Objects animated by alarm let you create easy-to-use pictures and provide visual cues for operators about new alarm conditions. For example, you could color a tank red if a High alarm occurs. On a High High alarm, you could also enlarge the size of the tank.
To animate an object:
- In Classic view, select an Expert on the Experts toolbar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, in the Animations group, click Animations, and then click the desired Expert.
-Or-
If you have the Toolbox enabled, select the Expert from the Toolbox.
- Complete the dialog box that appears.
Among the information you must enter is the data source you want to use. This data source defines the iFIX tag you want to monitor.
When you specify an existing data source, the table in the lower part of the dialog box updates so you can select the colors you want to associate with each alarm. The following table lists the valid alarm states for analog and digital blocks:
|
Valid Analog Alarm States |
Valid Digital Alarm States |
|
OK |
CFN (Change from Normal) |
|
LOLO |
COS (Change of State) |
|
HIHI |
|
|
LO |
|
|
HI |
|
|
RATE (Rate of Change) |
When you enter a nonexistent data source, the table does not update and displays numeric values at the start of the table. To fix this, enter a valid data source to display the table (you can also Quick-Add the data source) or, using the nonexistent data source, edit the color threshold table using the desired alarming values and colors.
For more information about alarm states, refer to the iFIX Database Reference.
Latched Alarms vs. Current Alarms
iFIX provides two database fields to use when selecting the data source, latched alarms (A_LAALM) and current alarms (A_CUALM). Each field differs in how it handles multiple alarm states. If, for example, you are animating the foreground color property, the current alarm field always displays the color assigned to the current alarm. The latched alarm field displays the color assigned to the most severe unacknowledged alarm. If no unacknowledged alarms exist, the field displays the color of the current alarm. For more information on how these alarm fields handle multiple alarm states, refer to the section Multiple Alarm Acknowledgment.
Example: Animating Objects by Alarm
Typically, animated objects reference the latched alarm field when you want operators to respond to unacknowledged process values that are too high or too low. For example, suppose you want to change the foreground color of an oven as follows:
|
When this alarm occurs... |
Color the oven... |
|
High High |
Red |
|
High |
Orange |
|
Low |
Yellow |
|
Low Low |
Blue |
With this information, you can select the Animate Foreground Color Expert and complete the following dialog box as shown below:
Completing the Foreground Color Expert
For more information on using Experts and animating objects, refer to the Creating Pictures manual.
