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TSTool / Command / SetInputPeriod

Overview

The SetInputPeriod command sets the period used for reading time series data from files and datastores. The default in most cases is to read/query all available data so that all data are available for analysis and data filling. However, a shorter period may be desirable to increase performance (e.g., when processing real-time data) or to force matching a historical period. It may be necessary to set the input period if the default for a datastore is very short. See also the SetOutputPeriod command.

Command Editor

The command is available in the following TSTool menu:

  • Commands / Read Time Series

The following dialog is used to edit this command and illustrates the syntax of the command.

SetInputPeriod command editor

SetInputPeriod Command Editor (see full-size image)

Command Syntax

The command syntax is as follows:

SetInputPeriod(Parameter="Value",...)

Command Parameters

Parameter                 Description Default               
InputStart
required		 The date/time to start reading/querying time series data, one of:
  • A date/time string (see dialog above for examples).
  • CurrentToYear, CurrentToMonth, CurrentToDay, CurrentToHour, CurrentToMinute, indicating the current date/time to the specified precision.
  • A Current* value +- an interval, for example: CurrentToMinute - 7Day. See modifiers in following table.
  • A processor property indicated with ${Property}
 None – must be specified.
InputEnd
required		 The date/time to end reading/querying time series data. See the description for InputStart. None – must be specified.

The CurrentToYear and other special date/time values can be followed by modifiers, which can be chained together in any order. For example, the following will adjust the current time rounded to 5 minutes into the future and set the time zone to blank:

CurrentToMinute.Round(5min).RoundDirection(>).TimeZone()

CurrentTo* Modifiers

Modifier                                Description
Round(interval) Round the current date/time to the specified interval (e.g., 5min, 6hour). No rounding occurs if the current date/time exactly matches the requested rounding interval. The default is to round back but see the RoundDirection() modifier.
RoundToDayOfWeek(Day) Round the current date/time to the specified day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday). The day is rounded and the month and year are adjusted accordingly. No rounding occurs if the current date/time matches the requested day of the week. The default is to round back but see the RoundDirection() modifier.
RoundDirection(<)
RoundDirection(>)		 Indicate which way the Round() modifier should round the date/time, one of:
  • < - round to the nearest past even interval
  • > - round to the nearest future even interval
TimeZone(tzToSet) Set the time zone for the date/time to the specified time zone string. This does not shift the time value. It simply assigns the time zone string. Blank (no value) can be used to set the time zone to blank. Note that other commands may handle time zone in a specific way, for example when reading and writing data.

Examples

See the automated tests.

Troubleshooting

See the main TSTool Troubleshooting documentation.

See Also