Retrieve PI points by searching

Complete the following tasks before retrieving PI points:

• Specify a Data Archive server.

• Select the Append to worksheet setting in the Settings window to append query results to an existing list. See Configure retrieve settings for instructions.

You can use PI Builder to search for PI points in Data Archive and retrieve them into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. In PI AF and PI Builder 2017 and later versions, you can query based on PI point snapshot values in addition to PI point attributes. Snapshot values, sometimes referred to as end-of-stream, are defined as the latest value for a point. See Snapshot for more information on snapshot values.

1. On the PI Builder tab, click PI Points > Find PI Points.

   The Tag Search window opens.

2. To build a search query, choose from the following actions.

   To...	Do this...
   Include common PI point attributes in a query	Click to add commonly searched PI point attribute fields to the Tag Search window. Enter criteria in any of the following fields: Name (alias for tag attribute) Point Source Data Type (alias for pointtype attribute) Point Class (alias for ptclassname attribute) To enter criteria for engineering units and description, click Add Criteria or press ALT+C. Click Engineering Units, click Add Criteria or press ALT+C , then click Description. Criteria are appended to the string in the Tag search text box, separated by a space.
   Include PI point snapshot values in a query	Click . Click Add Criteria or press ALT+C. Click any of the following fields: Value TimeStamp IsGood Annotated Substituted Questionable Enter criteria in the fields you have selected, as required. Note that you can select a comparison operator for Value and TimeStamp criteria. Criteria are appended to the string in the search query text box, separated by a space.
   Include point descriptions in a query	Click . Click Add Criteria or press ALT+C. Select Include Description in Search and set the value to True.
   Filter point names by contents, exact match or ending or a recently used query. By default, the Starts With filter is applied.	Click . Click the appropriate filter: Recent Searches > query Contains Exact Match Starts With Ends With
   Type a query string in the Tag search text box to search on criteria that is not included in the built-in fields.	Type the first character of the query. For example, type "c" to reveal a list of searchable point attribute names that begin with the letter C (such as changedate, compdev, compmax, compmin, compressing, etc.). Select from the list of matching point attributes and values, or continue typing a point attribute or value manually. Enter the criteria to be matched.

   Note: You can include any PI point attribute in your search criteria. See List of PI point columns for a complete list of searchable PI point attributes. PI Builder will autofill entries as you type. For example, you can type "p" to display a list of all the PI point attribute names that start with "p" (such as pointid, pointtype, pointsource).

3. Click Search to retrieve and display matching points in the results list of the Tag Search window.

   The search query returns only PI points that match the search criteria.

4. Optional. Click and modify the columns that you want displayed in the results list of the Tag Search window.

5. Select one or more points in the results list to retrieve only those into the worksheet, then click OK.

   Note To retrieve every point from the results table into the worksheet, do not select any point and click OK. If you are appending search results to an existing list, proceed to step 7.

6. In the Select Object Types and Column Headers window, select the objects and column headers to include in the worksheet, then click OK.

   PI Builder retrieves the selected points into the worksheet and fills the selected columns with matching data.

7. In the Retrieve Selected Objects window, click Close.

Examples of PI point attribute queries:

• sin*

• tag:=sin*

• tag:<>sin* datatype:float

• step:0 AND pointsource:L

• tag:<>sin* AND PointType:Float64

  Note Queries that contain a query filter name (such as name:*sine*), perform searches on tag attributes only. In previous versions of PI AF, queries that contained a query filter name would search the descriptor attribute as well as the specified filter, unless the descriptor attribute was actually specified as part of the query filter.

Examples of PI point snapshot value queries:

• Value:>1000

• creationdate:>y-1d AND future:true AND timestamp:<*

Examples of combined PI point attribute/snapshot value queries:

• tag:<>sin* AND Value:>10

• PointType:Int32 AND Value:>10

• location1:3 OR creationdate:>2019-1-1

• PointSource:L AND Annotated:1 AND TimeStamp:t

• Value:>100 AND Quality:IsGood