Aveva Object Viewer User Guide
Aveva Object Viewer User Guide
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Publication date: Monday, November 16, 2020
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
Contents
Chapter 1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 5
A vailability ................................................................................................................................ 5
Starting Object Viewer............................................................................................................... 5
Navigating In Object Viewer....................................................................................................... 5
Finding Objects ................................................................................................................... 6
Closing Object Viewer ............................................................................................................... 7
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
C HAPTER 1
Overview
Object Viewer provides performance and diagnostic information about ApplicationObjects. You can use
Object Viewer to show performanc e parameters, resource consumption, and reliability measurements of
objects you select.
In addition to viewing an object’s data value, data quality, and the communication status of the object,
you can also modify some of the object’s attributes for diagnostic testing. Modifications can include
adjusting timing parameters and setting objects in an execution or idle mode.
Object Viewer runs with minimal System Platform and operating system requirements.
Using Object Viewer you can:
View the data type, data quality, data value, timestamp, and communication status of
ApplicationObject attributes.
Do diagnostic testing on ApplicationObjects.
Modify selected ApplicationObject attributes.
Availability
Object Viewer is a common component of any Galaxy application and is available from any workstation
in the application with a deployed WinPlatform. You do not need to install the utility on each workstation.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Overview
The console tree works like Windows Explorer. Use t he plus (+) and minus (-) signs to expand or hide the
nested list items shown in the pane. When you select an object in the console tree, its associated
attributes and their properties are shown in the details pane.
Drag a specific set of attributes of interest to a watch window to monitor their Quality, Status,
Timestamp, and Value as you manipulate them and other attributes that affect their data values. You
can save the contents of a watch window to a file for future reference.
Finding Objects
You can use the Find dialog box to search for an object in your Galaxy application.
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Overview AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
C HAPTER 2
Viewing Attributes
Using Object Viewer, you can view the attribut es of all ApplicationObjects in your Galaxy application from
any workstation used in the application.
Quality
E very readable attribute is assigned a quality property that matches one of four categories.
Quality Description
Status
The status of an ApplicationObject’s attribute describes wh ether a particular Read or Write request
succeeded or failed. Possible status conditions include:
Status Description
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Viewing Attributes
Status Description
Has Buffer
The Object Viewer Ha s Buffer column indicates if an attribute has a buffer property. The value dis played
in the column is True if the attribute has a buffer property or False if the attribute has no buffer property.
To view the value of the Buffer property, add the <attributename>.buffer property to the Attribute
Reference dialog box. You can also use an alternate syntax, <attributename>.property(Buffer), which
should be used for subscribing to attributes on a DI Object.
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Viewing Attributes AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
Double-click the attribute. The View Buffer Elements dialog box appears.
The View Buffer Elements dialog box header displays the Attribute Reference, Type, Timestamp and
Count. A details window dis plays the Value, Timestamp, and Quality (V TQ) columns for each item.
Communication Errors
Communication errors include the following:
Requesting NMX Request Timed Out A message was not processed in a timely
manner.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Viewing Attributes
Configuration Errors
Configuration errors include the following:
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Viewing Attributes AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
Operational Errors
Operational errors include the following:
Sorting Data
You can sort the dat a shown in the det ails pane in either ascending or descending order by clicking any
column heading. You can show hidden attributes in the details pane by selecting the Include hidden
command from the Options menu. For example, click the Attribute Name heading to sort the list by
attribute name. Attribute names appear in ascending or descending alphabetical order.
Hidden attribut e names include leading underscores and appear at the t op of an ascending order list. For
example, the following figure shows the _AdviseOnlyActiveEnabled hidden attribute, which indicat es
whet her Advanced Communication Management is active or not.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Viewing Attributes
For example, the AppEngine_001 object contains AlarmOnCnt and AlarmUnAckCnt attributes. When
you add it to a watch list, the object’s tag name is appended to the reference string.
Note: If attributes already appear in the watch window, right-click away from the list of attributes to open
the correct shortcut menu.
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Viewing Attributes AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
Note: This action does not delet e the attribute from the object. The attribute is viewable in the details
pane.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
C HAPTER 3
Modifying Attribute Values
You can modify an attribut e’s value for diagnostic testing. You must have the proper security permissions
to do this and the attribute’s value must also be changeable.
Before making modifications to any attribute, you mus t be familiar with the attributes and their functions.
Also, you must understand the effects that changing attribute values can have on your Galaxy
application.
Attribute Properties
Each data point of an attribut e is associated with a unique V TQ identifier (Value, Time, and Quality). Only
the value can be modified, provided that the attribute is user-writable. When value is modified, a new
VTQ is generated.
When you try to modify an attribute value, a dialog box appears that shows the type (datatype) and
current value of the attribute. Use this information as a guide for continuing.
Before modifying an attribut e value, check its category shown in the Category column to determine
whet her modification is possible.
Category Property
An attribute’s Category property determines if the attribut e is writable. The only categories that you can
write to are:
Writeable_U
Writeable_US
Writeable_UC
Writeable_US C
Writeable_UC_Lockable
Writeable_US C_Lockable
The letters included in the Writable categories mean the following:
Letter Description
U UserSets are OK. You can modify these in the Object Viewer.
C Configtime time sets only. You can modify these only when you
are configuring the object. You cannot modify them in the Object
Viewer.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Modifying Attribute Values
Value Property
You can modify the value property of an attribute shown in the Value column, if the attribut e is
user-writ able (see Category Property on page 17). The datatype of the attribute is shown in the Type
column, and indicates the kind of value that you can assign to the attribut e, for example, Boolean,
integer, double, etc.
Timestamp Property
The timestamp of an attribut e is the Time element of the VTQ packet. It repres ents the time of the last
recorded change to the attribute, and is shown in the Timestamp column. The Timestamp cannot be
modified, or turned on or off. An attribut e will have a timestamp if the value in the Has
Quality/Timestamp column is true.
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Modifying Attribute Values AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide
Important: Attributes in the watch window update immediately. Attributes in the det ails pane update
when you click them.
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AVEVA™ Object Viewer User Guide Modifying Attribute Values
Because WinPlatforms host AppE ngines, you must ensure that all AppEngines hosted by the
WinPlatform are OffScan before setting the WinPlatform OffScan. An error message appears if you try to
set a WinPlatform OffScan while its hosted AppEngines are still OnScan.
Although AppEngines host other objects, it is not necessary for all the objects to be OffScan before
setting the AppEngine OffScan. When you set an AppE ngine O ffScan, all of its hosted objects are
automatically set OffScan.
To set an ApplicationObject OffScan
1. Select the object in the console tree.
2. In the details pane, right-click the ScanStateCmd attribute and click Modify. The Modify Boolean
Value dialog box appears.
3. Assuming the current value is True (OnScan), click the False option button, click Apply and then
click OK.
Note that the ScanState attribut e’s value in the details pane remains True (OnScan).
4. To update the attribute value to False, select it.
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