Using the iFIX WorkSpace

The iFIX WorkSpace is your starting point for using iFIX. It provides an integrated and flexible configuration environment that lets you create and modify documents for the local node. As part of this environment, the iFIX WorkSpace also launches and is integrated with iFIX applications, eliminating the need to switch to other programs. Instead the iFIX WorkSpace provides a work area with all the necessary tools to add a picture, create a schedule, or change a script.

Using the iFIX WorkSpace, you can also integrate ActiveX documents from other programs, such as Word and Excel, with your iFIX files. Like iFIX documents, ActiveX documents appear in the work area that the iFIX WorkSpace supplies. And if you create your own custom ActiveX documents, the WorkSpace automatically displays the menus and toolbars that these documents define when you open them.

You can display a hierarchical view of your files with the iFIX WorkSpace. This view serves as a navigational tool to help you locate iFIX documents and acts as a launch pad for iFIX and third-party applications.

The iFIX WorkSpace also lets you access the Visual Basic Editor (VBE). This editor lets you integrate Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts into your iFIX files. By writing a VBA script, you can customize and automate the behavior of iFIX. For example, you can write a script to handle custom run-time data entry instead of using the data entry mechanisms provided with iFIX.

But the iFIX WorkSpace is not only a configuration tool. It also provides a run-time environment as well that lets operators display and run your iFIX documents. This environment lets you enable security restrictions that lock operators into a pre-defined set of pictures.

This chapter discusses how to use the iFIX WorkSpace and navigate the system tree. It also explains the available options and describes the two iFIX WorkSpace environments.

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