Utility Programs

CMXä features a family of interactive Builder utilities for creating, modifying, and saving Tags, batch Units, displays, reports, plots, recipes, and profiles.

Tag Builder

The Tag Builder is essentially a utility for maintaining the CMXä Tag database.  Like all the other utilities in the “Builder family,” the Tag Builder was developed to save the Application Engineer development time and energy.

The approach taken in the Tag Builder is to walk the user through the process via a programmed script of prompts and menus that pop-up only when and if they are needed.  The user is never left to guess as to whether all steps have been taken to successfully create or modify a Tag.  To further speed up development time and minimize costs associated with down-time, CMXä lets the user modify Tags while the System is running.  Only the Tag itself need be taken off-scan.

The primary function of a Tag in the CMXä System is to provide a data acquisition and/or control window to a device in the field.  If a device has 50 inputs, then there must be 50 Tags associated with that device in the Tag database.  The Tag Builder’s role is to streamline the Tag creation and modification process and to provide a quick and easy means to copy and delete Tags, and for generating and printing Tag Configuration Reports.

There are two types of CMXä Tags that can be created in the Tag Builder:

• Image Tags that acquire pre-processed data from a physically remote database, such as a PLC PID Block
• Local Tags that acquire data from a remote device or another Tag and convert them to engineering units.

A Tag is built of six blocks:

• The Base block
• The Input Algorithm block
• The Filter Algorithm block
• The Control Algorithm block
• The Output Algorithm block
• The Alarm Algorithm block.
• The Base block contains;
• An eight-character Tag name
• A twenty-character Tag description
• An eight character engineering unit description (GPH for gallons per hour, KG/CM2 for kilograms per square centimeter and DEG F for degrees Fahrenheit, etc.)
• The Tag scan frequency at which the CMXä System will process the Tag expressed in seconds
• The Tag scan phase used by the System internally to load level Tag database processing
• An enable external xmit option which is only used for CMXä Systems that periodically transmit engineering unit data to another computer.
• An enable PV clamping option which keeps the PV within range even if the instrument is sending a value outside the defined range.
• A disable PV init option that prevents the Tag from executing its PV initialization algorithm when the System is rebooted.
• The Input Algorithm block is used by Local and Image Tags to process data from the measurement device into engineering units data.
• The Tag Filter Algorithm block is used by Local Tags to further process the input value after the raw data has been converted to engineering units, but before alarm checks are made.
• The Control Algorithm block is used by Local Tags to perform control calculations on the data received by the input algorithm.  The result is passed to a device or another Tag via the output algorithm which makes any necessary adjustments to the control system.
• The Output Algorithm block is used by Local Tags to pass calculated data to an instrument/device or another Tag, either Local or Image, to make adjustments based on the recorded input data or to another Tag as part of a cascade control strategy.
• The Alarm Algorithm block is used by Local and Image Tags to notify the user when a parameter has moved outside its operating boundaries as defined by the input, filter, control, and output algorithms.

Recipe Builder

Application Engineers can take advantage of the CMXä System’s Recipe Management Faculty to provide sets of values that their SCL programs can reference for process specifications such as charge quantities, operating setpoints, alarm limits, etc.  Because one program has the power to access many recipes, versatile SCL programs can be developed that reference different recipes according to the product being produced.  The Recipe Builder provides a convenient way to configure the two types of recipes.

• A List Recipe describes each item and lists the data value assigned to it.  The low and high limits indicate the range in which the item is to operate.  The Recipe Builder will not allow entering a value that violates the low or high limit.
• A Matrix Recipe expands the concept to allow multiple value sets for each item.  Both types of recipe can have up to 255 items and matrix recipes can have up to 255 steps.

Only Application Engineer or higher access users can define and delete recipes.  All other users can view, copy, and modify data values, but not descriptions or ranges.

The Recipe Builder prompts the user all the way through the recipe configuring process insuring compliance with all recipe building requirements.

Batch Unit Builder

The Unit Builder is an on-line interactive utility for adding, modifying, and printing a Unit Configuration Report.

In creating a Unit, the Unit Builder requests basic information such as the Unit’s name and a description.  The user can also define a time and work-saving device called a Unit prefix, a code the Unit uses to identify itself to sequence programs that declare independent variables.  This practice saves development time by eliminating the need to create a unique set of variables for each Unit.

An associated display, a schematic for example, can also be assigned to the Unit in Unit Builder.  The associated display will appear whenever the Operator presses CTRL-A while on the Unit.

Logging frequency pertains to the length time that passes before the System writes historical data to the Unit History File.  The interval is expressed in multiples of 10 seconds with a 10,000 second maximum.

A balance period can also be included and may be any user-defined increment of time that fits the application.  Up to 1000 balance periods per Unit are possible.

The last index to log field refers to the index number of the final Tag to be logged in the Unit History File.  Any Tag with an index number equal to or less than this number will be logged.

Any Tag that exists in the System can be assigned an index number.  Up to 60 Tags per Unit can be assigned index numbers.

Menu Builder

As a function of its security system, CMXä prompts the user for a user name whenever the System is started before it grants access.  The user name tells the System the individual’s access level.  The access level controls which functions the user can and cannot utilize.

The Menu Builder provides an interactive environment in which the Application Engineer directs all aspects of a user’s access to the System, including:

• Assigning a default disk drive (A through P)
• Setting one of three printers (0 through 2)
• Setting the access level (0 through 127)
• Setting a password (eight characters)
• Configuring the Operator’s Main Menu choices

Four categories of user access, from look-only, to Operator, Application Engineer, and System Developer keep unauthorized personnel from critical System parameters.

The Main Operator Menu is seen immediately after logging-on.  Application Engineers and System Developers configure individual Operator Menus for each user on the System to regulate their access to CMXä executables and to set an autologon, or default menu item.