You can display alarms for individual blocks by adding Data links to your pictures. Once you add a Data link, you can define its data source by referencing an iFIX tag. You can also reference an OPC server; however, the OPC specification does not support alarms. For more information about the OPC specification, you can visit their web site at http://www.opcfoundation.org.
iFIX Tag Syntax
You can reference a tag with the syntax:
Fix32.nodename.blockname.fieldname
where nodename is a SCADA server, blockname is the block you want to monitor, and fieldname the process value you want to display. For example, to display the current alarm for the Analog Input block, AI_TEMP16, on the SCADA server, MIXER1, use the data source:
Fix32.MIXER1.AI_TEMP16.A_CUALM
The following table lists other common alarm fields that you can reference. For more information about block fields, refer to the Building a SCADA System manual. For a list of available servers, blocks, addresses, and fields, use the Expression Builder. You can learn more about the Expression Builder by referring to the Creating Pictures manual.
|
The field... |
Displays... |
Valid Entries |
|
A_ALMEXT1 |
The text entered in the block's alarm extension fields. |
Up to 79 characters. |
|
A_ALMINTIME |
The time and date at which the block generated the alarm. Depending on your configuration, the time and date may be the OPC server time or the local computer time. Refer to the section Understanding Time Stamps to learn more about how iFIX time-stamps alarms. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_ALMLASTTIME |
The time and date at which the block last generated an alarm. Depending on your configuration, the time and date may be the OPC server time or the local computer time. Refer to the section Understanding Time Stamps to learn more about how iFIX time-stamps alarms. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_ALMSN |
The serial number of the alarm area database. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_AREA1 through A_AREA15 |
The block's alarm areas. |
ALL or any alarm area name defined in the alarm area database. |
|
A_CUALM |
The block's current alarm status. |
Analog blocks display alarms such as High, Low, Rate of Change, or Deviation. Digital blocks display alarms such as Change of State or Change from Normal. |
|
A_ENAB |
Whether or not the current block can generate alarms. Use this field to enable and disable alarming as needed. |
Yes or 1, if the block can generate alarms, or No or 0, if the block cannot generate alarms. |
|
A_EVENT |
Whether the current block can generate event messages. Use this field to enable or disable event messaging. |
Enable, if the block can generate event messages, or Disable, if the block cannot generate event messages. |
|
A_IENAB |
Whether the current block can generate alarms on start-up. |
|
|
A_LAALM |
The block's most severe unacknowledged alarm, called a latched alarm. |
Analog blocks display alarms such as High, Low, Rate of Change, or Deviation. Digital blocks display alarms such as Change of State or Change from Normal. |
| A_LAPRI | The block's latched priority. This priority corresponds to the block's latched alarm (A_LAALM). | N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_NALM |
Whether or not the current block has any unacknowledged alarms. |
Yes or 1, if the block has unacknowledged alarms, or No or 0, if all the alarms are acknowledged. |
|
A_OPCLIMIT |
The hardware options of the OPC server. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_OPCQLTY |
The quality status of the OPC server. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_OPCSUBSTAT |
The quality substatus of the OPC server. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_OPCTIME |
The time and date from the OPC server. If no OPC server is available, the field contains the local computer time. |
N/A. This is a display-only field. |
|
A_PRI |
The block's alarm priority. |
INFO, LOLO, LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, HIHI, or CRITICAL. |
To display and change a block's alarm limits, use the fields in the following table.
For more information on Data links and entering a data source, refer to the Creating Pictures manual.
