Trend - Advanced Object

Description

Trends allow the user to configure tags to be displayed graphically, representing each tag by a pen.  Pens can be configured while in the Engineering Environment or during Runtime.

Properties and Functions

Info
  • Name
  • Size
  • Location
  • ZIndex
  • Draggable
Configuration
  • Trend Configuration
  • Customize Trend
  • Number of Decimals
  • Is Enabled
  • Is Visible
  • Tooltip
Functions
  • .AddPen()
  • .RemovePen()/RemoveAllPens
  • .Play()
  • .PlayNow()
  • .Pause()
  • .ShowScale()/ShowScales()
  • .HidePen()
  • .SetPen()
  • .SpcFunctions()
  • .UpdateStartDate()
  • .UpdateDuration()
  • .UpdateDurationEnd()
  • .UpdateEndDate()

Inserting a Trend

To create a new Trend in the Graphics document:

  1. Click the “Trend” button in the Ribbon.
  2. Place the mouse pointer where you want to create the Trend.
  3. Click to create the new Trend.
 

Trend Config

The user will be able to set the Trend object’s main configuration with this feature.

The Trend is configured in two steps:

  1. Add new pens (Tags) in the General tab.
  2. Configure them in the Configuration tab.

Trend definitions “General” tab:

  • New Pen:  Field to add new Pens (Tags).
  • Button with the signal “+”:  Write the Tag name and click “+” to add it to the ListBox.  You can also press “Enter”.
  • It is possible to establish the Initial Duration (X-axis range), Start Paused, as well as the visualization of the TimeStamp, Toolbar, Pen information Area, and whether to Show Multiple Scales.  The user can also now set a Start Date and End Date.
  • Initial Duration:  This field sets the default time interval to the object.  In other words, when using the option “Fit to view” mode of a Trend, the interval displayed will be the value configured in this field.
  • Start Paused:  Sets if the Trend will start in a paused state.
  • Start Cursor:  Sets if the Trend will start with the cursor enabled.
  • Show Toolbar:  Sets if the Toolbar will be displayed in the object.
  • Show Timestamp Area:  Sets if the Timestamp will be displayed in the object.
  • Show Pen Area:  Sets if the Pen Area will be displayed in the object.
  • Show Multiple Scales:  Sets if multiple scales are desired.
  • Statistical Process Control(SPC):  Configure the style and thickness of the line of the SPC lines in the object during runtime.
  • Start Date/End Date:  Enter dates of which to start and end the trend.
  • Limit Addional Pens: When this option is selected, it will enable the field “Add Additional Pens”. This functionality limits the Pens that can be added in the Trend object during runtime.
    Whith this option enabled the only Pens avaliabe to use in the trend object will be the ones configured in the “Pens” area and the ones configured in the “Limit Additional Pens” area.

Configuration:

This tab allows the user to configure a Pen, which was already selected in the previous General tab.  Below is a brief explanation of the fields that exist in the Configuration tab.

  • Selected Item:  ComboBox to switch between the Tags configured.
  • Description:  Pen description .
  • Pen Color:  Pen line color.
  • Marker:  Pen marker type.
  • Thickness:  Pen line thickness.
  • Interpolated:  If enabled, when a Tag value is changed, the line will be drawn straight from the previous value to the new value.  If disabled, you will see a step (vertically and horizontally) drawn.
  • Show Legend:  If enabled, the Pen’s legend will be shown during Runtime.
  • Line Style:  Pen line style .
  • Statistical Process Control (SPC):  Configure which SPC lines will show when the runtime starts.

Toolbar Area

The Toolbar contains visualization controls for the Trend.  These controls are explained below:

 

  • Play:  Starts the visualization.
  • Pause:  Pauses the visualization.
  • Add Pen:  Add a new Pen (tag) to the Trend.
  • Show Multiple Scales:  If there are 2 or more Pens, it shows the vertical scales of each separately.
  • Fit View:  Adjusts the view using the maximum and minimum value as references; allowing the user to see the whole values of the Pen(s).
  • Show Pen Area:  Shows/Hides the Pen area.
  • Cursor Color:  Sets the color of the cursor.
  • Background Color:  Sets the color of the Trend’s background.

Timestamp Area

The Timestamp Area adjusts the zoom of the Trend window establishing an initial date, final date, and the duration.

There are 2 ways to configure it:

  1. Establishing an Initial Date and a Duration.
  2. Establishing a Duration and an End Date.

So, if the Initial Date and the Duration are configured, the End Date will be automatically configured and vice versa.

  • Initial Date:  Establishes the beginning of the scale.  It is written as dd/mm/yyyy hh/mm/ss.
  • Duration:  Establishes the size and accuracy of the scale.  It is written as dd.hh/mm/ss.
  • End Date:  Establishes the end of the scale.  It is written as dd/mm/yyyy hh/mm/ss.

Example:

We want to see the values of a tag during a week, from 16/6/2019 at 12:00 pm.

  1. Set the Initial Date with:  16/06/2019 12:00:00
  2. Set the Duration to 7 days:  7.00:00:00
  3. Done, now you will see the scale from 16/06/2019 at 12:00pm to 23/06/2019  at 12:00pm

NOTE: The minimum duration of the Trend during RunTime is 5 seconds.

Pen Area

The Pen Area is a table which contains every Pen added to the Trend and its associated information.  Here it is possible to configure and supervise every aspect of a Pen, even delete it, with ease.

Every field of the Pen Area is explained further below:

  • Tag:  Shows the name of the Tag.
  • Description:  Shows a description of the Tag.
  • Sample:  Shows how the pen is represented in the Trend.
  • Line Style:  Allows changing the style of line to use, Continuous, dashed, dot, dash-dot.
  • Thickness:  Allows changing the thickness of the selected pen.
  • Pen Color:  Allows changing the color of the selected pen.
  • Interpolated:  Interpolate the values of the Pen, making straight lines between points instead of steps.
  • Min:  Shows the minimum value the Tag has reached.
  • Cursor Value:  Shows the value where the cursor is pointing.
  • Tag Value:  Shows the current value of the Tag.
  • Max:  Shows the maximum value the Tag has reached.
  • Reset:  Resets the scale to its original scale.
  • Marker:  Allows choosing whether to mark the values of the Tag with circles or triangles, making its visualization easier, or leave it unmarked.
  • Show Legend:  Shows/Hides the legend.
  • Hide:  Shows/Hides the Pen line in the trend.
  • Statistical Process Control (SPC):
    • Count:  Indicates how many points the Pen has.
    • Min:  Shows/hides the SPC min line for the Pen and indicates the lowest point’s value.
    • Max:  Shows/hides the SPC max line for the Pen and indicates the highest point’s value.
    • Avg:  Shows/hides the SPC average line for the Pen and indicates the average of the point values.
    • Dev:  Shows/hides the SPC standard deviation positive and negative lines for the Pen and indicates the standard deviation of the Pen.  There is a ComboBox available to define if the standard deviation will be 1, 2, or 3 times the standard deviation.
  • Delete:  Deletes the Tag.

Customize Trend

In the trend properties, there is an option that lets you customize what will show on the Trend object during runtime:

  • Toolbar:  Configure what will show on the Toolbar of the Trend object by selecting and deselecting the options.
  • Pens Grid:  Configure what will show on the Pens Grid of the Trend object by selecting and deselecting the options.

Security

It is possible to configure different permissions per profile for this object.  For further information, please check the Security white paper.