEdit elements cannot appear in Overlay scenes.
Parameter: Position
Where to place the text within its box
Parameter: Text Width Scale
Horizontal scaling factor to squash up (negative values) or stretch (positive values) the text.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element: Web
About
A Web element is like a browser window.
Events
Related Actions
See Also
The Element Editor screen.
Scene Element Edit
Allows configuration of the properties of a scene element. The different
types of property are divided into tabs.
Not all elements have all tabs.
UI
For the most part, configures the visual style of the element.
Items
Only relevant to Menu elements.
Each row configures an item in the menu. Starting from the left, the controls
are:
- selection checkbox
this is only present when Selection Mode is set to Single or Multi. It stipulates whether the item will be shown as selected when the menu is displayed.
- icon button
the icon to show for the item. If you don't want to show an icon, hide the icon element in the Layout parameter in the UI tab
- label text
the label to show for the item. If you don't want to show a label, hide the label element in the Layout parameter in the UI tab
- action button
an action to run when the item is tapped
- trash can
used to delete the item
To add an item, click the plus button at the bottom of the screen.
Background
Configures a rectangle shape to be used as the background for the element
when it is displayed. The background will be stretched to fit the size of
the element.
If you want to use an image for a background, create a separate Image element and
place it underneath.
Event Tabs
Event tabs stipulate what Tasker should do when the user interacts with the
element in some way. Most consist only of a task to specify but some
allow a filter specification so that the task only runs if the event matches
the filter.
To help the task to decide what to do with the event and to allow a single
task to handle many different events if desired, Tasker sets certain
local variables which give specific information about it. The variables
are easily accessible by clicking the usual variable tag icon in any action
in the task.
The following variables are available in all such tasks:
- %scene_name
the name of the scene containing the element
- %element_name
the name of the element that the user interacted with (e.g. Button1)
- %element_type
the type of element (e.g. Button)
- %event_type
the name of the event (e.g. Tap)
Text Changed
Elements: TextEdit
This event is triggered whenever the text changes e.g. because a
letter key has been pressed while the element had focus.
- %new_val
the new text
- %old_val
the old text
Tap, Long Tap
Elements: Button, Doodle, Image, Map, Oval, Rectangle, Text
In a Map element, the following variables are available:
- %coord
the latitute,longitude of the tapped location on the map
- %label
the label of the tapped GeoMarker (if any). You can add GeoMarkers to a Map element with the action Scene / Element Add GeoMarker
Value Selected
Elements: Slider
- %new_val
the new value of the element (e.g. 50)
- %old_val
the last selected value (e.g. 43)
Item Tap, Item Long Tap
Elements: Menu
- %select_indices
a comma-separated list of currently selected items in the list (e.g. 3,4)
- %select_labels
a comma-separated list of the labels of currently selected items in the list (e.g. Blue,Yellow)
- %tap_index
the index of the item that was tapped to cause this event (e.g. 3)
- %tap_label
the label of the item that was tapped to cause this event (e.g. Blue)
Stroke
Elements: Doodle, Image, Oval, Rectangle, Text
A stroke has two filter parameters.
- Direction
the direction from the start point of the stroke to the end point
- Length
minimum distance in (approximate) pixels from the start point of the stroke to the end point
If either of these parameters don't match the event, the task will not run.
- %stroke_dir
Direction, as described above
- %stroke_len
Length, as described above
Link Tap
Elements: WebView
A Link Tap has two filter parameters:
- URL
the URL of the tapped link. If entered, the tapped URL must match the entry (e.g. http://*.fruit.com) for the task to run
- Stop Event
whether to stop the WebView following the link
- %url
URL as described above
Page Loaded
Elements: WebView
- %url
the URL of the page (e.g. http://i.hate.fruit/except/mangos.html)
Task / Shortcut Widgets
The standard way of running a Tasker task is by attaching it to a profile
which performs it when the profile becomes active. However, tasks can
be directly assigned to icons on the home screen called Widgets or
Shortcuts.
Standard Widgets / Shortcuts
These consist of an icon (the Task icon) with a label (the Task name)
underneath, and look identical to the normal application icons
in the home screen.
Clicking on the icon runs the associated Task.
Task Timer Widgets
This type consists of an icon and label, like the standard widgets,
but also has a countdown timer display which counts down Days, Hours,
Minutes and Seconds.
When the timer expires (reaches 0) the associated Task is run.
Tapping on the icon of the widget shows a configuration
screen where the timer can be configured.
Tapping on the timer section of the widget will pause,
restart or reset the timer, depending on its current state.
Note that the timer updates more rarely when it is still a long
way from expiry in order to minimize power usage.
Creating a Widget / Shortcut
- Click and hold in an empty space on the Android home screen, until
a dialog appears.
- Select Widgets or Shortcuts
- Select Task or Task Timer (Widgets only)
- Pick an existing task or create a new one. When creating a new one, if
you do not expect to change the function of the widget/shortcut select
One-Time to avoid it cluttering your list of tasks.
- Use the Configuration Screen
to configure what should happen when the icon is clicked (or the timer
expires, in the case of a Task Timer widget). Take care to
select an appropriate name and icon for the task, as these will appear on
the home screen.
Changing a Widget / Shortcut
The function of widgets or shortcuts created from one-time tasks cannot be changed, it must be deleted and recreated.
On the other hand, if you associate a normal named task with a widget or shortcut then when the task is changed (via the Task Edit
screen) the function of the widget or shortcut also changes.
There are also some actions which will change the appearance of any widget:
- Tasker/Change Icon Set: changes the icon of a set of widgets to a different
style.
- Tasker/Set Widget Icon: changes the icon of a particular widget
- Tasker/Set Widget Label: changes the label of a particular widget
The latter two you could use to visually show the status of something e.g. WiFi.
Deleting a Widget / Shortcut
Click and hold on the icon in the Android home screen until the dustbin
icon appears. Drag the widget or shortcut icon to the dustbin icon and release.
Differences Between Widgets and Shortcuts
Advantages of Shortcuts
- they can be created in some places that widgets can't e.g. in home screen folders
- their layout probably better matches the default launcher layout
- long shortcut labels will scroll when selected in the default launcher
- they use slightly fewer system resources, though it's probably not noticeable
Advantages of Widgets
- they can use image files from SD for their icon
- their icon and label can be dynamically changed after creation
via the Set Widget Icon and Set Widget Label actions.
- timer widgets are possible
- they can be created without a label
So a shortcut should be used unless the extra configuration possibilities of a widget are necessary.
General
- you can create as many Tasker widgets and shortcuts as you like. You can even have several Timer widgets running at the same time.
- Timer Task widgets continue to update even when the screen is off.
Beginner Mode
When Tasker first starts, Beginner Mode is enabled.
In Beginner Mode, Tasker attempts to simplify things for inexperienced
users, mostly by UI elements which are unlikely to be needed by
inexperienced users.
Beginner Mode can be disabled by unchecking the option:
Menu / Prefs / UI / Beginner Mode
Some of the changes made in Beginner Mode are:
- main screen, Variables tab removed
- main screen, export options removed
- main screen, project tab not accessible
- task edit screen, task properties icon removed
- action edit screen, Label, Continue On Error parameters removed
- prefs screen, many options removed
In the userguide, when references are found to things which do not
appear on the screen. It's worth disabling Beginner Mode to see if that's
the problem.
CPU Control
Note: CPU control can damage your hardware e.g. by the CPU overheating. As for all Tasker
functions, you use it at your own risk!
General
On a rooted device (only) Tasker is able to control the CPU frequency of an Android device to some extent. This
is usually done either to save battery or make the device more responsive depending on the circumstances.
The relevant control action is CPU in the Misc category.
You can monitor the current state with the variables %CPUFREQ and %CPUGOV.
There are two aspects which can be controlled, the Frequency Range and the
CPU Governor. You will need to experiment with combinations of these to achieve the best results.
Frequency Range
You can set the minimum and maximum frequency which the CPU is allowed to run at. Only certain frequencies
are valid, depending on the CPU (click on the magnifying glass button to select a valid value).
The maximum frequency is probably initially set lower than the maximum frequency that the CPU can actually handle. If that is the case, you should be very cautious about setting it higher. Tasker will warn
you the first time you try to do configure an action to do that, assuming
you have not been using other apps to change the maximum frequency limit.
CPU Governor
The active governor decides what the CPU frequency should be set to at a particular time, within the frequency
range you have set. Each has it's own unique strategy. Here are the most common governors:
- Performance
keeps the CPU frequency always at the maximum. Most power-hungry, most responsive.
- Powersave
keeps the CPU frequency always at the minimum. Least power-hungry, least responsive.
- Ondemand
when the CPU is needed, immediately sets it to maximum frequency. Slowly reduces the
frequency back down to the minimum as time passes. Responsive, reasonable power usage.
- Interactive
like Ondemand, but more responsive with slightly more battery usage.
- Conservative
when the CPU load is needed, slowly increases the frequency to maximum. When the CPU is
no longer needed, immediately drops back to the minimum. Less power-usage than Ondemand or Interactive, less responsive.
Not all governors are available on all ROM versions. Your device may also have a governor not described here. You can still set that governor with Tasker.
CPU Action Not Available
Common problems are:
- root not recognized
Tasker decides that a device is rooted if /system/app/Superuser.apk is present and su is present in one of the directories of $PATH
- no available frequencies
Tasker needs to know what frequencies it can set the CPU to. It looks for the files /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuX/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies, /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuX/cpufreq/stats/time_in_state and /system/etc/scaling_available_frequencies (in that order). If you know what your CPU frequencies are, you could write them (space-separated, in numerical order) to the first (any number of CPUs) or last (1 CPU only) of those files.
Widget / Shortcut Configuration
This screen allows selection and configuration of a task which will be performed when an
icon is clicked on the Android home screen or a timer elapses.
Please read about Task Widgets / Shortcuts
before venturing further on this screen.
The layout of the Configuration screen is nearly identical to that of the
Task Edit screen. The
differences are as follows:
Flow Control
Overview
Task flow control is based on the following Tasker elements:
- variable values
- conditions on individual actions
- If / Else / Endif actions for conditional grouping of following actions
- For / End For to do a set of actions once for each of a set of elements
- Goto action (jumping around within a task).
- Perform Task action (calling other tasks as subroutines)
- Stop action (terminate task immediately)
On the Wiki there is a detailed example of
processing a file's content [External Link].
Tip: if you accidentally create a task that never ends when experimenting
with loops, use the Kill button in the Task Edit screen to end it
manually.
Conditions
Every action can have a condition associated with
it (specify this in the Action Edit screen). If the condition does not match,
the action will be skipped.
A condition consists of an operator ('equals' etc) and two parameters.
The possible operators are:
- Matches (~)
The right parameter is a pattern which the left parameter is matched against.
- Not Matches (!~)
As above, but the match must fail for the action to be executed.
- Less Than (<)
Both parameters (after variables are substitued) must be numbers or mathematical expressions and the first must be less than the second
e.g. 3 < 6. See Maths for more info.
- Greater Than (>)
As above, but the first parameter must evaluate to more than the second.
- Equals (=)
As above, but the two parameters must be numerically equal.
- Not Equals (!=)
As above, but the two parameters must be not numerically equal.
- Is/Isn't Set
Whether the specified variable has a value or not.
Expressions which are not mathematically valid e.g. I Am The Walrus > 5 give a warning and evaluate to false
when used with a mathematical operator.
Foreach Loop
Goal: perform a set of actions for each of apple, pear and banana.
| 1. | For
%item
apple,pear,banana |
Loop once for each of apple, pear and banana |
| 2. | Action One
|
Example: Flash %item |
| 3. | Action Two
|
... |
| 4. | End For
|
Return to action 1 if we havn't done all the items yet |
Result: Action One and Action Two are performed three times. The first time, the variable %item is set to apple, the second time pear and the last time banana.
You can insert a Goto action in the loop with either Top of Loop (meaning continue, skip to the next item straight away) or End of Loop (meaning break, stop without doing any more items) specified.
In adition to simple text, the For action accepts any comma-separated combination of these Items:
- a numeric range e.g. 1:5 (= 1,2,3,4,5)
- a numeric range with a jump e.g. 8:2:-2 (= 8,6,4,2)
- a variable name (which is replaced) e.g. %fruit (= banana maybe)
- a variable array part e.g. %arr(1:2) (= %arr1, %arr2 = apple,banana maybe)
A common case is to use %arr(), which performs a loop for each element in the array %arr.
For Loop
Goal: perform a set of actions for each of a range of numbers in turn.
Use the Foreach Loop as described above, with the Items parameter being a range specification e.g. 4:0, 100, 0:8:2 (= 4,3,2,1,0,100,0,2,4,6,8).
Until Loop
Goal: perform a Task X until some condition is met (at least once)
| 1. | Action One
|
... |
| 2. | Action Two
|
... |
| 3. | Goto
1
If %QTIME < 20 |
Return to action 1 if runtime < 20 |
Result: Action One and Action Two are performed until %QTIME contains the value 20 or more
i.e. until the task has been running for 20 seconds.
While Loop
Goal: perform a Task X while some condition is met.
| 1. | Stop
If %fruit Not Matches Apple |
Stop task if it's not crunchy, otherwise
go to next action |
| 2. | Action One
|
... |
| 3. | Action Two
|
... |
| 4. | Goto
1 |
Go back and see if we're still crunchy |
Result: Action One and Action Two are performed while %fruit contains the value Apple.
Counter Loop
Goal: perform a Task X a set number of times.
| 1. |
Variable Set
%count, 0 |
Initialize the counter |
| 2. | Action One
Label: LoopStart |
... |
| 3. | Action Two
|
... |
| 4. | Variable Add
%count, 1 |
Add one to %count |
| 5. | Goto
LoopStart
If %count < 10 |
Return to action 2 if count < 10 |
Result: after initialization of %count to 0, the task loops around the actions
from 2-5 until
%count reaches 10, at which point the condition on the Goto fails
and the end of the task is reached.
Note that we used a Goto to a labelled action this time. In
all but the very simplest tasks it's better to use a label rather than a number. It's easier to work out what's happening and if you insert or delete actions before the loop starts, the Goto will still jump to the right place.
An alternative way to do this loop is to use a For action specified as 0:10.
If / Then / Else Condition
Goal: perform certain Tasks if conditions are met, otherwise perform a
different task.
| 1. |
If
%fruit ~ Apple |
~ is short for 'matches' |
| 2. | Action One |
... |
| 3. | Action Two
|
... |
| 4. |
Else If
%fruit ~ Pear |
an Else action with a condition |
| 5. | Action Three |
... |
| 6. |
Else
|
|
| 7. | Action Four
|
... |
Result: actions One and Two are executed if %fruit matches Apple, Action Three is executed if %fruit matches Pear, otherwise Action Four is executed.
Notes:
- you can have as many
Else Ifs in a condition as you like
- if your condition is in the middle of a more complicated task, you need to tell Tasker where the condition ends with an
End If action
Subroutines
To call another task, use the Perform Task action. To use it as
a subroutine, you just need to ensure that the priority of the calling
task is less than the priority of the called task (more info:
scheduling).
The parent can optionally pass values to the child and receive a result back:
Parent Task
| 1. | Perform Task
Child,
Priority, 10
%par1, 5,
Result Value Variable, %result
|
pass 5 to the child, expect a result in %result |
| 2. | Variable Flash
Result: %result
|
what did we get back ? |
Child Task
| 1. | Variable Set
%newval, %par1 + 1, Do Maths
|
add one to the value that was passed |
| 1. | Return
%newval
| set %result in the parent to the value of %newval in the child |
Result: the parent flashes 6
Notes:
- changes made to %par1 and %par2 in the child task are not reflected by their changing in the parent task
- receiving a return value is optional for the parent, even if the child tries to give it one
- unlike
Return statements in most computer languages, Tasker's does not necessarily stop the child task, so if the child and parent have the same priority they can both run together and the child return several results over time.
Encryption
Note: encryption functions are not available on the
Android Market version of Tasker due to US export restrictions.
Tasker has the ability to encrypt and decrypt files. The relevant
actions are in the Encryption action category.
Since decryption can be automated, you have the possibility to
keep data files encrypted outside of certain times, locations,
applications etc.
Warning: make backups of your files while setting up encryption
until you understand how the system works and are sure the
encryption/decryption process does not cause any corruption.
Tip: Tasker does not give progress reports while it's doing
encryption, if you want to know when an long decryption operation
is finished, just put a Vibrate action or similar after the
Encrypt/Decrypt action.
Keys
Tasker uses a system of named keys. All of the encryption
actions can specify a key name so that you can use different keys
with different files (if desired).
If no key name is specified, default is used.
Once a passphrase for a key is entered, the ciphers it generated are stored in memory
until explicitly deleted. The deletion might be specified after an Encrypt/
Decrypt File action, or explicitly with the Clear Key action.
Setting Up Encryption
General Preferences
First thing to do is check whether the encryption preferences for
Encryption Iterations and Encryption Algorithm are
as you wish. Once you start encryping things, it's time consuming
to start again with new encryption preferences.
The preferences can be found at Menu / Prefs / Action.
Be sure to have a look at the help text for each item.
Initial Encryption
To start with, you probably want to encrypt some files which are in
a particular directory, which you can then decrypt as they are needed.
To do that, create a task called Encrypt or similar
and add one or more Encrypt File or Encrypt Dir actions to it.
By default, the
key is cleared once the file is encrypted, so click 'Leave Key'
for all but the last action, otherwise you'll have to enter your
passphrase for each file.
Next, create a Tasker shortcut on the home screen, using the Encrypt
task. Tap the widget to encrypt your files. Notice how
you are only asked for the passphrase for the first one, because it
is stored until cleared.
The encrypted files will all receive an extension .tec
and the original files are deleted.
Decryption
Once you have a set of encrypted files, you need to setup the contexts
in which they will be decrypted.
Create another task called Decrypt or similar, and add Decrypt
actions to it to match the encrypt actions you setup previously.
Don't click Clear Key, otherwise you'll have to enter your
passphrase for every file (and at the start of encryption).
Now you can use your Encrypt and Decrypt tasks whenever you like. For instance,
you could create a profile with a Location Context and run your Decrypt task
when entering the location (assign Decrypt as the Enter task) and your Encrypt
task when leaving the location (assign Encrypt as the Exit task).
Important: when you use the Decrypt action, it recreates the original
file from the encrypted copy, but does not delete the encrypted version.
When you re-encrypt the file, if it has not changed it is simply deleted since we
already have an encrypted copy. If it has changed, it is re-encrypted.
The purpose of this method of operation is to:
- avoid the lengthy encryption process when unnecessary
- prevent accidental double-encryption (encrypting the same file twice)
Enter Key Action
It's not always convenient to enter the key at the point at which de- or encryption
takes place. This action allows you to specify the passphrase for a key
at a different point.
If you don't wish to double-enter a key when encrypting, you can also use this
action before an Encrypt action and not select Confirm.
Set Key Action
To allow full-automation of en/decryption, the passphrase for a key can also be set
without user interaction. However, this is much less secure tham Enter Key because:
- the passphrase (as part of the action) is stored in clear text in device memory and could be read by the root user if the device OS is compromised
- although the passphrase is itself encrypted when a backup is made to SD, the parameters for that encryption can be recovered from the java code in the Tasker apk file
Security
Algorithm
Tasker uses symmetric encryption, meaning the same passphrase is used both
to encrypt and decrypt the data.
The default algorithm is "PBEWithMD5And128BitAES-CBC-OpenSSL".
PBE stands for password-based encryption, see RFC 2898.
A salt is combined with the passphrase several hundreds of times using the MD5 algorithm
to produce a key which is used for the 128-bit (default setting) AES algorithm.
The number of iterations and algorithm can be set in Menu / Prefs / Action.
Pass Phrases
The longer the passphrase, the more secure the data. Minimally 8 characters of mixed
alphabetic, numeric and punctuation characters is recommended.
Clearing Keys
While a key's ciphers are in memory, anyone can use the key for
decryption or encryption if your device is lost or stolen, so it may be wise
to setup a Clear Key action e.g. when the device is turned off
(see Screen Off in the Event Context) or at a particular time (Time Context),
depending on what you are using the encryption for.
Manually Encrypting/Decrypting
You can use Tasker's file browser (action Browse Files) to encrypt/decrypt files
directly, via a long-click on the file.
Gestures & Shaking
General
Gestures are physical movements of the phone in space, which you first
record by creating a new Event of type Gesture (in the Misc category).
When you later redo the gesture while using your device, Tasker will carry out
the corresponding task(s) you have attached to its profile.
Like normal events, gestures are restricted by other contexts. For example,
if you define a profile with a Gesture (Event) and Application context, the
gesture will only be recognized while using that particular application.
Note: it might be a good idea to disable Tasker before setting up
new gestures, as otherwise you are likely to trigger previously defined ones.
Recording A Gesture
Gesture Points
First off, it's important to know that Tasker only records the particular points
(which we'll call inflection points) of a gesture that you tell it to.
For example, recording a gesture involving tilting the phone to the left and back
you would record three inflection points: the start, the tilted left position, and
the end (which is the same as the start in this case).
You can record as many points as you like, but in general it's best to record
only the points where the phone is not moving.
Recognized Movements
Tasker will only recognize changes in the angle of the phone i.e.
tilting to left or right, backwards or forwards, or rotating vertically.
Imagine three poles going through the device in the three dimensions.
Moving the phone backwards or forwards, up or down or side to side cannot
be recognized.
Procedure
- create a new Gesture Event and give it a name (so you can differentiate between
different gestures).
- put the phone in the position where you want the gesture to
start and press-and-hold the Call, Camera, Menu, Search or Volume hardware buttons
to record the point. The device will buzz.
- move to another (preferably not-moving) point on the path of your gesture, and
press the button again (not a long press). The device will buzz.
- on the final inflection point, press-and-hold the button
to mark the end of the gesture. The device will buzz again and the "Recorded."
message should now flash up.
- Press Done, and add a Vibrate action so you can hear when your
pattern matches when testing it.
Activation
Calibration
Before trying to match a pattern, you probably need to calibrate the hardware
in your device. Go to Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Gestures. Press
the Calibrate button and tilt your phone around in all directions.
Tasker now has some idea what kind of values the accelerometer in your
phone produces.
You only need to calibrate once.
Matching
Now exit Tasker and move your device through the points you previously defined
when recording. You should hear the device vibrate when it reaches the final
recorded point.
If not, try playing with the values in the Gesture Settings screen. For instance,
you could try raising the Match Radius (but be careful not to raise it too much
or you'll get a lot of matches by mistake).
Shaking
Tasker's gesture system is not really designed around rapid movements of the phone like
shaking. A separate Shake event is planned.
Power Usage
Tasker does its best to limit power usage of gesture monitoring.
- monitoring for gestures only takes place when all the
other contexts in a profile are already active (and so the gesture might
have a chance of activating the profile). For example, if you combine an
Application and Gesture (Event) context, gesture monitoring will only
take place while using that particular application.
- Gesture monitoring is always turned off while the screen is off
(the device is sleeping).
- updates from the accelerometer are at the minumum rate until the
start of a gesture is detected.
Icons
Tasker can use four categories of icons:
Application,
Built-In,
Ipack,
User-Installed.
In some places it's also possible to use any image stored on local media as an icon.
Application Icons
These are taken from applications installed on the device.
Minor note: if the icon of the application changes, an update of previously created widgets/shortcuts can
be forced by creating a single widget with the new icon and then rebooting.
Built-In Icons
These come with Tasker and are kept in the device's memory.
Ipack Icon Sets
Ipack is a free, open format for sharing of icon sets between Android applications.
Ipack icon sets can be either installed from Android Market or from the Ipack website.
When setting an icon, you will notice an item labelled Download More Icons. Clicking on it will use the appropriate source depending on which version of Tasker you have.
User-Installed Icons
You can also install your own icons directly into Tasker's icon directory
/sdcard/Tasker/.icn/. Make sure the icons are in a subdirectory.
The subdirectory should also only be one level deep (no subsubdirectories).
Icons must be in PNG format.
Example: a two-icon set called Christmas would have the two files
in these locations:
/sdcard/Tasker/.icn/Christmas/santa.png
/sdcard/Tasker/.icn/Christmas/snowman.png
Location Without Tears
This is an overview guide to choosing a method for fixing your location with Tasker. At the end are
some advanced power-saving strategies.
Power / Accuracy Comparison
More stars mean higher power usage or higher accuracy (Acc).
Detail Comparison
State: Cell Near
Setup
Create a state context, select Cell Near. Click Update and walk around a bit to scan for cell towers nearby.
About
Uses information about the cell towers the phone uses for telephony to record and match a location.
When the display is off, frequency of checks is controlled by Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Display Off All Checks.
Plus / Minus
- (+) virtually no extra power on top of power needed for normal phone service
- (+) when the display is on, context updates as soon as the tower is visible
- (+) when the display is off, only one check period is needed to determine context exit
- (-) highly inaccurate
- (-) must be physically at the location in order to record it
Location: Net
Setup
Create a location context, and deselect GPS.
About
Net location accuracy varies greatly. It's very important that you create a large radius around
the spot you wish to detect.
Frequency of checks is controlled by Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Network Location Check (screen on)
and Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Display Off All Checks.
More Info.
Plus / Minus
- (+) extremely low (extra) power (IF network is available anyway)
- (-) requires network and phone service
- (-) highly inaccurate and variable fixes
Location: Net & Wifi
Setup
Create a location context and deselect GPS. Make sure your device's Wifi is turned on
when you want a more accurate location fix.
About
Net location can be assisted by nearby access points when Wifi is turned on (Google has
a map of APs for many areas).
Turn Wifi off when not needed to conserve power e.g. use a Time context to turn wifi off at night.
Plus / Minus
- (+) very good accuracy in built-up areas for relatively low power usage
- (-) must be physically at the location in order to record it
State: Wifi Near
Setup
Create a State context, click Wifi Near, fill in the SSID of an Access Point (AP)
with the best signal near where you want to identify.
About
Wifi Near does regular Wifi Scans and will activate when it recognizes an AP you have configured
is nearby. Note: you don't have to connect to the AP. You could configure e.g. the neighbours AP
if the signal is strong enough.
Check the Wifi Toggle box if you don't want wifi on all the time. It will then
be toggled when Tasker needs to do a scan.
Plus / Minus
- (+) very good accuracy and reliability
- (+) less power than GPS
- (+) works indoors too
- (-) need an AP nearby
Location: GPS
Setup
Create a location context, and deselect Net.
About
Frequency of GPS checks is controlled by Menu / Prefs / Monitor / GPS Check (screen on)
and Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Display Off All Checks. Higher frequencies mean
more battery usage but that location changes will be noticed more quickly.
When indoors, GPS will try a long time to get a signal, using a lot of battery. Adjust
it at Menu / Prefs / Monitor / GPS Timeout. Make the
timeout as low as you can until you start losing effectiveness.
More Info.
Plus / Minus
- (+) highly accurate in the open air
- (-) functions very poorly or not at all indoors. A bad side effect is that if you enter a building e.g. office while between the check times, it may never detect
your new location until you leave.
- (-) extreme power usage
- (-) needs network to get a first fix
Advanced Strategies
Multiple Contexts
Tasker does not check high-power contexts until all lower-power contexts in the same profile are active.
You can use this to reduce power consumption. For instance, if you use the Wifi Near state to
detect coming home, you could add a Location: Net context to the same profile, so that wifi scanning
will only take place when you are in the right neighbourhood.
Location Control
Disable GPS/Net location when they're not needed by creating a separate profile with e.g. a Time context which disables GPS during the night.
This works because Location contexts assume you are in the same location until there is a fix which says otherwise.
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