Flashlight on

Whether the camera torch (flashlight) is currently lit.

A value in the Device State group. Its type is value.torch.

Declared ports

Port	Label	Flow	Type
on	On	data out	Boolean

Notes

Flashlight on answers whether the camera torch is lit at the moment it is asked. Like every value node it has no execution ports and is never pulsed.

• It is pulled, the instant before the node consuming it runs.
• It follows the torch whoever lit it: a macro, the quick-settings tile, another app.
• It is the read half of Toggle Flashlight, and what that node’s Toggle option resolves against.

Working of the Node

• Android publishes torch changes to Easymatic as they happen, and the newest one is kept.
• The node hands that back, so the read is a field lookup rather than a camera call.
• The read is memoised per consuming node, so every port of one node sees one answer while a second consumer reads fresh.

Example: only light the way in the dark

• Drop an If and set its Source to Flashlight on.
• Compare with “is false”.
• Wire the true branch into a Toggle Flashlight set to On.

Explanation:

• The macro leaves the torch alone when it is already lit, so a second run does not darken a light somebody wanted.
• No edge is drawn to the value node. If reads it straight from the dropdown.

When It Reads Nothing

The node answers nothing at all in three cases, and each of them means the same thing to whatever reads it.

• The phone has no flash unit.
• Another app holds the camera, so the torch cannot be driven or observed.
• The app has only just started and Android has not reported a torch mode yet.

A comparison against nothing is false rather than a guess, so “if the torch is on” does not fire. Toggle Flashlight’s Toggle option does nothing at all in the same three cases and says so in the console.

Points to Remember

• The node needs no permission. Reading the torch costs nothing; only changing it needs the camera grant, and that belongs to Toggle Flashlight.
• Being off and being unreadable are the same answer to a comparison. Check the console when a branch never fires.
• There is no trigger for the torch. Android publishes no event worth arming a macro on, so ask this question inside a macro something else started.
• On a phone with several flash units the answer is whichever one spoke last, which is the same one Toggle Flashlight drives.