RD Controls Software Release Note 67.1
Alarm Control
RD Controls Software Release Note 67.1
Alarm Control
John DeVoy
August 16, 1996
The alarm control program
is an X Window application
that allows the user to
create,
modify,
and
delete
alarm records in the alarm server
that runs on WEBBY.
Alarms are reported to the user in real time via the
alarm display application.
See RD Controls Release Note 80 for more details
on displaying alarms.
Main Screen
The alarm records are displayed on the main screen
in a hierarchical outline format.
There are five levels in the outline,
with each level revealing increasingly more information.
For each entry on a given level of the outline,
the information on the next level can be revealed or
hidden by double-clicking on that entry.
The five levels are as follows:
- Users:
-
The first
(topmost)
level of the hierarchy is a list of users that have alarm records in the server's database.
When an alarm record is sent to the server,
the user name of the sender is recorded.
The alarm records associated with a particular user are oganized into lists,
which comprise the next level of the hierarchy.
To see the lists associated with a user,
double-click on that user's name.
- Lists:
-
The second level of the hierarchy is a list of the lists associated with a particular user.
Each alarm in the server is associated with a given list.
The list is really just a text field within the alarm record;
records with the same list name are considered to be on the same list.
Lists created by different users are independent.
Note that the concept of list as defined here has no relation to a list as defined by the
data acquisition system.
To see the devices associated with a particular list,
double-click on the list name.
- Devices:
-
The third level of the hierarchy is a list of the devices belonging to a particular list.
The text from the display attribute of the device is printed next to the name,
as a convenience to the user.
For each device,
there can be separate alarm records for various properties
(reading, setting, and status),
and various FTD's and severities.
To see all of the alarm records for a particular device,
double-click on the device name.
- Properties:
-
The fourth level of the hierarchy is a list of the alarm records associated
with a particular device.
Each entry contains the following data:
-
The property.
This may be reading, setting, or status.
-
The FTD.
-
The severity.
This may be either
``Red''
or
``Yellow''.
The severity does not apply to status alarms.
To see the current parameters and state of a particular record,
double-click on the property name.
- Parameters:
-
The fifth level of the hierarchy contains the parameters and state of a particular alarm record.
The display is updated from the server at 5 second intervals.
The following information is shown for reading and setting alarms:
-
The minimum value.
If the reading (or setting) goes below this value,
then the device is considered to be in alarm.
-
The maximum value.
If the reading (or setting) goes above this value,
then the device is considered to be in alarm.
-
The tries needed count.
This is the number of consecutive times that the reading (or setting)
must be out of tolerance for the alarm to be reported to the alarm display.
In other words,
if the tries needed is
``2'',
then the device must read below the minimum
value
(or above the maximum)
twice in a row
for the alarm report to be sent.
-
The tries now count.
This is the number of times that the reading has been
either above the maximum,
or below the minimum.
If the tries now count is equal to the tries needed,
then the alarm report is sent.
-
The current value.
This is the current reading (or setting) of the device.
The following information is shown for status alarms:
-
The bit names.
This is a row containing the names of all the bits that are defined for the device.
-
The nominal bit states.
This is a row containing,
for each bit defined,
the nominal value for that bit.
The nominal value is defined as the non-alarm state.
If the nominal value for a particular bit is blank,
then that bit is not being watched by the alarm server.
-
The current bit states.
This is a row containing the current value of each bit.
If the bit is not being watched
(see above),
then the value is not reported
(left blank).
-
The tries needed and tries now count.
These are defined in the same way as for the reading and setting records.
Double-clicking on an alarm record entry will cause a dialog box to pop up,
with which you may modify the alarm parameters.
Starting
To run
Alarm Control,
select
``Alarm Control''
(item 18)
from the menu,
select
``EPCR Alarm Control''
from the Epicure pull-down menu in the session manager,
or type
``run epicure_programs:alcon''
in any DECterm or DCL window.
Quitting
To exit
Alarm Control,
select
``Exit''
from the
``File''
pull-down menu.
Adding an Alarm
To send a new alarm record to the server,
select
``Add''
from the
``Edit''
pull-down menu.
A dialog box will box will pop up containing the following controls:
-
The user name.
Enter the login name of the user in whose name the alarms are to be entered.
Generally,
this should be your own login name.
-
The name of the list on which the new alarm will be placed.
If the list does not already exist,
then it will be created.
-
The name of the device.
-
The property to be watched.
This is an option menu that allows you to choose
``Reading'',
``Setting'',
or
``Status''.
-
The FTD to used for watching the device.
Any periodic FTD will do.
-
The severity to be associated with the record.
This is an option menu that allows you to choose either
``Red''
or
``Yellow''.
If the selected property is
``Status'',
then the severity will be ignored.
After setting the above parameters,
press either the
``OK''
or
``Apply''
buttons.
This will create a new alarm record.
Another dialog box will pop up that allows you to set the parameters for the
new record.
See the section describing how to modify an alarm record for a description of this dialog box.
Modifying an Alarm
To revise the parameters of an existing alarm record,
first select the desired alarm record on the main screen by
single-clicking on it
(you may need to double-click on the user, list, or device name to make the desired record visible).
Your selection will be shown in reverse video.
Then select
``Modify''
from the
``Edit''
pull-down menu.
A dialog box will pop up that allows you to set the parameters for the selected device.
Note that this is the same dialog box that is popped up when you press
``OK''
or
``Apply''
in the add record dialog box.
Certain fields of the modify dialog box are updated with the current values from the server every five seconds.
If the modify dialog box was popped up from the add dialog box,
however,
then these fields are disabled
until the apply button is pressed.
The modify dialog box contains four regions:
The top region identifies the record that is being modified
(or added).
It contains the name of the device,
the property,
the FTD,
the severity
(reading and setting records only),
the list name,
and the user name.
These fields are read only.
To change them,
you would need to first delete the alarm,
and then add a new one.
The second region contains a status message associated with the device
(for example, it might indicate that there is a problem with data acquisition, say a link timeout).
Beneath the status is a slider
with which you may set
the tries parameter.
To the right are the current tries needed and tries now counts being used by the alarm server.
They are updated every five seconds
(unless the dialog box was popped up from the add dialog box, see above).
The third region contains the limits for reading and setting alarms.
This region is disabled if the alarm record is for a status alarm.
There are two text fields with which you may set the minimum and maximum values.
The current reading
(or setting),
and current minimum and maximum are shown to
the right,
updated every five seconds.
The fourth region contains the nominal bit values for status alarms.
This region is disabled if the alarm record is for a reading or setting alarm.
The region contains a list,
with one line for each bit defined for the device.
At the left
of each line
is an option menu allowing you to set the nominal value for that bit.
The nominal value is the state in which the bit is not in alarm.
Next to the option menu is a toggle button that controls whether the bit is monitored.
If the bit is not monitored,
then the alarm server will ignore the state of that bit.
The current nominal value,
the current state, and whether the bit is currently monitored or ignored
are shown to the right,
updated every five seconds.
Press the
``OK''
or
``Apply''
button to send the new or modified record down to the alarm server.
Press the
``Reset''
button to reset the controls to the current values
(these will be the values they had when the dialog box was first popped up,
or since the
``Apply''
button was last pressed).
Press the
``Cancel''
button to pop down the dialog box without making any changes.
Deleting an Alarm
To delete an existing alarm record from the alarm server,
first select the desired alarm record on the main screen by single clicking on it
(the same procedure as if you were going to modify the record).
Your selection will be shown in reverse video.
Then select
``Delete''
from the
``Edit''
pull-down menu.
The alarm will be deleted from the alarm server.
You may delete groups of records by selecting on the main screen a
user,
list,
or
device name.
In this case,
when you select
``Delete'',
all of the records associated with that user,
list,
or
device name
will be deleted.
It is suggested that the reader check the section on
saving device parameters to a file before
exploring this particular feature.
Updating the Screen
Selecting
``Update''
from the main screen causes the program to flush its internal
data structures and reinitialize itself from the alarm server.
This is useful if two people are editing alarms at the same time,
or if for any other reason
you think that the application has gotten out of sync with the alarm server.
Saving Alarm Parameters to a File
Alarm parameters may be saved to files on a per-list basis.
To save a list to a file,
first select the list on the main screen by single-clicking on the list name.
Your selection will be shown in reverse video.
Then select
``Save List to File''
from the
``File''
pull-down menu.
A dialog box will pop up asking for the directory and filename to use.
The default filename is the name of the list, with
``.APL''
as the extension.
Note:
when downloading the list to the server,
the filename will be used as the list name.
Therefore,
selecting a filename that is different from the list name is equivalent to renaming the list.
Downloading an Alarm Parameter File to the Server
To send a previously saved list of alarm parameters to the server
select
``Download File to Server''
from the
``File''
pull-down menu.
A file selection dialog box will pop up.
You may then choose the file to be sent to the server.
For each record in the file,
the user name parameter will be set to the user name of the person running the program,
and the list name parameter will be set to the name of the file.
If the alarm server rejects any devices,
for any reason,
a list of the devices with the corresponding error messages will be popped up.
After the list has been sent to the alarm server,
the program will re-read all of the records from the server,
and update the main screen.
Note that this version of the alarm control program is backwards compatible with the alarm parameter files
created by the previous verison of this program, used during the last fixed target run.
Keywords:
RDCS,
Alarms,
X
Distribution: normal
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