BabelFish Explorer 2.

6
User's Guide

BABELFISH EXPLORER

User's Guide
First Edition (September 2013)
This edition applies to Version 2.6 of BabelFish Explorer and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise
indicated in new editions.

ISS Group Limited 2013. All rights reserved.

Ground Floor, 40 Hasler Road, Osborne Park, WA, 6017, Australia
PO Box 1313, Osborne Park BC, Osborne Park, WA, 6916, Australia
Phone +61 8 9241 0300 Fax +61 8 9242 8121
Use of this product and accompanying documentation is subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Product Licence
Agreement.
BabelFish is not a primary alarming, machine health, or asset protection system. This function must be performed by low level
SCADA / Control Systems or machine monitoring equipment. BabelFish is provided for advisory, informational, optimisation and
diagnosis purposes.
Due to continued product development this information may change without notice. The information and intellectual property
contained herein remains the exclusive property of ISS Group Limited. If you find any problems in the documentation, please
report them to us in writing. ISS Group Limited does not warrant that this document is error -free.
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For licensing purposes only, ISS Group Limited may track usage of this product by capturing the following details: IP address,
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Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Contents
Preface ..................................................................................................................... 1
Who Should Read this Guide ...................................................................................................... 1
Related Reading ........................................................................................................................ 1
Help and Support ....................................................................................................................... 2

Getting Started .......................................................................................................... 4

Logging On and Off .................................................................................................................... 4
Changing Your Password ............................................................................................................ 5

Overview of the Interface ........................................................................................... 6

BabelFish Framework ................................................................................................................. 7
BabelFish Toolbar ...................................................................................................................... 7
Custom Framework Menus ......................................................................................................... 8
BabelFish Functions .................................................................................................................... 8
My Environment ....................................................................................................................... 12
Tab Strip.................................................................................................................................. 14
BabelFish Page ........................................................................................................................ 15
Display Mode Interface ............................................................................................................. 16
Design Mode Interface .............................................................................................................. 17
Changing Between Modes......................................................................................................... 20

Tips and Tricks ......................................................................................................... 22

Analysing Data......................................................................................................................... 22
Browser Tips ............................................................................................................................ 22
Colours .................................................................................................................................... 24
Viewing Private Objects ........................................................................................................... 25
Date and Time ......................................................................................................................... 25
Updating the Date and Time ..................................................................................................... 26
Filters ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Help ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Navigating ............................................................................................................................... 27
Opening an Existing Trend ........................................................................................................ 27
Right-Click Menu ...................................................................................................................... 29
Printing ................................................................................................................................... 29
Print Options ............................................................................................................................ 31
Reserved Characters and Words ............................................................................................... 32
Replacement Tokens ................................................................................................................ 34
EP_ENCODE .............................................................................................................................. 37
Live Documents ....................................................................................................................... 48
Searching ................................................................................................................................ 49
Wildcards ................................................................................................................................. 50
Searching from the Toolbar....................................................................................................... 50

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Search Results .......................................................................................................................... 51

Plant Model Tree Search ........................................................................................................... 52

Tags and Entities ..................................................................................................... 54

Types of Tags ........................................................................................................................... 55
Calculated Tag .......................................................................................................................... 56
Template Tags .......................................................................................................................... 58
State Tags ................................................................................................................................. 62
Using Tags ............................................................................................................................... 63
Opening a Tag ........................................................................................................................... 64
Edit a Tag .................................................................................................................................. 65
Tag Statistics ............................................................................................................................ 65
Native Name History ................................................................................................................. 67
Tag Details Editor .................................................................................................................... 69
Tag Details Tab ......................................................................................................................... 70
Method Tab .............................................................................................................................. 73
Appearance of a Tag ................................................................................................................. 73
Auxiliary Tab ............................................................................................................................. 74
Tree Tab ................................................................................................................................... 75
Point Detail ............................................................................................................................. 76
Creating a New Tag .................................................................................................................. 82
Create a Datasource tag ............................................................................................................ 84
Create a Calculated Tag ............................................................................................................ 85
Create a Portal SQL Tag............................................................................................................. 88
Delete a Tag ............................................................................................................................ 91

Pages ...................................................................................................................... 92
Home Page .............................................................................................................................. 92
Open a Page ............................................................................................................................ 93
Opening a Page in Design Mode ................................................................................................ 96
Page Templates ....................................................................................................................... 96
Edit a Page .............................................................................................................................. 97
Page Details Editor.................................................................................................................... 98
Deleting a page ...................................................................................................................... 104
Create a Page Using the Page Wizard ...................................................................................... 104
Page Display Attributes ............................................................................................................107
Page Wizard Navigation ...........................................................................................................109
Page Wizard Summary .............................................................................................................110
Designing a Page .................................................................................................................... 111
Styles and Style Sheets in BabelFish .........................................................................................112
Select Page Objects .................................................................................................................112
Add Objects from the Plant Model Tree ...................................................................................113
Add Objects from the Toolbox .................................................................................................113
Delete an Object ......................................................................................................................114
Backgrounds ............................................................................................................................115
Designing for Mobile Devices ...................................................................................................115
Rubber-band............................................................................................................................116
Page Menus .............................................................................................................................116

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Alignment ................................................................................................................................119
Object Layout Grid ...................................................................................................................122

Plant Model ........................................................................................................... 133

Plant Model Tree Features ..................................................................................................... 134
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. 136

Publishing .............................................................................................................. 137

Publishing Status ................................................................................................................... 137
Publishing from My Environment ........................................................................................... 138
Alternative Methods of Publishing ......................................................................................... 139

Page Objects .......................................................................................................... 141

Object Details Editor .............................................................................................................. 142
Common Tabs ..........................................................................................................................142
Buttons ................................................................................................................................. 159
Creating a Button ....................................................................................................................159
Button Details Editor ...............................................................................................................160
Appearance of a Button ...........................................................................................................161
Combo Boxes ......................................................................................................................... 162
Creating a Combo Box ..............................................................................................................163
Combobox Details Editor .........................................................................................................164
Combo Box Appearance - Manual ............................................................................................165
Combo Box Appearance - URL ..................................................................................................167
Comments ............................................................................................................................. 169
Adding a Comment Object .......................................................................................................170
Adding and Modifying a Comment Entry ..................................................................................171
Data Tables ........................................................................................................................... 173
Creating a Data Table ...............................................................................................................174
Data Table Configuration .........................................................................................................175
Data Table Columns .................................................................................................................177
Appearance of a Data Table .....................................................................................................178
Filtering ...................................................................................................................................179
Sorting Columns ......................................................................................................................180
Grouping by Column ................................................................................................................181
Adding an Existing Data Table to a Page ...................................................................................185
Deleting a Data Table ...............................................................................................................185
Embedded Search .................................................................................................................. 186
Adding an Embedded Search ....................................................................................................186
Embedded Statistics ............................................................................................................... 187
Creating Embedded Statistics ...................................................................................................188
Add Tags to a Statistics Object .................................................................................................189
Statistics Properties .................................................................................................................189
Embedded Trends .................................................................................................................. 190
Hotspots ............................................................................................................................... 191
Creating a Hotspot ...................................................................................................................191
Hotspot Details Editor ..............................................................................................................193
Appearance of a Hotspot .........................................................................................................193

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Hyperlinks ............................................................................................................................. 194

Adding a Hyperlink ..................................................................................................................195
Hyperlink Details Editor ...........................................................................................................196
Appearance of a Hyperlink .......................................................................................................197
iFrames ................................................................................................................................. 198
Creating an iFrame ..................................................................................................................199
iFrame Details Editor ...............................................................................................................200
Appearance of an iFrame .........................................................................................................201
Advanced Tab ..........................................................................................................................202
Images .................................................................................................................................. 202
Adding an Image ......................................................................................................................203
Image Details Editor.................................................................................................................204
Appearance of an Image ..........................................................................................................205
Labels.................................................................................................................................... 206
Adding a Label .........................................................................................................................206
Label Details Editor ..................................................................................................................207
Appearance of a Label .............................................................................................................208
Menus ................................................................................................................................... 209
Operating Donuts .................................................................................................................. 212
Creating an Operating Donut ...................................................................................................213
Data ........................................................................................................................................215
Axes ........................................................................................................................................216
Operating Range ......................................................................................................................219
Performance Curve ................................................................................................................ 221
Performance Curve Display ......................................................................................................222
Performance Curve Example Configuration ..............................................................................224
Creating a Performance Curve .................................................................................................225
General Performance Curve .....................................................................................................226
Data Options ...........................................................................................................................230
Axes Options ...........................................................................................................................233
Appearance Options ................................................................................................................234
SQL Tables ............................................................................................................................. 235
SQL Table Details Editor ...........................................................................................................237
XML Tables ............................................................................................................................ 239
Creating an XML Table .............................................................................................................240
XML Table Toolbar ...................................................................................................................241
XML Table Menu ......................................................................................................................242

Index ..................................................................................................................... 243

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Preface
Simplified, integrated, and graphical access to all production and
operational data over the intranet.
BabelFish Server is a web-enabled software application that provides a simplified
graphical view of production and operational data.
BabelFish Explorer is the visualisation component that provides a single view of all relevant
data, irrespective of the source of the data. This guide provides information on how to
build dynamic pages that can be viewed using BabelFish Explorer.

Who Should Read this Guide

This guide is intended for anyone who uses BabelFish to acquire and interpret information
from industrial plants and facilities, and who need to perform geospatial analysis of data
across their enterprise regardless of whether that data has been previously given a
geospatial context. Typical users include plant operators, process engineers, accountants,
and managers at any level.
This guide assumes working knowledge of:

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Windows operating system
ISS BabelFish
ISS Enterprise Manager

Related Reading
Documents in the BabelFish technical documentation suite are as follows.

F O R B A BE L F I SH E X P L O R E R U SE R S
Title

Description

BabelFish Explorer User's

Guide

How to construct BabelFish pages that display information from

selected control systems in a meaningful way.

Calculation Engine
Reference

Comprehensive reference on the functions available from the

BabelFish Calculation Engine.

BabelFish Explorer
Trending Tool Reference

Comprehensive reference on the BabelFish Trending Tool, and how to

use it.

BabelFish Shapes
Reference

Comprehensive reference on all BabelFish shapes.

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PREFACE

HELP AND SUPPORT

F O R B A BE L F I SH A D M IN I ST R A T O R S
BabelFish 2.6 Release
Notes

Release Notes for BabelFish version 2.6.

BabelFish Server
Installation Guide

Installing BabelFish components and configuring BabelFish for first

time use.

BabelFish SDK Installation How to install the BabelFish SDK.

Guide
ISS Enterprise Manager
User's Guide

How to use the Enterprise Manager tool to manage BabelFish.

BabelFish Administrator's
Guide

How to further configure and optimise your BabelFish installation.

You may also find the following documents useful:

Title

Description

ISS Logger User's Guide

How to install ISS Logger, and how to use the Log Viewer to view log
files generated from BabelFish Explorer.

ISS Licence Manager

User's Guide

How to apply for and acquire a licence key for ISS products.

These documents are available from the Support Group.

Help and Support

The ISS Support Group provides a central point of contact for software assistance and the
resolution of software issues. As part of this, ISS Group offers a variety of professional
services, online resources, and access to experienced product specialists who are able to
assist with your service requests. For support and information regarding our products, the
following resources are provided:

F RE E D OC U M E NT A T IO N R E S OU RC E S

PDF documentation supplied in the installation directory.

Online help provided with the product (if supplied).

O NL INE S U P P O RT P O RT A L
The ISS Support Portal provides access to online support, where you can raise service
requests for ISS software.

B A BE L F I SH U SE R G R OU P
ISS Group periodically hosts the BabelFish User Group event. This is a great opportunity for
you to network and find out how other people in the industry are using our products.

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PREFACE

HELP AND SUPPORT

T RA IN IN G
ISS Group offers a variety of standard and customised training courses (ranging from
introductory courses through to administrator courses) to help you learn how to use ISS
products.

P E R F O RM A NC E T U NI N G
ISS Group offers a series of system checks to make sure your ISS systems are running as
efficiently as possible.

Y OU R F E E D B A C K
To help improve what we offer you, ISS Group would like your feedback about this guide.
Please send your comments by email to the ISS Support Group, specifying the name of the
guide, as well as section headings or page numbers for our reference.

C O NTA C T D E T A I L S
You can contact the ISS Support Group via phone or email for technical support on any
aspect of ISS Group's products. Please also contact ISS Support Group for further
information on the BabelFish User Group event, access to the online support portal,
Performance Tuning services, and information on available training courses. Feedback on
our products or user guides can also be sent to ISS Support Group.
Phone:
Email:

1300 739 969 (Australia only)

+61 8 9241 0300 (outside Australia)
[email protected]

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Getting Started
In This Chapter
Logging On and Off
Changing Your Password

4
5

Before you start using BabelFish Explorer, you will need:

User name and password
Normally this will be your standard network login. Check with your System
Administrator if you are unsure.
Web address (URL) for accessing BabelFish Explorer
Available from your System Administrator. Typically, this will be something like:
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid..
Microsoft Internet Explorer and access to the corporate intranet
Required to access BabelFish Explorer.

Logging On and Off

The BabelFish Login page appears when you first visit BabelFish Explorer, or if you have
logged off from BabelFish Explorer using the Logoff button
on the BabelFish toolbar.
Note: The Login page may not appear if you use integrated Windows Authentication, as
this will automatically log you in using your Windows user name and password.

To launch BabelFish Explorer and log in:

1.

Open a new Internet Explorer window (Click Start > Programs > Internet Explorer).

2.

In the address bar, type the URL supplied by your System Administrator. The link to
BabelFish is usually available via your corporate intranet. Click on any links required
to access BabelFish, as directed by your System Administrator.

3.

When prompted to do so, enter your user name and password, and then click the
Login button.

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CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

On successful login, your home page (see page 92) appears, as determined by your profile
(see page 13).
If the login is unsuccessful, a Login Failed message appears. You can attempt to log in
again or contact your System Administrator if you have forgotten your login details.

Changing Your Password

You can change the password for your BabelFish account through the My Profile (see page
13) dialog box.
1.

In My Profile, click Change Password next to the User name field.

2.

In the Change Password dialog box:

3.

a.

Type your existing password into the Old password box.

b.

Type your new password into the New password box.

c.

Type your new password again into the Confirm password box.

Click OK.

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Overview of the Interface

In This Chapter
BabelFish Framework
BabelFish Toolbar
Tab Strip
BabelFish Page

7
7
14
15

The BabelFish Explorer presents information in a dashboard fashion inside a framework

that operates within the Web browser.
The BabelFish Explorer contains a number of elements and objects that are displayed from
within the BabelFish Framework.

Pages (see page 15)

Trends (see page 190)
Tags and entities (see page 54)
Page Objects (see page 141)
Menus (see page 209)
Plant Model Tree (see page 133)
My Environment (see page 12)
Publishing (see page 137)

You may already be familiar with some of these elements, but many are unique to
BabelFish. Before we explore the above elements, let's take a closer look at the BabelFish
Framework (see page 7) itself.

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

BABELFISH FRAMEWORK

BabelFish Framework
The BabelFish Explorer is displayed within a web browser. The general appearance of
BabelFish Explorer is determined by the BabelFish Framework, which may be customised
to a certain extent by your System Administrator. This framework has the following
features:

The Web browser (Internet Explorer) in which the BabelFish framework operates.
The browser (see page 22) is not part of the BabelFish framework.
BabelFish toolbar (see page 8)
Tab strip (see page 14)
BabelFish page (see page 15)

BabelFish Toolbar
The BabelFish toolbar indicates the top of the BabelFish Explorer framework. There are
two parts to the BabelFish toolbar:

Custom menus (see page 8)

BabelFish functions (see page 8)

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BABELFISH TOOLBAR

Custom Framework Menus

BabelFish allows administrators to configure a customised menu system on the BabelFish
toolbar. These take the form of traditional drop-down menus and may contain links to
other BabelFish pages (see page 15) or to external websites.
Framework menus are configured in ISS Enterprise Manager. For further details, refer to
the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

Menus can also have sub-menus (cascading menus).

BabelFish Functions
Commonly used BabelFish functions are presented on the right side of the BabelFish
toolbar.

These functions represent the core functionality of the BabelFish Explorer and are always
available. The functions are:
Icon

Function

Explanation

Hide Toolbar

Show or hide the BabelFish functions.

Print

Open the Print Preview window to print the current page. This
only appears for pages that use it.

Return to Home Page Open the Home page (see page 92) in this instance of
BabelFish.
Plant Model

Display or hide information in the Plant Model Tree (see page

133) hierarchy. Preview hierarchies such as plant layouts, KPIs,
and control systems along with tags and location. Also includes
the Table of Contents.

Page Edit Toolbar

Display the Design

icon on the Page toolbar, which allows
you to switch to Design mode (see page 17)if you have the
relevant permissions. It also displays the page's time controls
and menus. Pages with menus automatically display this
toolbar.

My Environment

Open My Environment (see page 12) to list your private and

public pages and trends, and view the pages and trends you

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Icon

Function

BABELFISH TOOLBAR

Explanation
have recently accessed.

Pages

Open the Pages list to display a list of public pages as well as all
your private pages. It does not show private pages owned by
other users.

Trends

Open the Trends list (see page 9) to display a list of public

trends as well as all your private trends. It does not show
private trends owned by other users.

Tag Bucket

Display a trend of all the tags currently in the tag bucket. This is
often called a Bucket Trend. You can also right-click to open the
Tag Bucket menu.

Help

Display the online help for BabelFish. If you have more than one
product installed, the arrow on the right displays all your
available help sources.

Search

Open the Search (see page 49) page to start searching from the
search

Now

field.

Log off

Log off from BabelFish, and open the Login page (see page 4) to
login as a different user.

Date/Time picker

Opens the Date/Time picker, allowing you to set the date and
time (see page 25) to now, or to a different date and time.
When the Now check box is selected, this indicates the date
and time is set to the current date and time. This only appears
for pages that use it.
Note: If set to Now, the displayed time will update to the new
current time every time the page is refreshed.

Trends List
The Trends list window displays a list of all public and private trends in BabelFish. For
further information on Trends, refer to the BabelFish Explorer Trending Tool Reference.

To open the Trends list, click the

8).

Trends icon on the BabelFish Toolbar (see page

The icons at the top of the window provide you with the following functions:

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

Icon

BABELFISH TOOLBAR

Function
Launch a blank trend.
Create a new trend using the Trend Wizard.
Use the Tags list (see page 10) to launch a tag trend.
Publishing Status (see page 137) drop-down list. Choose to view all trends you have
permission to view, only public trends you have permission to view, or only your
private trends.
Refresh the list of trends.
Filter (see page 26) the list of trends

Tags List
The Tags list window displays a list of all public and private tags (see page 54) in BabelFish.
The Tags list is typically used to select a tag for objects in BabelFish Explorer, although it
can also be used to launch a tag trend if it is invoked from the Trends list. You can open a
Tag List in many ways, and it can also appear in different ways depending on how you
invoked it.

T O OL B OX

From the Toolbox (see page 19), select the Tag

tab.

Double-clicking a tag from the toolbox will launch a Point Detail (see page 76) of that tag.

The icons at the top of the window provide you with the following functions:
Icon

Function
Publishing Status (see page 137) drop-down list. Choose to view all tags
you have permission to view, only public tags you have permission to
view, or only private tags.
Group the Tag List according to the Datasources.
Refresh the list of tags.
Filter (see page 26) the list of tags

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BABELFISH TOOLBAR

O BJE C T E D I TO R

From any BabelFish object editor (see page 142), click the Tag

icon or button.

Double-clicking a tag from the page object Tag List will insert that tag into the object.

E X PRE S SI O N E D IT O R

From the Expression Editor (see page 57), click View Tag Picker.

If you open the Tag List from the Expression Editor, you will get two tabs on the left side.
The Tags tab displays the tags in a similar way to the Toolbox. The Plant Model tab displays
the tags in the Data Dictionary, along with utilities you can use to search for a specific tag.

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

BABELFISH TOOLBAR

My Environment
My Environment
allows every BabelFish user to access their private pages and trends,
as well as seeing all their recently viewed pages (see page 15) and trends. All public pages
and trends are also available to all users.

My Environment also provides an easy way for users to:

Create BabelFish pages using a wizard (see page 104).

Create BabelFish trends using a wizard. For further details, refer to the BabelFish
Explorer Trending Tool Reference.

Submit or retract pages and trends for publishing (see page 138).

Change their home page (see page 92).

A public page, trend, or tag is available to all users, while a private page, trend or tag is
available only to the person who created it, or an administrator. A private page or trend
becomes public via the publishing process. The author submits the page or trend to an
administrator for review and publishing.
My Environment is divided into three main areas:

M Y P A GE S
My Pages displays the list of pages you have created. The buttons directly below allow you
to:
Button

Function
Create a new page using the Page Wizard. From here, you can only create private
pages.
Delete the selected page.

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

Button

BABELFISH TOOLBAR

Function
Submit the selected page for publishing.
Recall the selected page from publishing. This button is only active if a submitted
page is selected.

M Y T RE ND S
My Trends displays the list of trends you have created. The buttons directly below allow
you to:
Button

Function
Launch a blank trend. This creates a new trend that does not contain any traces.
Create a new trend using the Trend Wizard.
Delete the selected trend.
Submit the selected trend for publishing.
Recall the selected trend from publishing. This button is only active if a submitted
trend is selected.

RECENT
The Recent list displays all the pages and trends that have been used recently. This list
includes private and public trends and pages. The buttons directly below allow you to:
Button

Function
Close My Environment.
Open the My Profile (see page 13) window.

My Profile
Your BabelFish profile contains the following information:

User name
First name
Last name
Description
Home page (see page 92)

You can change any field, other than User name, which is set by your System
Administrator.
To view or change your BabelFish profile:
1.

Click My Environment (see page 12)

in the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

2.

Click the My Profile button beneath the Recent list.

3.

Make changes as required.

TAB STRIP

To change your home page, enter a new page number in the Home page field. If you
are not sure of the page number, click Browse to view the Pages List and find your
page. Double-click on the page to insert the page number.
4.

To change your login password, click Change Password and make the required
changes.

5.

Click OK.

Note: You cannot change your user name.

Tab Strip
The BabelFish tab strip is located directly below the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8), and
displays tabs of any opened BabelFish page, trend, or tag point detail.

You can scroll through the tabs by using the tab controls on the right side of the tab strip.
The controls are:
Control
Scroll

Comments
Scroll between the tabs to view a different page. This is only activated when there
are more tabs open than can fit in the width of the browser.
Left scrolling enabled
Right scrolling enabled
Both directions enabled
Both directions disabled

Close

Close the current (highlighted) tab. You cannot close the Home tab (see page 92).

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Refresh

BABELFISH PAGE

Refresh the current page. You may choose to use this if you want to force the data
on the page to refresh.

Note: All tab titles are restricted to 20 characters.

BabelFish Page
BabelFish pages are displayed in the main window of the BabelFish Explorer. Each page has
a page title and a unique Page Identification (Page ID) number, and may include any of the
following and more:

Background image (see page 115)

Dynamic tag values (see page 54)
BabelFish Shapes
Objects (see page 141)
Tabular reports (see page 235)
XML Tables (see page 239)
Statistics (see page 187)
Search (see page 186)
Trends (see page 190)

BabelFish pages not only allow you to view information, they also allow you to dynamically
interact with it to perform a deeper analysis (see page 22) on system data.
When you view completed BabelFish pages, you view them in Display mode (see page 16).
This provides you with the facility to not only view BabelFish pages, but to:

Drill down for detailed, low-level information.

View statistics on the data presented in the page.
Send data on to the BabelFish Trending Tool for further analysis.

The Design mode (see page 17) interface is where you design and build the page.

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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE

BABELFISH PAGE

Display Mode Interface

The BabelFish Display mode interface has the following features:

Page toolbar (see page 16)

BabelFish page (see page 15)

Page Toolbar
The Page Toolbar
functions:

icon on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) performs several

Allows you to perform minor transforms on the data displayed on the BabelFish
page.

Provides access to the Design mode interface (see page 17), assuming appropriate
privileges.

If configured, displays menus for the BabelFish page.

The Page Toolbar has the following features:

Design icon
The Design
icon allows you to toggle between Display mode and Design mode
(see page 17).
Menu Item
Menu items only appear if they have been configured for the displayed page.

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BABELFISH PAGE

Method
The sample method determines how data is requested
from external sources. The Method drop-down list allows
you to change the sampling method of data displayed on
the page.
Last Known Value
The last known value of the data is displayed, even if this
data point is in the past. This is the default.
Linear Interpolate
Requests a linear interpolation of the data from the time specified by the Period
selection to the currently selected framework time.
Average
Requests an average of the data between the time specified by the Period selection
to the currently selected framework time.
Raw
Displays the most recent data for tags on or before the time specified by the
Date/Time Picker. Any values that are not within the age limit defined for its portal
Datasource are displayed with a question mark and a tooltip that shows the age of
the value.
Period
For Average and Linear Interpolate sample methods, the period specifies how far
back in time the Datasources should go to calculate an average or interpolation.

Design Mode Interface

The BabelFish Design mode interface has the following features:

Design Toolbar
BabelFish page (see page 15)

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BABELFISH PAGE

Toolbox (see page 19)

Toolbox tabs (see page 19)

In Design mode, some minor changes also occur to the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8): the
Print

and Now

buttons no longer appear.

Design Toolbar
The Design Toolbar provides you with access to tools and objects you can use to design
your BabelFish page (see page 111).

It contains the following items:

Edit Control Group
Design icon. Toggle between Design mode (see page 17) and Display mode (see page 16).
Toolbox icon. Toggle the Toolbox (see page 19) on and off.
Selection Group
Select icon. Select page objects (see page 112) to rearrange them, or double-click on them to edit
their properties.
Page Group
New Page icon. Open the Page Wizard (see page 104) to create a new BabelFish page.
Open Page icon. Open the Pages list and choose a page to edit. This performs the same function as
the Pages
icon in the BabelFish toolbar, except the page opens in Design mode (see page 96).
Object Edit Group
Properties icon. Open the Object Details Editor (see page 142) for the selected object.
Snap to Grid icon. Toggle Snap to Grid (see page 119) on and off.
Objects Group
Tag icon. Open the Tag Details Editor (see page 69) to specify a new tag. Includes calculations
based on existing tags.
Label icon. Open the Label Details Editor (see page 207) to create a new label.
Hyperlink icon. Open the Hyperlink Details Editor (see page 196) to create a new hyperlink.
Image icon. Open the Image Details Editor (see page 204) to create a new image.
Button icon. Open the Button Details Editor (see page 160) to create a new button.
Hotspot icon. Open the Hotspot Details Editor (see page 193) to create a live area that links to a
BabelFish page or another URL.
iFrame icon. Open the iFrame Details Editor (see page 200) to embed a live Web page into a
BabelFish page.
Grid Layout icon. Open the Grid Layout Details Editor (see page 123) to creates a grid that allows
tags, links, and other page objects to be positioned in the grid, and displayed in a tabular f orm.

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Combo box icon. Open the Combobox Details Editor (see page 164) to configure a new drop-down
selection list.
Embedded Objects Group
Comment icon. Insert an embedded Comment object (see page 169). Creates a field for end users
to enter comments.
Data Table icon. Insert a Data Table (see page 173) object to create an SQL query and format the
resulting table.
Operating Donut icon. Insert an Operating Donut object (see page 212).
Performance Curve icon. Insert a Performance Curve object (see page 221).
Search icon. Insert an Embedded Search object (see page 186).
Trend icon. Insert an Embedded Trend object (see page 190).
XML Table icon. Insert an XML Table object (see page 239).
Multi-select Group
Multi-Select Tools icon. Open the Multi-select Tools (see page 119) to assist you in arranging page
objects.

Toolbox
The Toolbox provides a way for you to drag and drop tags, menus, shapes, tables, and
templates onto your BabelFish page (see page 15). It contains the "live" data elements that
you need in order to obtain a dynamic view of the state of your system, plant, or facility.

The Toolbox tabs, located vertically on the left side, provide access to the following
elements:
Tags
The Tags (see page 54) tab is laid out in the same manner as the Tags list (see page
10). However, double-clicking on a tag from the toolbox opens the Point Detail (see
page 76) of the tag. To place a tag onto a page (see page 111), drag the tag from the
toolbox and drop it onto the page.
Menus
The Menus (see page 209) tab allows you to add a menu to the Page Toolbar (see
page 16). Drag-and-drop a menu item onto any menu-receptive object (such as a
page or label). Double-click a menu item to open the Menu Details Editor (see page
144).

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BABELFISH PAGE

Vector Shapes and Objects

The Vector Shapes and Objects tab provides access to the many Vector Shapes
BabelFish provides. To place a shape onto a page (see page 111), drag the shape
from the toolbox and drop it onto the page. Double-click on the shape on the page
to open the Shape Details Editor.
SQL Tables and Queries
The SQL Tables and Queries tab provides access to the Data Tables and SQL queries
that an administrator has created. To place an SQL table or query onto a page, drag
the Data Table from the toolbox and drop it onto the page. Double-click a table to
open the Data Table Details Editor (see page 173).
Plant Model Templates
The Plant Model Templates tab provides access to the Template Tags you have
created. To place a template tag onto a page (see page 111), drag the template (see
page 58) from the toolbox and drop it onto the page. Double-click a template tag to
open the Template Tag Details Editor (see page 60).

Changing Between Modes

To access Design mode, you must be one of:

A member of the Editors group or the Administrators group.

A member of a security group with Edit privileges on the page.

Own the displayed BabelFish page.

To change between the Display (see page 16) and Design (see page 17) mode interfaces:
1.

Click the Page Toolbar

icon on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

Note: If you meet the Design requirements, but you do not see the Page Toolbar icon
, an Administrator has disabled the icon.
The Page Toolbar (see page 16) appears.

2.

In the Page Toolbar, click the Design

icon.

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The BabelFish page changes to the Design mode interface (see page 17) and the
Design Toolbar appears, replacing the Page Toolbar.

Note: If you do not meet the Design requirements, the Design icon will not work.

To change back to Display mode, click the Design icon

Design interface and the Display interface.

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Tips and Tricks

In This Chapter
Analysing Data
Browser Tips
Colours
Viewing Private Objects
Date and Time
Filters
Help
Navigating
Printing
Reserved Characters and Words
Replacement Tokens
Live Documents
Searching

22
22
24
25
25
26
27
27
29
32
34
48
49

BabelFish provides many ways of doing things. This section provides you with some handy
hints on how to get the most out of BabelFish.

Analysing Data
BabelFish Explorer provides you with several ways to drill down and further analyse data
that is displayed on a page.
Right-clicking on an object (see page 141) often displays a menu (see page 209) through
which you can perform additional analysis.
Right-clicking any tag in a BabelFish page invokes a shortcut menu that allows you to:

View the Point Detail (see page 76) for a tag.

View associated tags (see page 74).
Send the tag to a trend.
Get Statistics (see page 65) on the tag.

Many functions also allow you to manipulate

time-series data by changing the timebase, sample method, and sample interval.

Browser Tips
It is not recommended to use the browser navigation to navigate outside of BabelFish
Explorer. If you use your browser to navigate outside BabelFish, all open pages except the
home page (see page 92) will close when you use the browser's Back button to return to
the BabelFish page.

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BROWSER TIPS

B R OW SE R T O O LB A R
If you need to maximise the size of your BabelFish page, press the F11 key to switch to
full-screen mode.

B R OW SE R S E T TI N GS
Make sure you have the following settings enabled. If you are unsure how to change these,
check with your System Administrator.

Allow Popups.
Add the BabelFish server URL to your trusted sites.
Enable ActiveX controls.
Correct Security settings for the Internet zone. Sometimes, a Windows update will
change these settings in your browser, which may result in some BabelFish pages not
working correctly. If you think this has occurred, contact your System Administrator
to change them.
For Internet Explorer 8 or later, Compatibility View is required.

C O MPA TI B IL IT Y V IE W
To turn on Compatibility View:
1.

In the Tools menu of Internet

Explorer, click Compatibility View
Settings.

2.

Select Display all websites in

Compatibility View.

3.

Click Close.

UTF-8 C H A RA C TE RS

I N TH E

URL

Internet Explorer does not support the use

of Unicode characters in the address bar.
Therefore any tag names that contain
UTF-8 characters, when used in a URL, may
result in BabelFish Explorer not correctly
displaying the intended result.

L I MI TA T I ON S

OF

64- BI T

B R OW SE R S

By design, the 64-bit version of Internet

Explorer cannot host 32-bit ActiveX controls, and the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer
cannot host 64-bit ActiveX controls.
When running the Fast Trend, Print Control, or Performance Curve (either through
download or the client tools installer), they will only run on a 32-bit version of Internet
Explorer, as they are 32-bit components.
For more information on 64-bit Internet Explorer, see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896457 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896457).

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COLOURS

Colours
Many objects (see page 141) within BabelFish
allow you to specify a colour to customise
them according to preference. For example,
you can specify a colour for a BabelFish Shape.
In a typical colour entry box, you can specify a colour in two ways :

Specify the hexadecimal value, for example #ffffff.

Specify the HTML name for the colour (also known as a named or preset colour). This
is often a simple name, such as red or blue.

However, BabelFish also provides you with a Color Picker, available from several locations.
This utility allows you to select colours from a palette. Invoking the Color Picker is usually a
matter of clicking the coloured square next to the colour field.
The Color Picker contains 140
named HTML colours to choose
from, or you can specify your
own colour using either the
hexadecimal value or the RGB
value.
Displayed Preset colour
Click on the colour.
RGB Picker
Use the RGB Picker
(slider) to select an RGB
value. As you use the
slider, the values are
displayed in the Color
fields (to the right), and vice-versa.
Color values
To manually type in an RGB value, type the values into the Red, Green, and Blue
fields. As you do this, the RGB Picker changes to reflect the specified value. The
hexadecimal value will also change to correspond with the displayed RGB value.
Alternatively, you can specify a hexadecimal value, and the RGB values will also
change.
The New Color square, above the Cancel button, displays the selected colour.

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VIEWING PRIVATE OBJECTS

Viewing Private Objects

If you have created many private tags, pages, trends, or menus, you may want to be able
to view all those you have created. There are several ways to do this:

M Y E NV I RO N M E N T
On the BabelFish toolbar, My Environment (see page 12)
allows you to view all your
private pages and trends. Additionally, wizard functionality is provided so you can create
additional pages and trends.

P A GE S L IS T
On the BabelFish toolbar, the Pages list
(also called the Page Picker) displays all public
pages as well as your private ones. To display only your private pages, simply click on the
drop-down list and select Private. Additionally, wizard functionality is provided so you can
create additional pages.

T RE ND S L IS T
On the BabelFish toolbar, the Trends list (see page 9)
(also called the Trend Picker)
displays all public trends as well as your private ones. To display only your private trends,
simply click on the drop-down list and select Private. Additionally, wizard functionality is
provided so you can create additional trends.

T A G T O O LB OX
In the toolbox (see page 19) in Design mode, the Tag tab
displays all public tags as
well as your private ones. To display only your private tags, simply click on the drop -down
list and select Private.

M E NU T O O L BOX
In the toolbox (see page 19) in Design mode, the Menu tab
displays all public menus as
well as your private ones. To display only your private menus, simply click on the
drop-down list and select Private.

Date and Time

BabelFish objects (see page 141) display data values at a specific point in time. A BabelFish
page (see page 15) or trend can be displayed at the current date and time (NOW) or as a
historical view, used when you want to view the values at a particular point in time, such
as at 10am ten days ago.
To update the date and time (see page 26), click the Now check box
BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) to open the Date/Time Picker.

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TIPS AND TRICKS

FILTERS

Updating the Date and Time

To update the date or time:
1.

2.

Click the Now button

Date/Time Picker.

on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) to open the

To change the month, click the arrow in the month list, and then click the
correct month.

To change the year, click the arrows in the year list.

To change the day, click the correct day on the calendar.

To set the date and time to the current time, click Now (lower left).

To update the time, either drag the clock hands or use the text boxes below
the clock (you can either type the time in or use the arrows).

Click OK.

Filters
BabelFish installations usually have thousands of tags, which means that scrolling through
a long list to find a tag can be overwhelming.
However, BabelFish Explorer provides you with a filter that you can use to sort through the
long list of tags, making finding what you're looking for a lot simpler.
The filter is indicated by a funnel
following:

icon and renders a dialog window similar to the

To use the filter:

1.

Type in all or part of the name of a tag into the Filter Expression text box. The Tag
Filter is not case sensitive, and you can also use wildcards (see page 50) in your
expression.

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2.

HELP

Click OK.
The Tag Filter closes, and a list of tag names that contain your Filter Expression
appears in the Tag List.

C LE A R IN G

TH E

F I LTE R E X P RE S SI O N

To clear the filter expression box and view all tags in the Tag List, click Clear.

Help
You can get help in a variety of ways within BabelFish Explorer.
The Help icon
on the BabelFish
toolbar (see page 8) provides you with
online help for all BabelFish Explorer
features. The online help opens in its
own tab, and you can leave it open for as
long as you like without it interfering
with the application.

Additionally, some dialog boxes provide a link to

which displays an extended tooltip with information
relevant to the object at hand.

Navigating
In BabelFish Explorer, there are many ways to navigate and view information.

Opening a page (see page 93)

Opening an existing trend (see page 27)

Opening a tag (see page 64)

Display statistics via shortcut menus (see page 65)

Opening an Existing Trend

You can open a saved trend in several ways.

FROM
1.

THE

T RE ND S L I S T

On the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8), click the Trends

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TIPS AND TRICKS

2.

3.

NAVIGATING

If required, filter (see page 26) the list of trends:

a.

Click the Filter

icon.

b.

In the Filter Expression dialog box, type the filter criteria, and then click OK.

Double-click on the name of the trend you want to open.

F R O M M Y E NV I R O NM E N T
My Environment (see page 12) lists pages, trends, and a list of all pages and trends opened
recently.
1.

On the BabelFish toolbar, click the My Environment

2.

Double-click on the name of the trend you want to open.

F R O M W I TH I N

icon.

D IS P LA YE D T RE ND

1.

On the trend File menu, click Open Trend (File > Open Trend).

2.

If required, filter (see page 26) the list of trends:

3.

a.

Click the Filter

icon.

b.

In the Filter Expression dialog box, type the filter criteria, and then click OK.

Double-click on the name of the trend you want to open.

FROM

B A BE L F I SH P A G E M E NU

If your BabelFish page menus (see page 209) (on the BabelFish toolbar) contain links to
trends, you can also access them from here.

Click on the page menus as required to navigate your way to the trend, and then click on
the name of the trend you want to open.

FROM

B A BE L F I SH P A G E

A BabelFish page may contain embedded trends (see page 190). You can double-click on
any embedded trend in a BabelFish page to open it in a separate tab.

FROM

THE

P LA NT M O D E L T RE E

If the Plant Model Tree has been configured:

1.

On the BabelFish toolbar, click the Plant Model Tree (see page 133)

2.

Expand and contract the tree nodes as appropriate, and double-click on a trend icon
to open the trend in a new tab.

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TIPS AND TRICKS

PRINTING

Right-Click Menu
Right-clicking any tag in a BabelFish page invokes a shortcut menu that allows you to:

View the Point Detail (see page 76) for a tag.

View associated tags (see page 74).
Send the tag to a trend.
Get Statistics (see page 65) on the tag.

Printing
Note: The print control will only run on a 32-bit version of Internet Explorer.
BabelFish Explorer has its own print capability, which allows:

Printing of only the BabelFish page, not including the BabelFish toolbar.
Scaling web pages appropriately to the printed page.
Default printing of background images.

Optionally printing a separate URL (for situations where the printed report is different in
format to the displayed page).
Note: If you choose to print using the browser's print function or from the browser's
right-click menu, the browser's native print function will be used instead of the
BabelFish printing function. This means that the page may not print properly and the
BabelFish toolbar will also be printed.
The Print icon on the BabelFish toolbar opens a Print Preview window similar to that found
in Internet Explorer 8. With the BabelFish Print Preview window, you can:

See how a BabelFish page will look when printed.

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PRINTING

Adjust page orientation, scaling, and margins as required.

P R IN TI N G

P A GE

To preview how a BabelFish page will look when it is printed:

1.

Click Print button

on the BabelFish toolbar.

The Print Preview window appears.

Note: If you go to a page and open Print Preview before the page is fully loaded in
the browser, the page will appear blank in Print Preview.
Aside from the margin indicators, the Print Preview window will print exactly what
appears on the page.
Note: The Change Print Size (zoom) feature might not work properly if the webpage
you're trying to print specifies the exact location where text should print on the
page.

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2.

PRINTING

Make the required adjustments, if any, using the Print Options (see page 31) on the
toolbar or via Page Setup .
Note: If you change printing options (such as paper orientation) by using the buttons
in Print Preview, those changes will be in effect temporarily (until you close Internet
Explorer). To make permanent changes to your printing options (for example, to
change the default paper size), make the changes in Page Setup
.

3.

To print the page, click Print

, choose your printer, and then click Print.

Print Options
The Print Preview toolbar offers several options for changing how a page is displayed on
the screen and when printed.

The following table describes how the print options affect what you see on the screen and
what appears on the printed page.
Clicking on this...

Does this...
Print Document. Opens the Print dialog, which is where you can choose your
printer and subsequently print the page. This allows you to print the page
using the current settings
Portrait. Changes the page orientation to portrait so the page prints vertically.
Landscape. Changes the page orientation to landscape so the page prints
horizontally.
Page Setup. Opens a dialog box where you can change paper size, orientation,
margins, headers and footers.
Turn headers and footers on or off. Decide whether to print additional
information (such as the date, website address, or page number) at the top
(header) or bottom (footer) of the page.
View Full Width. Zoom the page to the width of the preview screen. This does
not affect the printed copy.
View Full Page. Zoom the web page to show the full web page in the preview
screen. This does not affect the printed copy.
Show Multiple Pages. View multiple pages on the preview screen. This does
not affect the printed copy.
Change Print Size. Stretch or shrink the page size to fill the printed page, or
specify a percentage zoom. If selecting Custom, you must also specify a
percentage number by which to zoom.
Custom Size. If specifying Custom zoom, specify the percentage here.
First Page. Go to the first page. This does not affect the printed copy.
Previous Page. Go to the previous page. This does not affect the printed copy.

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Clicking on this...

RESERVED CHARACTERS AND WORDS

Does this...
Current Page. Specify the page to display. This does not affect the printed
copy.
Next Page. Go to the next page. This does not affect the printed copy.
Last Page. Go to the last page. This does not affect the printed copy.
Adjust Margin. Drag the horizontal or vertical markers to change where the
page will print.

Reserved Characters and Words

BabelFish places certain restrictions on names for some objects. These objects include:

Entity names
Data source names (both DMS and Portal)
Attribute names
Property names
Template names
Trend names
Page names
Property values for specific properties (TAG_IMPORT, CONFLICT_PREFIX,
CONFLICT_SUFFIX)
Tag names

Note: Different Datasources have different requirements for naming tags. Unless
otherwise indicated in the documentation for a specific Adaptor, the rules in this
topic apply to all tag names.

O BJE C T N A M IN G R U LE S

Names for objects should not be empty.

Names should not contain any BabelFish reserved keyword (see below).

Names should not contain any invalid characters (see below).

If a name contains one or more invalid characters, an automatic attempt to correct it

will be made (see below). This means that all invalid characters, except for the
double quote, should be changed to a valid character and should therefore be
validated. This also means that any name with a double quote will automatically fail
validation.

Tag names should not contain calculation engine functions or reserved words (see
below).

Known Issue: When creating or renaming tags in BabelFish Explorer, tags will not function
correctly if you attempt to include ')%' anywhere within the tag name, or end the
name with the ')' character.

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RESERVED CHARACTERS AND WORDS

I NV A LID C H A R A C TE R S
Invalid Character

Replacement Character

Note: Any name with a double quote will automatically fail validation.

C A L C U L A T I ON E N GI NE F U NC T I ON S
The Calculation Engine regards certain characters as mathematical operators. If these
characters are used in tag names, this may cause calculations to fail.
To overcome this, be sure to use the TAG() function for any character that could be
confused as an operator, including < > ^ = + - / * and spaces.

R E SE RV E D K E YW O RD S (R E P LA C E M E N T T OKE N S )
EP_ATTRIBUTENAME EP_PAGEID

EP_TAG_NAME

EP_USER_ID

EP_COOKIE

EP_PAGE_NAME

EP_TAGNAME

EP_USERID

EP_DECODE

EP_PAGENAME

EP_TAGVAL

EP_USERNAME

EP_ENCODE

EP_PROPERTY

EP_TEMPLATE

EP_USER_NAME

EP_LABELTEXT

EP_SESSIONVAR

EP_TIME

EP_USERVAR

EP_PAGE_ID

EP_TAG_ID

EP_TZMINS

EP_WEBSERVER

EP_TAGID

EP_TZHOURS

O TH E R R E SE RV E D W O R D S
The following words are reserved and should not be used in template parameters or tags:
averagemins

excludebftags

readonly

tagname

autotitle

excludedata

sampint

tagselector

autorange

fixedhairlines

sampleinterval

tagvaluetooltip

auxtags

fixedtags

samplemethod

this

builder

format

sampmeth

textfilter

BabelNet

gallery

scrollbar

time

category

hairlines

scrollperiod

timebase

colors

hairlinemode

selected

timezoneoffset

comments

inlinemode

show

toolbars

commonrange

includecomments

showcomments

transform

contextmenu

leftss

showmenu

trend_id

display

lines

starttime

tzmins

dstchunk

menubar

stripes

dstendtime

menuconfig

styles

xaxis

dststarttime

mode

subjs

Xtrace

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REPLACEMENT TOKENS

dsttimezoneoffset

page_object_id

tag_id

edit

pageid

tagaliaslist

yaxis

endtime

period

tagidlist

entitylist

prompt

taglist

Replacement Tokens
Replacement Tokens are preset names that represent values. These tokens, when used in
page objects*, tags, menus, and pages, are replaced by an actual value.
*For a list of page objects, refer to Page Objects (see page 141).
The tokens that are available to various objects are:
Token

Description

Applies to

EP_ATTRIBUTENAME(
entity:attribute)

The name of an attribute in the form of

(Entity:Attribute). Used when specifying
attributes of attributes in the Plant Model
Tree. Usually used along with EP_TEMPLATE
on template pages. For example,
EP_ATTRIBUTENAME(EP_TEMPLATE(entity):Att
ribute).

Pages
Tags
XML and Data Tables
Menus

EP_DECODE(string)

Decodes the passed string using URL decoding. Buttons

Combo boxes
By default, session variables are not encoded
Hyperlinks
in URLs. However, there are cases where
keywords may need to be decoded in URLs to iFrames
Labels
make sure characters are escaped correctly.
As part of making this available to the Combo XML and Data Tables
Menus
box object, it is now possible to use all other
keywords (except EP_SESSIONVAR and
EP_USERVAR) from within the Value field of
Combo box options. However, you cannot use
these in the Text field of the Combo box
option.
Examples:
EP_DECODE(&EP_TEMPLATE(abc))
EP_DECODE(test&test2=value2)
This keyword is supported in all other places
that the standard set of EP_ keywords are
supported.

EP_ENCODE(string)
(see page 37)

Encodes the passed string using URL encoding. Buttons

Combo boxes
By default, session variables are not encoded
Hyperlinks
in URLs. However, there are cases where
keywords may need to be encoded in URLs to iFrames
Labels
make sure characters are escaped correctly.
As part of making this available to the Combo XML and Data Tables
Menus
box object, it is now possible to use all other

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Token

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Description

Applies to

keywords (except EP_SESSIONVAR and

EP_USERVAR) from within the Value field of
Combo box options. However, you cannot use
these in the Text field of the Combo box
option.
Examples:
EP_ENCODE(&EP_TEMPLATE(abc))
EP_ENCODE(test&test2=value2)
This keyword is supported in all other places
that the standard set of EP_ keywords are
supported.
EP_LABELTEXT

Text of the label to which this menu item is

attached.

Menus

EP_PAGE_ID

The current page ID.

iFrames, Labels, XML and

Data Tables, Menus

EP_PAGE_NAME

The name of the current page.

iFrames, XML Tables,

Menus

EP_PROPERTY(name)

The variable name is a BabelFish property

string (entityname$propertyname).

iFrames
XML and Data Tables
Menus

Example: Brocomo 100$Completion Diagram

Usually used in conjunction with
EP_TEMPLATE.
That is:
EP_PROPERTY(EP_TEMPLATE(WellName)
$Completion Diagram).
EP_SESSIONVAR(<var
name>, <default
value>, <true|false>)

Provides a way to pass variable values to

All page objects and
pages. This token returns a specified default
menus
value <default value> when using a variable
name <varname>, during this browser session.
The value of a session variable is limited to a
particular browser session.
<varname> is a BabelFish variable, such as
COLOR.
<default value> is the value you want returned
as the default.
<true|false> is optional and specifies whether
or not to force the default value. If no value or
a value other than true or false is entered, it
will be treated as false.
Example:

EP_SESSIONVAR(COLOR,red)

During this session, when the variable COLOR

is used, the default value red will be inserted,
unless another colour is nominated.
The purpose of the third parameter is to allow
a template parameter to be linked to a
variable and have it set every time the page

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Token

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Description

Applies to

reloads.
Example: EP_SESSIONVAR(COLOR,
EP_TEMPLATE(COLOR), true)
Note: If the session variable is to contain a
URL, then the EP_ENCODE (see page 37)
keyword should also be used to contain the
URL parameters to ensure correct escaping of
characters.
EP_STARTTIME(value)

The configured offset from END_TIME in an

SQL Tag Query.

SQL tags

EP_TAGNAME

Name of the tag to which this menu is

attached.

Menus

EP_TAGID

BabelFish tag ID of the tag to which this menu

item is attached.

Menus

EP_TEMPLATE(t)

Substituted with the value of the query string

parameter 't' with which the page was called
up. The query string is the mechanism by
which template instances are specified.

iFrames
Labels
XML and Data Tables
Menus

Note: For templated pages, the EP_ENCODE

(see page 37) keyword should also be used to
ensure correct escaping of characters.
EP_TIME

Returns the time on the BabelFish page in UTC iFrames

seconds. UTC is the Coordinated Universal
XML and Data Tables
Time.
Menus

EP_USERVAR(<var
name>, <default
value>, <true|false>)

This provides a way to pass variable values to All Page Objects

pages. This token returns a specified default
Menus
value <default value> when using a user
variable represented by <var name>, when
this user is logged on. This is similar to session
variables, however the variable retains its
values across sessions for the current user.
<varname> is a BabelFish variable, such as
COLOR.
<default value> is the value you want returned
as the default when this user is logged in.
<true|false> is optional and specifies whether
or not to force the default value. If no value or
a value other than true or false is entered, it
will be treated as false.
Example:
http://servername/pagename.asp?var1=fred&
var2=EP_USERVAR(COLOR, red)
When this user is logged in, if COLOR is not
assigned a value, the default value of red is
inserted into "var2" of the URL.
(var2=EP_USERVAR(COLOR, red))

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Token

Description

Applies to

The URL then becomes:

http://servername/pagename.asp?var1=fred&
var2=red
The page can use the value of var2 such as in
an SQL table select statement. Example:
SELECT items FROM table WHERE itemcolor =
var2.
The value of var name (in this case COLOR) can
be set via a combo box (for example), where
COLOR is specified for the controlled variable,
so that selecting a value in the combo box
causes COLOR to have the corresponding
value, and all the objects using that variable
are updated accordingly, as is the value of var2
passed to the called page.
The purpose of the third parameter is to allow
a template parameter to be linked to a
variable and have it set every time the page
reloads.
Example: EP_USERVAR(COLOR,
EP_TEMPLATE(color), true)
EP_USER_ID

The user ID (an integer) of the current user.

iFrames, Labels, XML and

Data Tables, Menus

EP_USER_NAME

The user name of the current user.

Labels, XML and Data

Tables, Menus

EP_WEBSERVER

The host name of the web server (as it appears iFrames, Labels, XML and
in the URL) upon which BabelFish Explorer is
Data Tables, Menus
running.

EP_ENCODE
EP_ENCODE (string) is a replacement token that is used to encode special characters in a
URL driven from a page object, so that they can be correctly interpreted by the BabelFish
Server as part of a name or value. For example, for use in referring to trends, menus, or
pages.
Example:
URL

http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&Custom Entity 1
Type=Custom &Entity 1

URL with Escaped

Characters

http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&Custom%20Entity%201
%20Type=Custom%20%26Entity%201

URL using the

Encode keyword

http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&EP_ENCODE(Custom
Entity 1 Type)=EP_ENCODE(Custom &Entity 1)

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Background to Encoding
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is the established request structure for
web-based communication. URLs are also commonly referred to as internet addresses, web
addresses, or query strings. The structure is divided into several sections which identify the
location of the resource as well as additional information which distinguishes one request
from another.
The first section is the protocol, which can be one of several published protocols. As far as
BabelFish is concerned, we are generally interested in the http:// and https:// protocols.
The syntax of these is the same and they differ only from a security perspective, where
https is the encrypted version of http.
The next section for the http protocol is the domain qualifier. For example, the following is
a URL using the http protocol which specifies the google.com domain and specifically the
www server on that domain.
http://www.google.com

When you enter a search term into the Google search engine, the URL becomes:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=test&ie=utf8

This URL shows two additional parts of the protocol.

The word search refers to the application or the web page running on the server.

The ? character indicates the end of the application name and the beginning of the
URL parameters that are going to be passed to the application, in this case, the
words typed into the search engine.

These parts of the protocol are also commonly referred to as the query string and the
parameters as referred to as query string parameters.
The parameters take the form of name and value pairs, where the name and the value are
separated by an equals sign (=). The equals sign must be included but the value can be
empty. Multiple parameters can be passed on a URL and the pairs of parameter are
separated by an & character.
When a request is made to a web server, it expects that this protocol is followed. This
means that the name or a value of a parameter cannot contain one of these separator
characters (? = &) because the server knows to interpret these as separators.
In addition to these characters, there are also issues with passing other characters on the
URL in this way. These include control and formatting characters for text such as XML, but
also for non-ASCII characters.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters are a set of
characters that can be used to represent the English dictionary. Non-ASCII characters are
characters that have a numeric value beyond that initial set of characters and are used to
represent languages other than English and other Latin character-based languages. These
non-ASCII characters are often referred to as Unicode characters.

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In order to be able to include control characters and Unicode characters in the name or
value of a parameter, an encoding system was developed that uses a % sign followed by a
hexadecimal representation of the character.
For example, the following string:
Test&me

Would be encoded to:

Test%26me

This is because the numerical value of the & character is 38 in decimal, which is 26 in
hexadecimal.
It is not important to know what hexadecimal is, or what the numeric values or their
hexadecimal equivalents are.
However, it is important to understand that these characters need to be encoded in order
to be interpreted by the server as the correct character and as part of the name or value.
BabelFish usually handles this issue transparently for users, however the advanced
functionality of BabelFish templates and variables requires some consideration of this to
make sure page objects work correctly.

Encoding in Templated Pages

The concept of templates in the BabelFish Explorer are driven by the URL parameter
functionality in conjunction with the EP_TEMPLATE keyword.
Consider the following scenario:
An Entity in the Data Dictionary called Custom &Entity 1 has an Custom Entity 1 Type
template and an attribute of that template called Max.
Entity Name

Custom &Entity 1

Template Name

Custom Entity 1 Type

Attribute Name

Max

In BabelFish, this can be used on a page as:

Custom &Entity 1:Max

And BabelFish will handle any escaping for you.

However, if we are constructing a templated page that deals in terms of a supplied entity
of type Custom Entity 1 Type, then we can recognise that this entity name Custom &Entity
1 needs to be passed to the page as a template parameter.
So we need a URL of the following form:
http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&Custom Entity 1 Type=Custom
&Entity 1

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However, there are two issues:

The space in "Custom Entity 1 Type"

The & in "Custom &Entity 1" So to pass these as escaped characters, the URL would
become:
http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&Custom%20Entity%201%20Type=Cus
tom%20%26Entity%201

When the web server retrieves these parameters it correctly finds the ? and = signs, reads
the values, and then decodes them.
This means that anything that tries to use the name supplied to look up an entity, correctly
gets Custom &Entity 1.
The EP_ENCODE (see page 37) keyword exists to simplify this, when the link is driven from
a page object.
Rather than having to know how to encode these characters, you can use the following
URL:
http://babelfishserver/eplant/default.asp?page_id=1&EP_ENCODE(Custom Entity 1
Type)=EP_ENCODE(Custom &Entity 1)

Where the EP_ENCODE keyword tells BabelFish that this part of the URL requires escaping
as it may contain characters that need it (such as the space and the &). It is then up to
each control on the page to know how to handle this escaping.

Example Scenario: Encoding in Templated Pages

The following example scenario illustrates the use of the EP_ENCODE keyword when used
on templated pages.
1.

Create a template using ISS Enterprise Manager for the Custom Entity 1 Type.

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2.

Allocate the MAX attribute.

3.

Create our entity which will become an instance of this template.

4.

Assign a Time Series Entity to the MAX attribute.

In this case, assign an Entity called Space Calc which simply returns the value 42.

For convenience, these have been placed in the hierarchy:

5.

Save and close ISS Enterprise Manager.

6.

In BabelFish Explorer, create a test page which is going to have a combination of the
templated objects and the actual instances on it for comparison.

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a.

Create a button that will reload the page, but using the EP_ENCODE keywords
it will specify both the name of the template and the instance to use.

b.

Specify the URL as:

/eplant/default.asp?page_id=2&EP_ENCODE(Custom Entity 1
Template)=EP_ENCODE(CUSTOM &ENTITY 1)

c.

Change to Display Mode and click this button to reload the page. The page
objects will now have access to the "Custom Entity 1 Template" instance via
the EP_TEMPLATE keyword.

d.

For testing purposes, create some labels to show the names of the tags
involved, and create some tags to show their value.

The first two objects show the labels (and the keywords used in the label text).

The first will print out the name of the instance of Custom Entity 1
Template.

The second label uses the EP_ATTRIBUTENAME keyword to show us the

name of the entity that was assigned as the MAX attribute of the Custom
Entity 1 Template instance.

The next two objects are the test tags.

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REPLACEMENT TOKENS

The first tag shows the value of the MAX attribute via the following
expression: TAG(EP_TEMPLATE(Custom Entity 1 Template):Max).

The second test tag fetches the same value, but this time use the
EP_ATTRIBUTENAME keyword to fetch the entity assigned to the MAX
attribute directly TAG(EP_ATTRIBUTENAME(EP_TEMPLATE(Custom
Entity 1 Template):Max)).

To confirm these values, we can also add the actual tags directly to the page.

The first time we load the page without the parameter specified, we only see the value for
the actual tags we added:

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We can then reload the page by clicking the button and we see:

This shows us that these are all resolving correctly to the same underlying entity.
To illustrate the importance of encode, we can remove the EP_ENCODE keywords from the
original button and changing the URL to:
/eplant/default.asp?page_id=2&Custom Entity 1 Template=CUSTOM &ENTITY 1

If we then load the page and click the button we see:

This is because the Web Server has incorrectly interpreted the parameter pair as:
Custom Entity 1 Template=CUSTOM

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As a similar test we can show the same scenario on a Trend:

Displaying:

As a final example, pass the template parameter to another page or trend via a menu. In
this case, because we are again making a URL request similar to the button, we need to
use the EP_ENCODE keyword:

With a URL set to:

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/eplant/dll/eplant.dll?Trend&taglist=EP_ENCODE(EP_TEMPLATE(Custom Entity 1
Template):MAX)

This appears as follows:

Displaying the trend in a new tab:

Encoding in Session and User Variables

For session and user variables, encoding is not required unless the variable is to be used on
a URL for an iFrame.
How the variable is used will determine where the EP_ENCODE keyword would be used.

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When the session variable contains a full URL then the encoding needs to be applied
in the variable values themselves. For example, a combo box that is used to drive
one of two web searches. In this case, we can configure an iFrame that simply uses
the value of the variable and then configures two URLs as combo options. This shows
that because of the & in the second query we need to use the EP_ENCODE keyword
whereas for the simple value of "test" we did not.

When the search text is used in the session variables, place the EP_ENCODE keyword
in the iFrame URL, not the variable value itself. For example, a session variable used
in a label, which is not used for navigation (they are not URLs) and therefore there is
no reason to use the EP_ENCODE keyword.

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LIVE DOCUMENTS

Navigating to Display Mode, we can see the value correctly displaying in the label
and in the search box:

Live Documents
The BabelFish Explorer live documents feature allows you to insert live tag values into
documents. For example, an operators document can have the current values inserted
where references are made to that entity. The operator does not need to go to the control
system when reading the document as the live values are inserted into the document and
updated while it is being read. Similar functionality can be used in shutdown documents,
management reports, start-up procedures, and so on, where the current state of each
piece of equipment in the start-up sequence is displayed. As you go through the sequence
the states in the documents are updated.
Note: The Live Documents feature requires your BabelFish administrator to make some
minor configurations on the BabelFish server. For details on how to enable Live
Documents, refer to the BabelFish Administrator's Guide.
To make a document live:
1.

Open the Word document normally.

2.

In the location of the document where you want it to appear, type the string
[LIVETAG: tagname], where tagname is the BabelFish entity name.

3.

Save the document to the BabelFish documents directory

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eplant\documents with an extension of .htm or .html. Note
that this directory lies on the BabelFish server. If you have installed BabelFish into a
directory other than the default, then this path may be different. Check with your
BabelFish administrator if you have any problems.

4.

Open the .htm or .html document in your browser by navigating to

http://server/eplant/documents/filename.html.
The document should be reproduced in the output, except that each instance of
[LIVETAG: TAGNAME] is replaced with the current value of the tag. Note that these
values do not appear immediately when the page loads; they will load some time
later once the values have been fetched. The values should appear as links.

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5.

SEARCHING

Click on the live value link in the document to launch the BabelFish Explorer trend
with the history of the live value displayed.

The following figure provides a view of a start-up document using live BabelFish data to
indicate the current start-up state. The syntax in the following table represents the
start-up procedure for the ACME unit.

Function

Current Value

Open feed valve to 50%

[LIVETAG: 01FC008.OP] %

Start pump J100

[LIVETAG:

01HC001.PV]

Start heating medium pump

[LIVETAG:

01XZ203.PV]

Open heating medium valve in manual until

flow is 520 klh

[LIVETAG:

01FC208.PV] klh

Maintain flow until tube outlet temperature

is 120 Deg C

[LIVETAG:

01TI203.PV] Deg C

Increase feed rate up to 520 klh

[LIVETAG:

01FC008.PV] klh

Once this syntax is entered and the

document is saved as HTML, when the
document is then called up via BabelFish
Explorer the live document appears.

Searching
BabelFish Explorer has a comprehensive
search facility that performs text-based
searches on a variety of system elements such as entity names, descriptions, la bels, page
titles, comments, and trends, individually or collectively.
There are three ways to perform a search:
Search from the BabelFish toolbar
Entering a term in the search box on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) opens a new
tab containing your search results.
Search from within a BabelFish page
A search box (see page 186) can be added to a BabelFish page (see page 15), which
allows users to search from within the page. Using an embedded search returns the
same results (see page 51) as searching from the BabelFish toolbar. The embedded
search can be configured to specify the default areas of BabelFish to search.

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SEARCHING

Search from the Plant Model Tree

The Plant Model Tree search (see page 52) is designed to enable you to search for
entities in the Plant Model Tree.

Wildcards
Wildcards apply to both searching and filtering functions.
The default search (or filter) implies a wildcard at either end of the search text, returning
all values containing the text entered. So, for example, searching for test is the equivalent
to searching with *test* and will match all entries that contain the word test.
Note: This only applies if a wildcard has NOT been specified in the search string. At the
moment, while the search will still work, the wildcards from either end would be
stripped off. For example, *search*text* will end up as search*text. So clicking
search again will not produce the intended results.
There are two types of wildcards:
*

An asterisk represents one or more characters in the object name. For example, t*t
will match test, that, and thought.

A question mark represents a single character. For example, t??t will only match test
and that.

Quotes are taken literally, so the search will be for object names with a quote actually
contained in their name.

Searching from the Toolbar

The main search function in BabelFish is located on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) and
is indicated by a search box and icon

To search for an item:

1.

In the Search box, type in the term you are searching for. Search terms are not
case-sensitive.

2.

Click the Search

icon.

The search results (see page 51) window opens. From here, you can view your search
results, or refine your search (see page 49).

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SEARCHING

Search Results
The search results window displays the results of your search (see page 49) and also allows
you to refine your search.

The results window contains three main areas:

Search entry box
This is the entry box into which you type your search term (see page 50). To submit the search, click
the Search button or press Enter.
Search categories
If you want to refine your search, you can choose to limit it to only the selected categories.
Categorised search results
Each category returns results in its own tab. You can click on a result to go to the page, trend, point
detail, or other returned item (details may vary between categories). The categ ories that appear in
the results depend on the categories selected for the search.

The default search categories are:

Entities
A list of entities (see page 54) that match the search criteria. The Entity results is a
combined search of the names and descriptions of the tag. Each result appears with
two icons: Properties
and Trend
.
Double-clicking on the Tag Name or clicking the Properties icon launches a new
window displaying the Point Detail (see page 76) for the tag.
The Trend icon launches an ad-hoc trend of that tag.
Clicking on the tag name for any tag causes it to be highlighted. The highlighted tag
can then be dragged onto a page in the same way as from the Design toolbar.
Equipment
Equipment results present a list of labels (see page 206) whose text matches the
search criteria. For each label found, the results include the text of the label and a

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link to the page (see page 15) containing the label. Clicking the page link causes the
page to load in a new tab.
Page Titles
The page titles search returns a list of pages (see page 15) whose title matches the
search criteria. The results provide a link to the page that appears in a new window
along with the Title of the page.
Comments
The comments search returns results in the same fashion as the tag search. Instead
of units and descriptions, the search provides the comment text and the date on
which the comment (see page 169) was made. The tag detail and trend icons behave
in the same way as they do for a tag search. You can search for both comments
entered directly into BabelFish Explorer and comments stored in an external data
source.
Trends
The trend search provides a list of trends whose title matches the search criteria.
The results provide a link to the trend and the trend title. Clicking on the link to the
trend will result in the trend being displayed in a new tab.
Plant Model
The Plant Model Tree (see page 133) is searched for any occurrence of the search
criteria.

Plant Model Tree Search

Plant Model Tree Search allows you to search on entities in the Plant Model Tree (see page
133). You can search for the entity name, descriptions, or both.

To search:
1.

Type your search term into the Search field.

Note: You cannot use edit commands (cut, copy, paste) in the Search field. If this
functionality is required, please contact your System Administrator.

2.

Click Search.

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SEARCHING

The Results tab opens and displays your search results. Click on any of the search results to
display details about that item in the Table of Contents (see page 136).

Tip: To obtain faster results, you can narrow the search by selecting to search against
only the name or the description.

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Tags and Entities

In This Chapter
Types of Tags
Using Tags
Tag Details Editor
Point Detail
Creating a New Tag
Delete a Tag

55
63
69
76
82
91

Tags and entities are often confused. Whilst tags and entities are closely related, their
definitions and purpose are quite distinct.

TAGS
A tag is any real world object that is defined in BabelFish Explorer.
Tags are values from different data sources, and can be displayed on BabelFish pages in
isolation or as part of another object. Tags can also be used as building block s for other,
more complex calculated tags (see page 56). When displayed on a BabelFish page, you can
right-click on a tag to display its details or statistics, or to send it to a trend.
Tags contain a great deal of information, which you can access in a variety of ways (see
page 64). When tags are created in the BabelFish Explorer, information on those tags are
stored in the Data Dictionary as entities.

E NT IT IE S
An entity is an object that is defined in the BabelFish Data Dictionary to reference a data
object stored elsewhere, such as an external historian data source, or in the BabelFish
Explorer. These could be objects such as an invoice, a ships cargo, or a piece of plant
equipment. An entity can model any type of information, such as plant equipment, wells,
fields, SQL statements, Word documents, or Web pages.
There are four types of entities:
BabelFish Sourced Entity
The standard entity, returning time-series data, used to model business objects such
as tags and SQL statements.
Summary Entity
Used simply as a container (or parent) for other entities, and is used to structure
data within the Data Dictionary. It acts as the glue of an entity hierarchy.
Calculation Entity
A Calculation Entity, returning time series calculation data, is used to model any sort
of mathematical calculation. The actual calculation in the Calculation entity may
reference other entities (that must return values).

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External Referenced Entity

Used when the hierarchy (and entities contained within the hierarchy) is controlled
and rendered by a source outside of BabelFish.
For further information on entities, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

Types of Tags
There are several types of tags. All tags can be trended and placed on a BabelFish page.
They can have menus, comments, and security attached.
Calculated tags
A calculated tag (sometimes known as derived tags or calc tags) define calculations
using a familiar syntax either in Design mode or in a tag detail page. A calculated tag
may involve tags from multiple data sources, and calculations can make use of other
calculated tags. There are two types of calculated tags: Portal Calculations and DMS
Calculations.
There is no limit placed on the depth of recursion. A detected recursive loop
provides a notification at design time to allow the opportunity to change the
expression.
Datasource tags
There are two types of Datasource tags: Portal Web Source and DMS Data Source.
Datasource tags created in the BabelFish Explorer (Portal Web Source tags) are
reflected in Enterprise Manager as coming from the BabelNet Datasource.
Datasources are configured in ISS Enterprise Manager, and initial Datasource tags
from external data sources are also created as part of the installation process.
SQL tags
SQL tags extract values from a database using an SQL query. Before a query can take
place, the Datasource needs to be defined.
Template tags
Template tags are a special type of tag and behave much like a normal BabelFish tag,
except that the object referenced by the tag is not known until run time. Template
tags are the tags available for each Template, and reduce the effort involved in
creating and maintaining dozens or hundreds of nearly identical pages.
State tags
State tags are actually state entities whose values come from a predefined set of
values (that is, possible states), and are often used in trending analysis. For example,
a valve might be open or closed, and a pump might be on or off, or have multiple off
states such as standby or fault. State tags (entities) are configured in ISS Enterprise
Manager.

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Calculated Tag
Calculated tags (sometimes known as derived tags) define calculations using a familiar
mathematical syntax, ranging from complex equations to simple constant values. A
calculated tag may involve tags from multiple Datasources, and may also include other
calculated tags.
There is no limit on the depth of nested calculations. If a recursive loop is detected, the
BabelFish Calculation Engine provides a notification at the time the tag is being created
(see page 85), to allow the opportunity to change the expression while you are in the
Expression Editor (see page 57).
Note: When performing calculations, the BabelFish Calculation Engine will abort
processing if a tag is found to have a confidence lower than the Calc Confidence
Cutoff configured in ISS Enterprise Manager.
BabelFish has two areas where calculations can be configured: the Calculation Web Source
in the BabelFish Explorer and the BabelFish Calculation Engine in the BabelFish server.
The Calculation Web Source is a legacy calculation engine that allows you to configure a
calculation through BabelFish Explorer. This calculation engine references tags within
BabelFish and other configured web sources, such as ODBC. The BabelFish Explorer
displays these calculated tags under the Calculation values node in the toolbox.
You can also create and update Data Dictionary Calculation Entities in BabelFish Explorer,
instead of creating and maintaining Portal Calculated tags.
Note: This functionality must be enabled through the Disable Portal Calcs Sitewide
Parameter in ISS Enterprise Manager. Enabling this functionality will not stop the
existing Portal Calculated tags from working and will not remove the existing
functionality. It will only change the way in which you can create and update
Calculated tags.
A history of the change to the calculation expression is saved every time this value is
edited, unless the edited expression is the same as the last one.
For further information on how to use the BabelFish Calculation Engine, refer to the
Calculation Engine Reference.

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Expression Editor
The Expression Editor makes it easier to access the full functionality of the BabelFish
Calculation Engine, for creating calculation entities.
Note: The expression is this entity's Native name.
You can insert an expression directly into the input area, or you can choose a built-in
function from the function list.

The Expression Editor has four sections:

Input area. The text input area in which you type your expression.
Function list. A list of functions available in the Calculation Engine, which you can use as
building blocks for your expression. When you select a built-in function, it displays the
usage syntax. To use a function:
1.

Select it from the drop-down list. For further information on how to use the
BabelFish Calculation Engine, refer to the Calculation Engine Reference.

2.

Click Insert to add the selected function into the expression.

3.

Make any required adjustments to the expression, such as replacing placeholders

with values.

View Tag Picker. Click to view the Tag List (see page 10), from which you can specify tags
to use in your calculation. To include an existing tag into the expression, drag and drop
the required tag from the Tag List into the Input area.
Depending on the type of tag being created, the Tag List will either have the Tags tab or
the Plant Model tab preselected.
Note: This Tag List only displays BabelFish entities, not entities from web data sources.

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Expand Expression. Expands your expression, modifies and checks brackets, and validates
the syntax.
For example, ABS(TIME)+SHIFTSTART(TIME) expands to: (abs(time) + ShiftStart(time))
The expanded calculation provides you with a view of the calculation as BabelFish runs it.
This can be useful for diagnosing slow calculations, confirming the precedence of
calculations, or for determining the effect of nested calculations.
An error message appears if your expression is invalid.
Note: Only like calculations can be expanded. That is, DMS calculations can only expand
other DMS calculations, and Portal calculations can only expand other Portal calculations.

Template Tags
Templates are pre-configured in ISS Enterprise Manager and represent different types of
objects and tags. A template tag provides a way to create generic pages (see page 15) that
apply to a group or class of objects (see page 141).
Templates allow for the construction of templated pages, and are supported on most page
objects including tags, trends, and shapes. You can create and use a templated page to
display any entity that implements the same template.
When you drag a template attribute or property onto a page, an object known as a
templated tag is added to the page. This object appears as the attribute or property of the
template entity specified at run time.
Similarly, dragging these templated tags onto an embedded trend or shape causes that
shape to determine the actual tag at run time. In Design mode, templated objects display
the EP_TEMPLATE() syntax for tags.
Consider the situation where one BabelFish page would show the same data for every
instance of a compressor type on a plant. The advantage of template tags is that only one
BabelFish page needs to be configured for each compressor type instead of one page p er
compressor.
So a site with 600 compressors, for example, would otherwise need to configure 600
compressor-detail pages. Using template tags, one page is created for each type of
compressor. If a new attribute (see page 59) were introduced, such as connection to a
maintenance system, instead of updating each of the 600 pages, you only need to update
the template tag, which in turn updates all 600 pages.
Template tags only apply to a page where you can pass template parameters, and
therefore template tags cannot be dragged to the tag bucket for trending.
For further information on Trends, refer to the BabelFish Explorer Trending Tool Reference.

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Attributes and Properties

All entities have two types of parameters:
Attributes
Attributes describe an entity (see page 54) and are placeholders for dynamic values.
For example, temperature and flow rate. Specifically, attributes are placeholders for
a reference that points to a data item such as a document, SQL statement, and so
on. The reference most commonly entered into an attribute is a historian tag.
An attribute can be directly assigned to an entity. For example, an Underwater Pump
is the same as the other pumps in the organisation, except it has an External Water
Pressure Meter which is specific only to the Underwater Pump. Therefore in addition
to the Pump Template, the Underwater Pump entity can have the External Water
Pressure attribute assigned directly to this entity (that is, not via a template).
Properties
Properties are placeholders for static values. For example, a string or numeric value
(constants). Properties can also be assigned to a template. For example, to model a
Waste Water Pump in BabelFish, you create an entity that represents it. Rather than
create the temperature, watts, and outlet flow rate attributes manually, you would
assign the Pump Template to the Waste Water Pump entity.
Properties can also be added directly to entities.
Note: Problems may occur during parsing when property or attribute names contain
restricted characters (see page 32).

Attributes of Attributes
The Plant Model Tree (see page 133) has a feature where attributes that have attributes
can be displayed in the tree as an entity (see page 54). Extending this functionality, a
keyword represents this in the Calculation Engine.

E X A MP LE
Consider the situation where a pump entity(Pump1) has a Flow Control attribute
(attribute1), which has Valve position, Target Flow, and Actual Flow attributes
(attributes2).

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In this case, the Plant Model Tree would display the hierarchy on the left, and drag ging the
Valve Position (for example) onto a page would result in Pump1:Valve Position being
added to the page.

Valve Position will also be defined as a separate entity (Entity2) in the BabelFish Data
Dictionary, and will contain a reference to Attribute1 (Flow Control) of Entity1 (Pump1).
The EP_ATTRIBUTENAME
(see page 198).

keyword also allows you to pass in an attribute to an iFrame

In the above example, EP_ATTRIBUTENAME(Pump:Temperature) returns the name of the

entity that is assigned to the Temperature attribute of "Pump".

Template Tag Details Editor

The Template Tag Details Editor opens when you double-click on a template tag (see page
58) object in Design mode (see page 17).

The Template Tag Details Editor has three sections:

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Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance of the template tag (see
page 61) object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

Appearance of a Template Tag

The Appearance tab of the Template Tag Details Editor (see page 60) allows you to define
the style and general appearance of the template tag (see page 58) on the page (see page
15).

Enter the following parameters:

Template parameter type
Specify the type of template parameter (see page 59) for this tag: Attribute or
Property.
Template parameter
The name of this attribute or property.
Applies to
The entity of which this tag is a property or attribute.

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Text before
Type in any text you want to appear before the tag. You can use this as a way of
adding a label (see page 206). Note that the appearance of the text is the same as
for the rest of the tag.
Text after
Type in any text you want to appear after the tag. This appears after the units, if
selected. Note that the appearance of the text is the same as for the rest of the tag.
Alignment
Select how you want the text in the tag to be aligned relative to the edit handles of
the tag object. This can be aligned to the left, centre, or right.
Style
The style of tag to be displayed. These are predetermined styles and determine the
colour, font size, and so on. The default options are: Default, Hidden, Hyperlink,
SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset. For an idea of
how these look, refer to the hyperlink object (see page 194).

State Tags
State tags are tags whose values come from a predefined set of values (that is, possible
states). The possible states that a tag can have will generally be mapped to a set of
numerical values. These are often related to the digital values with which the states are
represented in the control system, and are often derived from a combination of status
bits.
Configuring a tags states within BabelFish makes them easier to use in two scenarios.

S C E N A RI O 1
The underlying data source only returns the numeric values. Configuring BabelFish with
the mapping from numeric values to string states allows the BabelFish Explorer to display
the actual string state value when the tag is displayed on a page (see page 15). Despite this
mapping, the underlying numeric values of the tag still allow it to be trended. However,
rather than label the vertical axis of the trend with the numeric range, the possible states
are shown instead.

S C E N A RI O 2
The data source returns the actual state text. In this situation, a BabelFish Explo rer page is
able to display the value as-is. Configuring BabelFish with the mapping from string states
to numeric values allows the value to be trended, as if each state has its numeric value. As
with the first scenario, the vertical axis of the trend is labelled with the possible states.

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Using Tags
Tags can differ in appearances, behaviour, and menu options.
Although a tag usually appears as a number, it can also include:

Tag name.
Additional text before and after.
A tooltip.
Units of measurement.

To see the tooltip, hover the cursor over a tag for more information.

The tooltip shows:

Tag name
Description (optional)
Units of measurement (optional)

You can use tags in most page objects, such as shapes, trends, and donuts.
Note: Trending does not fully support tags containing a comma (,).

R I GH T - C LIC K

M E NU

Right-clicking any tag in a BabelFish page invokes a shortcut menu that allows you to:

View the Point Detail (see page 76) for a tag.

View associated tags (see page 74).
Send the tag to a trend.
Get Statistics (see page 65) on the tag.

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Opening a Tag
A tag can be opened from many places.

FROM

A R IG H T - C L IC K M E NU

From the Display interface (see page 16):

1.

Right click on the tag.

2.

Click on the tag name

3.

The tag Point Detail (see page 76) opens.

FROM

THE

P LA NT M O D E L T RE E

1.

Click Plant Model Tree

on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

2.

Click on the drop-down list to select the hierarchy.

3.

Expand and collapse the tree nodes to display details.

4.

If you want to change the way in which the tree is displayed (see page 134), click the
Options
icon .
a.

Select the check boxes you require.

b.

Click OK.

5.

If required, you can also do a search for the tag (see page 52).

6.

Double-click on the tag name to open the Point Detail (see page 76).

FROM

THE

D E SI G N

I NTE R FA C E

1.

Double-click on a tag in the Design window (see page 17).

2.

The Tag Details Editor (see page 69) opens.

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Edit a Tag
Note: You can only edit a tag if you are a BabelFish administrator or you are the owner of a
private tag.
To edit a tag:
1.

Open the tag (see page 64).

2.

Make your required changes in either the Point Detail (see page 76) or the Tag
Details Editor (see page 69).

Tag Statistics
Tag statistics are a summary of statistics associated with a tag (see page 54). It can provide
a fast view of the performance of a tag over the last period. For this option to be available,
the menu (see page 209) item has usually been added to the datasource, so any tags
added for that datasource will have the tag statistics menu.
To display the statistics for a tag:
1.

In Display mode (see page 16), right-click on the tag.

2.

Click Statistics.
The Statistics dialog box appears, displaying date for the current and previous
periods, and the variance between the periods. The statistics displayed are:
Average: The average values for this tag.
Standard deviation: The standard deviation from the mean (average) for this tag.
Minimum: The lowest value for this tag.
Minimum Time: The time at which the lowest value occurred.
Maximum: The highest value for this tag.
Maximum Time: The time at which the highest value occurred.

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Integral: The integral (day, hour, minute, or second) of the values for this tag. You
can specify which integral is used to calculate these statistics (see below).

3.

In the Statistics dialog box, you can temporarily adjust the following:
Timebase
The time base determines the length of time over which the statistics are calculated.
The default is eight hours, but it can be between five minutes and two years.
Sample Interval
The sample interval determines the data points that are used to calculate the statistics.
Sample Method
Determines how the statistics are calculated. Average, Raw, Linear Interpolate.
Integral
Which integral time is to be used: day, hour, minute, or second.

Note: These changes are not saved. If the page is closed and re-opened or refreshed
manually the original settings are restored.

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Native Name History

The Native Name History displays the history of changes to the native name for an entity,
and allows you to create a new version entry, delete an entry, or edit an entry. This
function is available for all entities in the Data Dictionary.
You can make multiple changes before you need to click Apply or OK to save the changes.

The dialog is divided into two sections:

The upper section displays the change details.

When the From field displays |<<, this indicates the initial value of the Native
Name. This expression applies for all periods of time before the timestamp
displayed in the To column.

Where the To field displays >>|, this indicates the last Native Name entry. This
expression applies for all periods of time after the timestamp displayed in the
From column.

The lower section provides an area for you to make changes to the Native Name.

C H A N G IN G

TH E

N A T IV E N A M E

To change the native name of an entity:

1.

Click on a row in the list.

2.

In the Native Name Details section, change the Effective From date
Name as required.

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If this is a Calculated tag, you can open the Expression Editor by clicking the
Function
button.
3.

You can repeat the above steps as many times as you like, changing multiple entries
if required.

4.

When you are satisfied with your changes, click Apply or OK.

U PD A T IN G

P RE V I OU S V E R S IO N

OF A

C A LC U LA T IO N

To update a previous version of the native name:

1.

Double-click on a row in the list to launch the Expression Editor.

2.

Make the changes.

3.

Click OK to close the editor.

4.

Make any other changes required, then click Apply or OK to save the changes.

C RE A TI N G

N E W V E R S I ON H I S T O RY

To create a new entry in the list:

1.

Click the New button.

In the Native Name Details section, the Effective From date changes to today's date
and time, and the Native Name field goes blank.

2.

Change the Effective From date and Native Name as required.

If you click somewhere else, your entry is automatically added to the list.

3.

Click Apply or OK to save the changes.

D E LE TI NG

AN

E N T RY

To remove an entry from the list:

1.

Click on the entry you want to remove.

2.

Click Delete.

3.

Make any other changes required, then click Apply or OK to save the changes.

R E F RE SH IN G

TH E

LIST

You can refresh the screen at any time by clicking Refresh.

Important: When you click Refresh, any unsaved changes are lost.

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TAG DETAILS EDITOR

Tag Details Editor

The Tag Details Editor opens automatically when creating a tag (see page 82), or you can
invoke it by double-clicking on the tag object in Design mode (see page 17). The editor
displays the properties of the tag and allows you to update the tag or create a new one.

The Tag Details Editor has eight sections:

Tag
General information about the tag (see page 70).
Method
Override the page's default sample method (see page 73).
Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 73) of the tag
object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Menu Items
Adds a right-click menu of related data (see page 144).
Auxiliary Tags
Specify other tags to be associated with this one (see page 74).
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

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Tree
Add tags to the Plant Model Tree (see page 75).

Tag Details Tab

The Tag details contains general information (metadata) about the tag (see page 54) and
allows you to update the tag or create a new entity.

The following parameters are common to all tags:

Datasource type
The type of entity to create, depending on the origin of the data:

Portal Web Source (formerly Datasource)

Portal Calculation (formerly Calculated)
Portal SQL (formerly SQL)
DMS Datasource
DMS Calculation

Tag name
Unique identifier for the entity.
Important: Different Datasources have different requirements for naming tags. For a
list of characters and words that should be avoided in tag names, refer to Reserved
Characters and Words (see page 32).
Range high
Highest trend value allowed. Used for trends. Note that when you change this value,
it's updated on both the tag and the corresponding entity in the Data Dictionary.
Range low
Lowest trend value allowed. Used for trends. Note that when you change this value,
it's updated on both the tag and the corresponding entity in the Data Dictionary.

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Decimals
The number of decimal places to display for the results in BabelFish Explorer.
Plot type
The default plot type for this tag if it is used in a trend. It can be one of Line, Stair,
Point, or Dashed Line.
Trend timebase
The default timebase value for this tag in a trend. This can range from 5 minutes to 2
years.
Stair mode
Determines the direction in which the lines are drawn from the recorded point. The
Datasource default allows the datasource to determine the stair mode.
Constant (Forwards): This specifies that the tag is to be a Constant tag.
Datasource default: Draws the line forwards if Constant is selected, otherwise it
draws the line backwards.

Standard (Backwards): This specifies the lines are drawn behind the recorded point.

Constant (forwards)

Standard (backwards)

Save rule
Indicates when to timestamp the comments (see page 169) entered against this tag.
Choose from:

New entry and timestamp

Start of shift
End of shift
Start of day
End of day

Description
A meaningful description of the purpose of the entity.
Note: This field is truncated to 26 characters for any tags imported using the default
PI Adaptor.
Units
The units of measurement of the entity.

DMS D A TA S OU RC E / P O RT A L W E B S OU RC E
The following parameters are specific to Portal Web Source and DMS Datasource tags (see
page 84):

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Nativename: The name of the tag as it is in the Datasource. Note that for DMS Datasource
tags, you can historise the Native name by clicking the
button.
Data source: The Datasource group that you want the tag to belong to. This determines
which group it belongs to in the Tags list (see page 10) in the Toolbox (see page 19).

P O R TA L SQL T A GS
The following parameters are specific to SQL tags (see page 88):
DSN: Name of Datasource group, as appears in the Toolbox.
Query: Enter any valid SQL query , or click the ellipsis button
Editor (see page 88).

to open the SQL Query

DMS C A L C U L A T I ON / P O RT A L C A LC U LA TI O N
Note: Portal Calculation tags will not be available if the Disable Portal Calcs options has
been set in ISS Enterprise Manager.
The following parameters are specific to Calculated tags (see page 85):
Expression
: Enter any valid expression, or click the Expression Editor button
construct an expression (see page 57).

to

Historise
: For DMS Calculation tags, you can create a new historised record of the
changed entity Native name, description, and the max/min properties using the date and
time selected in the Date/Time Picker. The new calculation will be available from the date
and time set in the Date/Time Picker.

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Method Tab
The Method tab allows you to override the default sample method set for the page (see
page 15).

If Override the page's default sample method is selected, you can choose the default
sample method from a list of options.
Otherwise, the sampling method used is specified at the top of the BabelFish page.

Appearance of a Tag
The Appearance tab allows you to define the style and general appearance of the tag (see
page 54) on the page.

Enter the following parameters:

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Text before
Type in any text you want to appear before the tag. You can use this as a way of
adding a label (see page 206). Note that the appearance of the text is the same as
for the rest of the tag.
Text after
Type in any text you want to appear after the tag. This appears after the units, if
selected. Note that the appearance of the text is the same as for the rest of the tag.
Show units
Select this check box if you want to display the units of measurement defined in the
tag details (see page 70). This appears before the Text after entry.
Alignment
Select how you want the text in the tag to be aligned relative to the edit han dles of
the tag object. This can be aligned to the left, centre, or right.
Style
The style of tag to be displayed. These are predetermined styles and determine the
colour, font size, and so on. The default options are: Default, Hidden, Hyperlink,
SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset. For an idea of
how these look, refer to the hyperlink object (see page 196).

Auxiliary Tab
The Auxiliary tab allows you to associate other tags (see page 54) with this tag. You can
associate up to six tags for your current tag.

Associating a tag means that when you right-click on the tag in Display mode (see page
16), these tags will appear in the related data menu (see page 209), and you can open their
Point Detail (see page 76).

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A D D IN G

TAG DETAILS EDITOR

A U X I LIA R Y T A G

AN

1.

Click the Tag

2.

From the Tags list (see page 10), double-click on the tag you want to add.

3.

Repeat these steps to add additional tags.

R E M OV IN G

AN

button.

A U X IL IA R Y T A G

1.

Highlight the tag name.

2.

Press the Delete

key.

Tree Tab
The Tree tab in the Tag Details Editor (see page 69) allows you to add portal tags to the
Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

To add a tag to the Plant Model Tree:

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POINT DETAIL

1.

Select the hierarchy from the drop-down list.

2.

In the resulting tree, expand the nodes and select the new parent entity.
When you click on an allowed parent entity, the Add Tag to Hierarchy button is
enabled.

3.

Click Add tag to Hierarchy.

The tag appears as the last child node for the selected parent node in the hierarchy, and
the Tag Entity Details are listed.
To remove a tag from the Plant Model Tree, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's
Guide.
Note: The Delete Tag button does not remove the tag from the Plant Model but deletes
the tag entirely. This option is only available to administrators.

Point Detail
The Tag Point Detail opens automatically when you double-click on a tag (see page 54)
from the toolbox (see page 19), or you can invoke it from the tag's right-click menu in
Display mode (see page 16).
Note: Users who do not have View privileges on a tag, are unable to view the Point Detail
of that tag.

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POINT DETAIL

The Point Detail displays the details of a tag and allows administration users to update
information about the tag.

The following information is available:

T A G I NF O R M A T I ON
Tag information can only be changed by a BabelFish administrator.
Tag Name
Unique identifier for the entity.
Changing the name of a tag changes it in all places used, so before you do this, check
the Cross Reference section to the upper right. The exception is that where the tag is
used on a trend, the tag needs to be removed and re-added to the trend. Changes to
a tag name are not historised.
Note that updating the Tag Name and Native Name at the same time will update the
entity changing both the name and historising the native name.
Description
A meaningful description of the purpose of the entity.
Units
The units of measurement of the entity.

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POINT DETAIL

Decimals
The number of decimal places to display for the results in BabelFish Explorer.
Data Type
The type of data provided by your tag. This can be number, string, or date.
Note: If a string tag has a numeric value, it will not obey the Decimals setting and
will therefore not trend in Line mode.
Save Rule
Indicates when to timestamp the comments (see page 169) entered against this tag.
Choose from:

New entry and timestamp every time

Start of shift
End of shift
Start of day
End of day

Value
Current value of the tag as displayed on the page. This is a live value and also
displays the current date and time.
If the current time is NOW, the Current Value is updated every five minutes. If the
time and date is specified, the Current Value remains relative to this date and time.
Note: When a tag returns a small negative value (such as -0.00065) and Decimals is
set to 1, the value appears as -0.0 rather than 0.0. This shows that the number was
rounded from a negative value rather than a positive value.

D A TA & D A TA S OU RC E S
Displays the origins of the data. The fields here change depending on the types of data
source: Data Source, Calculated, or SQL. Data source information can only be changed by a
BabelFish administrator.

Portal Web Source and DMS Datasource Tags

Data Source Type: The type of Datasource.
Web Source Name: Name of the tag.
Data Source Name. Name of the Datasource group, as appears in the Toolbox (see
page 19).
Entity Name: Name of the entity in the Data Dictionary.

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POINT DETAIL

Native Name. The name of the tag as it is in the Datasource. For DMS Datasources,
you can change the name and create a history of changes (see page 67).
Portal Calculation and DMS Calculation Tags
Data Source Type: The type of Datasource.
Entity Name: The name of the entity in the Data Dictionary. Does not apply for
Portal Calculations.
Expression: The calculation expression for this tag. Click the Function
button to
open the Expression Editor (see page 57). The Expression displayed here will be the
expression that was set (at or before) for the date and time selected in the
Date/Time Picker, which can be past, present, or future.
Historise
: Not available for Portal Calculations. For DMS Calculation tags, you can
create a new historised record (see page 67) record of the changed entity Native
name, description, and the max/min properties using the date and time selected in
the Date/Time Picker. The new calculation will be available from the date and time
set in the Date/Time Picker.
This option is available only to Administrators if the Disable Portal Calcs option has
been set in ISS Enterprise Manager.
Note: The date and time used for the update will be the date and time of the original
setting of the values. For example, if the date and time of the values is 12:00 and
you are viewing a number of days in the future, the values will be updated as if you
had selected 12:00.
Upon saving, the following details are historised for DMS Calculation tags:

Entity Native Name

Entity Max Property
Entity Min Property
Description
Tag Name (if changed)

Portal SQL Tags

Data Source Type: The type of Datasource.
DSN Name. Name of Datasource group, as appears in the Toolbox (see page 19).
SQL. The SQL query for this tag. Click the ellipsis button
Editor (see page 88).

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POINT DETAIL

T RE ND IN G & C H A R TI NG
Trending and charting information can only be changed by a BabelFish administrator.

Trace Range
Min. The lowest value in a trend.
Max. The highest value in a trend.
Trace Style
The plot type set as the default for this tag.
TimeBase
The timebase set as the default for this tag.

C O MME NT S
Any BabelFish user can add a new comment (see page 169) to a tag.

Last Comment
The most recent comment entered against the tag.
Originally Added By
The username of the person who added the last comment.
Last Modified By
The username of the person who made the most recent change to the last comment.
Timestamp
The date and time (see page 25) the comment was last modified.
Category
The category to which the comment belongs.
Add Comment
Click to add a new comment:
1. Click Add Comment.

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POINT DETAIL

2. In the Add Tag Comment window, type the new comment.

3. Click Now to select the date and time.
4. Click Save.
Show All Comments
Click to view all comments. From here, you can edit an existing comment by clicking
on it.

Click Save to update the comment.

Click Revert to disregard changes.

C R O S S R E FE RE N C E
Displays additional information about the current tag. For example, the pages (see page
15) and trends where the current tag is being used, the menus (see page 209) that have
been created, and so on.

Note: Tags display cross-references for each time they are displayed on a page. For
example, if a tag is used three times on a page, the page appears three times in the
Cross Reference listing.

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CREATING A NEW TAG

Creating a New Tag

To create a new tag:
1.

Click the Tag icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page (see page 15) in the spot in which you want to place the tag.
The Tag Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Tag Details Editor (see page 69),

a.

Choose the type of tag you want to create and fill in the Tag details (see page
70) tab. The tag can be one of:

Portal Web Source (see page 84) (formerly Datasource)

Portal SQL (see page 88) (formerly SQL)
Portal Calculation (see page 85) (formerly Calculated)

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b.

CREATING A NEW TAG

DMS Datasource (see page 84)

DMS Calculation (see page 85)

Cycle through the remaining tabs and fill in the details as required:

Method (see page 73). Override the default sample method set for the
page.
Appearance (see page 73). Specify the style and general appearance of
the tag. Note that BabelFish Explorer uses the last selected font style to
aid in the fast creation of content on pages.
Layout (see page 143). Specify the size and position of the tag on the
page.
Menu Items (see page 144). Add a related menu item to the tag.
Auxiliary Tags (see page 74). Specify the tags that are to be associated
with this tag.
Behaviors (see page 152). Dynamically update the tag by applying a
behaviour to it.
Tree (see page 75). Add the tag to the Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

4.

If you want to submit the tag for publishing (see page 137), click the Publish
icon in the upper right corner.

5.

When you have finished, click OK.

6.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
tag, or move it to another position.

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CREATING A NEW TAG

Create a Datasource tag

This applies to both Portal Web Source and DMS Data Source tags.
To create a new Datasource tag (see page 54):
1.

Click the Tag icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page (see page 15) in the spot in which you want to place the tag.
The Tag Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Tag Details Editor (see page 69), select Portal Web Source or DMS Data
Source for the Data source type. The Portal Web Source details are slightly different
to the DMS Datasource details.

4.

Fill in the Tag details (see page 70) tab with the relevant parameters.

5.

Cycle through the remaining tabs and fill in the details as required:

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CREATING A NEW TAG

Method (see page 73). Override the default sample method set for the page.
Appearance (see page 73). Specify the style and general appearance of the tag.
Layout (see page 143). Specify the size and position of the tag on the page.
Menu Items (see page 144). Add a related menu item to the tag.
Auxiliary Tags (see page 74). Specify the tags that are to be associated with
this tag.
Behaviors (see page 152). Dynamically update the tag by applying a behaviour
to it.
Tree (see page 75). Add the tag to the Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

6.

If you want to submit the tag for publishing (see page 137), click the Publish
icon in the upper right corner.

7.

When you have finished, click OK.

Create a Calculated Tag

This applies to both Portal Calculation and DMS Calculation tags.
To create a new Calculated tag (see page 56):
1.

Click the Tag icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to place the tag.

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CREATING A NEW TAG

The Tag Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Tag Details Editor (see page 69), select DMS Calculation or Portal Calculation
for the Datasource type. Note that the Portal Calculation option will not be available
if the Disable Portal Calcs Sitewide Parameter has be set in Enterprise Manager.

4.

Fill in the Tag details (see page 70) tab with the relevant parameters.
In the Expression field, type in a simple mathematical expression. If you need more
room or want to enter a more advanced calculation, click the ellipsis
button to
open the Expression Editor (see page 57).
Note: You must enter a valid expression or the tag will not save correctly. To use a
string property, you should enclose it in double quotes. For example,
"EP_PROPERTY(SQL 1$URL)"

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CREATING A NEW TAG

Historise
: For DMS Calculation tags, you can now create a new historised record
of the changed entity Native name, description, and the max/min properties using
the date and time selected in the Date/Time Picker. The new calculation will be
available from the date and time set in the Date/Time Picker.

For further information on how to use the BabelFish Calculation Engine, refer to the
Calculation Engine Reference.
5.

Cycle through the remaining tabs and fill in the details as required:

Method (see page 73). Override the default sample method set for the page.
Appearance (see page 73). Specify the style and general appearance of the tag.
Layout (see page 143). Specify the size and position of the tag on the page.
Menu Items (see page 144). Add a related menu item to the tag.
Auxiliary Tags (see page 74). Specify the tags that are to be associated with
this tag.
Behaviors (see page 152). Dynamically update the tag by applying a behaviour
to it.
Tree (see page 75). Add the tag to the Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

6.

If you want to submit the tag for publishing (see page 137), click the Publish
icon in the upper right corner.

7.

When you have finished, click OK.

Note: The tag is created when you click OK or Apply.

If you have selected the DMS Calculation tag, the system creates a new tag with the
specified name and description, and historises the following values from the default start
date and time of the Date/Time Picker.

Native Name

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CREATING A NEW TAG

Max Property
Min Property

The Historisation functionality automatically returns the first value for a property or
attribute even if the time requested is before the date/time of the property.

Create a Portal SQL Tag

To create a new Portal SQL tag (see page 54):
1.

Click the Tag icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to place the tag.
The Tag Details Editor appears.

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CREATING A NEW TAG

3.

In the Tag Details Editor (see page 69), select Portal SQL for the Data source type.

4.

Fill in the Tag details (see page 70) tab with the relevant parameters.
Note: The names in the DSN drop-down list refer to the description of configured
DSNs. The one you select should match a ComplexSQL Datasource type with a
description of SQL:<dsndescription>. If you cannot create an SQL tag, it could be due
to a misconfigured Datasource. Contact you BabelFish administrator for assistance.

5.

In the Query field, type in an SQL query. A sample outline is provided for you. If you
need more room or want to enter a more advanced query, click the ellipsis
button to open the Query Editor.

In the Query Editor, enter an SQL query which generates either one field (the value)
or two fields (a timestamp and value). Single-field queries will not support fetch
history and therefore will not be able to be trended.
The EP_STARTTIME value drop-down list displays the valid values for this keyword.

The value you select is substituted into the SQL query before it is executed. The
EP_TIME keyword is substituted with the date and time displayed in the BabelFish
Explorer page header. To produce a correct result, the rows returned by the query
must not be for a time greater than EP_TIME. For efficiency, they should not be for a
time less than EP_STARTTIME.
If the SQL query is likely to return more than one row, then you must define two
columns in the Select statement. The first column out of these two must be the
timestamp column. However, the timestamp itself is not displayed. For example:

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CREATING A NEW TAG

SELECT timestamp, user_id

FROM ep_event
WHERE timestamp BETWEEN EP_STARTTIME and EP_TIME

However, if the query is guaranteed to return only one row then you must define
only one column in the Select statement. For example:
SELECT count(*)
FROM ep_event
WHERE timestamp BETWEEN EP_STARTTIME and EP_TIME

6.

Click Run Query to preview the query and display the most recent single value in
Fetch Results.

The Fetch History Results displays all the table values which meet the criteria
between the start time and end time.
7.

Click OK to close the SQL Query Editor.

8.

Cycle through the remaining tabs and fill in the details as required:

Method (see page 73). Override the default sample method set for the page.
Appearance (see page 73). Specify the style and general appearance of the tag.
Layout (see page 143). Specify the size and position of the tag on the page.
Menu Items (see page 144). Add a related menu item to the tag.
Auxiliary Tags (see page 74). Specify the tags that are to be associated with
this tag.
Behaviors (see page 152). Dynamically update the tag by applying a behaviour
to it.
Tree (see page 75). Add the tag to the Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

9.

If you want to submit the tag for publishing (see page 137), click the Publish
icon in the upper right corner.

10.

When you have finished, click OK.

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DELETE A TAG

Delete a Tag
You can delete a tag from either the Tag Details Editor (see page 69) or the Point Detail
(see page 76).
Note: Only a BabelFish administrator can delete a tag. Deleting a Calculation Tag in the
BabelFish Explorer also deletes the corresponding entity in the Data Dictionary and
Entity Hierarchy. Deleting other types of tags from BabelFish Explorer does not
delete it from the Data Dictionary.
1.

Open the tag (see page 64).

2.

Click the Delete Tag button in the lower left corner.

3.

At the confirmation message, click Yes.

Important: If you delete a tag, it will also remove all comments associated with the tag, all
instances of the tag on any BabelFish page, and all instances of the tag in all trends.

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Pages
In This Chapter
Home Page
Open a Page
Page Templates
Edit a Page
Deleting a page
Create a Page Using the Page Wizard
Designing a Page

92
93
96
97
104
104
111

BabelFish Explorer consists of a series of pages. Each page can be configured to a user's
unique requirements by dragging objects (see page 141) onto the page.
The drag-and-drop nature of the BabelFish page means that designing them (see page 111)
does not require any specialised programming skills.
Once built, BabelFish pages display up-to-the minute dynamic information. However,
pages are by no means static objects, you can also interact with them by drilling down to
low-level data, obtaining statistics on a tag on a page, and sending a tag to the Trending
Tool for further analysis.

Home Page
The home page is the page that first appears when you open BabelFish Explorer, and the
page that BabelFish Explorer displays when you click the Home
icon on the BabelFish
toolbar (see page 8).
There is a default home page set by the BabelFish Administrator, but each user can
subsequently specify their preferred home page.

To set any page as a home page:

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OPEN A PAGE

1.

Click the My Environment (see page 12)

icon on the BabelFish toolbar.

2.

Below the Recent list, click the My Profile

3.

In the Home page field, type in the Page ID of the page you want to set, or click
Browse... to select from the Pages list.

4.

Click OK.

button.

Open a Page
There are several ways to open a page in BabelFish.

B A BE L F I SH T O O LB A R
1.

Click Pages

2.

If required, filter (see page 26) the list of pages:

3.

on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

a.

Click the Filter

icon.

b.

In the Filter Expression dialog box, type the filter criteria, and then click OK.

Double-click the name of the page you want to open.

The page opens.

B A BE L F I SH T O O LB A R M E NU
The BabelFish toolbar will usually contain a menu (see page 209) that contains links to
various pages.

Click on the appropriate link in the menu to open the page in the current tab.

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OPEN A PAGE

M Y E NV I RO N M E N T
My Environment (see page 12) lists your pages, trends and a list of all pages and trends
opened recently.
1.

Click the My Environment

icon on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

2.

In My Environment, double-click the page name in either the My Pages list or Recent
list.

The page opens.

P A GE M E NU
If a BabelFish page contains a menu (see page 209) on the Page toolbar (see page 16), you
can open a page from there.

Click on the page name in the menu to open it in the current tab.

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OPEN A PAGE

R E L A TE D D A TA M E NU S
Labels (see page 206) and tags (see page 54) can have menus added to them containing
related pages.

1.

Right-click on the label or tag.

2.

Click on the name of the page you want to open, indicated by a Page

icon.

The page opens.

P O IN T D E TA I L
A tag's Point Detail (see page 76) contains a cross reference to any pages in which it is
used.

To open a page from the Cross Reference list on the right, click on the name of the
page.

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PAGE TEMPLATES

S E A RC H R E SU LT S
You can open a page from any search results (see page 51) you get. You can search from:

BabelFish toolbar (see page 50)

Plant Model Tree (see page 52)

Opening a Page in Design Mode

Occasionally an error in a page may prevent it from opening in Design mode the usual way
(from Display mode). Other ways of opening a page directly in design mode are:

Open another (working) page in Design mode, and then click the Open Page
icon to open the failing page in Design mode.

If you are an Administrator, open the Page Publishing screen in the Administration
Console, find the page, and then click Edit. For further details, refer to the ISS
Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

Page Templates
A template is a placeholder for attributes and properties (see page 59). It defines the
properties and attributes that profiles derived from it should have. It only define s what the
properties and attributes are, not their values or referenced entities.
The BabelFish Explorer allows administrators to create template pages, which leverage the
commonality of entities associated with a template (see page 58). A single page can be
created and used to display multiple entities that are associated with the one template.
Page templates (sometimes called Preset pages) are created in ISS Enterprise Manager but
are used within BabelFish Explorer when creating a page (see page 104). For further
information, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

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EDIT A PAGE

Edit a Page
There are two types of editing you can do to a BabelFish page (see page 15):

Editing the page properties (see page 98).

Editing the contents of a page (see page 111).

Both require you to be in Design mode (see page 17):

1.

Click the Page Toolbar

icon on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

The Display mode interface (see page 16) appears, containing the Page Toolbar (see
page 16).

2.

In the Page Toolbar, click the Design

icon.

3.

To edit the page properties, double-click anywhere in the page. The Page Details
Editor (see page 98) opens.

4.

To modify the page design, you should add, remove, or arrange tags (see page 54)
and objects (see page 141) as required.

Note: If you don't see the Design

icon, then either you don't have permission to edit
this page, or a BabelFish administrator disabled the Design icon.

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EDIT A PAGE

Page Details Editor

The Page Details Editor opens automatically when double-clicking on the page in Design
mode (see page 17).

The Page Details Editor has four sections:

Details
Allows you to define the general appearance and navigation details (see page 99) of
the page.
Advanced
Defines the advanced (see page 202) style details of the page.
Menu
Allows you to create menu items (see page 144) that can be added to a page.
Plant Model
Allows you to add pages to the Plant Model Tree (see page 102).

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EDIT A PAGE

Details Tab
The Details tab in the Page Details Editor (see page 98) allows you to specify the title and
background image of the page, as well as setting the navigation keys on the keyboard. It
also allows you to set the refresh interval, and provides an area for you to make general
notes about the page.

Enter the following parameters:

Title
The page title identifies the page to BabelFish as well as other users. It is displayed in
the pages list, the page tab and is used by the BabelFish search engine (see page 49).
Choose a meaningful name that reflects the function of the page.
Note: You can store the page title on an entity template using a keyword
replacement, such as EP_TEMPLATE, to display different page titles in different tabs
when using templated pages.
Background Image
Live elements can be superimposed on a background image (see page 115), allowing
you to provide additional visual context. Click the Browse link to select an image
for the background, or type the path of the image into the text box. You can also
upload an image of your choosing (for details, refer to Page Display Attributes (see
page 107)).
Refresh Interval
By default, the data on the page is refreshed every 60 seconds. You can choose to
refresh the page at a different rate, or not refresh at all. The same refresh rate
applies to all users of the page.

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EDIT A PAGE

Note: Avoid overly fast refresh rates. Remember, you may have hundreds or even
thousands of people calling up your page, and the combined load to the system
could be considerable.
Navigation Keys
You can assign the Page Up, Page Down, and Home keys
on the keyboard to
view other BabelFish pages, or external pages. Type in the URL of the page you want
to invoke, or click the Select link to choose a page from the Pages list.
Notes
Type general notes about the page.

Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab in the Page Details Editor (see page 98) allows you to specify the
snap-to-grid increments and background colour of the page, as well as setting the offset
for the background image. It also allows you to specify a separate CSS style sheet, allows
you to specify if the page is suitable for mobile devices, and whether or not to load data
with the page.

Enter the following parameters:

Snap-To-Grid Size
Enter the size of the grid increments, in pixels, when Snap-to-grid (see page 119)
is enabled. When the snap-to-grid is turned on, objects are aligned to an invisible
grid when they are moved or resized.
Background Color
Specify a colour (see page 24) for the page background. The default is white. Type in
a named colour (see page 24) or Hexadecimal value, or click Select to open the Color
picker.

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Scrollbar Behaviour
Determines the behaviour of the scrollbars when a BabelFish page is embedded
within another page.
Visible: Content is not clipped and scrollbars are not added. This is the default.
Scroll: Content is clipped and scrollbars are added, even if the content does not
exceed the dimensions of the object.
Hidden: Content that exceeds the dimensions of the object is not shown.
Auto: Content is clipped and scrolling is added only when necessary.
Background Image Size
Determine the size of the background image (see page 115) on the page by
specifying the dimensions (height and width, in pixels) of the image. Note that
changing the size and width may distort the image.
Width. The width of the image.
Height. The height of the image. Note that changing this may distort the image.
Display Offsets
Determine the placement of the background image on the page by specifying the
margins (in pixels) of the image. You can use this to reposition background images to
compensate for excessive top and left borders. The image is oriented from the
centre of the page.
X-offset. The horizontal placement. Enter a negative number to move the image to
the left, or a positive number to move the image to the right.
Y-offset. The vertical placement. Enter a negative number to move the image up, or
a positive number to move the image down.
Additional Stylesheet
Apply an additional CSS style sheet (see page 112) to specify the design, layout, and
style elements for the page.
Load data with page
Display the page with values for tags placed on the page. If this is not selected, the
page displays for tags while it retrieves their values. If set, then when the page
loads it will already contain tag values for the currently selected time. Selecting this
option is recommended for pages containing tags from fast Datasources, so that
data loads with the page. Clear this option if data takes a long time to load.
Mobile device suitable
Set this option to mark this page as suitable for display on mobile devices. Only
pages that have this option set will be listed in the Pages list when using BabelFish
from a mobile device. Click the Preview link to display a preview of how the page
will appear on a mobile device (see page 115). If you do not have a license for
BabelFish Mobile, a message appears notifying you that this BabelFish installation is
not licensed for access from mobile devices.

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EDIT A PAGE

Note: Always click Apply before you click Preview, otherwise a message appears
stating that the page may not be suitable for a mobile device, regardless of your
licence status.

Plant Model Tab

The Plant Model tab in the Page Details Editor (see page 98) allows you to add the page to
the Entity Hierarchy in the Plant Model Tree (see page 133).

To add the page to the Plant Model Tree:

1.

Select the hierarchy from the drop-down list.

2.

In the resulting tree, expand the nodes and select the new parent entity.

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When you click on an allowed parent entity, the Add Page to Hierarchy button is
enabled.

3.

Click Add Page to Hierarchy.

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The page appears as the last child node for the selected parent node in the hierarchy, and
the Page Entity Details are listed.

Deleting a page
Pages can only be deleted by a BabelFish administrator.
For further information, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

Create a Page Using the Page Wizard

The Page Wizard makes creating BabelFish pages (see page 92) easy. You can step through
page configuration one step at a time; or click the Finish button at any time to go directly
to the Summary window (see page 110) and rapidly create a page. All of the information
entered into the page wizard can be subsequently changed in the Page Details Editor (see
page 98).
To invoke the Page Wizard:
1.

Click the Wizard button

12).

from the Pages list or from My Environment (see page

The Welcome screen appears.

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2.

Click Next.

3.

Choose the Page ID

every page.

. This is a unique number that BabelFish uses to identify

Auto. Allocate the Page ID automatically (default).

Specify. Enter your own number into the text box. You can enter up to six digits.
That is, any number up to and including 999999. If you attempt to enter a
non-numerical character, the field will flash orange.
4.

From the drop-down list, choose the page availability

. This indicates who will be
able to view the page, that is, private (Just Me) or public (Everyone). The default for
all pages is private, and only administrators can directly create public pages.
Note: When you start the wizard from My Environment, Availability is not accessible.
You can only create private pages. However, you can still submit the page for
publishing (see page 137).

5.

Choose the type of page you want to create

You can create a blank page or a copy of another page or by using a preset page (see
page 96) as a basis. Creating a page using a template (preset page) layout helps you
to create many similar pages quickly without repeating the same steps each time.

Blank Page
Create a page from scratch, setting your own display attributes and page navigation
keys.

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Copy from page

Import the display attributes and page navigation keys from an existing BabelFish
page. Enter the Page ID into the text box or click Select Page... to open the Pages
list. The page number must be six digits or less.
Preset page layout
Import the layout from a template page defined by a BabelFish administrator.
Choose from the available templates listed in the drop-down list. This option is only
available if at least one preset page has been configured in the Administration
Console.
6.

Type a name for your page in the Page Title field

Type in a meaningful name, as this will be displayed in the Pages list, on the page
tab, and is used by the search engine.
7.

Select if you want to enable page Refresh, and type in a page refresh rate (specified
in seconds). By default, pages are set to refresh every 60 seconds.
Note: Avoid overly fast refresh rates. Remember, you may have hundreds or even
thousands of people calling up your page, and the combined load to the system
could be considerable.
If required, you can disable the refresh rate. Pages that have been copied from
another page or created via a template use the imported page refresh rate, which
may specify a minimum allowed refresh rate. If you enter a value below the
minimum, a message appears, prompting you to change the refresh rate to one that
is valid.

8.

Click Next.
If you have chosen to copy from an existing page, or have used a preset page, you
will be taken directly to the Page Wizard Summary (see page 110).
If you have chosen to create a blank page, then the Page Display Attributes (see page
107) screen appears.

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Page Display Attributes

The Page Display Attributes screen allows you to specify the background attributes for the
page.

1.

Specify the background colour

for the page. Type in a named colour (see page
24) or Hexadecimal value, or click the coloured square to open the Color picker.

2.

Choose a background image

for the page. Either type the name of a background
image (see page 115) in the image folder, or click the
link to select an
image.
Live elements will appear superimposed on the background image, allowing you to
provide additional visual context. Typical background images include blueprints,
maps, and plans.
Images can be .jpg, .gif, or .png format. Beware of overly large images files, as they
slow down page-load times for your users.
If your desired image does not appear in the Select Background Image dialog box,
you can upload an image of your choosing from your local computer or from a
shared network location:

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a.

Click the Upload

icon in the upper right corner.

b.

In the Upload a File dialog box, click Browse to navigate to the image you
want to upload, and select it.

c.

When you have selected your image, click Upload.

Note: You cannot upload images larger than 4MB.

d.

Wait for the image to upload, this may take a few seconds.
Note: You can also create a folder

e.
3.

to upload images into.

From the Select Background Image dialog box, select the image you uploaded,
and then click Open to use it as your background.

In the Left/Right and Up/Down text boxes

, type in the margins (in pixels) of the
background image. You can use this to reposition background images to compensate
for excessive top and left borders. To offset the background:
Left or Up. Enter a negative number.
Right or Down. Enter a positive number.

4.

Click Next to open the Page Wizard Navigation (see page 109) screen.

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Page Wizard Navigation

Page Navigation defines the functions of the page up, page down, and home keys on the
keyboard. You can assign these keys to view other BabelFish or external pages. This can be
used to allow your users to cycle through a "circle" of related pages, and "back out" of a
page hierarchy.

1.

For each key (Page Up, Page Down, and Home) specify the page you want to go to.
Key

Default

Page Up

{current page number} - 1

Page Down
Home

2.

URL

Type in any
{current page number} + 1 existing URL
into the text
http://your-BabelFish-serve box for that
key.
r/ babelfish

Page
Type any existing BabelFish page
number into the text box for that
key, or click
to
open the Pages list. For the Home
key, the root directory
automatically appears in the text
box.

Click Next to go to the Page Wizard Summary (see page 110).

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Page Wizard Summary

At the Summary Window, you can perform a final check on the identification and
availability of your new page.

1.

Check the following properties. If required, click Back to change them.

2.

Page ID
Availability. Default: Just Me
Page Name
Enable Refresh. Default: selected
Refresh. Default: 60
Background Color
Background Image
Horizontal Offset. Default: 0
Vertical Offset. Default: 0
Page-up URL: Default: <Prev Page>
Page-down URL. Default: <Next Page>
Home URL. Default: </eplant/>

Click Create to create your new page.

The new page opens in Design mode (see page 17), ready for you to design (see page 111)
or change the content of the page.

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Designing a Page
Designing a BabelFish page (see page 92) consists of adding objects and laying them out in
a way that makes sense and is easy to understand. Many of the principles of web design
can also apply to designing BabelFish pages. In fact, you can even use your own CSS style
sheet (see page 202) on a BabelFish page.
When constructing a large number of pages, you should consider adopting a style guide to
define a common standard for BabelFish pages across your company. As well as defining a
style sheet (see page 112), you should consider specifying conventions for use of
backgrounds, colours, and links, as well as defining a standardised representation for
equipment modelled by BabelFish objects, such as distillation columns, pumps, and valves.
Aside from style considerations, you should consider who will be using your page, and how
other people will use it.
Before you go ahead and create a BabelFish page, it is useful to:

Understand the purpose of the page.

Have a rough sketch of what you would like the page to look like.

Know the entities (see page 54) you want to model, whether or not they have
attributes (see page 59), properties, or other related objects.

Have an idea of the type of objects (see page 141) to add to your page that will best
represent the information you want to convey.

After you have an understanding of what you want to achieve, you can:

Create a page (see page 104).

Add objects to the page.

Create new objects using the Design toolbar.

Use the toolbox (see page 19) to add tags (see page 54), shapes, tables (see
page 235), and menus (see page 209).

Use the Plant Model Tree (see page 133) to view the entities in your system.

Arrange your page so it presents well.

Use the Object Layout Grid (see page 122).

Use the alignment tools (see page 119).

As you go, check your page in Display mode (see page 16) to see how you are
progressing.

Submit your page for publishing (see page 137).

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Styles and Style Sheets in BabelFish

A style sheet creates a consistent look and feel for a set of pages without having to
remember individual settings for each attribute and object on the page. Presenting
information consistently across pages helps users to become familiar with meanings
attributed to an object, and makes pages easier to understand and use.
Styles also make it easier to maintain pages by allowing you to make a change in one place,
and have it propagate through to all pages. For example, if you define a style that applies
to all tags and labels, then wherever tags and labels appear on a page they will look the
same. If you want to change the appearance of all labels and tags, then rather than editing
each page manually, you can make a single change in the style sheet, and all the labels and
tags using that style will also be changed. Therefore the change only has to be made in one
place the style definition.
BabelFish uses a default CSS style sheet that defines a number of default styles you can
use when designing a BabelFish page. BabelFish administrators can also define additional
style sheets that authors can use when they are designing a page.
For further information, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

Select Page Objects

Selecting an object (see page 141) allows you to move it on the page, arranging them as
you see fit. To select any object on a page:
1.

Make sure the Design toolbar is visible.

2.

Click the Select

3.

Click on objects on the page to make the edit handles appear.

icon.

To select multiple objects, press the CTRL

key while you click on all the
objects you want to select. When you select multiple objects, they are highlighted in
orange. You can drag selected objects across the page as a group.

If you double-click an object, the object details editor (see page 142) opens.
To de-select objects, click anywhere on the page.

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Add Objects from the Plant Model Tree

You can add tags and template tags (see page 58) onto a page from the Plant Model Tree
(see page 133).
1.

Click Plant Model Tree

on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

2.

Expand and collapse the tree nodes to display the tags (see page 54).

3.

Drag the tag to the page.

You can also search (see page 52) within the Plant Model Tree, and drag a tag onto a page
from there.

Add Objects from the Toolbox

The toolbox allows you to add menus (see page 209), vector shapes, tables (see page 235),
tags (see page 54), and template tags (see page 58) onto a BabelFish page.
1.

Click the relevant tab in the toolbox (see page 19).

2.

Drag the object onto the page.

Add a Template Tag

Template tags (see page 58) act as placeholders on a page. The page that contains the
template tags can be used to view information for different objects of the same object
type.
Template tags are listed in the toolbox (see page 19). You can use these tags in exactly the
same way as you would use a normal tag.

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1.

In the toolbox, click the Plant Model Template View

2.

Expand and contract the nodes to find the tag.

3.

Drag the tag onto the page.

tab.

The template tag appears on the page preceded by the keyword EP_TEMPLATE.
Double-clicking on the template tag object in Design mode (see page 17) opens the
Template Tag Details Editor (see page 60).

Delete an Object
To delete any object (see page 141) on a page:
1.

Make sure the Page toolbar (see page 16) is visible.

2.

Click on the object to make the edit handles appear.

3.

Press the Delete key

on your keyboard.

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Backgrounds
A background is a graphic image on a page (see page 98), such as a map, blueprint, photo,
or CAD drawing, that you can use to visualise the production environment, or to obtain a
global or localised view of company assets. You can overlay other objects over the top of a
background to provide an indication of performance in various areas.

Designing for Mobile Devices

When designing pages for viewing on mobile devices (such as PDAs), keep in mind the
following:

The page will only display tags (see page 54) and labels (see page 206), but will
otherwise be the same. Therefore any background images, vector shapes, and so on,
will not be shown.

Depending on the type of device, screen sizes can be as low as 150 x 150 pixels.
Therefore consider the position and arrangement of the tags and labels you want to
display.

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Rubber-band
The term Rubber-band is used in BabelFish Explorer to describe a technique that defines
the area in which to insert an object on a page.
Rubber-banding involves clicking on an icon in the design toolbar, then clicking on the
page, holding the left mouse button down as you "drag out" a rectangular area.

During the drag motion, a pink rectangle

is drawn from the point at which the left
mouse button was first clicked, to the point at which the left mouse button is released.
Releasing the mouse sets the final size and position of the new object on the page, and
opens the object details editor (see page 142).
Objects that can be rubber-banded are:

Comments (see page 169)

Embedded Trends (see page 190)
Embedded Search (see page 186)
Hotspots (see page 191)
iFrames (see page 198)
Object Layout Grid (see page 122)
Operating donut (see page 212)
Performance Curve (see page 221)
XML Tables (see page 239)

Page Menus
Page menus are a useful way to access other related pages, trends, and so on. When you
add a menu to a page (see page 117), menu items are shown on the Page toolbar (see page
16).

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Adding Menu Items to a Page

When a page is displayed, the menu items are shown on the Page toolbar.

There are some restrictions as to who can add a menu to a page:

A user who does not have editor privileges cannot add a private menu to a published
page.

A user who does not have editor privileges can add a private menu to their private page.

A user who has administrator or editor privileges can add a private or published
menu to a private or published page.

To add a menu item to the Page toolbar:

1.

Click the Menus tab

in the Toolbox (see page 19).

A list of available menus appears.

2.

Select the menu item and drag it onto the page.

Nothing will appear on the page while you are designing the page, but it will appear
on the Page toolbar when you change to display mode.

You can also remove menu items from a page (see page 118).

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Removing Menu Items from a Page

To remove a menu item from a page, you need to detach it from the page object:
1.

Open the Page Details Editor (see page 98) by double-clicking anywhere on the page
in Design mode (see page 17).

2.

On the Menu (see page 144) tab, click Attach/Detach.

3.

In the Add/remove associated menus screen, click on the menu item you want to
remove from the list on the left.

4.

Press the Delete

5.

Click Close.

key.

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Alignment
BabelFish provides you with two easy-to-use tools to help you design useful and visually
appealing pages:

Snap-to-grid (see page 119)

Multi-select tools (see page 119)

Both tools make it easier to move, size, and align objects on a page.

Snap-to-Grid
Snap-to-grid assists in aligning and sizing objects on a page. When active, objects move in
jumps, according to the snap-to-grid increment specified in the Advanced tab (see page
202) of the Page Details Editor (see page 98).
An object normally moves around the screen one pixel at a time, making it difficult to align
with other objects. When snap-to-grid is off, you can move an object anywhere, and size it
however you like. This can result in objects being misaligned and unevenly sized.

When Snap-to-grid is turned on, objects move and are sized in set increments, resulting in
automatic alignment and sizing with other objects on the page.

Note that snap-to-grid only applies when you use the mouse to move and size objects. You
can override snap-to-grid by specifying exact sizes in the layout tab (see page 143) of the
object editor.
To enable Snap-to-grid:

Click the Grid icon

on the Design toolbar.

Multi-Select Tools
The Multi-select tool arranges and sizes a selected group of objects (see page 141) on a
page.
To use the multi-select tool:

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Click the Multi-select tools

icon on the Design toolbar.

The tools perform four functions:

Spacing: Change the spacing between the objects.
Aligning. Align the objects.
Sizing. Resize the objects.
Managing. Select, duplicate, and cascade objects.

2.

Select multiple objects by pressing the CTRL key

you want to align.

and clicking on each object

The selected items are highlighted in orange.

3.

Click the required tool icon to perform the required function:

Change the spacing between

objects.

Horizontal spacing

Make horizontal spacing equal between objects.

Increase the horizontal spacing between objects.
Reduce the horizontal spacing between objects.
Remove the horizontal spacing between objects.

Vertical spacing

Make vertical spacing equal between objects.

Increase the vertical spacing between objects.
Reduce the vertical spacing between objects.
Remove the vertical spacing between objects.

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Align the objects.

Vertical alignment

Align the left sides of objects.

Align objects along their vertical centres.
Align the right sides of objects.

Horizontal
alignment

Align the tops of objects.

Align objects along their horizontal centres.
Align the bottoms of objects.

Resize the objects.

Make objects the same height.
Make objects the same size.
Make objects the same width.
Make objects size to grid.

Manage the objects.

Select all objects on the page.
Duplicate selected objects.
Cascade selected objects.

Spacing

Aligning

Sizing

Managing

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Object Layout Grid

The Object Layout Grid provides a fast way of lining up other page objects (see page 141)
in a tabular format of rows and columns, with the option to automatically draw the border
lines, instead of having to draw all the lines and align the objects manually.
Using the grid to format objects on the page allows you to easily add extra rows and
columns, and make quick changes to the formatting, without having to move every object
individually.
This is especially useful in situations where you need to align objects on a page to achieve
a specific layout.

The Object Layout Grid also provides additional functionality in enabling a user to expand
the contents of a cell to better view its details.

Creating an Object Layout Grid

To add an Object Layout Grid to a page:
1.

Click the Object Layout Grid icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the grid.

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The Grid Layout Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Grid Layout Details Editor (see page 123), specify the appearance, design,
layout, and behaviour of the grid.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
grid, or move it to another position.

From here, you can now add objects to cells in the grid (see page 132).

Grid Layout Details Editor

The Grid Layout Details Editor opens automatically when creating an object layout grid
(see page 122) for a BabelFish page, or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the grid
object in Design mode (see page 17).

The Grid Layout Details Editor has four sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the general appearance (see page 124) of the grid object.

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Design
Allows you to specify the design (see page 125) of the cells in the grid object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

Grid Appearance
The Grid Layout Details Editor (see page 123) allows you to specify three simple grid
properties:

Number of rows
Number of columns

Cell spacing (number of pixels between each cell)

By default, the size of the rows and columns are flexible, so they will accommodate any
object you add to the grid (see page 132). However, you can also design (see page 125) the
grid so that the row and column sizes are set.

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Grid Design
When you create a grid, a column header and row header are automatically added to your
grid design preview, in addition to the number of cells you have selected. You cannot add
objects to the column and row header, they are provided only to help with sizing your grid.
The Design tab in the Grid Layout Details Editor (see page 123) allows you to specify the
design of each cell, row header, and column header in the grid.

To specify the design of your grid:

1.

Click on a cell, highlighting it blue.

You can also merge cells (see page 130) if required.

2.

3.

Change the properties of the selected cells, as required:

Column header (see page 126)

Row header (see page 127)

Grid cells (see page 128)

When you have finished making your changes, click OK.

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Grid Column Header

The grid column header of the Design (see page 125) tab in the Grid Layout Details Editor
allows you to specify the width of the columns in your grid.

To size your columns:

1.

Click on a column header to highlight it. You can only select one column at a time.

2.

In the Column Width drop-down list, select from:

Automatic

Pixels

Percent

3.

If you have selected Pixels or Percent, specify the number of pixels or the
percentage width you want the column to be.

4.

Click Apply or OK.

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Grid Row Header

The grid row header of the Design tab (see page 125) in the Grid Layout Details Editor
allows you to specify the height of the rows, and their colour, in your grid.

To customise your rows:

1.

Click on a row header to highlight it. You can only select one row at a time.

2.

In the Row Height drop-down list, select from:

Automatic
Pixels
Percent

3.

If you have selected Pixels or Percent, specify the number of pixels or the
percentage height you want the column to be.

4.

If you want the row to have a specific colour, type the name of the colour (see page
24), or click Select... to open the Color Picker.

5.

Click Apply or OK.

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Grid Cells
The grid cells of the Design (see page 125) tab in the Grid Layout Details Editor allows you
to specify the borders and colours of cells in your grid, and also allows you to add a simple
toolbar to a cell.

To customise your cells:

1.

Click on a cell to highlight it.

If you want to merge cells (see page 130), do so before adjusting the rest of their
properties.

2.

If you want to insert a toolbar the top of the cell, select Enable cell toolbar.
This inserts a T
in the upper right corner of the cell, indicating that a toolbar
will be visible at the top of the cell when viewed in Display mode (see page 16).

The toolbar serves two purposes: to display a title for the cell, and to enable users to
minimise and maximise a cell.
a.

If you want to allows users to maximise and minimise a cell, select the Enable
minimize/maximize check box. When this is selected, the toolbar displays
minimise
and maximise
arrows on the right.
Maximising a cell expands its contents over the other cells, to the width of the
grid. The minimise arrow
returns the cell to its normal size. In the example
below, the contents of the cell on the left is expanded, enabling a clearer view
of its details.

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b.
3.

In the Cell title field, type the title you want to display in the toolbar.

Specify the cell borders, if any.

a.

Select the width in pixels from the Border drop-down list. The maximum width
is five pixels.

b.

Select the border style from the drop-down list in the centre. There are eight
styles to choose from (see below).

c.

Type the name of the colour (see page 24) for the border in the field on the
right, or click Select... to open the Color Picker.
Solid
Inset

(better with wider borders)

Outset

(better with wider borders)

Ridge

(better with wider borders)

Dotted
Dashed
Double

(minimum 3 pixels)

Groove

(better with wider borders)

4.

In the Cell color field, type the name of the background colour for the cell, or click
Select... to open the Color Picker.

5.

Click Apply or OK.

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Merge Cells
Merging cells combines selected cells into a single cell. A merged cell can also be split,
which separates them back into their original cells.
When you merge cells, the merged cell takes on the properties of the upper left selected
cell, as illustrated below. When you split a merged cell, the split cells revert to their
original properties, if no changes have been made.

Original cells

Merged cells

Merged cells, subsequently

split. Original colours
restored.

If you have modified the properties of a merged cell, then when it is split, only the upper
left cell will retain the properties of the merged cell, and the remaining cells will revert to
their original properties, as illustrated below.

Merged cells

Changing colour of a
merged cell

Merged cells, subsequently split.

The colour of the leftmost cell is
the new colour, the colour of the
rightmost cell is the original
colour.

To select and merge multiple cells:

1.

Click on one cell and drag the left mouse button over all the cells you want to select.

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2.

When you release the mouse, a Merge Cells button appears.

3.

Click Merge Cells.

A Split Cell button appears, as well as fields that let you change the properties of the
cell.

4.

If required, change the properties of the cell (see page 128).

To split merged cells:

1.

Click on the merged cell to highlight it.

2.

Click the Split Cell button.

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PAGES

DESIGNING A PAGE

Adding Objects to a Grid Layout

Adding objects to the grid is a matter of dragging them from the toolbox (see page 19),
and dropping them into the required grid cell (see page 122).

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Plant Model
In This Chapter
Plant Model Tree Features
Table of Contents

134
136

The Plant Model Tree provides a hierarchical way to navigate around BabelFish.
Information is provided in a tree structure, which displays external hierarchies and can be
designed for any purpose. Examples include a plant view, a geographic hierarchy, or an
asset register.
You can access the Plant Model Tree at any time by clicking on the Plant Model
icon
on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8). It also has a search function (see page 52) to allow
you to search on entities in the tree.
The Plant Model Tree:

Allows information to be displayed in a tree format.

Can be used to show plant layout, KPI hierarchies, and control system hierarchies.

Shows tags (see page 54) and their location in a tree structure.

Tags and entities can be dragged from the tree onto pages (see page 15), trends, and
so on.

Can be used to launch trends (see page 190), pages, tag Point Detail (see page 76).

Dragging and dropping a data source node onto a page displays a label.

The Plant Model Tree is a replication of the Entity Hierarchy and Data Sources in ISS
Enterprise Manager. Although it is configured in ISS Enterprise Manager, BabelFish
Explorer users can add tags, pages, and trends to the Plant Model using BabelFish Explorer.
For further information, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.
Removing a tag, page, or trend from the Plant Model Tree must be done through ISS
Enterprise Manager.

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PLANT MODEL

PLANT MODEL TREE FEATURES

Directly below the Plant Model Tree is a Table of Contents (see page 136), which displays a
list of all the nodes or elements belonging to the selected item in the hierarchy.

Plant Model Tree Features

The Plant Model Tree has several features.
Tree
The Tree tab displays all tags (see page 54), pages (see page 15), trends, and so on,
in an hierarchical tree structure.

Entity hierarchy
Directly below the Tree tab is a drop-down list. The list displays the entity hierarchy
(as configured in ISS Enterprise Manager).

If the Data Source hierarchy is selected, this displays all data sources created in ISS
Enterprise Manager, and their associated entities.
For further information, refer to the ISS Enterprise Manager User's Guide.

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PLANT MODEL TREE FEATURES

Options
The Options
icon to the right of the hierarchy drop-down list affects the way the
tree is displayed.

You can group entities by category, display disabled entities, display descriptions,
and show or hide attributes (see page 59).
Note: Only the Show Descriptions option can be used for the Data Source hierarchy.
Group By Category

Groups the hierarchies by categories.

Show Disabled

Shows all disabled tags.

Hide Primary Profile Attributes

Hides the Primary Profile Attributes of the parent entity.

Hide Primary Profile Properties Hides the Primary Profile Properties of the parent entity.
Hide Remote Attributes and
Properties

Hides the attributes and properties of the parent entity in

the remote hierarchy.

Show Descriptions

Shows or hides the description of the entity. Refer to the

picture below:
Hide Descriptions
Show Descriptions

Show Primary Time Series

Properties

Shows the Min and Max properties of time-series entities.

Hide Non Primary Entity

Profiles

Does not show the profile of non-primary entities.

Tree list
When you select a hierarchy from the drop-down list, the tree structure changes to
reflect the chosen entity hierarchy. All parent and child nodes represent an entity,
tag, page, or trend.

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PLANT MODEL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You can double-click any node in the hierarchy to open it in the main BabelFish
Explorer window. If you are in Design mode (see page 17), you can also drag any of
the nodes on to the design window to place it on the page.

The tree structure contains standard expand

the contents of the hierarchy.

and collapse

points to display

Table of Contents
Clicking on an entity in the Plant Model Tree (see page 133) displays a Table of Contents
containing the Renderers (Content Providers) for the given entity. This displays all content
that has been assigned directly to the entity through the Data Dictionary, either through
its data type or via any templates (see page 58) that have been applied to the entity.
Double-clicking on an entry in the Table of
Contents displays the selected content in
the BabelFish Explorer. For example,
double-clicking on the Point Detail
displays the Point Detail (see page 76) tab.

The Table of Contents also changes when

you click on an entity on a BabelFish page.
However, clicking the pin icon
on the
right side of the Table of Contents title bar
"pins" the Table of Contents, so that it
does not update when you click on
another entity in either the Plant Model
Tree or on a BabelFish page.

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Publishing
In This Chapter
Publishing Status
Publishing from My Environment
Alternative Methods of Publishing

137
138
139

In BabelFish, all pages (see page 15), trends, tags (see page 54), and menus are either
private or public.
A public page, trend, tag, or menu is visible to all users, while a private page, trend, tag, or
menu is visible only to the person who created it and BabelFish administrators.
All pages, trends, tags, and menus start off as private. They become public by way of the
publishing process (see page 138). The owner submits the page, trend, tag, or menu to an
administrator, who then reviews and publishes it.
For further information on BabelFish administrative processes, refer to the ISS Enterprise
Manager User's Guide.

Publishing Status
Tags (see page 54), pages, trends, and menus can be in one of three states:
Private
Restricts viewing to the creator and BabelFish administrators. The initial state is
always private.
Submitted
A page, tag, trend, or menu can be submitted to the BabelFish administrator for
publishing, which will make it available for viewing by all BabelFish users .
Public
Allows all BabelFish users to view and use the page, trend, tag, or menu.
The author is the person who initially created the page, trend, tag, or menu. To make
these visible to everyone, the author needs to submit them for publishing (see page 138).
After the administrator reviews and approves the submitted item, it becomes public.
After an object has been submitted, the author can retract the object and make it private
again.
After an object has been published, the author can privatise the object (change to private)
for editing purposes, and then submit it for publishing again.
Throughout BabelFish, publishing status is indicated by the following icons:

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PUBLISHING

Item

PUBLISHING FROM MY ENVIRONMENT

Private

Submitted

Public

Options (user)

Submit

Retract

Privatise

Options
(administrator)

Submit or
publish

Publish or
privatise

Privatise

Profile
Pages
Tags
Trends
Menus

Generally speaking, if an icon is coloured green, it indicates that it has be en submitted for
publishing
and is waiting for approval to be made public.

Publishing from My Environment

You can publish a page (see page 15) or trend from My Environment (see page 12)
the BabelFish toolbar.

on

1.

Create a private page or trend. At this stage, the object is private.

2.

Click My Environment

3.

In the My Pages or My Trends list, click the page or trend you want to submit.

4.

Click the Submit

button below My Pages or My Trends, depending on
which one you want to publish.

5.

The page or trend is now submitted to the BabelFish administrator, who will review
it and publish it (see page 137).

R E T RA C T IN G P A GE S

OR

on the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8).

T RE ND S

If you want to recall a page or trend you have previously submitted for publishing:
1.

Click My Environment (see page 12)

on the BabelFish toolbar.

2.

In the My Pages or My Trends list, click the page or trend you want to retract.

3.

Click the Retract

button below My Pages or My Trends, depending on
which one you want to recall from the publishing process.

4.

The page or trend is returned to the BabelFish author, who can modify it and
re-submit it for publishing.

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ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF PUBLISHING

Alternative Methods of Publishing

The standard publishing process allows you to publish and retract pages and trends
through My Environment (see page 12).
However, you can also publish tags, pages, and menus via their object editors:

Tags can be published via the Tag Details Editor (see page 69)

Pages can be published via the Page Details Editor (see page 98).

Menus can be published via the Menu Editor (see page 149).

These object editors have a publishing profile symbol in the upper right corner.

The private profile

The submitted profile

icon indicates a submitted tag

The published profile

icon indicates a public tag

P R IV A TI SE

icon indicates a private tag

T A G , P A GE ,

OR

, page

or menu
, page

page

or menu

, or menu

M E NU

After a tag, page, or menu has been published, the author or a BabelFish administrator can
make it private.
1.

In the object editor, click the public profile icon

in the upper right corner.

A message appears asking for confirmation to privatise the object.

2.

Click the Privatize button.

The tag, page, or menu is now private

P U B L IS H

T A G , P A GE ,

OR

M E NU

To publish a tag, page, or menu via the object editor:

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1.

ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF PUBLISHING

In the object editor, click the private profile icon

in the upper right corner.

A message appears asking for confirmation to publish the tag, page, or menu.
If the item belongs to a BabelFish administrator, it can be published directly.
Otherwise, it needs to be submitted first.

2.

Click the Submit button.

The tag, page, or menu is now submitted

P U B L IS H

OR

R E T RA C T

S U B M I TTE D T A G , P A GE ,

OR

M E NU

After a tag, page, or menu has been submitted, a BabelFish administrator can make it
public.
1.

In the object editor, click the submitted profile icon

in the upper right corner.

A message appears asking for confirmation to publish or retract the tag, page, or
menu.
If you are a BabelFish administrator, you can publish the item from here. Otherwise,
the only option available will be to retract the object.

2.

Click the Publish button.

The tag, page, or menu is now public

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Page Objects
In This Chapter
Object Details Editor
Buttons
Combo Boxes
Comments
Data Tables
Embedded Search
Embedded Statistics
Embedded Trends
Hotspots
Hyperlinks
iFrames
Images
Labels
Menus
Operating Donuts
Performance Curve
SQL Tables
XML Tables

142
159
162
169
173
186
187
190
191
194
198
202
206
209
212
221
235
239

Page objects are items that you can put on a BabelFish page. They include:

Buttons (see page 159)

Combo boxes (see page 162)
Comments (see page 169)
Data Tables (see page 173)
Embedded Search (see page 186)
Embedded Statistics (see page 187)
Embedded Trends (see page 190)
GeoMapping (refer to the BabelFish GeoMapping User's Guide)
Hyperlinks (see page 194)
Hotspots (see page 191)
iFrames (see page 198)
Images (see page 202)
Labels (see page 206)
Menus (see page 209)
Object Layout Grid (see page 122)
Operating Donuts (see page 212)
Performance Curve (see page 221)
SQL Tables (see page 235)
Tags (see page 54)
Shapes (Refer to the BabelFish Shapes Reference)
XML Tables (see page 239)

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Object Details Editor

You can open the Details Editor for any object by double-clicking on the object in Design
mode (see page 17). It also opens automatically when you add any object a page (see page
15).
The Details Editor takes the form of a dialog box with several tabs across the top. Some of
these tabs are specific to the object, however there are also some tabs that are common
to all objects (see page 142).
For object-specific tabs, refer to the relevant object (see page 141) you want to create or
edit.

Common Tabs
There are three tabs that appear in several Object Details Editors (see page 142):

Layout (see page 143)

Behaviors (see page 152)
Menu Items (see page 144)

For object-specific tabs, refer to the relevant object (see page 141) you want to create or
edit.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Layout
The Layout tab defines positions and dimensions from the upper left corner of an object to
other points. The units of distance can be either pixels or a percentage of the page size.
When an object is moved or resized on the page, the layout dimensions update
accordingly.

The parameters are:

X
When specifying the X coordinate, you also need to specify a reference starting point
(right, left, top, or bottom). All measurements are made from either the top of the
object, or the left edge of the object. Type a value and select number of pixels from
the left margin of the page, number of pixels from the right margin of the page, or
the percentage of the page width from the left.
Y
When specifying the Y coordinate, you also need to specify a reference starting point
(right, left, top, or bottom). All measurements are made from either the top of the
object, or the left edge of the object. Type a value and select number of pixels from
the top margin of the page, number of pixels from the bottom margin of the page, or
the percentage of the page height from the top.
Width
Type a value and select either the number of pixels or the percentage of the page
width.
Height
Type a value and select either the number of pixels or the percentage of the page
height.
Layer
Where to place the object in relation to other objects on the page. Foreground,
Middle, Background, or Custom. When you choose Custom, you also need to specify
a z-index between 100-900, where 100 is the rearmost layer and 900 is the foremost
layer. The default is Background.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Menu Items
The Menu Items tab in the object editor allows you to add:

Menus to a page, which can be accessed from the Page toolbar (see page 16).

Related menus to tags (see page 54), labels (see page 206), and shapes, which can be
accessed from Display mode (see page 16) by right-clicking on the page object.

To add a menu to an object:

1.

Click the Attach/Detach button on the Menu Items tab.

2.

In the Add/Detach Associated Menus window, drag a menu from the list on the
right, onto the object in the list on the left.

The list on the right displays all the current menus available for adding to the object.
Indicates a parent menu containing sub-menus or specific menu items.
Indicates a single menu item that causes an action (such as opening a page, URL,
or trend).
3.

If required, repeat the above step to add more menu items to the tag or label.

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4.

OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

When you have finished, click Close.

The Add/Remove Associated Menus window has several features of note.

F I LTE RI N G M E NU I TE M S
If the list of menus on the right is large, you can use three methods to search through the
list:

Use the filter

Use the drop-down list to restrict the list to selected categories: Private, Public, or all
menus.

Select the check box to restrict the list to displaying only parent

to find the menu item you are looking for.

menus.

C RE A TI N G C A SC A D I N G M E NU S

To create a cascading menu, add any menu item to a parent menu

on the left.

You can also add parent menus to other parent menus.

V IE W

EDIT

OR

MENU

To view details for the menu in the list on the right, double-click it. You can also edit a
menu (see page 149) here if you need to.

C RE A TE

M E NU

If the menu you want to use does not exist, you can create the menu (see page 146) first,
and then add it from here.

R E M OV E

OR

D E TA C H

M E NU

To remove a menu from the object, select the menu from the list on the left and
press the Delete key.

Note that only administrators can detach a cascading menu from its parent menu.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Create a Menu
To create a new menu:
1.

Click New Item.

2.

In the Edit Menu Details window, fill in the following parameters:

Description: Description of the menu item.

Menu Text: The text you want to display as the menu "name".
Function. Select Call up a URL to create a single menu item. This is the default.
Select Generate menus on server only if you want to create a parent menu (see page
147).
onclick URL. The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links
must be fully qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the
relative path, such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the
Test... link. You can also use replacement tokens (see page 152).

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.
Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.
Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
Icon. If you want to place an icon that will appear to the left of the menu text, click
Select to navigate and choose the image.
Target. The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can
be a new window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current
tab, or an iFrame on the same page.
Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itself
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.
3.

Click OK.

Create a Parent or Cascading Menu

Parent menus can have sub-menus (cascading menus). Note that only administrators can
detach a child menu from a cascading menu.
To create a new parent menu:
1.

Click New Item.

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2.

OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

In the Edit Menu Details window, fill in the following parameters:

Description: Description of the menu item.

Menu Text: The text you want to display as the menu "name".
Function: Select Generate menus on server to create a cascading menu. Select Call
up a URL only if you want to create a single menu (see page 146).
3.

The Edit Menu Details window changes to add fields for the child menus. Fill in the
remaining fields.

Child menus: For a cascading menu, select Use cascading submenus. If you want to
create an inline menu, select Display inline.
Std sub-menus? Selecting this option automatically generates the Server Menu URL.
This also enables you to drag and drop directly linked submenus onto this menu
when the menu list is displayed.
Server menu URL: If you are not using standard submenus, specify the URL that
points to a web service that provides valid menu XML.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Note: This document is normally created by a BabelFish Administrator.

The XML document must have the following structure:

4.

Click OK.

Edit a Menu
To edit a menu:
1.

Open the menu item from either the BabelFish Explorer or Enterprise Manager
(administrators only). Either:
Double-click on the menu in the Attach/Detach Associated Menus (see page 144)
window.

- OR Click the Edit Item button in the Menu Items tab of the object editor (see page 142).

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Note: If you do not have permissions to edit the menu items, this button will instead
display Menu Details, which when clicked displays the Edit Menu Details dialog box
in view-only format.

2.

In the Edit Menu Details window, make the required changes.

Description: Description of the menu item.

Menu Text: The text you want to display as the menu "name".
Function: What you want the menu item to do, either Call up a URL or Generate
menus on the server.
onclick URL. The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links
must be fully qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the
relative path, such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the
Test... link.
File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.
Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
Icon: If you want to place an icon that will appear to the left of the menu text, click
Select to navigate and choose the image.
Target: The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can
be a new window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current
tab, or an iFrame on the same page.
Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itself
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.
Child menus: For a cascading menu, select Use cascading submenus. If you want to
create an inline menu, select Display inline.
Std sub-menus? Selecting this option automatically generates the Server Menu URL.
This also enables you to drag and drop directly linked submenus onto this menu
when the menu list is displayed.
Server menu URL: If you are not using standard submenus, specify the URL that
points to a pre-configured XML document that specifies the submenus you would
like. Internal paths can use the relative path, such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll? The XML
document must have the following structure:

3.

Click OK.

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Replacement Tokens for Menus

All replacement tokens can be used in menu names and menu URLs. These tokens may be
used in both client-side and server-side URLs and names, unless otherwise indicated.
For a list of available replacement tokens, refer to Keyword Replacement Tokens (see page
34).

Delete a Menu Item

Deleting a menu item from the Add/Detach Associated Menus list (see page 144) will also
remove all instances of the menu on any tags (see page 54), pages (see page 15), or
applications.
To delete a menu item:
1.

Open the menu item (see page 149).

2.

In the Edit Menu Details window, click the Delete button.

3.

At the confirmation message, click Yes.

Behaviors
BabelFish Explorer can dynamically update any page object by applying a behaviour to the
object. Behaviors can perform several actions such as updating the colour, size, or position
of an object.
For example, this is useful if you want to change the colour of an object depending on
circumstances, such as above or below a threshold, or moving an icon off a page to
indicate if there is a vehicle present in a loading bay.
Note: Behaviors refresh when the BabelFish page is refreshed. Specify an appropriate
refresh rate in the Page Details Editor (see page 98).

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OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Adding Behaviors
To add a Behavior to a BabelFish object:
1.

Double-click the object to display the object editor (see page 142).

2.

Click the Behaviors tab.

3.

Click the New button to add a behaviour.

4.

Click on the Behavior you want to add. You can add five types of behavior:
BinaryBackgroundColour
Changes the background colour of an object between two defined colours,
depending on if the value of a tag is above or below a specified threshold.
Height
Sets the height of its target object to value * scale, where value is the value of the
driving tag, and scale is a property of the behaviour instance.
Width
Sets the width of its target object to value * scale, where value is the value of the
driving tag, and scale is a property of the behaviour instance.

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XPosition
Sets the X position of its target object to base + (value - offset) * scale, where
value is the value of the driving tag, and base, offset and scale are properties of the
behaviour instance.
YPosition
Sets the Y position of its target object to base + (value - offset) * scale, where
value is the value of the driving tag, and base, offset and scale are properties of the
behaviour instance.
5.

In the Behavior Editor, specify the Driving Tag (see page 155) and Properties (see
page 156).

6.

Click OK.

The Behavior is added to the object. Repeat the above steps to specify further behaviors
for the object.

E D IT IN G

BE H A V I O R S

To edit existing behaviors:

1.

Click on the behavior.

2.

Click the Edit button.

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3.

OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

Make the required changes to the driving tag and properties.

Driving Tag for Behaviors

The Driving Tag specifies the tag that will influence (drive) the behaviour of this tag.
1.

In the Tag name field, enter the name of the driving tag. By default, the selected tag
is entered.

You can enter a tag name by either clicking the tag icon
Tags list (see page 10), or:

2.

to select a tag from the

a.

Type a complete or partial tag name into the text field.

a.

Click Check tag to verify that the tag is valid.

b.

If the text entered matches one or more tags, you will be shown a list of
available tags from which you can select.

Once a valid tag name has been entered, the behaviour editor will display the option
to Override the pages default sample method.

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PAGE OBJECTS

OBJECT DETAILS EDITOR

If Override the page's default sample method is selected, choose the type of sample
method you want to use as the override. The list available depends on the
datasource.

Otherwise, the sample method used is specified at the top of the page on the Page
Toolbar in Display mode.

3.

Click Apply or OK when you have finished.

Behavior Properties
The options available in the Properties tab of the Behavior Editor depend on the selected
behavior.

B IN A RY B A C K GR OU ND C O L OU R
Changes the background colour of an object between two defined colours, depending on if
the value of a tag is above or below a specified threshold.

Threshold
The value at which the object's colour changes.
Below colour
The background colour (see page 24) of the object if the driving tag is below the
threshold.
Above colour
The background colour of the object if the driving tag is above the threshold.

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H E I GH T
Sets the height of its target object to value * scale, where value is the value of the
driving tag, and scale is a property of the behaviour instance.

Scale
The number of pixels to make the height of the object per unit of the driving tag's
value.

W ID TH
Sets the width of its target object to value * scale, where value is the value of the
driving tag, and scale is a property of the behaviour instance.

Scale
The number of pixels to make the width of the object per unit of the driving tag's
value.

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XP O SI TI ON
Sets the X position of its target object to base + (value - offset) * scale, where value
is the value of the driving tag, and base, offset and scale are properties of the behaviour
instance.

Base position
The x position of the object when the driving tag's value is equal to the Offset.
Offset
The value of the driving tag which will replace the object at the Base position.
Scale
The number of pixels to move the object per unit change in the driving tag's value.

YP O SI TI ON
Sets the Y position of its target object to base + (value - offset) * scale, where value
is the value of the driving tag, and base, offset and scale are properties of the behaviour
instance.

Base position
The y position of the object when the driving tag's value is equal to the Offset.
Offset
The value of the driving tag which will replace the object at the Base position.
Scale
The number of pixels to move the object per unit change in the driving tag's value.

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Buttons
A Button can simplify any other action, such as launching applications, linking to other
pages, and so on. The button can be a simple Windows button or an icon.

Creating a Button
To add a button to a page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Button icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the button.
The Button Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Button Details Editor (see page 160), specify the appearance, layout, and
behaviour of the button.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

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5.

BUTTONS

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
button, or move it to another position.

Button Details Editor

The Button Details Editor opens automatically when adding a button to a page (see page
159), or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the button object in Design mode (see
page 17).

The Button Details Editor has three sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 161) of the
button object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

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Appearance of a Button
The Appearance tab in the Button Details Editor (see page 160) allows you to specify what
the button does and how it appears on the page.

Enter the following parameters:

Text
The text that appears on the object. Do not specify if you want to insert an image
instead.
Tooltip
Text that appears when the mouse hovers over the object.
Image
Type in the full path and file name of the image you want to display on the button.
This image must be in a location that is accessible by the BabelFish client and server.
Alternatively, click Browse to select the image from a predefined location on the
server.
URL
The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links must be fully
qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the relative path,
such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the Test... link.
File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.
Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.

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COMBO BOXES

Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
Target
The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can be a new
window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current tab, or an
iFrame on the same page.
Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itself
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.
Style
The type of button to be displayed. These are predetermined styles and determine
the colour, font size, and so on. The default options are:
Default
Hidden - the button does not appear on the page.
Hyperlink
SampleBlue
SampleBold
SampleGreen

SampleLarge
SampleOutset

Combo Boxes
Combo box objects provide drop-down selection boxes on BabelFish pages, allowing a user
to interact with a page (see page 15). You can use a combo box to control tables, iFrames
(see page 198), and contents of other combo boxes. There are two types of combo boxes:
Manual
Contents are a manually-specified list of entries.
URL
Contents are dynamically determined from a URL that returns an XML document.

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All combo boxes are drop-down lists that contains selectable items. Initially, they appear
as a text box with an arrow:

When you click on the arrow, the box expands to display further items, which you can click
on to select.

Creating a Combo Box

To add a combo box to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Combo box icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the combo box.
The Combobox Details Editor appears.

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3.

In the Combobox Details Editor (see page 164), specify the appearance, layout, and
behaviors of the combo box.

4.

When you have finished, click Apply and then OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
combo box, or move it to another position.

Combobox Details Editor

The Combobox Details Editor opens automatically when adding a combo box (see page
163) to a BabelFish page (see page 15), or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the
combo box object in Design mode (see page 17).

The Combobox Details Editor has three sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the options and general appearance of the combo box object.
This is the area in which you specify the type of combo box: Simple (see page 165) or
URL (see page 167).
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.

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Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

Combo Box Appearance - Manual

The Appearance tab in the Combobox Details Editor (see page 164) allows you to specify
what the combo box does and how it appears on the page.
When you create a combo-box, you have the option of displaying a different value to the
user than what is sent to the database. For example, you may want the user to select low,
medium, or high, but you may want to send numeric values for these to the database.

For a manual combo box:

1.

For Option List, select I will enter each option manually. This specifies that this is to
be a manual combo box.

2.

To add items to the combo box:

a.

In the Option text field, type in the first item you want to appear in the combo
box.

b.

If you want to submit a different value to the database, clear the Same as
display text check box.

c.

In the Option value field, type in the value that you want to send to the
database.

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Both the Option text and Option value fields can accept any keyword
replacement token.

The above shows a combo-box with the following option texts:

d.
3.

EP_TIME
EP_USER_NAME
EP_PAGE_NAME

Click the Add (or Update) button to add (or update) it to the combo box. This
updates the database with the specified options.

Click the Preview drop-down list if you want to check the values you have entered so
far.
If you want to delete a value from the combo box, select it in the Preview and then
click the Delete button.

4.

If you want to change the default option for the list, select it in the Preview and then
select the Default option check box.

5.

Select the Muted option if required.

This will prevent the value of the combo box from being set in the environment
variable, allowing the combo box to contain a value in the list (such as "Default" or
"None") that does not actually set the environment variable.

6.

If you want to force an option to display as the default when the combo is displayed,
select the Force default on page load check box.
Note: The default is overridden if a controlled variable is defined.

7.

If you want BabelFish to remember the option selected so you can drive other page
objects, you can set a Controlled variable for this.
a.

Type the name of the variable into the Variable Name field.

b.

Select whether you want this to be a Session variable or a User variable:

Session - Remembers the option selected as long as the session is active,

when changing between pages or to edit mode. After the session is
closed or terminated (For example, by closing the browser window) and
the page is next run, the default option of Not Selected is displayed.

User - Remembers the last selected option always. In this case,

whenever the user runs the page, it defaults the last selected option in
the combo box.

Note: If the value that the session variable stores is not in the list of combo box
options, a dummy option will be added to the combo box.

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8.

Click Apply or OK.

9.

Click Close.

COMBO BOXES

Note: If the combo box is not driving any page objects or if EP_SESSIONVAR or
EP_USERVAR returns empty string, the combo box will default to "Not Selected".

Combo Box Appearance - URL

The Appearance tab in the Combobox Details Editor (see page 164) allows you to specify
what the combo box does and how it appears on the page.

For a URL combo box:

1.

For Option List, select I will enter each option-list from a URL. This specifies that
this is to be a URL combo box.

2.

The URL field that will retrieve the combo box options. There are two ways to specify
this:

Type an address to an XML file that contains the combo box options. The XML
returned should conform to the structure described in XML Structure for
Combo Box.

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Type an address to a Reference Data Service. For example:

3.

In the Top-level element field, type in the main node (top level element) of the XML
file. For example, the top-level element in the above XML is rows. <rows> </rows>

4.

In the Row element field, type in the name of a row element node that exists within
the root node (a drop-down item on your combo box list) of the XML file. For
example, the row element in the above XML is row. <row> </row>

5.

In the ID element field, type in the name of a single node within an element node
(the returned value when a drop-down item is selected) of the XML file. For
example, the ID element in the above XML is nativename. <nativename>
</nativename>

6.

In the Display Text element field, type in the single node within an element node
that will form the readable text of each option (the displayed text of a drop -down
item) of the XML file. For example, the Display Text element in the above XML is
text. <text> </text>

7.

If you want BabelFish to remember the option selected, you can set a Controlled
variable for this.
a.

Type the name of the variable into the Variable Name field.

b.

Select whether you want this to be a Session variable or a User variable:

Session - Remembers the option selected as long as the session is active,

when changing between pages or to edit mode. After the session is
closed or terminated (For example, by closing the browser window) and
the page is next run, the default option of Not Selected is displayed.

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User - Remembers the last selected option always. In this case,

whenever the user runs the page, it defaults the last selected option in
the combo box.

8.

Click Apply or OK.

9.

Click Close.

Comments
Comments are free-format text related to a specified tag (see page 54), and is used for
general observations of anything in the system. They are a useful way of retrieving
operator comments and communicating other relevant information.
The Comments object provides another way of viewing, adding, editing, and deleting tag
comments in Display mode (see page 16).
All tag-related comments (see page 64) will appear in the comment object, and any
BabelFish user can add a comment to a tag. A general comment entry area can be added to
a BabelFish page (see page 15), or comments can be added to tags by editing the tag
properties. Operator comments can also be retrieved from other systems.

The Comments object has the following properties:

Title. This is the caption for the Comments object.
Time period for which to display tag comments. Selecting Daily or Shift limits the
ability to only add, edit, or view one comment per shift or production day. The tag
specifies whether the comment is to be entered at the start or end of the shift or
production day.
Delete button. Clicking on a comment entry, and then clicking the delete button
will delete the selected entry.
New entry. The Add New link allows you to add a new comment entry.
Comment header. Specifies the date and time of the comment, and the operator's
user name.

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Comment entry text. The content of the comment entry.

Sort order. The order in which the comments are sorted. The default is
descending order, with the most recent entry at the top of the list.
Privilege. When this icon
is highlighted, this indicates that the comment can
only be read by a BabelFish administrator.
Scrollbars. Use scrollbars to view comments further down the list.

Adding a Comment Object

The comment object is embedded in an iFrame (see page 198).
To add a comment object to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Comment icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the comment object.
The Comment Entry Object Editor appears.

3.

In the Comment Entry Object Editor, specify the following parameters:

Tag: Name of the comments tag. You can also drag a tag from the Tags list (see page
10) in the toolbox (see page 19) and drop it into this field.
Caption: The caption you want to display as the title for the comment box.
Range: The time period for which to display the tag comments. Selecting Daily or
Shift limits the ability to only add, edit, or view one comment per shift or production
day. The tag specifies whether the comment is to be entered at the start or end of

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the shift or production day. Selecting any other time period displays the most recent
tags for that time period. For example, 1 week displays all tags for the past week.
Note: If the comment area has DAILY and the Tag has start of day, if the tag is
changed to start of shift the comment area is automatically changed to SHIFT.
Similarly if the Comment area is changed, the tag is also changed.
4.

When you have finished, click Save.

If the tag does not exist, you will be prompted to create it and if created, it will be
saved as a Calculated portal tag (see page 56).

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
button, or move it to another position.

I NV OK IN G C O M M E NT S

IN A

D IA L O G

It is possible to link directly to the comments control via JavaScript so the comments
object is invoked in a dialog box. For example, you may want to create a button to invoke a
comments dialog. When doing this, use the following syntax, where MYCOMMENTS is the
name of the comments tag:
javascript:
window.showModalDialog('/eplant/bin/tag_comments.srf?tagname=MYCOMMENTS&dayrange=7
&showheader=1')

Additional parameters are:

Dayrange
Enter the number of days for which you want to display comments. For example,
entering a value of 7 displays comments for the last seven days.
Showheader
1 or 0. Show (1) or hide (0) the header. The header allows users to add new
comments to the tag, and to change the display range.

Adding and Modifying a Comment Entry

In Display mode (see page 16), you can add, modify, and delete entries in the comment
object (see page 169).

A D D IN G
1.

N E W C O M M E N T E NT R Y

Click on the Add New link.

A new comment entry field appears in the comment object.

2.

Click in the new entry field and type your entry.

3.

Click Now to select a date and time for the comment entry.
Note: If you are adding a comment entry to a Daily or Shift comment, the Date/Time
Picker (see page 25) is not available.

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4.

Click Save.

E D IT IN G
1.

COMMENTS

C OM M E N T E NT RY

Click on the entry you want to change.

The comment is highlighted with a blue border.

2.

Make your changes to the comment. As you type your changes, the Revert and Save
options appear.
If you click Revert, your changes are discarded and the existing comment reappears.

3.

When you have finished, click Save.

Note: Editing a comment entry does not change the timestamp of the entry.

D E LE TI NG
1.

C O M M E NT E NT R Y

Click the comment entry you want to delete.

The comment is highlighted with a blue border and the delete button is enabled.

2.

To delete the selected comment, click the delete

button.

Note: DAILY and SHIFT type comments do not have a delete button, they can be updated
by editing and clearing the comment.

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Data Tables
The Data Table provides a new way to create SQL queries in an easy to use page object,
and display results in a themed and styled table.
The Data Table presents tabular
data from a connected SQL data
source. BabelFish connects to
any database, such as Oracle or
Microsoft SQL Server, that
supports ODBC. The database
DSNs are preconfigured by the
system administrator, and those
available are then listed in the
Data Table editor. You can enter
any SQL statement into the
Table edit dialog and format the
results for headings, font styles,
and borders.
Note: Data Tables have replaced the SQL Table page object. New tables should now be
created using the Data Table page object. Tables that were created with the
deprecated SQL page object are still available in the toolbox, but will be treated as
data tables when they are added to a page. Existing page displays containing
deprecated SQL tables should not be affected.
Once the table is created, it is displayed within the system toolbox and can be dragged and
dropped on to one or more BabelFish pages. Preconfigured SQL table objects can also be
added to the system toolbox and dragged onto any page, or double-clicked to display the
results in a new window.
Any SQL statement can be entered and replacement tokens can also be used in SQL
queries.
BabelFish Explorer also exposes a number of internal variables as tables to obtain session,
user, and page level variables. These can be used to filter other queries, or modify the
target URL of an iFrame.
The SQL can also be the result of a table view. Security is applied to the DSNs such that the
tables are read-only where applicable.
Note: Only users with administrative privileges may edit a Data Table.

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Creating a Data Table

To add a Data Table page object:
1.

Click the Data Table

icon on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the BabelFish page in the location you want the table to appear.
The Data Table page object appears.

3.

In the Data Table details editor, click the Configure link.

The Data Table Configuration window appears.

4.

Configure or edit your Data Table page object in the Data Table Editor.
The editor has three sections:
Configuration (see page 175): Defines the query and the database to which the
query applies.
Columns (see page 177): Defines the columns displayed in the results table.

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Appearance (see page 178): Allows you to specify the style theme to be applied to
the table, and other attributes of the table.
Tip: Click Apply every now and then to make sure you don't lose your changes.
5.

When you have finished, click OK, and then click Cancel.

Data Table Configuration

The Configuration tab in the Data Table Editor allows you to define the query and the
database to which the query applies.

DSN
List of data sources. Your query retrieves data from this list of Data Source Names
(DSNs).
Title
Used for the Description field in the deprecated SQL Table. This was used in the SQL
tab of the toolbox in Design mode, as a way of identifying the table.

Query
The area provided to enter the SQL query string.

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Creating SQL Queries

All columns in the SQL query result must have names, in addition to any user-defined
column heading.
Some expressions (e.g. 1, 1 or (5 * 5)) when used in a SELECT list may cause unnamed
columns to be returned by the database. Such expressions require the SQL "AS" keyword
be used, to assign a name to the resulting column (e.g. SELECT 1 AS One).
The SQL query string can contain replacement tokens that will be converted to the actual
values at runtime. For example, a combo box on the page can provide the options and
when one is selected, it is substituted into the query. Whenever the value of the session
variable changes, the table will be updated.

E X A MP LE 1
SELECT first_name, last_name FROM table ORDER BY EP_USERVAR(order1, last_name)
The comma after the variable name is required even if no default value is specified:

E X A MP LE 2
SELECT * FROM ep_sec_group WHERE group_name =
'EP_SESSIONVAR(USERGROUP_NAME,)'

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Data Table Columns

The Columns tab in the Data Table Editor allows you to define the columns displayed in the
results table.
Use the Expand All and Collapse All buttons to show or hide the details of the column
settings.

For each column in the table to be displayed, you can specify the following:
Type
The type of data to be displayed in the column. This cannot be edited.
Width (px)
Width (in pixels) of the column. Set for all columns or leave as default width.
Header Style
Style for the column heading.
Variable
The name of a session variable and if its value is permanent or temporary. This
allows it to be used in other queries or passed to other pages.
Filterable
The filter actions may be applied to the column by viewing users. The actions can be
inherited from the table-level setting or a different setting may be applied. Options
are: Yes, No, Inherit.

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Aggregate
The calculation to be performed on the items in a group. Options are: None, Sum,
Count, Average, Min, Max .
Title
Column heading text as you want it to appear in the displayed table.
Alignment
Alignment of the text in the column.
Column Style
Style for the column cells other than the heading.
Variable Type
Type of variable: session or user.
Sortable
The sort actions may be applied to the column by viewing users. The actions can be
inherited from the table-level setting or a different setting may be applied. Options
are: Yes, No, Inherit.
Grouping
The direction of the column grouping for the columns that will be grouped when the
table is first displayed.
Note: The following styling functionality available in the SQL Table is not available in the
Data Table: table style, heading style, cell padding, cell spacing, outside borders,
inside borders.

Appearance of a Data Table

The Appearance tab in the Data Table Editor allows you to specify the style theme to be
applied to the table, and other attributes of the table.

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Theme
The style theme to apply to the table. This specifies the colours of the table cells and
borders, as well as padding and margins.
Groupable
When selected, interactive grouping of the columns will be allowed in Display mode.
Sortable
When selected, allow the rows to be sorted in alphabetical order by a specified
column.
Filterable
When selected, allow the values in the table to be filtered.
Resizable
When selected, allow the table to be resized.
Orderable
When selected, allow the columns to be reordered using drag and drop.
Pageable
When selected, limit the number of rows that can be displayed in the table at one
time. Additional rows will be paginated accordingly.
PageSize
Specify the number of rows that can be displayed in the table at one time, w ith
additional rows displayed on other pages in the table. Default:10.

Filtering
In BabelFish Explorer, several column headers offer the ability to filter data according to
specified criteria. This is indicated by the filter
icon on the column header.
Note: A filtered column is indicated by a white background against the filter icon.

To open the filter box, click the filter icon of a column header.

The filter box allows you to type a character or number to compare with the values in the
filter column.

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There are three optional fields to complete:

Comparison 1 (directly below Show items with value that)

Select a comparison operator from the first drop-down list, directly below
Show items with value that. For example, Is equal to, Starts with, Ends with,
and so on.

Type a comparison in the first text box. If the field is a date field, a calendar
icon appears to make it easier to select a date.

Select And or Or, if you want to compare two values.

Comparison 2

Select a comparison operator from last drop-down list. For example, Is equal
to, Starts with, Ends with, and so on.

Type a comparison in the second text box.

Filter
To apply the selected filters and options, click Filter.
Clear Filter
To clear the selected filters and options, click Clear.

Sorting Columns
Many of the columns in the Data Table can be sorted in ascending or descending order.
To sort by a column, click the column header to toggle through the various options:
Sort ascending
Click a column header to sort it in ascending order.
Sort descending
Click a column header that is already sorted in ascending order, to sort it in
descending order.
Remove Sorting
Click a column header that is sorted in descending order, to remove sorting.
The sort symbol is no longer displayed on the column header.
Here are some examples showing what a sorted column header looks like:
First Name column unsorted
First Name column sorted in ascending order
First Name column sorted in descending order

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Grouping by Column
Grouped columns allow you to organise the contents of the Data Table more easily, with
the capability to expand and collapse rows of grouped data.
Note: This function will only work with Compatibility View set on the browser (see page
22).

G R OU P IN G

BY A

C O LU M N H E A D E R

The following screen shows a grid before grouping:

The grid header

The column header

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To group by a column header:

1.

Click a column header and drag it to the grid header (above all of the column
headers), next to the label: Drag a column header and drop it here to group by that
column.

2.

Release the mouse button.

The label disappears and the name of the grouped column is displayed instead.

All of the grid rows are summarised under sections. Each section is a single value
from the column, labelled with that value.

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In some cases you may group by more than one column header. The behaviour for each
group is the same. Collectively, the groups form a hierarchy in the grid.

E X PA N D I NG

G R OU P E D S E C T I ON

You can view all rows that belong to a particular column section by expanding that section.
For example, if you have grouped by the State column, you can expand the High Exceeded
state section.

Click the rightward-pointing arrow to expand the section.

Note: You can expand more than one section on the grid.

C O L LA PS IN G

G R OU P E D S E C TI ON

Click the Collapse arrow on an expanded grouped section to collapse the group.

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The group collapses, so that only the group header is displayed. The collapse arrow
changes to become a rightward-pointing (expand) arrow.

R E M OV IN G

TH E

G R OU P I NG

1.

Hover the mouse over the column grouping that you want to remove.

2.

Click the Close

button on the column grouping.

The grouping is removed. Any other column groupings remain.

R E - O R D E R IN G C O LU M N G R OU P IN G
Column grouping can be re-ordered to change the hierarchy of the groups.

1.

Click and hold a column group button on the grid header section.

2.

Drag the column group button to another position in the group button sequence.

3.

Release the mouse button.

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The column buttons are repositioned, and the grid sections are reorganised
according to the new group hierarchy structure.

S O R TI N G

ON A

G R OU P E D S E C TI O N

The grouped column headers in the grid section are displayed as buttons, which you can
sort on:

To sort, click the group column button.

Sorting a grouped section works the same as column sorting in a grid (see page 180).

Adding an Existing Data Table to a Page

Note: Upon adding an existing SQL table to a page, the table will be converted to a Data
Table. The table should still display correctly in Display mode.
To add an existing Data Table to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

In the toolbox (see page 19), click the SQL Queries/Tables tab.

2.

Click the table you want to add, and drag it onto the page.

Deleting a Data Table

To delete a Data Table from a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Select the table.

2.

Press the delete key

on your keyboard.

The table is removed from your page, but it will still reside in the Plant Model Tree (see
page 133) for use at a later time, or on other pages.
Alternatively, you can modify the existing query into a new query, bearing in mind the
changes will affect any other pages where the query is used.

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Embedded Search
BabelFish has a comprehensive text-based search engine (see page 49), which you can use
to search entity names, entity descriptions, equipment, page titles, comments, trends,
documents, and the plant model tree, individually or collectively. It also allows you to
search the internet using the Google search engine. Although you can search from the
BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) at any time, you can also embed the BabelFish search
engine into any BabelFish page (see page 15).

The results (see page 51) appear in categorised tabs.

Adding an Embedded Search

The embedded search (see page 186) object is embedded in an iFrame (see page 198) on a
BabelFish page.
To add an embedded search to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Search icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the embedded search.

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The Embedded Search Object Editor appears.

3.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
search object, or move it to another position.

Note: For optimal viewing, the minimum recommended size is 610 pixels wide and 375
pixels high.

Embedded Statistics
Tag statistics are a summary of statistics associated with a tag (see page 54). It can provide
a fast view of the performance of a tag over the last period. You can embed a statistics
object in a BabelFish page (see page 15) to display Current, Previous and Variance values
for:

Average
Standard Deviation
Minimum
Maximum

Integral The Statistics object appears as follows:

Due to the number of columns displayed, note that if you size your object to be less that
890 pixels wide or 150 pixels high, scrollbars will appear.
You can temporarily update the Timebase, Sample Interval, Sample Method and Integral in
display mode (see page 16). However, the changes are not saved. If the page is closed and
re-opened or refreshed manually the original settings are restored.

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Creating Embedded Statistics

Add embedded statistics by adding an embedded trend:
1.

Click the Embedded Trend icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the location you want the embedded statistics object to appear.
The Embedded Trend object appears.

3.

In the drop-down list, select Statistics.

A message appears asking if you want to switch from a diagnostic trend to a
statistics grid.

4.

Click Yes.

5.

In the Statistics editor, add tags (see page 189) and define the properties (see page
189) of the Statistics object.

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Add Tags to a Statistics Object

To add tags to the statistics object:
1.

From the Tags list (see page 10), use the filter (see page 26) to find the tags you
want to add.
a.

Click the Filter

icon.

a.

In the Filter Expression dialog box, type the filter criteria, and then click OK.

2.

Drag the tag to a cell in the grid in the Statistics (see page 187) editor.

3.

Repeat the above steps to add additional tags as required. You can add up to 12
tags.

Statistics Properties
Properties for the Statistics object include:

Timebase: The time base determines the length of time over which the statistics are
calculated. The default is eight hours, but it can be between five minutes and two years.
Sample Method: The sample interval determines the data points that are used to calculate
the statistics. Average, Raw, Linear Interpolate.

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Sample Interval: The sample interval determines the data points that are used to calculate
the statistics.
Include previous timebase: Specify whether or not to include statistics for the previous
timebase.

Included (left) and not included (right)

Color variances > 10% in red: If the previous timebase is included, you have the option of
displaying all variances greater than 10% in a red colour.

Integral assumes: Which integral time is to be used: day, hour, minute, or second.

Embedded Trends
A trend is the graphical representation of changes to tag values over time. It can trace a
maximum of eight tags simultaneously and display historically or in real-time.
All time-series data can by default be viewed as a historical line trend over time. The
trends support data from multiple sources on the same axis. For example, process data can
be mixed with laboratory and financial data on the same trend.
There are two main types of trend, Ad-hoc and Persistent. Both types can be either a Fast
or a Diagnostic trend, and trends can also be private or public. Trends can also be
embedded in a BabelFish page (see page 15).
An embedded trend is a trend that resides on a BabelFish page. Unlike ad-hoc trends,
embedded trends will render each time the BabelFish page is opened, will refresh each
time the page is refreshed, and will not need to be viewed on a separate page.
All trend properties are available, such as right-clicking for menus, hairlines, and so on.

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An Embedded trend can be created as either a Fast or Diagnostic trend, and is public by
default.
An Embedded trend (fast and diagnostic) can be made transparent, allowing the traces to
be displayed over other BabelFish page objects (see page 141) such as vector shapes.
Note: If the time is changed on an Embedded Trend, the time is not saved and will revert
to the global Date/Time Picker value.
For further information on Trends, refer to the BabelFish Explorer Trending Tool Reference.

Hotspots
Hotspots make an area of an image live. Hotspots are similar to hyperlinks and images,
but instead of linking objects, you link an area of the BabelFish page, which is determined
by Cartesian coordinates. For example, clicking on a piece of equipment on the background
image can launch a specified BabelFish page. It is essentially an "invisible link" that covers
any object in the hotspot area. When you try to click on the object, you actually click the
hotspot, activating the link specified by the hotspot object. When you hover over a
hotspot, the cursor changes, indicating that the area is clickable.
Linking objects provides single-click access to other BabelFish pages, external Web
pages, applications (such as Word or Excel), email, or documents.
Hotspots are a good way to place hard-to-find information right where it is needed,
next to an image of the related equipment or a real-time value. For example, a link
to a Word document describing the depressurisation procedure for a vessel can be
positioned next to an image of the vessel. The actual document will come from a location
elsewhere on the company network, or from a document management system.

Creating a Hotspot
To add a hotspot (see page 191) to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Hotspot icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the hotspot.

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The Hotspot Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Hotspot Details Editor (see page 193), specify the appearance, layout, and
behavior of the hotspot.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
hotspot, or move it to another position.

Tip: When a hotspot includes another linked object that specifies a different URL, the
hotspot takes precedence over the object that it covers. For example, if a hotspot
completely covers a Label containing a menu (
), then the menu will not
activate when the arrow is clicked - instead, the hotspot launches its own link. To
overcome this, offset the hotspot to one side, to allow both objects to work.

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Hotspot Details Editor

The Hotspot Details Editor opens automatically when adding a hotspot to a page (see page
191), or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the hotspot object in Design mode (see
page 17).

The Hotspot Details Editor has three sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 193) of the
hotspot object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

Appearance of a Hotspot
The Appearance tab in the Hotspot Details Editor (see page 193) allows you to specify what
the hotspot (see page 191) does and how it appears on the page.

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HYPERLINKS

Enter the following parameters:

URL
The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links must be fully
qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the relative path,
such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the Test... link.
File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.
Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.
Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
Target
The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can be a new
window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current tab, or an
iFrame on the same page.
Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itself
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.

Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are regular Web links, used for direct, single-click access to a BabelFish object
(see page 141) or a URL.
Linking objects provides access to other BabelFish pages (see page 15), internal or external
Web pages, applications such as Microsoft Excel, email, or other documents. Links can
therefore be local links or regular web links. For example, you can link to a related Word
document. The actual document is retrieved from a separate location on the company
network, or from a document management system.

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Adding a Hyperlink
To add a hyperlink (see page 194) to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Hyperlink icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the hyperlink.
The Hyperlink Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Hyperlink Details Editor (see page 196), specify the appearance of the
hyperlink.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
link, or move it to another position.

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Hyperlink Details Editor

The Hyperlink Details Editor opens automatically when adding a hyperlink to a page (see
page 195), or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the hyperlink object in Design mode
(see page 17).

The Hotspot Details Editor has three sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 197) of the
hyperlink object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Menu Items
Adds a right-click menu of related data (see page 144).
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.

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Appearance of a Hyperlink
The Appearance tab in the Hyperlink Details Editor (see page 196) allows you to specify
what the Hyperlink (see page 194) does and how it appears on the page.

Enter the following parameters:

Text
The text that you want to appear on the BabelFish page to represent the hyperlink.
Tooltip
Type in the text that you want to display when the user hovers the cursor over the
image.
URL
The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links must be fully
qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the relative path,
such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the Test... link.
File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.
Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.
Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
Target
The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can be a new
window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current tab, or an

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iFrame on the same page.

Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itsel f
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.
Style
The type of hyperlink to be displayed. These are predetermined styles and
determine the colour, font size, and so on. The default options are:

Hidden - the link does not appear on the page.

iFrames
iFrames display a window within a window, and provide a mechanism to render an
external item within a BabelFish page. iFrames can be used to embed other Web pages,
files, or BabelFish pages and trends. They also allow third-party displays to be embedded
in the BabelFish Explorer.
iFrames are powerful and versatile. You can put
almost anything inside an iFrame, including
another fully working iFrame.
Some objects within BabelFish also use iFrames,
these include:

Comments
Embedded Search
Embedded Statistics
Embedded Trends
Operating Donuts
Performance Curves

XML Tables

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Creating an iFrame
To add an iFrame (see page 198) to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the iFrame icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Holding the left mouse button down, click on the page in the spot in which you want
to add the iFrame, drag the mouse to form a rectangular shape, and then release the
mouse button. This is called a rubber-band (see page 116) action, and can be used
when creating any iFrame object.
The iFrame Details Editor appears.

3.

In the iFrame Details Editor (see page 200), specify the appearance, layout, and
behaviors of the iFrame.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
iFrame, or move it to another position.

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iFrame Details Editor

The iFrame Details Editor opens automatically when adding an iFrame (see page 199) to a
page, or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the iFrame object (see page 198) in the
Design interface (see page 17).

The iFrame Details Editor has four sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 201) of the
iFrame object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.
Advanced
Allows you to attach JavaScript (see page 202) to the page to interact with the
iFrame.

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Appearance of an iFrame
The Appearance tab in the iFrame Details Editor (see page 200) allows you to specify what
the iFrame does and how it appears on the page.

Enter the following parameters:

URL
The URL that is to be launched when the menu is clicked. External links must be fully
qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the relative path,
such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click the Test... link.
File
Select if you want to specify an internal file path. Inserts file:// at the beginning of
the path name.
Page
Select if you want to link to another BabelFish page. The Pages list appears, from
which you can choose the page.
Trend
Select if you want to link to a BabelFish trend. The Trends list (see page 9) appears,
from which you can choose the trend.
Manual
Select if you want to specify an external URL. Inserts http:// at the beginning of the
path name.
The URL can also use a replacement token.
Scrolling
Specify whether you want the browser to determine if scrollbars are necessary, or
choose whether or not the frame can be scrolled.
Border
The width of the frame border, in pixels.
Inset iFrame
Whether or not to inset the border around the frame.

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Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab provides you with a way to add a scripting name to the iFrame. The
scripting name allows you to refer to the iFrame using a friendly name rat her than the
object ID, when specifying the iFrame as a link target (such as when clicking a button or
hyperlink).
After specifying a scripting name, it will appear in the Target drop-down list for all
navigational objects on the same page, such as buttons, hyperlinks, images, and hotspots.
You can also use the scripting name to give multiple iFrames the same identifier, so that
scripts can interact with them all without having to know the object ID. This is useful for
similar pages where the script required is identical for each page.

Enter a scripting name in the Advanced tab to attach JavaScript to the page; use this
name instead of using the object ID of the frame. Use the same scripting name for
each frame (like an alias) on each page. For example, maintenance_frame.

Images
Images provide for static pictures to be added to a BabelFish page. They can be used as
backgrounds or to provide contextual meaning to other objects on a page, and can also be
used as hyperlinks to jump to another portal page, trend, or an external web link.
Images must be one of the following formats: GIF, JPG, or PNG.
Images also support attached menus (see page 209), which can provide a space-efficient
means of linking to related data from an icon. Labels containing a menu are usually
indicated by an arrow icon in the lower right corner.

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Adding an Image
To add an image (see page 202) to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Image icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the image.
The Image Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Image Details Editor (see page 204), specify the appearance, layout, menu
items, and behaviors of the image.

4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
image, or move it to another position.

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Image Details Editor

The Image Details Editor opens automatically when adding an image to a page (see page
203), or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the image object (see page 202) in Design
mode (see page 17).

The Image Details Editor has four sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 205) of the image
object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.
Menu Items
Adds a right-click menu of related data (see page 144).

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Appearance of an Image
The Appearance tab in the Image Details Editor (see page 204) allows you to specify what
the image does and how it appears on the page.

Enter the following fields:

Image
Type in the full path and file name of the image you want to display in BabelFish
Explorer. This image must be in a location that is accessible by the BabelFish client
and server. Alternatively, click Browse to select the image from a predefined
location on the server. This field is required.
Tooltip
Type in the text that you want to display when the user hovers the cursor over the
image.
URL
The URL that is to be launched when the image is clicked. External links must be fully
qualified, for example, http://www.site.com. Internal links can use the relative path,
such as /eplant/dll/eplant.dll?. To test if the URL works, click Test.
Target
The window or frame in which the linked object is to be displayed. This can be a new
window, a parent frame, current frame, topmost frame, new tab, current tab, or an
iFrame on the same page.
Note: Setting New Window as the target does not necessarily ensure it always open
in a new window. The actual behaviour is determined in Internet Explorer itself
according to the Tabbed Browsing Settings in Internet Options.
Style
The style of the image to be displayed. Note that aside from hidden, the default
predetermined styles have been designed for text and are therefore not applicable
to images. BabelFish administrators can create additional styles in ISS Enterprise
Manager to affect the appearance of the image.

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Labels
Labels provide for static text to be added to a page. They can be used for headings,
explanatory text, vessel names, and so on, and are usually used to identify other objects
and entities on a BabelFish page.
Labels also support attached menus (see page 209), which can provide a space-efficient
means of linking to related data. A zero-text label can still support menu items, and hence
provide a means to drop-down a menu system from an icon. Labels containing a menu are
usually indicated by an arrow icon . You can click on any of these menus to access other
functionalities within BabelFish Explorer.
Labels also support embedded Replacement Tokens containing pre-defined variables. For
example, an embedded token can hold the string 'EP_USER_NAME' as a label. When a user
logs in, their user name will replace the embedded token.

Adding a Label
To add a label (see page 206) to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the Label icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the label.
The Label Details Editor appears.

3.

In the Label Details Editor (see page 207), specify the appearance, layout, behaviors,
and menu items of the label.

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4.

When you have finished, click OK.

5.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
label, or move it to another position.

Label Details Editor

The Label Details Editor opens automatically when adding a label (see page 206) to a page,
or you can invoke it by double-clicking on the label object in Design mode (see page 17).

The Label Details Editor has four sections:

Appearance
Allows you to specify the target and general appearance (see page 208) of the label
object.
Layout
Defines the object's layout (see page 143), that is, the size of the object and where it
is located on the page.
Behaviors
How an object behaves under a set of predefined circumstances. Behaviors (see
page 152) are designed to dynamically update an object, such as colour, size, and
position.
Menu Items
Adds a right-click menu of related data (see page 144).

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When a menu is created, right-click the downward-pointing arrow

the label, and the menu will appear.

LABELS

to the side of

Appearance of a Label
The Appearance tab in the Label Details Editor (see page 207) allows you to specify what
the label does and how it appears on the page.

Enter the following parameters:

Text
The text that appears on the object.
Alignment
The alignment of the text within its bounding box.
Style
The type of label to be displayed. These are predetermined styles and determine the
colour, font size, and so on. The default options are:

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Hidden - the label does not appear on the page.

Menu Indicator
Specify an image to appear when the label has menu items attached. This identifies
to users that "something will happen" when they click the label. By default, the
image inserted is a small downward-pointing arrow directly to the right of the text.
To choose a different image, click
to navigate and choose the image. You
may choose to do this, for example, to use your own set of standard icons to
consistently indicate different types of documents (such as troubleshooting
documents or operating procedures) or links to a maintenance system.
Note: If the label has some menus, the text can be omitted, permitting an
"icon-only" label.
Resize to Fit
Resize the label to fit into its bounding box on a single line. Selecting this option
means that the object ignores the width and height you specify in the Layout tab.

Menus
Menus allow quick navigation to specific points, such as pages, trends, files, or external
Web pages. In the BabelFish Explorer, menu items can be created from the Menu Items
(see page 144) tab in the object editor for an object (see page 141).
Note: All menus are created as private menus.
You can view all public menus and those private to you from the Menu tab on the
BabelFish Toolbox (see page 19).

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M E NU T YP E S
There are two types of menus in BabelFish:
Single Menu
Contains a direct link to a URL (see page 146) and, when triggered, will load the URL
in the specified window.

Parent
A parent structure for child menus. There are two types of parent menus:
Cascading
A parent menu structure that can have child menus attached (see page 147). When
triggered, they display another list of menus to their right. Cascading menus can only
be detached by BabelFish administrators.

Inline
Instead of displaying its child menus by cascading them to the right, the Inline menu
will list them like normal menus, in its own parent menu list (see page 147).
Therefore it is often difficult to distinguish the difference between inline menus and
single menus.

M E NU C A TE G O R IE S
There are three general menu categories in BabelFish:
Framework Menus
Framework menus (also known as site-wide system menus) are available at all times
from the BabelFish toolbar (see page 8) and are applicable to all users.

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MENUS

Page Menus
Page menus apply to a single BabelFish page (see page 15) or a group of pages. They
are menus that are displayed in the Design toolbar at the top of a page, in Design
mode (see page 17). Each menu can call a URL directly or can call a parent menu of a
cascading hierarchy of submenus. The main function of page menus is to aid
navigation. By using standard page menus, it becomes simple to navigate to a
related BabelFish page.

Related Data Menus

Related data menus (also known as context menus) are displayed by right-clicking on
an object or entity in Display mode (see page 16). They display information and
actions available to the object. You can create menus for tags (see page 54), labels
(see page 206), hyperlinks (see page 194), and images (see page 202).
BabelFish objects (see page 141) are capable of having many relationships to other
data. For example, a real-time information system (historian) tag may relate to a
drawing, a unit, other tags, and so on. Each object inherits its metada ta from a
parent object. When an object is added to a page, all the relationships are
maintained and made accessible. You can view and navigate to the metadata by
right-clicking on a tag and selecting the tags name in the menu, or the Plant Model
Tree (see page 133).

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Operating Donuts
The Operating Donut is an advanced shape that graphically summarises the current and
recent performance of process equipment or area of plant, with the ability to quickly gain
more detailed information if further analysis is required. The Donut can be configured to
summarise any operating envelope to highlight key performance data over time, with all
variables linked to trends.

A number of axes can be configured with upper and lower operating bounds, as specified
in the tag's Point Detail (see page 76). Time, ranges, labels, and colours, are also user
configurable. A smoke trail highlights historical data, with older data fading to a lighter
shade.

C O NC E P T S
Operating donuts have the following characteristics:
Axes
Each axis on the Donut represents the results from one tag. The tag value marker
(the dot) is either the current tag value:

Or a history (smoke trail) of values:

The history option is specified in the Data (see page 215) menu.
Operating range
The low and high range limits are placed at the inner and outer circles of the donut.
You can have a different range limit for each tag, but the limits are always relative to
the donut. The minimum is specified by Range low in the Tag Details Editor (see page
69), and the maximum is specified by Range high. The width of the Donut is set in
the Operating Range (see page 219) menu.
Value markers
The value markers are the dots along each axis. The position of the marker indicates
the current value of the tag relative to the range limits, and the colour of the marker
indicates how old the value is. The older the value, the less intense the colour. You

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can configure the colour of the markers in the Operating Range (see page 219)
menu.
Value markers also allow you to send the tag to a trend, by clicking on the marker in
Display mode (see page 16). This opens the trend of the tag in a separate tab.
Fetch controls
In the Design interface, you can manipulate the statistical information shown in th e
Donut, by changing the drop-down lists for Timebase, Sample Interval, and Sample
Method. The display for this is set in the Data (see page 215) menu.

Creating an Operating Donut

To create an Operating Donut (see page 212):
1.

Click the Donut icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the BabelFish page (see page 15) in the location you want the Operating
Donut to appear.
The Operating Donut object editor appears.

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3.

In the Operating Donut object editor, click the Configure link.

4.

From the Tags list (see page 10) in the toolbox (see page 19), use the filter (see page
26) to find the tags you want to add.
a.

Click the Filter

icon.

b.

In the Filter Expression dialog box, type the filter criteria, and then click OK.

5.

Drag the tag onto the donut shape.

6.

Repeat the above steps to add additional tags as required. When you add a tag, all
existing axes automatically reposition themselves to be equally spaced from each
other.

7.

Change the Data (see page 215), Axes (see page 216), and Operating Range (see
page 219) as required.

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Tip: If you are creating a complex Operating Donut, click Save every now and then to
make sure you don't lose your changes.
8.

When you have finished, click Save & Close.

Data
The Operating Donut Data menu allows you to manipulate the data shown in the
Operating Donut (see page 212).

The options are:

Timebase
The time span during which data is retrieved. Between 5 minutes and 2 years. The
default is 8 hours.
Sample Interval
The frequency at which data points are displayed. Between 20 minutes and 4 hours.
The default is 1 hour.
Sample Method
The sampling method transform that is applied to the data. Average, Linear
Interpolate, Raw, Min/Max. The default is Average.

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Show Fetch Controls

Display drop-down lists for Timebase, Sample Interval, and Sample Method in
Display mode (see page 16). The default is to not display the controls.

Show History
Display all data points including those in the past. If not selected, only the current
value of the tag is displayed (right).The default is to display the history( left).

The current value marker (dot) is a different colour from the history markers . History
markers are shaded lighter as they become older.

Axes
The Operating Donut Axes menu allows you to manipulate the appearance of the data in
the Operating Donut (see page 212).
Note: You would configure the Operating Donut axes and properties for normal operating
conditions. If a value falls outside the normal range, the Operating Donut is
configured to highlight potential problem areas.

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The options are:

Show Axes
Display the line that indicate the axis on which a tag has been placed. The default is
on.

Show Labels
Display the tag names on the Donut. The default is on.

Show range min/max

Display the range minimum and maximum for each tag on the Donut. The default is
on.

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Out-of-range markers
The out-of-range markers appear only in Display mode (see page 16). Out-of-range
markers are (configurable) red lines placed on the axes, that indicate that the value
of the tag is either above or below its specified minimum or maximum value.
Out-of-range markers can appear both inside and outside the donut operating range.
The default is off.

Rotate left
Rotate the axes 45 to the left.
Rotate right
Rotate the axes 45 to the right.

Axis line colour

Specify the colour for the axis lines. The default is grey.

Axis Point Colour

Change the colour of the data points along the axes. The default is blue.

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Out-of-range colour
Change the colour of the out-of-range markers. The default is red.

Reset default colours

Reset all colours to their defaults.

Operating Range
The Donut Operating Range menu allows you to manipulate the appearance of the
Operating Donut (see page 212).

The options are:

Visible
Display the Operating Range. That is, the shaded circle of the donut. In the image on
the left below, this is turned on (default).

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Filled
Fill the Operating Range with a colour. If selected, Visible should also be selected,
otherwise the Operating Range will not display. The default is on.
Increase range
Increase the width of the Operating Range. That is, reduce the size of the "hole" in
the donut. This is useful if you have many data points and history is turned on.

Decrease range
Decrease the width of the Operating Range. That is, make the donut "thinner".
Use simple colouring mode
Displays the Operating Range as one colour, determined by the Fill colour property.
This is the default. If selected, then Use alert colouring mode is turned off.
Fill colour
The colour of the shaded area of the Operating Donut if Use simple colouring mode
is selected. The default is grey.

Use alert colouring mode

Display the Operating Range as different colours, depending on whether or not
values are in or out of a range. If this is selected, then Use simple colouring mode is
turned off.
Normal fill colour
The colour in which to shade the Donut when all values are in range.
Alert fill colour
The colour in which to shade the Donut when a value is out of range.

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Stroke colour
Outline the Operating Range with the selected colour. The default is white.

Reset default colours

Reset all colours to their defaults.

Performance Curve
The Performance Curve is an advanced shape whose primary function is to facilitate
informed decision-making for plant or facility operations, by analysing changes to
performance due to process changes or equipment efficiency.
The Performance Curve offers considerable cost benefits to operators and maintainers of
equipment (such as pumps, compressors, and separators), by accurately determining how
efficiently their equipment is operating. It draws curves defined by representative
formulas, and then draws an X-Y plot of real data over these curves. In the event of a
failure, they offer the ability to easily analyse the cause to obtain an effective resolution.
The Performance Curve allows historical operating data to be displayed together with
design operating curves. Time series data form a smoke trail to show the progressive
changes in performance over time. This enables informed decisions to be made regarding
operation.
Acting on problems as they first appear can prevent periods of costly downtime.
Conversely, avoiding the premature or late maintenance will save on running costs.
Effective troubleshooting requires equipment performance to be analysed over time,
and in the event of a failure, the ability to analyse the cause. Changes to performance due
to process changes can also be readily analysed.
Note: The performance curve will only run on a 32-bit version of Internet Explorer.
Consider the typical scenario of a pump. A pump has a relationship between RPM and
output flow. The pump will also have upper and lower limits set for both of these variables
for optimum performance. As the impeller wears out, the output flow decreases. This is a
reliable indicator that the impeller needs to be replaced. You can action this manually, or if

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you also have BabelFish Sentinel installed, a maintenance request can be sent through to
the inventory system (such as SAP), and the impeller replacement routine can be managed
ahead of failure to reduce downtime and optimise task sequencing.
The Performance Curve draws curves defined by representative formulas, and then draws
an X-Y plot of real data over these curves. In the example below, the red curve represents
the pump with a new impeller and the green curve represents the pump with a worn
impeller. The data values are indicated by dots that fall between the two curves, with the
lighter the dot the older the data.

Performance Curve Display

The Performance Curve object as displayed provides several interactive features.

The toolbar allows you to dynamically update various data options (see page 230) for
the Performance Curve:

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Date and time

Open the Date/Time picker and modify the date and time (see page 25). This sets the
data and time for the most recent data point, with a smoke trail of older data points
extending back to the time specified by the timebase.
Timebase
Set the timebase for the Performance Curve, from 5 minutes to 1 year. The higher
the timebase, the more spread out the data points.
Sample Interval
Set the time between each sample. The lower the sample interval, the more closely
the data points are clustered together.
Zoom
Select an area of the curve to focus on.
Plot value
Display or hide the plot value for the most recently sampled point. The most recently
sampled point in the above plot is indicated by the blue cross (this is configurable).
Tail length
Select the Tail Length (in percent of timebase shown).
The slider along the X axis moves the plotted points through the timebase and displays
the tail points. The most recent data is displayed when the slider is to the right.
For example, if the timebase was set to 1 year, setting the date/time to 4pm 1st January
2008 plots all the data values from that time and back one year (4pm 1st January 2007),
with older data points fading to lighter shades the older they get. Initially, the slider is to
the right, and displays no tail. If you move the slider to the left (that is, going back in time),
the data values are shaded green (configurable) with the number of highlighted points
being the proportion of the timebase specified as the tail length. This allows you to
visualise the trend over time.

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Performance Curve Example Configuration

Consider the following example of a compressor plotting suction pressure against power
data values.

The configuration is as follows:

Curve
Curve 1

Curve 2

Curve 3

Coefficients

-140.3,0.8109,-0.000841
2,0.0000004181,-0.0000
0000009379

-149.2,0.6748,-0.0004898 -187.6,0.7103,-0.0004893,
,0.0000001095,0
0.0000001035,0

Legend

25% Volume

50% Volume

75% Volume

X Min

380

510

630

X Max

1200

1200

1200

X Increment

15

15

15

Colour

Green

Red

Blue

Use Curve

Yes

Yes

Yes

Data

Axes

Appearance

X Axis Tag:

X Axis Label:

Chart Title:

K101.Suction_Pressure

Suction Pressure, Ps (kPag)

K101 :: Pd = 3,000Pag:1,400rpm

Y Axis Tag: K101.Power

Y Axis Label: Power (kW)

Legend: Yes, Overlayed (top left)

Timebase: 2 weeks

X Axis Min: 0

Title Bar: Yes

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Data

Axes

Appearance

Refresh: Yes

X Axis Max: 1200

Tool Bar: Yes

Last point: Red, double size, cross Y Axis Min: 0

Other points: Black

Y Axis Max: 200

Tail points: Green

Creating a Performance Curve

To create a Performance Curve:
1.

Click the Performance Curve icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the location you want the Performance Curve to appear.
The Performance Curve object editor appears.

3.

In the Performance Curve object editor, click the Configure link.

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The Performance Curve Configuration window appears.

4.

Configure your Performance Curve. You can configure up to 10 General Performance

Curves (see page 226) or a single ESP Curve (see page 227).
Tip: If you are creating a complex Performance Curve, click Save Changes every now
and then to make sure you don't lose your changes.

5.

When you have finished, click Save Changes and Close.

General Performance Curve

The General Performance Curve is used wherever there is a relationship between two
factors.
To get the coefficients for the upper and lower bounds (safe operating range) for an item
of equipment, you may need to perform a regression analysis from information on the
Material Data Sheet, available from the equipment manufacturer.

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The Curves section of the configuration window allows you to select the type of curve, and
add data for the coefficients, axis limits, colours, labels, and increments.

The parameters are:

Coefficients
A comma-separated list of floating point values for the coefficients (a, b, c, d, e, f) to
be used in the Performance Curve formula. An example for a valid coefficient set is:
+66.79643, -7.914583E-04, -3.027344E-07, +4.76237E-11,
-2.563477E-15, +4.191081E-20.

Known Issue: Following an upgrade, the performance curve may not load correctly.
If this occurs, open the curve in design mode and save it again.
Legend
The text that is to be used in the legend to describe this curve.
X Min
The minimum X value that will be used to calculate the curve.
X Max
The maximum X value that will be used to calculate the curve.
X Increment
Determines how often a curve value will be calculated. The minimum value is 1. A
larger value will result in a more stepped appearance.
Break Start
The X value that defines the start of the break in the curve.
Break End
The X value that defines the end of the break in the curve.
Colour
The colour of the curve line.
Use Curve
Select to display the curve, or clear to hide it.
Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) Curves are used anywhere a pump needs to be
submerged under water, such as in the oil & gas and groundwater industries. Typically, the

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Material Data Sheet available from the pump manufacturer will provide coefficients and
other required data for this curve.

ESP Curves are calculated using the following formula:

(ax0 + bx1 + cx2 + dx3 + ex4 + fx5) * (stages * (frequency / 60)2)

The Curves section of the configuration window allows you to specify the values for
parameters in the formula.

The parameters are:

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Coefficients
A comma-separated list of floating point values for the coefficients (a, b, c, d, e, f) to
be used in the Performance Curve formula. An example for a valid coefficient set is:
+66.79643, -7.914583E-04, -3.027344E-07, +4.76237E-11,
-2.563477E-15, +4.191081E-20.

Known Issue: Following an upgrade, the performance curve may not load correctly.
If this occurs, open the curve in design mode and save it again.
Frequencies
A comma-separated list of integers representing the frequencies that will be used in
the ESP Curve formula. The Performance Curve control draws one curve for each
frequency specified. A valid example is 30,40,50.
Stages
The number of stages contained in the pump. This value is substituted for the stages
variable in the ESP Curve formula.
Limit Minimum
The value used to calculate the minimum limit curve, based on the following
formula:
rate = frequency/(60)* minimum limit

Limit Maximum
The value used to calculate the maximum limit curve, based on the following
formula:
rate = frequency/(60)* maximum limit

Target Minimum
The value used to calculate the minimum target curve, based on the following
formula:
rate = frequency/(60)* minimum target

Target Maximum
The value used to calculate the maximum target curve, based on the following
formula:
rate = frequency/(60)* maximum target

Rate Minimum
This is effectively the minimum range of the X value to be used for plotting the
curve. It is different from the minimum range of the X axis.
Rate Maximum
This is effectively the maximum range of the X value to be used for plotting the
curve. It is different from the maximum range of the X axis.
Rate Step
The step between each plotted point. This ultimately determines the number of
points to plot for each curve. To achieve an acceptable curve, this number should be
less than the difference between Rate maximum and Rate minimum.

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Curve Break Start

The start point for the curve break.
Curve Break End
The end point for the curve break.

Data Options
The Data section allows you to add tags to the curve and configure the plot display.

Timebase
This is the time span for which data is retrieved for the X-Y plot. It is always from the
current time and back until the timebase amount into the past. The Performance
Curve retrieves data using an average sampling method and a sample period
appropriate to the selected time base. The sample period appears in a drop-down
list to the right of the timebase drop-down list.
Refresh
Select to update the Performance Curve periodically. The X-Y plot refreshes at the
same frequency as the refresh rate of the BabelFish page. If not selected, the
Performance Curve draws an X-Y plot only when it is called up.
Use Plot
Select to display the plot of data values.

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Show Values
Display the X and Y values of the last (most recent) data value. Also displays the date
and time the last value was fetched.

X Axis Tag
The X and Y-axis tags provide the data for the X and Y components of the plot. Enter
a tag name, or drag-and-drop a tag into the X or Y tag input box. The performance
curve control draws curves defined by representative formulas and then draws an

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X-Y plot of real data over these curves. The X axis tag is the BabelFish entity that
provides the data for the X component of the X-Y plot.

Note: Attributes are not supported in Performance Curves.

Y Axis Tag
The Y axis tag is the BabelFish entity that provides the data for the Y component of
the X-Y plot.
Last Point
These options set the style of the last (most recent) point drawn.
Colour. Select the colour of the last (most recent) point. The default is blue.
Double size. Double the size of the plot point to make it more visible.
Style. Set the plot point as either a dot or a cross.

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Other Points
Use this to set the colour of the remaining data points on the X-Y plot. The default is
black.

Tail Points
Tail points are the most recent data points that occur in the specified percentage of
the timebase (indicated by the Tail Length). This option allows you to set the colour
of the tail. The default is green.

Tail Length (%)

The tail length is the percentage of the plot that contains the most recent values.
The default is 10%. The tail provides you with a better visualisation of how data
behaves over time.

Axes Options
The Axes section allows you to set the values for the labels and parameters for the X axis
(horizontal), Y axis (vertical), and second Y axis.

Label
Text that labels the axis. This can be left blank.
Min
Minimum range of the axis. This must be numeric and greater than or equal to zero.

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Max
Maximum range of the axis. This must be numeric and greater than or equal to zero.
Decimals
The number of displayed decimal points. This must be numeric and greater than or
equal to zero. The default is zero.

Appearance Options
The Appearance section allows you to set the title, legend, and lines.

Chart Title
The text that appears above the Performance Curve as the title. This can be left
blank.
Show Legend
Select to show the legend. The legend shows the colour and label (or frequency) of
each curve.
Position
Use the Position drop-down list to choose where to place the legend. The overlayed
options will result in the legend being drawn translucently on the X-Y plot (left), and
the other options will draw the legend outside the X-Y plot (right).

Smooth Lines
Select to draw the curve lines with anti-aliasing (left), resulting in smoother-looking
lines.

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Smooth Text
Draws text (such as title) with anti-aliasing (left). This results in text that looks
smoother but has a slightly blurred appearance.

Gradient
Select to draw a shaded gradient background for the performance curve. The
gradient is from pure white (#ffffff) and a darker white (#f4f4fa).
Title Bar
Select to draw a shaded blue gradient background for the Chart Title.

Tool Bar
Select to show the curve tool bar in Display mode (see page 16). When enabled, it
provides the ability to change the time, timebase, sample interval, and zoom, simil ar
to trends. It also affords the ability to show or hide plot values, and change the
length of the tail.

SQL Tables
SQL (Structured Query Language) is a language for querying and modifying relational data
from databases. An SQL table allows you to view lists of data retrieved from an SQL
database.
BabelFish allows you to create SQL tables or tags that have all the usual SQL functionality.
This includes the facility to search, filter, and group data.
BabelFish SQL tables present tabular data from any connected third-party data source.
BabelFish connects to any database, such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, that supports
ODBC. The database DSNs are preconfigured by the system administrator, and those

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available are then listed in the table object editor. You can enter any SQL statement into
the Table edit dialog and format the results for headings, font styles, and borders.
Once the table is created, it is displayed within the
system toolbox and can be drag and dropped on to one
or more BabelFish pages. Preconfigured SQL table
objects can also be added to the system toolbox and
dragged onto any page, or double-clicked to render the
results in a new window.
Any SQL statement can be
entered and replacement
tokens can also be used in
SQL queries.
BabelFish portal also exposes a number of internal variables as
tables to obtain session, user, and page level variables. These
can be used to filter other queries, or modify the target URL of
an iFrame.
The SQL can also be the result of a table view. Security is
applied to the DSNs such that the tables are read-only where
applicable.
Note: SQL Tables have been deprecated from BabelFish version 2.5.1. Backwards
compatibility for existing tables will be retained. To create new SQL data tables,
refer to Data Tables (see page 173).

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SQL Table Details Editor

You can invoke the Table Details Editor by double-clicking the SQL Table object in Design
mode (see page 17).

The Table Details Editor has two tabs: Table and Columns (see page 238).
In the Table tab, enter the following parameters:
Description
The text describing query and use. Use a straightforward term that will describe this
query and its use. {New Table} is the default.
DSN
List of data sources. Your query retrieves data from this list of Data Source Names
(DSNs).
Table style
The style settings used to format the table. Options are: Default, hidden, Hyperlink,
SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset.
Heading
The heading appearing at the top of the table.
Heading style
The style settings used to format the table heading. Options are: Default, hidden,
Hyperlink, SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset.
Query
The area provided to enter the SQL query string. The SQL string can contain
replacement tokens that will be converted to the actual values at runtime. For
example, a combo box on the page can provide the options and when one is

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selected, it is substituted into the query. Whenever the value of the session variable
changes, the table will be updated.
Example: SELECT first_name, last_name FROM table ORDER BY EP_USERVAR(order1,
last_name)
The comma after the variable name is required even if no default value is specified:
Example: SELECT * FROM ep_sec_group WHERE group_name =
'EP_SESSIONVAR(USERGROUP_NAME,)'
Cell Padding
The space between each result and the cell border

Cell spacing
The space between each cell

Outside borders
The format of the outside border line. Options are: None, All sides, Top, Bottom,
Left, Right, Top and Bottom, Left and Right.
Inside borders
The format of the inside border line. Options are: None, All sides, Top, Bottom, Left,
Right, Top and Bottom, Left and Right.
Show Preview button
Displays a sample window of how your table looks as you make changes.

Column tab
You can also configure the column heading text and appearance. To do this, select the
Columns tab in the Table Details Editor (see page 237).

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PAGE OBJECTS

XML TABLES

For each field in the table, enter the following parameters:

Note: As you type in a box, the pencil symbol
appears in the far left on that row. To
save changes, click the box with the pencil or click on another row.
SQL Fieldname
The name of the column you are querying.
Column Heading
Column heading text as you want it to appear.
Heading Style
Heading styles from a list of pre-configured styles. Options are: Default, hidden,
Hyperlink, SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset.
Column Style
Column styles from a list of pre-configured styles. Options are: Default, hidden,
Hyperlink, SampleBlue, SampleBold, SampleGreen, SampleLarge, SampleOutset.
Width (px)
Width (in pixels) of the columns. Set for all columns or leave as default width.
Alignment
Alignment of the text in the column: right, centre, or left.
Bound variable
The name of a variable and if it is a user or session variable. This allows it to be used
in other queries or passed to other pages.

XML Tables
Any data formatted in the XML standard can be displayed in tabular form as a BabelFish
Explorer object.
SQL queries dropped onto an XML object
are automatically converted to this format.
You can create an XML table to reference
an SQL table, and you can insert the
resulting XML tables into Microsoft Word
and Microsoft Excel. When combined
with ISS add-in for Excel, right-clicking on
an XML table allows the user to export the
data to Excel.
Many data sources can also provide XML
formatted data in a web service. These can
be viewed directly in a BabelFish Explorer table.
Note: Unicode file names for external ASP pages are not supported.

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PAGE OBJECTS

XML TABLES

Creating an XML Table

To add an XML table to a BabelFish page (see page 15):
1.

Click the XML Table icon

on the Design toolbar.

2.

Click on the page in the spot in which you want to add the table.
The XML Table Object Editor appears.

3.

In the XML Table Object Editor, specify the following parameters:

Datasource: Enter an acceptable data source (the path to an external XML file) for
the XML table. You can also drag an existing query from the SQL Tables/Queries list
in the toolbox (see page 19) and drop it into this field. This will point the XML table
to the results of the query, which will be converted to XML and displayed in the
table.

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PAGE OBJECTS

XML TABLES

The XML data source must use the following format:

Caption: The caption you want to display as the title for the table.
Timeout: The time limit (in seconds) for which to display the table contents.
Zoom Level: Specify the zoom level of the table. This can be from 60% to 150%.
Refresh with Time: Select if you want the data in the table to be refreshed with
time.
4.

In the design window, drag the object handles in and out to refine the area of the
table, or move it to another position.

XML Table Toolbar

In Display mode (see page 16), the XML table differs in appearance to the SQL table (see
page 235), and has additional functionalities.

Next to the title of the XML table, the XML toolbar displays a row of icons, which perform
the following functions:
Export the table as a Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003 Worksheet (.xls).
Note: XML tables cannot export large amounts of data to Microsoft Excel.
Copy the table to the Windows clipboard.
Zoom down or up . When zoom is first used, the icon changes from
to
, showing the zoom percentage. The Zoom range is from 10% to over 2000%

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PAGE OBJECTS

XML TABLES

Zoom level at 50% (left) and 200% (right)

Refresh the XML Table.

XML Table Menu

Right-clicking on an XML table (see page 239) in Display mode (see page 16) opens a menu
that allows you to copy and export the table.

Copy
Copy places the table onto the clipboard. The format is tab-delimited text for
quick pasting into a common text editor, word processor, spreadsheet, and so on.
Export to File
Place the table into a tab delimited (.xls) or comma delimited (.csv) file, using the
table heading as the filename. During the export process, you can:

Open the file using your default spreadsheet program (such as Microsoft
Excel).
Save the file.
Cancel the export operation.

About
Opens the About box.

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Index
A
Add Tags to a Statistics Object 188
Adding a Hyperlink 196
Adding a Label 207
Adding an Image 204
Adding Menu Items to a Page 116
Adding Objects to a Grid Layout 123, 124
Advanced Tab 98, 111, 119, 200
Analysing Data 15
Appearance of a Button 160
Appearance of a Data Table 175
Appearance of a Hotspot 193
Appearance of a Hyperlink 196
Appearance of a Label 207
Appearance of a Tag 69, 83, 85, 87, 90
Appearance of a Template Tag 61
Appearance of an iFrame 200
Appearance of an Image 204
Attributes and Properties 58, 61, 96, 111, 135
Auxiliary Tab 22, 29, 63, 69, 83, 85, 87, 90
Axes 214

B
BabelFish Framework 6
BabelFish Functions 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 25,
26, 27, 49, 50, 64, 92, 93, 94, 97, 113, 133, 138,
186, 210
BabelFish Page 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 19, 25, 49, 52,
58, 61, 62, 73, 81, 82, 84, 97, 133, 134, 137, 138,
142, 152, 159, 162, 163, 164, 169, 170, 185, 186,
187, 190, 191, 194, 195, 199, 203, 206, 211, 213,
240
Backgrounds 15, 99, 101, 107
Behavior Properties 154
Behaviors 61, 69, 83, 85, 87, 90, 124, 142, 160,
165, 193, 196, 200, 204, 207
Browser Tips 7, 181
Button Details Editor 18, 159, 161
Buttons 141

C
Calculated Tag 54, 85, 171
Colours 100, 107, 127, 129, 156
Column tab 237
Combo Box Appearance - Manual 164
Combo Box Appearance - URL 164
Combo Boxes 141
Combobox Details Editor 19, 164, 165, 167
Comments 19, 52, 71, 78, 80, 116, 141, 171
Common Tabs 142
Create a Calculated Tag 56, 72, 82, 83
Create a Datasource tag 71, 82, 83
Create a Menu 145, 148, 210

Create a Page Using the Page Wizard 12, 18, 96,

111
Create a Parent or Cascading Menu 146, 210
Create a Portal SQL Tag 72, 79, 82
Creating a Button 160
Creating a Combo Box 164
Creating a Hotspot 193
Creating a New Tag 69
Creating an iFrame 200
Creating an Object Layout Grid 123
Custom Framework Menus 7

D
Data 212, 213, 214
Data Options 222
Data Table Columns 174
Data Table Configuration 174
Data Tables 19, 20, 141, 236
Date and Time 9, 80, 171, 223
Design Mode Interface 8, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 60,
64, 69, 97, 98, 110, 114, 118, 123, 136, 142, 160,
164, 193, 196, 200, 204, 207, 211, 237
Designing a Page 18, 19, 20, 92, 97, 110
Designing for Mobile Devices 101
Details Tab 98
Display Mode Interface 15, 18, 20, 64, 65, 74,
76, 97, 111, 128, 144, 169, 171, 187, 211, 213,
216, 218, 235, 241, 242
Driving Tag for Behaviors 154

E
Edit a Menu 139, 145, 152
Embedded Search 15, 19, 49, 116, 141, 186
Embedded Statistics 15, 141, 189
Embedded Trends 6, 15, 19, 28, 116, 133, 141
EP_ENCODE 34, 35, 36, 40
Expression Editor 11, 56, 72, 79, 86

F
Filters 10, 28, 93, 189, 214

G
General Performance Curve 226
Getting Started 9
Grid Appearance 123
Grid Cells 125, 131
Grid Column Header 125
Grid Design 124, 126, 127, 128
Grid Layout Details Editor 18, 123, 124, 125
Grid Row Header 125

H
Home Page 5, 8, 12, 13, 14, 22
Hotspot Details Editor 18, 192, 193
Hotspots 116, 141, 191, 193
Hyperlink Details Editor 18, 74, 195, 197
Hyperlinks 62, 141, 195, 197, 211

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INDEX

iFrame Details Editor 18, 199, 201

iFrames 60, 116, 141, 162, 170, 186, 199, 200
Image Details Editor 18, 203, 205
Images 141, 203, 204, 211

Point Detail 10, 19, 22, 29, 51, 63, 64, 65, 74, 91,
95, 133, 136, 212
Print Options 31
Publishing 6, 10, 83, 85, 87, 90, 105, 111, 138
Publishing from My Environment 12, 137

Label Details Editor 18, 206, 208

Labels 51, 62, 74, 95, 115, 141, 144, 206, 211
Layout 61, 69, 83, 85, 87, 90, 119, 124, 142, 160,
164, 193, 196, 200, 204, 207

M
Menu Items 19, 69, 83, 85, 87, 90, 98, 118, 142,
149, 152, 196, 204, 207, 209
Menus 6, 19, 22, 28, 65, 74, 81, 93, 94, 111, 113,
141, 202, 206
Merge Cells 125, 128
Method Tab 69, 83, 85, 87, 90
Multi-Select Tools 19, 111, 119
My Environment 6, 8, 13, 25, 28, 93, 94, 104,
138, 139
My Profile 5, 13

N
Native Name History 79

O
Object Details Editor 11, 18, 112, 116, 142, 149,
153
Object Layout Grid 111, 116, 132, 141
Open a Page 27
Opening a Page in Design Mode 18
Opening a Tag 27, 54, 65, 91, 169
Opening an Existing Trend 27
Operating Donuts 19, 116, 141, 213, 215, 216,
219
Operating Range 212, 213, 214

P
Page Details Editor 97, 99, 100, 102, 104, 115,
118, 119, 139, 152
Page Display Attributes 99, 106
Page Objects 6, 15, 22, 24, 25, 34, 58, 92, 97,
111, 112, 114, 119, 122, 142, 191, 194, 209, 211
Page Templates 105
Page Toolbar 16, 19, 20, 94, 97, 114, 116, 117,
144
Page Wizard Navigation 108
Page Wizard Summary 104, 106, 109
Pages 104, 111
Performance Curve 19, 116, 141
Plant Model 6, 8, 28, 52, 59, 75, 83, 85, 87, 90,
102, 111, 113, 136, 185, 211
Plant Model Tab 98
Plant Model Tree Features 64
Plant Model Tree Search 50, 64, 96, 113, 133

Removing Menu Items from a Page 117

Replacement Tokens 152
Replacement Tokens for Menus 146
Reserved Characters and Words 59, 70
Rubber-band 199

S
Search Results 49, 50, 96, 186
Searching 9, 50, 51, 99, 186
Searching from the Toolbar 51, 96
Select Page Objects 18
Snap-to-Grid 18, 100, 119
Sorting Columns 185
SQL Table Details Editor 238
SQL Tables 15, 111, 113, 141, 241
Statistics Properties 188
Styles and Style Sheets in BabelFish 101, 111

T
Tab Strip 7
Table of Contents 53, 134
Tag Details Editor 18, 64, 65, 75, 82, 84, 86, 89,
91, 139, 212
Tag Details Tab 69, 74, 82, 84, 86, 89
Tag Statistics 22, 27, 29, 63
Tags and Entities 6, 10, 15, 19, 51, 59, 65, 70,
73, 74, 76, 82, 84, 88, 95, 97, 111, 113, 115, 133,
134, 137, 141, 144, 152, 169, 187, 211
Tags List 10, 19, 57, 72, 75, 155, 170, 189, 214
Template Tag Details Editor 20, 61, 114
Template Tags 20, 60, 61, 96, 113, 136
Toolbox 10, 18, 25, 72, 76, 78, 79, 111, 113, 117,
132, 170, 185, 209, 214, 240
Tree Tab 70, 83, 85, 87, 90
Trends List 9, 25, 147, 151, 162, 194, 197, 201

U
Updating the Date and Time 25

W
Wildcards 26

X
XML Tables 15, 19, 116, 141, 242

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