when using the search option you might have seen the data item length slider but we haven't really
talked about it yet so let's see what it can do for us what we know so far is that we can
select multiple attributes in a single step and they will all be put onto our spreadsheet now
we can select the current value function select all of them and get a value for each one of this
but it is a lot of text in our spreadsheet so let's see how we can present it in a different way
let's go back to search when i move this slider you can see that it defines a separation point
between the root path and the data item now when i select to insert root paths in
column or row you can see that the results are now put onto our sheet in two separate cells
so now i can select my root path and data items
and i can just remove this because i don't really need it
now i can organize the data in my report a little bit
so let's move it down
i also want to show you how to insert the results in a drop down list let's go back to search
so here is when the cool part comes in we know that we have four tanks in our plant
and each of them has got the external temperature attribute
and maybe we want to switch between one and another in our report so let's go back to the
production area and search for asterisk ext asterisk temp asterisk let's select all four attributes
making sure the slider is set to name only and now select drop down list and click ok
and now you can see how we can change between our tanks and the values will update
this is a very powerful feature and i encourage you to use it in your reports
by minimizing the amount of data you put on a sheet your spreadsheet files will be smaller and
will load faster without large raw data calls another feature that i want to show you is the
element relative search functionality provided in pi datalink through the asset filter search option
the asset filter is helpful for searching the af database for elements and filtering the returned
elements by the attribute values the asset filter search function returns asset that
meets specified filter criteria the returned assets can be used in the worksheet as a function
array which can update automatically or static values using the asset filter you
will have the option of returning the search results in a drop-down list which would be
also used in building reusable pi datalink reports okay let's practice what we have
learned we will create a report to review the internal and external temperatures for all of
the tanks and we will follow two approaches in creating this report the first approach is to
use the search functionality while the second approach is to use the asset filter function
okay let's begin by using the search function let's choose cell a1 in excel and now go to search
select the af server pisrv01 and navigate to the osisoft plant database and now production area
search for asterisk temp asterisk
you will notice that the results include all the attributes and this is because their
parent elements are based on a template called
generic tank template so let's repeat the search and now search for asterisk temper asterisk
select all 8 results using the shift and click or with ctrl click use the root path
length slider set to mark before name only and set insert root paths into drop down list
now let's choose cell b2 and select the current value function select the cells
for data items so our internal and external temperature attributes and select the root path
as you can see now the tank path can be modified with that drop down list
now let's see how to create the same drop-down list using the asset filter option first let's
add a new sheet choose cell a2 all right click on the asset filter from the search section
under the root path specify the path to the production area element
under the element template select generic tank template under the attributes to
display select external temperature and internal temperature select drop down list
and click on apply as you can see we have achieved the same results as before
this concludes our video on element relative pi data link reports thanks for watching