Components of PI APS

Based on the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM), PI APS includes the following applications and modules:

• PI APS Configuration Utility

  The PI APS Configuration Utility is the interactive application which registers instances of interfaces that have corresponding PI APS Connectors for automatic point synchronization and configures PI APS options.

• PI APS Synchronization Engine (Sync Engine)

  The PI APS Sync Engine schedules synchronization scans and performs point attribute synchronization for all interface instances that are registered with PI APS. This module is the foundation of PI APS and does most of the work. The PI APS Sync Engine is installed as a Windows service that starts automatically and runs continuously.

• PI APS Synchronization Trigger service

  The PI APS Synchronization Trigger service monitors for events that are configured to trigger a synchronization scan for a registered interface instance. The PI APS Synchronization Trigger service is installed as a Windows service that starts automatically and runs continuously.

• PI APS Connector modules (interface-specific Connectors)

  PI APS Connectors are interface-specific modules that communicate with the same data source as the interface to obtain current tag attribute values. During each synchronization scan, the PI APS Sync Engine calls the PI APS Connector for the interface instance to retrieve a list of current tag definitions in the data source. The PI APS Sync Engine uses this information for updating the PI point database.

• PI APS Connector-specific Configuration Controls

  Each PI APS Connector-specific Configuration Control provides the user interface for configuring the options of a specific PI APS Connector. If the PI APS Connector for an interface instance has a connector-specific configuration control, the PI APS Configuration Utility makes it available when the interface instance is selected for configuration.

The modularized architecture of PI APS allows a single instance of the PI APS Configuration Utility and PI APS Sync Engine to support multiple PI APS Connector modules on one computer. Also, adding new PI APS Connector modules does not require changes to the PI APS Configuration Utility or PI APS Sync Engine. The use of COM allows individual components to be upgraded independently of the other components.