Process of creating worksheets

When you are familiar with the basic tools and concepts of PI DataLink, you are ready to build a worksheet that uses PI DataLink functions.

Consider your goals

Ask yourself:

• What data do you want to display in a worksheet in order to monitor performance or answer a business question?

• Where does the data reside?

• How can you most effectively display the information, both to communicate essential points and provide needed background context?

The answers will help you to determine which PI DataLink functions can return the data most relevant to your task.

Select an approach

Techniques you might use to build your worksheet include:

• Function-based

  Add PI DataLink function to the worksheet, and build the display around the functions as needed. For example, you might add point information to help clarify what the data represents. This approach is useful if you are still exploring your requirements or learning how PI DataLink works.

• Structure-based

  Add structure as you build a worksheet. Use the Search tool to insert data items that frame the subject in your worksheet, and then add functions that retrieve the corresponding data. This approach requires a bit more planning and familiarity with PI DataLink, but once you add data items to the worksheet, you can use them to build functions more easily through cell references. You can easily reuse worksheets built this way.

• Report-based

  Place PI DataLink functions on the second worksheet in your workbook, and reference the results from those functions on the first worksheet. Use Excel security features to hide and protect the function syntax and business logic in the second worksheet from most users. This approach is useful if you are a system administrator or build worksheets for other users. This strategy also works well for documents distributed through PI DataLink Server.

See also

Learn about PI DataLink Functions

Search for data items