PI Manual Logger Web
Services lets you manage tours and tour
runs through ASP.NET
web services interface. Any internet
connection enabled devices can communicate with the
web services and transfer data between the PI
Manual Logger Database and a mobile device.
If your mobile device is web-enabled,
then the communication is simple. Once
Manual Logger has been configured and a
web server with wireless capabilities
has also been configured, by clicking on the
Data Transfer Arrows, data can
be transferred back and forth between the PDA
and a web server.
Through web services, you can retrieve the system
data time, any global settings,
selected tool, tool definitions as a
dataset, the user database in
PI Manual Logger as a dataset.
You can also upload from the PDA
to the PC any logs
and tour run data as a
dataset. Let's see an example
of this. In Section 3 we had
already shown how to configure the web
services. After in... after installing that option,
and going to IIS
in your web server
to ensure that the web server has been
properly configured, under
the Server Name,
Websites, we created a
new folder or at... rather a virtual
directory under the Default Website
with the appropriate permissions.
We also showed how to go to Internet
Explorer and
check for a proper connection
by browsing through you... your
Server Name, PimlWebServices
Folder, to the PimlWebServices.asmx
File.
In here there is an option to test the connection,
where we can invoke the connection,
and if we receive the following window with the
SQL Database Name and
Version and the PI Server Name,
that means that our connection is working
properly. Additionally,
we need to go to
Manual Logger and
under Mobile Devices, Mobile
Device Settings, we need to
ensure that we have the proper settings.
Let me go ahead and connect my device to
the PC
by simulating the device going
back into the cradle.
I can see ActiveSync now
connecting to the PDA,
AutoSync updating the information
in the PDA, and now,
as soon as this is over, I will be able to open
Manual Logger and check on the device
settings.
I close the connection.
Open
Manual Logger.
I am going to log in as an Administrator,
[typing]
and I want to check on the
Mobile
Devices Settings.
In here, I have the
Path to the Database, a Temporary
Folder and the Web Server Address.
In here, I am going to enter
the
name of my web server
along with the location
[typing]
of the Web Services
Folder and the
PimlWebServices
.asmx
File.
I
would also like to show you other
features that are options in here such as the
Single User Mode --
and, in this case, let's select Bob
as the only person who can use the PDA, -- a
Single Tour Mode, the
Enable SmartMinimize Icon on the device, and
we must have the Enable Web Services checked
if we want to use Web Services.
I click OK, and the data
was saved, and I should be able
to use it in the PDA now.
Once I have completed making all the configuration
changes in Manual Logger for
wireless data transfer, all I have to do
is put my PDA in the cradle, and
let me go ahead and simulate that so that the
configuration changes can be uploaded to the PDA.
Since I am not creating any
new tours, only changing configuration
settings for wireless collection,
these can be uploaded by AutoSync.
Once the transfer of data is completed,
I can close the window and
I can remove the PDA
from the cradle, and I am ready to go
to the field and collect some data and
transfer that data wirelessly. So
let me go ahead and perform a
tour run.
I am going to
open
Manual Logger Mobile, and if -- as you
remember, I am on the Single User,
so there is no need to sign on.
It is assumed that Bob is the only one using
this PDA.
I can see
that I only have one tour because I also selected
the option of Single Tour
in my PDA, so
I will be taken directly
to the tour that I want to perform,
doing a tour run at 3:45.
I am going to click OK
and collect some data
during my tour.
Now I am going
to, very quickly,
collect this data.
In here
I want to show you
[typing]
what's going to
happen when I do this tour run
and transfer my data to the server.
Remember, my signature was
another requirement that
I selected from the Tour Options.
I have my tour run now
for EDG Tour. Let me collect a couple of
additional runs.
Let me do one more and show you now --
this is going to be at
4:13 P.M.
Another option that I had selected from
the Tour Options when this tour was created
was to be able to use the previous
values in the Dropdown Menu. So I
can see here some of the previous values that were
entered.
I can use those values.
It's an easy way
to enter data when data does not change
very often.
I will go ahead and type the rest of
the values. I am ready to
finish this run and
save the data.
My signature.
Another feature that I wanted to show you very quickly --
let me perform one more run.
In here, when
I
create these runs, I can
always, for each one of these tags, click on the
graph and see the trend for that
data. I can see what the values were. The last two
have been 80, and that
applies to each one of the
tags. I can see the one
value of 80 here for the tag.
Let me go ahead and discard and close this run.
I do not want to save the changes. I
am now ready to send the data wirelessly
to the server. Now that I
collected my tour runs, I am ready to send the data
back to the server, wirelessly, from the
field. I have two tour runs that I
can send to the server. There are a couple of
ways in which I can do this. I can
click on these arrows which will
initiate a bi-directional data transfer
to the web server. What that means is that
I will be sending my tour run
information with all of the data, but I will
also be downloaded infor... information from
the server, and I will be deleting my
tour information in the PDA.
The preferred method to upload the
information is by going to File,
Send Data to Host. By
selecting this option, and,
and I will be doing that right now, I will
only be sending information from the PDA
to the server, and I will be keeping
my tour information so that
my EDG Tour is not deleted from the PDA.
Here I will have
to enter login information
from -- for the web server.
This is a
username
and password
at the web, web server. The domain,
in my case, is VirtualLabs.com.
This is information that you will have to
obtain from your network administrator.
And we will
wait and
receive confirmation that the data transfer
has been successful.
Now, let me
repeat that when Manual Logger
transfers data by using
the arrows or the bi-directional
communication, Manual Logger Mobile
erases all existing tour data
during the Update Data From Host step.
If there is previously-collected
data on the mobile device that has not
yet been sent to the Manual Logger desktop
database or to PI directly,
it is erased if we accept
the communication. So, to transfer this
collected data prior to
re-initializing our mobile database,
we can Send the Data to
Host feature, and that's what I am doing right
now. The preferred method is to
click on File and Send Data to Host
to send the
information to the PI Server and not
lose the tour information here in
my PDA. The data transfer
is going to take a few minutes
as the PDA communicates with the server.
And we
can see that the data transfer has been
successful. So, we can click OK,
and we see that we still have
our tour in the PDA, but the
tour run information has been transferred to
the server. So let's go
to Manual Logger. Open Manual Logger
and see if the
tours were transferred. Here I have
my completed tour that was performed
at 4:13 by Bob,
and it was wirelessly transferred
back to Manual Logger.