1. Name Points

About this task

Each point you create in your project has a unique Point ID.

  • Allowed entries when naming points.
  • Reserved words when naming points.
  • Reserved characters when naming points.
  • Rename points.
  • Duplicate points.
  • Qualified points.

Allowed entries when naming points

A Point ID may contain:

  • A maximum of 256 characters.
  • Any combination of upper or lower case letters and numbers.
  • Special characters, with some restrictions.

Reserved words when naming points

The following are reserved words in CIMPLICITY software. Avoid using these words for Point IDs.

A1 A2 AH1
AH2 AL AL1
AL2 ALARM ALARM_HIGH
ALARM_LOW ALARM_NOT_ACKED ANA
AND BAND BNOT
BOR BXOR EQ
EU_CONV GE GT
LE LT NE
NOT OR SQR
WARNING WARNING_HIGH WARNING_LOW
XOR

If, however, you do use a reserved word for a Point ID and you include such a Point ID in a point expression or equation, you must enclose the Point ID in single quotes.

Reserved characters when naming points

Important: The following guidelines are intended for backward compatibility with previous CIMPLICITY releases.

However, in order to prevent ambiguity with other character uses in CIMPLICITY (e.g. characters in expressions and areas that include file system names) it is recommended that you construct point names for new projects as follows.

Procedure

  1. Begin with an alphabetic character or underscore.
  2. Continue with alphabetic characters, underscores and/or numbers.
    Note: Guidelines for reserved characters in Point IDs include:
    Do not use | $ Brackets {  }  [  ]
    Avoid using +  *  ?  \  /  [  ]  <  >  "  :  (  )  = The Expression Editor and other software can misinterpret these.
    Use carefully Any other special character (such as #, %, etc.) on the keyboard. A Point ID that starts with a number 0-9. You must enclose the Point ID in single quotes when used in a point expression or equation. The @ character is invalid if it is the first character in the Point ID.
    Use freely The underscore character _ The period .

    Rename points

  3. Right-click a point in the Workbench right pane.
  4. Select Rename... on the Popup menu.

    A Rename dialog box opens. The current point name is in the Rename field.

  5. Enter a new name in the To field.
  6. Click OK.

    Result: CIMPLICITY renames the point and updates all references to the Point ID.

    Note: A point may be renamed only if the current point count is less than the licensed point count. Contact your CIMPLICITY representative if you need to increase your licensed point count.

    Duplicate points

    You can speed up point configuration by duplicating existing points, then making any necessary changes.

  7. Right-click a point in the Workbench right pane.
  8. Select Duplicate on the popup menu.

    A Duplicate dialog box opens.

  9. Do one of the following:
    For a: Enter a new:
    Device point Point ID and select the Device ID.
    Virtual point Point ID.
  10. Click OK.

Results

The point's Properties dialog box opens. Configuration from the duplicated point is applied.

Qualified points

Qualified points, whose names include prefaces, enable you to identify precisely what point should be used for a specific project.

Qualified point names can be:

  • Prefaced as follows:
Preface type Example
\\<Project name>\ \\MYPROJ\MYPOINT
\\<Server name on which the project is running>\ \\SERVER1\MYPOINT
\\<IP address of the project's server>\ \\111.36.2.13\MYPOINT
  • Used wherever you can enter a point ID, including:
    • Alarm Viewer (OCX control))
    • Alarm Viewer (Stand-alone)
    • CimEdit/CimView
    • Data logging
    • Recipes
    • SPC
    • Trending
Note: An unqualified point has the point name only.
Preface type Example
No preface type MYPOINT