Add New Property Definition

To add a Property Definition:

1. With the appropriate properties list (instrument or process) open, click New to display the Property Definition window.

   For instrument properties:

   

   For process properties:

   

2. Enter values in the Property Name and Caption fields. The Property Name must be completed and a message is displayed if no value is entered into the field, or if the name has been used before. For example:

   

3. If no value is entered in the Caption field, the value in the Property Name is used.

4. Select the data type of the property (text, numeric (decimal), numeric (integer) or True/False) from the Data Type list.

5. If the property type is process or if the new property has units, check the Has Units checkbox (not present for instrument property types).

6. If the property is to be available when constructing queries for custom reports, check the Available for Custom Reports checkbox.

   Note: A maximum of 1024 properties can be made available. For details, refer to the AVEVA Instrumentation Common Functionality User Guide.

7. If data entered for the new property is to be restricted to the values in a picklist, click the button in the Pick List field. The Select Picklist window is then displayed:

   

8. Select the required picklist by double-clicking on it or clicking on it and clicking Select. The window then exits and the selected picklist is displayed in the Picklist field.

9. If a numeric data type was selected in the Data Type field, the minimum and maximum values that may be entered for the property may be specified in the Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields.

10. For any data type except True/False, entries for the property may also be validated against a regular expression entered in the Regular Expression field.

11. When all the required data for the property definition has been entered, click OK to return to the Property Definitions window, where the new definition will now be listed:

    • If the property type is process, if the Has Units checkbox was checked, a property definition for the units of the new property is automatically created at the same time.

    • The name of a units property definition will be the name of the new property suffixed with the units suffix specified in the Please enter a new Units Suffix window (see Preferences - the default suffix is "Units"). The data type of units property definitions is text. Neither this or the name may be changed.