Create attribute templates

Use attribute templates to create a standard set of attributes that are associated with element, event frame, model, and transfer templates.

1. In the Library browser, select a template.

2. To create a new attribute template, choose one of the following actions:

   • On the toolbar, click New Attribute Template.

   • Right-click the template in the browser and click New > New Attribute Template.

3. In the Name and Description fields, enter a unique name and a description for the attribute template.

   Note: When you need to search for an attribute, you can search on up to 440 characters of a description.

4. Set the configuration fields, as needed.

   Field	Description
   Properties	Select one or more of the following properties, as needed. Configuration Item Excluded Hidden Indexed Manual Data Entry For more information on these properties, see Set up attribute properties. You can set up the current attribute template to be a location attribute trait for a parent object. Select one of: Location > Longitude Location > Latitude Location > Altitude When the parent object is an event frame or transfer, you can set up the current attribute template to be a reason attribute trait. For more information, see Set reason attribute traits. When the parent object is an element or model, you can set up the current attribute template to be an asset health attribute trait. For more information, see Set health attribute traits. Note: When you configure a child attribute template, you can also select limit and forecast attribute traits, depending on the value type of the parent attribute template. For more information, see Attribute traits.
   Categories	Click and select one or more previously defined categories from the Categories window. You can also create a new category. For more information, see Object categorization.
   Default UOM	Select a UOM from the list. For more information on UOMs, see Learn about units of measure in PI AF. Note: Although a user can change the UOM that is displayed for an attribute in PI System Explorer, the UOM that is defined in the template does not change.

5. Configure the type of value that the attribute holds.

   • For attributes with constant values, set the attribute Value Type. Constant attribute values can be numbers, strings, files, date-times, Boolean, URLs, arrays, and more. For more information, see Define constant values for attribute templates.

   Note: Do not set a default UOM for integer value types if searches by client applications, such as AVEVA PI Vision, will be performed on the value or a UOM conversion is involved. For example, an integer value type with a default UOM is not compatible with the UOM groups feature introduced in PI AF 2017 R2. Use the Single or Double value type instead.

   Note: While allowed, the Anything value type is not recommended. When the value type is unspecified, many client applications may have difficulty working with that attribute. For example, PI OLEDB Enterprise and AVEVA PI Vision would all have reduced capability with such attributes, such as the inability to trend a value numerically. Furthermore, standard PI AF features such as automatic UOM conversion, formulas, and analytics cannot function with attributes that have no value type.

   • For PI point values, PI point arrays, formulas, and table data (including data from relational databases), click Settings to configure a data reference. For more information, see Understand configuration of data references.

6. Optional. Enter a default value for the attribute in the Default Value field.

7. Optional. When the Use DisplayDigits for Attribute and Attribute Template values system option is selected, you can override the default DisplayDigits property value of -5 and specify the number of digits to display in the Display Digits field. Only numeric values in the Value field are affected.

   • Enter a negative number up to -20 to indicate the total number of digits to display.

   • Enter a positive number up to 10 to indicate the number of digits after the decimal point to display, including trailing zeros.

   For more information, see Learn how numeric values for attribute values are displayed and Understand customization options.

8. To save your work, press CTRL-S or click Check In.

When you create an attribute based on the template, you need to set the value:

• For constant values, add the value to the attribute directly.

• For data references, you need to create the instance of the data reference. To do this, right-click on the element in the browser and choose Create or Update Data Reference. For more information, see Attribute-value updates from PI point data references.

  Note: The way you configure an attribute can sometimes restrict how the data can be viewed in client applications, such as AVEVA PI Vision. See Restrictions on viewing time series data for more information.