- [Tutor] Before we can get into
how to build graphics pages,
it's important to understand how data flows
from the hardware,
up through the server software,
and finally arrives at the client.
The basic hardware architecture
should be familiar to you by now.
Data is generated by the equipment,
whatever that may be.
The server, which may consist of multiple physical machines,
connects to that equipment and reads the data
through its supported communication protocols.
The server then compiles the data into alarms,
trends the data for later access,
and performs Cicode operations to analyze the data.
However, let's look a bit deeper at this process.
So far, we have been configuring
the Citect Data Acquisition Engine.
You've developed device types using Profile Editor,
then built out a database in Studio.
I'm simplifying this process of course;
there are other tools and steps as well,
but the idea is to configure our data acquisition
and processing.
Once this is done,
the engine makes the data available using the CtAPI,
the Citect Application Programming Interface.
This allows applications external to the engine
to access real-time data, alarms and trends
as well as make Cicode function calls.
There is another component to this abstraction layer
called the Schneider Electric CoreServiceHost
that we'll discuss from time to time.
This service manages external connections to the CtAPI
and makes data available in a more standardized format.
In our current discussion,
the CoreServiceHost is providing data
to this graphics rendering engine.
You will build graphics files using Graphics Editor
and save them in TGML format,
that's the TAC Vista Graphics Markup Language.
The rendering engine then takes these files,
compiles them to HTML5 format,
connects them to data from the CtAPI,
and makes the pages available to the web server.
These components originated
in EcoStruxure Building Operation,
which is why you will see references
to that software package occasionally.
Also, note that this diagram is not complete;
there are also connections between Graphics Editor
and Studio which enable you to easily bind graphic points
to tags and equipment in the system.
In addition to the graphics engine,
other applications may connect to the CtAPI layer
to access data.
Basic Reports and LiveView connect in the same manner,
and the alarm rendering engine has been brought over
from Power Monitoring Expert
to display alarms in a consistent manner.
This component also enables alarms to be grouped
into incidents and analyzed in the same manner as PME.
Finally, the server groups these components,
along with Advanced Reports and Dashboards if integrated,
into a single coherent web site
to be accessed by client machines.
The site is fully HTML5 compatible,
so these clients can be any machine
running a modern web browser,
be it a dedicated workstation
running a large-screen monitor,
an engineering laptop,
or a tablet PC.
This is the end goal of configuring this software,
gather data from the hardware,
process it as necessary,
and present the data to the end-user.
In the upcoming videos,
you will learn how to build and integrate
these graphics pages.
Until then, thank you.