When you animate an object, the values of one or more of its properties change. Inherent to each property is the location where it received data. This location is called a data source. Typically, a data source identifies a process value or another object's property. However, a data source can be any of the following:
- Real-time data from an I/O address.
- An iFIX tag.
- The value of a picture or object property.
- A global variable.
- A predefined expression.
- A VBA event.
- OPC servers.
- Proficy Historian.
In order to animate an object, you must connect to one of these data sources. In some cases, you can make a direct connection to a data source. In other instances, such as with Animation Experts, you connect an object to an animation object, and then connect the animation object to the data source.
NOTE: Because animations change object properties, you can only use a property in an animation if the property accepts data. Read-only properties cannot be used. You can display the available properties by opening the Animations dialog box or the Properties window.
To specify a data source, you enter the appropriate syntax in the Data Source field of the Animations dialog box. Then, by specifying a conversion method for the data, you tell iFIX how you want to process the data so that you can achieve the desired effect. For more information on selecting data sources, and specifying syntax and conversion types, refer to the Defining Data Sources section.
