Rules dialog box

Clicking the Rules command opens the Rules for interface dialog box:

Points Not in PI

The option buttons in the Points Not in PI area determine how new points (available points) are handled by the Synchronization Engine. Three choices are available:

• Create automatically

• Store in Available Points database

• Skip search for new points

If the Create automatically button is selected, all available points are created by the Synchronization Engine during the next synchronization scan. On subsequent synchronization scans, PI points are created for any data source tags added since the previous synchronization.

If the Synchronization Engine's call to create a point fails because the tag name is not unique, the Synchronization Engine has an option to append _interfacename to the tag name and try again to create the point. If the second attempt also fails or the first attempt failed for some other reason, the new point is stored in the APSPoints database as an available point. See APS Connector tab.

If you select Store in Available Points database, the Synchronization Engine stores all available points found during the last synchronization scan in the APSPoints database. The available points in this database can be displayed and reviewed in the grid on the PI APS Configuration Utility Main window.

The Synchronization Engine can optionally log the available points to a file formatted as either a piconfig script or an Excel workbook. Either type of log file can then be used to create PI points for the current interface. Configuration settings for the optional log file are on the Sync Engine tab of the Options dialog box (discussed in the Sync Engine tab section).

Note: If points are created for an interface with any tool other than the PI APS Configuration Utility, the corresponding available points are not deleted from the APSPoints database until the next synchronization scan.

Purge the available points database after creating points with other tools or after changing this rule selection to one of the other choices. See section Manage APSPoints Database dialog box.

If you select Skip search for new points, the Synchronization Engine does not call the PI APS Connector's method that searches the data source for tags that do not have corresponding PI points. Depending on the type of data source and/or the number of tags that it contains, the search for available points can be time-consuming or hurt the performance of the data source. If tags are infrequently added to the data source, choosing this option for most synchronization scans can be beneficial.

The Use Default button resets the option buttons to the default choice suggested by the PI APS Connector.

PI Point Edits

The option buttons in the PI Point Edits area determine how differences between attributes of existing PI points and the corresponding data source attributes are handled by the Synchronization Engine. Three choices are available:

• Edit automatically

• Store in PI Point Edits database

• Skip search for edits

If you select Edit automatically, all point edits are done automatically when the Synchronization Engine finds them.

If you select Store in PI Point Edits database, the Synchronization Engine stores all data source attributes that differ from the corresponding PI point attributes found during the last synchronization scan in the APSPoints database. The point edits in this database can be displayed and reviewed in the grid on the PI APS Configuration Utility Main window.

The Synchronization Engine can optionally log the point edits to a file formatted as either a piconfig script or an Excel workbook. Either type of log file can then be used to edit PI point attributes to match the data source. Configuration settings for the optional log file are on the Sync Engine tab of the Options dialog box.

Note: If changes are made to an interface's points with any tool other than the PI APS Configuration Utility, those changes are not reflected in the APSPoints database until after the next synchronization scan.

If you select Skip search for edits, the Synchronization Engine does not call the PI APS Connector's method to obtain current data source attribute values for the interface's existing PI points. Consequently, PI APS does not detect or report differences between attributes for the interface's PI points and the corresponding data source attributes.

Note: Choosing this option prevents the detection of PI points that no longer have corresponding tags on the data source.

Click Use Default to reset the option buttons to the default choice suggested by the PI APS Connector.

PI Points That No Longer Exist on the Data Source

The option buttons in the PI Points That No Longer Exist on the Data Source area determine how tags that are no longer on the data source are handled. There are five options:

• Store in PI Point Deletes database

• Turn scan off

• Automatically delete PI point

• Do nothing

• Remove point by setting PS and ID

  Note: If the Skip search for edits button is selected in the PI Point Edits area, the Synchronization Engine does not scan for deleted points. That is, Skip search for edits effectively makes the choice in this area Do nothing, regardless of the actual selection.

If you click Store in PI Point Deletes database, the Synchronization Engine stores all PI points that did not have a valid data source tag during the last synchronization scan in the APSPoints database. The points in this database can be displayed and reviewed in the grid on the PI APS Configuration Utility Main window.

The Synchronization Engine can optionally log the deleted points to a file formatted as either a piconfig script or an Excel workbook. Either type of log file can then be used to delete the PI points. Configuration settings for the optional log file are on the Sync Engine tab of the Options dialog box (discussed in the Sync Engine tab section).

Note: If an interface's points are deleted with any tool other than the PI APS Configuration Utility, the corresponding deleted points are not deleted from the APSPoints database until the next synchronization scan.

Purge the PI point Deletes database after deleting points with other tools. See section Manage APSPoints Database dialog box.

If you select Turn scan off, the scan attribute is set to 0 (off) for points that are configured for a nonexistent data source tag. This prevents the interface from scanning but does not stop subsequent synchronization scans of the point. Some PI APS Connectors have the ability to change the scan attribute back to 1 (on) if the data source tag is restored at a later time.

If you select Automatically delete PI point, points that are configured for a nonexistent data source tag are automatically deleted from PI Server. Deletion of points is considered permanent. Deleted PI points can be recovered only by reprocessing all archives with an ID Conversion table, which requires the Tag name, PointID, and Recno attributes.

If you select Do nothing, points that are configured for a nonexistent data source tag are not modified.

If you select Remove point by setting PS and ID, points that are configured for a nonexistent data source tag are logically removed from the interface by editing the PointSource and/or Interface ID attributes. The PI points continue to exist but are no longer recognized or scanned by the interface. When this button is selected, use the PS (PointSource) and ID (Interface ID number) boxes to specify values to store in the PointSource and Interface ID attributes to remove PI points from the interface. The values chosen for PS and ID must not be used by any interface instance configured on the PI Server.

Click Use Default to reset the option buttons to the default choice suggested by the PI APS Connector.