What is the difference between these Event Trigger options?

[SeattleDavid]

What is the difference between these two Event Triggers:

They explode out to these seemingly identical conditions:

(Enter a custom value):


(value)%:


Note that there is no "Range" and no "Range" can be specified. It is a closed-ended drop-down to choose a single value from.

Do these do anything at all different, or is it just an example of sloppy/indifferent programming/design?

[randy]

They do not do anything different. It is not sloppy/indifferent programming/design. The "(value)%" is based on the formatted status as defined by the VS configuration of the device and "(Enter a custom value) is based on the raw numeric value of the device. Here is a device I created where the status is defined by "Dim " as the prefix and "%" as the suffix.



You will note that the two choices for the device trigger are based on the formatted Status Text "(Dim (value)%" or a custom value.




The custom value is of use for a device that might have status text that does not include the numeric value of the device, but that you want to trigger on a value. It is much like the Name vs RefID of a device, the RefID is the raw device identifier, where the name device name is formatted for human interaction. This device does not include the value in its status text:



Now the custom value is a way to set the trigger to act on a value rather than the Status Text.