Search for data
- Last UpdatedMay 20, 2025
- 3 minute read
Before you can visualize your process data, you need to find it inside the display's Assets pane. You can either Search by entering search terms or Search using the navigation tree.
Note the following:
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You can only search the Data Archive using ASCII characters. PI AF supports searching with non-ASCII characters.
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It might take up to five minutes for newly-added AF objects to appear in the hierarchy.
To help you understand the type of data you can find and visualize in an AVEVA PI Vision display, here are the definitions and icons of the PI data types that you will be working with.
Data Types
|
Data type |
Description |
|---|---|
|
PI DATA ARCHIVE SERVER |
Data Archive servers store time-series data (PI points) from different data sources and serve this data to client applications like AVEVA PI Vision. |
|
PI AF DATABASE |
PI AF databases represent the largest physical or logical assets in your process and consist of PI AF Assets and PI AF attributes. |
|
PI AF ASSET |
PI AF assets are the building blocks of PI AF databases and represent smaller physical or logical entities in your process, such as a production site, process unit, equipment, or stage, etc. |
|
PI AF ATTRIBUTE |
PI AF attributes are the building blocks of PI AF assets. Each PI AF attribute represents a unique property associated with an asset. PI AF attributes can hold simple values that stand for a process parameter, a process state (for example, opened/closed), process status, etc. An attribute may also reference a PI point, so that the attribute's value is a stream of real-time, time-series data retrieved from one of your PI points. |
|
PI POINT (TAG) |
PI points (or PI tags) are stored in the Data Archive servers and contain time-series data. Each PI point is a unique single point of measurement that makes up a stream of real-time operational data from a defined source (for example, instrument). |
When you open or create an AVEVA PI Vision display, your PI AF databases and Data Archive servers are first shown in the Assets pane by default.