When creating a Tour,
we can select the way in which
Comments are going to be saved to the PI Server.
The preferred method
is by the use of Annotations.
When using Annotations,
the data will be saved in the
same tag for which it is being collected.
The second option is by using
a Comment Tag. By using a Comment Tag,
our comments will be saved on
a different tag. In addition to
that, we also have the ability
to create a Template that can contain
some common comments to
expedite the process of data collection
and observations in the field.
Let's see an example of this.
I have my
Tour open, Experiment 190.
If I set up
the comments for the first tag,
which in this case is PIML-
DigitalState1, I can
select a tag which will
contain my comments, or
I can leave that field blank and then
the comments will be saved as
Annotations in PIML-
DigitalState1.
Let's say that I want to select a tag
which will be String #6
as a Comment Tag.
If I go to Tour Options,
there are a couple of options here that are important
to note. First, I
do have the option to write my comments
to both the Annotation and the
tag that I selected to save those comments.
If there is no tag
selected, then, by default, the
comments will be saved as an Annotation only.
Another option that I have is to
default my comment
to the last entered comment. This may be
useful in cases where equipment
is in a known condition and will be in that same
condition for an extended period of time,
such as a valve that is broken
or out of service.
The last option in this
field -- it has to do with the
creation
of an Annotation to record the
user name of the Data Collector when
sending data to PI. This is a,
a useful feature when
it's important to know what Operators collected
the data for traceability.
Let's cancel out of this
and see how we can create templates.
I want to use Annotations.
I do not want to use a Comment Tag,
so I am going to delete that tag out of there,
and by going to Tools,
I can see a Comment Templates.
In here, I can
create new templates. Let me delete
the two templates that
were there,
and I am going to add
a new template. One for my
[typing]
CompoundX.
And here, for CompoundX,
I can now create what those
comments are going to be. Let's say that I wanted
to select the color of the compound,
[typing]
and I wanted to have pre-defined
comments
to go along with the data.
[typing]
I
can click OK, and now,
if I Save
and Exit,
when I perform
a Tour Run
for Experiment 190 --
let's say the
8:00 Run --
and I enter a value
for my first tag,
I can enter a comment now
which I can select
from my templates. If I
open the Template Window,
I will be able to see now the
CompoundX Template and the
pre-defined comments that I
created. In this case, I want
to select White, double-click on it, make
sure that it shows now on the
upper field, click OK,
and my pre-defined comment is in the field.
I can Save it and
Exit.
If I go back to my
Tour, in addition to
creating new
templates, I can also use
some of the Digital States such as
The SYSTEM, which by large,
is the largest
Digital State with the
most options. I can select here
some of the options that I want,
click OK, and then I can
include that
as additional pre-determined comments.