The second item you should configure for a custom alarm display is a set of buttons that will allow users to view different categories of alarms in the custom alarm list. When you are planning these buttons, consider categories of alarms you wish users to view in this alarm list. There are 6 categories of alarms that may be displayed in an alarm list: active, configured, current, disabled, history, and unacknowledged. You may wish users to have access to all these lists, or to a select set. For example, your application’s users may only require information about unacknowledged and active alarms, so you may wish to add a button to switch to the current list (which displays both unacknowledged and current alarms), a second button to switch to the unacknowledged list, and a third button to switch to the active list.
To create a button to allow users to change the category of alarms being displayed in an alarm list, follow the steps below.
1. Click the Libraries button in the Configuration Toolbox. The Libraries dialog will open.
2. Click on the plus sign beside Drawing Tools to open the list of libraries.
3. Right-click on the Alarm Tools library to open its context menu.
4. Select Draw
5. Click the Alarm List Button. A sample button will be attached to the cursor.
6. Click on the page where you want the button to be located. The Alarm List Button graphic editor dialog will open.
7. Select the name of the custom alarm list with which this button should be associated from the Name drop-down list.
8. Enter the label you wish to be displayed on this button in the Button Label field. This label should indicate the category of alarms that will be displayed when this button is clicked (e.g. if this button will display the history list, name the button "History List" or "History").
9. Enter the text you wish to be displayed for this button’s tool tip in the Tooltip Label field (e.g. Alarm History). If you do not specify any tool tip text, default text based on the category of alarms you have associated with this button will be displayed.
10. Select the category of alarms that will be displayed when this button is clicked from the Starting List drop-down list.
11. Click the OK button.
12. Repeat steps 3 through 11 until you have created up to 6 buttons to change the category of alarms displayed in the custom alarm list.
13. Close the Libraries dialog.
14. Close the Configuration Toolbox. You may now use the new buttons to change the category of alarms displayed in the custom alarm list.
The section that follows discusses how to add a means for operators to respond to alarms to your custom alarm display.