Future PI points

Creating future PI points

To create a future PI point, you can use one of these tools:

• System Management Tools (SMT). To create a future PI point, set the Stored Values option in the Point Builder plug-in on the General tab to "Future Data". For more information, see the PI Server topic General attributes.

• PI Builder. This Microsoft Excel add-in allows you to set the future attribute of a PI point to "1". See the PI Server section PI Builder.

• PI System Explorer. See the PI Server section PI System Explorer.

Writing data to future PI points

Once you have created future PI points, you can write to them the same way that you write to historical PI points. You may use any of these methods:

• PI SMT Archive Editor.

  Note: You cannot use PI SMT Archive Editor to propagate future PI point values to all members of a Data Archive collective. PI SMT is not designed to be used as a continuous data generator for any type of data. To send data to all collective members, use a PI Interface, PI Connector, or a PI AF SDK-based application that can leverage PI Buffering. The PI SMT Archive Editor should only be used for a small number of edits that are specific to a collective member.

• Standard interfaces such as the PI UFL or PI RDBMS Interfaces.

• Your own application using AF SDK, PI Web API, or PI OLEDB Enterprise.

Visualizing future PI point data

You can use a variety of visualization clients and supporting tools to read future PI point data, including:

• AVEVA PI Vision. For more details, see the PI Vision documentation.

• PI SMT 2015 or later. You must specify the PI point and an appropriate time range if you are using the Archive Editor. If using Current Values, you may need to manually refresh the Current Values to see updated values for future PI points.