About Parameters

Plant SCADA supports two types of parameters:

• Project Database Parameters

  Project database parameters can be used to set nominal defaults for parameters that are local to a specific Plant SCADA project, rather than a particular computer. For example, you could use the project database parameters to specify login requirements for all computers in a Plant SCADA system.

  To set (or change) the parameters in a project database, go to the Setup activity in Plant SCADA Studio and select Parameters from the Navigation Menu. Any changes to your project database parameters are only implemented following a project recompile.

• Citect.ini File Parameters

  The Citect.ini file is a text file that stores values for a comprehensive set of operating parameter that are used to configure the operational settings for each computer in a Plant SCADA system. These values are read by Plant SCADA on startup to determine how the application should operate.

  To view the complete list of built-in operating parameters that you can use in a Citect.ini file, see Parameter Categories.

  During installation, a default Citect.ini file is copied to the Plant SCADA Config folder in the Program Data directory. This configuration file contains a series of undocumented parameters used by Plant SCADA as well as a series of default settings.

Note: Parameter settings in the Citect.ini file take precedence over project database parameters (see Parameter Precedence).

Note: Always seek the advice of Technical Support personnel for this product regarding undocumented features.

The Citect.ini file has a defined structure made up of a header, a series of sections (containing parameters and their values), and comments.

• Header

  The header of the Citect.ini file contains comments the user wants to document about the configuration settings contained within the file. Typically it would include a history of edits made to the file and reasons for those edits. For example:

  # Originally set up by XX on XX for use on XX
  # Modified by XX on XX at the recommendation of Technical Support.

  Comments are located at the top of the file before the first definition of a section. Each line of the header starts with the "hash" or "pound" character (#).

  For more information, see Add Comments to the Citect.ini File.

• Sections

  In a Citect.ini file, parameters are organized into sections according to their purpose.

  The syntax used to define a section is as follows:

  [Section Name]
  <parameter name1> = <parameter value1>
  <parameter name2> = <parameter value2>
  <parameter nameX> = <parameter valueX>
  
  For example:

  [Alarm]
  Primary = 1
  SavePeriod = 600
  SaveSecondary =
  ScanTime = 500
  
  The following rules apply when the Citect.ini is read at runtime:

  • A section continues until a new section is defined or the end of file is reached.

  • Each parameter definition finishes with a return.

  • Any line starting with a hash or pound (#) character is considered to be a comment.

  • Any line starting with an exclamation mark (!) is considered to be disabled and therefore treated as a comment.

  • The maximum length for a parameter is 254 characters.

    Sections which relate to server components (Alarms, Trend, Reports, I/O Server) also support hierarchical inheritance to allow parameters to be fine tuned to the cluster or server component level. The syntax used is as follows:

    [Section Name.ClusterName.ServerName]
    <parameter name1> = <parameter value1>
    <parameter name2> = <parameter value2>
    <parameter nameX> = <parameter valueX>

    For example:

    [Alarm.Cluster1.Server1]
    SavePeriod = 600
    ScanTime = 500

• Comments

  You can add comments to a parameters section or a particular parameter setting in the Citect.ini file.

  Comments for a section commence with a hash or pound character (#) and occur on the line just above the declaration of the relevant section.

  For example:

  #Alarm Section comment would go here
  [Alarm]

  Comments for a parameter commence with a hash or pound character (#) and occur on the line just above the declaration of the relevant parameter.

  For example:

  [Alarm]
  #Set to 1 by System Administrator on 30/06/2005 10:13:44 AM.
  Primary = 1

  For more information, see Add Comments to the Citect.ini File.

Example

An extract from a typical Citect.ini configuration file is shown below.

#
#Header Comment on Citect.ini file
#[Alarm]
#Set to 1 by System Administrator on 30/06/2015 10:13:44 AM.
Primary = 1
SavePeriod = 600
SaveSecondary =
ScanTime = 500
Server = 1

In most cases, if you set (or change) parameters in the Citect.ini file, you need to restart Plant SCADA before the new parameter settings are used. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule where Citect.ini parameters are read at regular intervals and can be changed during runtime. Where this is the case, the parameter is documented accordingly.

If a parameter applies to a particular process, setting changes are implemented as soon as the associated process is restarted. For example, an Events parameter for an Alarm Server will be used as soon as the specific Alarm Server is restarted.

See Also

Configure Project Database Parameters

Configure Citect.ini Parameters