Creating and Modifying User Defined Types

About this task

You can create a user defined type and assign it to multiple tags. A user defined type can have up to 100 fields and must have at least one field.

Procedure

  1. To create a User Defined Type:
    1. In the Tag Maintenance screen, click Tags > Define User-Defined Types.
      The Define User-Defined Types dialog box appears.
    2. Click Create New Type, or, right-click in the List of User-Defined Types and select Create New Type.
      The User Defined Type Information section is enabled.
    3. In the Type Name field, enter the name of the User Defined Type.
    4. In the Description field, enter the description for the type.
    5. Select the Store Individual Quality check box to store the field level quality.
      If this option is not selected, then the data sample will have a single quality similar to how an array tag works. Storing individual qualities consumes more disk space.
    6. Select the Administer Group from the list.
      This is the Windows Security Group assigned to the user defined type.
    7. Add at least one Field to the User Defined Type.
    8. Click Save Type.
      The following message appears indicating that the save was successful: Your User Defined Type has been successfully saved to the Data Archive.
  2. To add fields to a User Defined Type:
    1. In the Field section of the Define User-Defined Types dialog box, click New Field.
    2. In the Field Name field, enter the name of the field.
    3. If you are using the Master Field functionality, select the Master Field check box to specify a field as the Master Field. Only one field can be the Master Field in a User Defined Type.
    4. In the Field Description field, enter the field description.
    5. Select the Field Data Type from the list.
    6. Click Save Field.
    7. Repeat these steps to create as many fields you want.
  3. To modify fields in a User Defined Type:
    1. In the Define User-Defined Type dialog, select the Field you want to modify from the List of Fields section box.
    2. Modify the details in the Fields section.
    3. Click Save Field.
  4. To delete fields from a User Defined Type:
    1. In the Define User-Defined Type dialog, select the Field you want to modify from the List of Fields section box.
    2. Select the Field you want to delete or, to delete all the fields, click Select All .
    3. Click Delete Field.
  5. To modify a User Defined Type
    Note: You cannot change the name of a user defined type with this process. To change the name of an existing type, right-click it, select Rename Selected Type, and enter the new name in the Type Name field.
    1. Select the type from the List of User Defined Types.
    2. Modify the type description and fields. You cannot modify the name.
    3. Click Save Type.
  6. To delete a User Defined Type
    Note: You cannot delete a User Defined Type if there are tags still using it.
    1. Select the type from the List of User Defined Types.
    2. Right-click and select Delete Selected Type.
  7. To set a source address for a multifield tag:
    1. In the Define User-Defined Type dialog, select the Field you want to modify from the List of Fields section box.
    2. Select the tag and click Browse (...) in the Source Address field.
      The List of Fields dialog appears.


    3. Select the field and click Browse (...) in the Source Address field.
      The Browse For Source Tag dialog appears.
    4. Browse for the tag, click Save Source Address and then click OK.
      The source address for the multifield tag is set.
  8. To view the last 10 values of a multifield tag:
    1. Right-click on a multifield tag (a tag indicated with ?* ?) and select Last 10 values.
      The List of Fields dialog appears.


    2. Select the Field from the list and click OK.
      The last ten values of the select field are displayed.
  9. To view the trend of a multifield tag:
    1. Right-click a tag in the Tag Maintenance screen and select Trend.
      The screen displays the trend of data over a selected time period.
    2. Specify the time period and other parameters by clicking Criteria at the bottom of the display.
      The Trend Criteria dialog box appears.
    3. Enter the Start Time and End Time in the appropriate fields or browse to the times and select them.
    4. In the Sampling field, select the data type to use for the display.
      Sampling modes specified with criteria strings take precedence over any mode specified in the Sampling field.
    5. Enter a value for the time interval on the x-axis of the display.
    6. Select the units for the time interval from the drop-down list (seconds, minutes, hours, or days).
    7. Enter the criteria string.
      You can enter the sampling mode, calculation mode, and/or query modifiers in this field.
      Query modifiers are used to specify various ways of retrieving data from Historian. Sampling modes specified with criteria strings take precedence over any mode specified in the Sampling field.
      Request raw data with only good quality by specifying the criteria string: RAWBYTIME#ONLYGOOD
    8. Click OK.
      The display changes in accordance with your criteria.
    You can scroll back and forth on the x-axis time scale by clicking on the single and double left and right arrows at the bottom of the screen. The single arrows move the duration ahead by 50% of the span. The double arrows move the duration ahead by 100% of the span.