The Area Node in the Project Explorer
In your active AlarmWorX64 Server configuration, there are a myriad of OPC alarm tags that represent the inputs coming from any number of sources. You can group these alarm tags into areas. An area is nothing more than a folder that you create in AlarmWorX64 for a physical area in a plant, a category of sensor, or a grouping of machines or types of equipment. It can be any category for classifying alarms. They can even overlap so that OPC tags may belong to more than one area. Not only do these groupings let you manage and find alarms more easily in the configuration, but this information can be used by clients for filtering purposes. Click here to see Areas in the AlarmWorX64 Server configuration tree.
The Areas section of the tags properties shows all areas to which the tag is linked. Clicking on an area takes you to the area's configuration. You can assign an alarm to more than one area; for example, a tank limit alarm may be part of both the "Tanks" area, as well as the "Water" area. An area can have sub-areas. Each area is defined by its name and the name of its parent areas; for example, a branch called Area 1 under plant Area A is different from Area 1 under plant Area B.
Although only one configuration can be active at a time, areas can contain alarm tags defined for any configuration. In the tree for each area, each alarm tag's configuration appears alongside the tag name. This is helpful when you have a configuration in production, but are working on a new configuration that you will be putting making active in the future.
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Tip: If you are creating a new configuration, you can copy an existing configuration's Area folder by exporting it from that configuration, then import it into the new configuration. You can also copy individual areas from one configuration to another. For instructions, refer to Exporting and Importing AlarmWorX64 Server Components. |
To create an area from scratch, follow these steps:
Right-click the Area node or a sub-node that you want to add the area to, then select the Area command from the context menu. The AlarmWorX Area form displays. The New Item folder appears in the tree at the bottom of the node you are adding it to.
Enter the name and description. The area's name will replace the "New Item" name in the area tree.
Enter the Scan Rate (in milliseconds). This field sets the scan rate of the input tag for points associated with the alarms in the given area. Only one scan rate is set for a given input tag. It is the lowest assigned scan rate between each area that a tag is under and the default scan rate. The minimum scan rate possible is 50 milliseconds or a value negotiated with the data server, whichever is higher.
NOTE: By default, the scan rate for Areas is set to 0 milliseconds. This 0 means that the Area-specific scan rate is set to Off and the Area will use the default scan rate.
NOTE: The Scan Rate does not update while the server is active.
Now you must add the area's alarm tags. You can add them in bulk using one or more templates that you have defined for them, or you can add individual tags one at a time (with or without the use of templates).
To add several alarm tags at once to the area, follow these steps:
Right-click the area then click Area Multiple Tags from the menu. The AlarmWorX64 Server Area Insert Multiple Tags form appears.
From the Alarm Configuration drop-down list, choose the configuration whose tags you want to add to the area. This displays all alarm tags for that configuration.
Select the OPC alarm tags you are adding to the area. To select one, click on it. To select more than one, hold down the Ctrl key then click on individual tags. To select a chunk of tags from the list, select the first one, then hold down the Shift key and click the last one. To select them all, click the Select All button.
Click the Import button. The tags are added when the Progress bar is complete and the Results dialog box appears. Review the results, and click OK to close the dialog.
If the tags do not appear in the area's tree, refresh the area or refresh the Areas node (by right-clicking the node and selecting Refresh).
Repeat Step 3 as many times as you need to, and add individual tags as described in Step 4.
To add an individual alarm tag to the area, do the following:
Right-click the area then click Area Tag from the menu. A blank AlarmWorX64 Area Source form displays the new area item.
Type a name for the tag in the Name text field. Changing the name is useful when the same name tag is being used from different database configurations.
From the Configuration drop-down list, select the configuration that contains the tag. For more information, refer to Database Configurations. If the configuration has been added recently, click the Refresh Cfgs & Sources button to refresh the list, then look in the Configuration drop-down list again.
From the Tag drop-down list, select the alarm tag. If you don't see the alarm you are looking for, perhaps it has not yet been added as an alarm (as described in Alarm Tags). If it has been added recently, click the Refresh Cfgs & Sources button to see the latest list of alarm tags, then look in the Tag drop-down list again. Click the Jump to Tag button to open the recently selected Tag in its own properties window.
Review the content of the Tag Information section to make sure you have selected the alarm you intended to. If the information doesn't look right or has been changed recently, click the Refresh button at the bottom of the tab to show the latest information about the alarm tag. If necessary, choose a different configuration or tag from the top of the tab.
Click Apply to add the alarm tag to the area.
To remove an alarm tag from an area:
In the navigation tree, expand the area to show the area's tags.
Right-click the tag you want to remove, then click Delete from the pop-up menu.
Or select the tag you want to remove, then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
