Filter Dialog Button

The Filter Dialog Button tool is used to draw a button that an operator can click to open an advanced Alarm Filtering dialog. This in turn, enables you to filter the alarm list by multiple criteria simultaneously.

    

(See below for a description of the filtering dialog)

 

 

The VTS graphic editor for this button will look as shown:

(Click title to expand text)

Name

Required to associate this button with an existing alarm list.  This must be a list that you have created.  For instructions, see: Alarm List.

Button Label

The Button Label field enables you to enter the text you wish to be displayed on this button. Labels should be kept short and precise, as the length of the label ultimately determines the size of the button.

Tool Tip Label

The Tool Tip Label field enables you to enter the text that you wish to be displayed on this button's tool tip (which opens when the mouse pointer is rested on this button).

The advanced Alarm Filtering dialog is displayed below.

The Alarm Filtering dialog provides you with a variety of options by which you may filter a custom alarm list. These filtering options are described below, along with the other elements of the Alarm Filtering dialog.

 

Filtering

The Filtering checkbox must be selected to enable the Alarm Filtering dialog.

 

OR Conditions

The OR Conditions checkbox can be clicked to indicate that you wish the configured alarm filtering parameters to be "OR'd" together. For example, if you set Priority to "1", and Area to "East", selecting the "OR Conditions" checkbox would result in filtering based on "Priority is equal to '1', OR Area is equal to 'East'". If the OR Conditions checkbox is not selected, configured alarm filtering parameters will be "AND'ed" together. For example, deselecting the OR Conditions checkbox would result in filtering based on "Priority is equal to '1', AND Area is equal to 'East'".

 

Field

The Field column displays the available alarm list fields by which you may filter. You may choose one of:

•    Message for the Alarm:  The Message for the Alarm option enables you to filter the alarm list by a specific alarm tag's Description property. Note: Wildcard characters are not permitted. The full description must be entered as it appears in the alarm tag's Description field. In the event that a Description property has not been configured for an alarm tag, the message for the alarm will contain the name of the alarm tag, as it appears in its Name field.

•    Priority:  The Priority option enables you to filter the alarm list by a specific alarm priority. The available default alarm priority index numbers are as follows:

 Alarm Priority

Index

Associated Alarm Priority Tag Name

 No Alarm

0

AlarmPriority0

 Critical Alarm

1

AlarmPriority1

 High Alarm

2

AlarmPriority2

 Warning Alarm

3

AlarmPriority3

 Notice

4

AlarmPriority4

•    Type:  The Type option can be selected if you wish to filter the alarm list based on a specific alarm type. Note: By default, all system alarms in VTS (security, modem, operator logging, and report) have a type of "1000". VTS programmers may specify their own type values for custom alarm tags, and can therefore use the Type field to filter them. Custom alarm tags and applying type filtering is beyond the scope of this guide.

•    Operator Name:  The Operator option can be selected if you wish to filter the alarm list based on a specific operator.

•    Area:  The Area option can be selected if you wish this button to filter the alarm list based on a specific Area property. Note: The VTS alarm system logs security-related events, operator control action-related events, remote configuration-related events, and Alarm Dialer system-related events for reporting in the History list on the Alarm page. These entries have the following Areas:

•   Security-related events have a default area of "Security".

•   Operator control action-related events and remote configuration-related events have a default area of "OperatorLog".

•   Alarm Dialer system-related events have a default area of "Alarm Dialer".

Note: You can change the field descriptions displayed in the Field column using Config.ini variables. Information can be found in "VTS Programmer's Guide:  Config.ini [ALARM_MANAGER] Section Variables".

Alarm Name:

The Alarm Name option can be selected to filter based on names.

This can be useful for viewing the history of a particular alarm, or for limiting the display to alarms matching a name pattern such as PUMP*. 

Wildcards are available to expand the selection. The asterisk wildcard (*) matches any number of characters, beginning at the location of the wildcard.  The question mark wildcard (?) matches any single character at exactly the location of the wildcard.

            Note: Applications created in versions of VTS prior to the release of 9.0 might not show this option in the filter list.  If this is the case for your application, please contact Trihedral technical support for guidance on updating your configuration file settings.

Selection

The Selection column enables you to enter a value corresponding to the selected parameter in the Field column by which to filter. The Selection column also enables you to select an operator to apply to the selected parameter in the Field column, and the entered value. The following operators are supplied:

 Operator

Description

 ==

Equal To

 >

Greater Than

 <

Less Than

 *?

Wildcard (i.e. you may enter characters combined with either the ? or the * wildcard characters)

 !=

Not Equal To

 <=

Less Than Or Equal To

 >=

Greater Than Or Equal To

 !*?

Not Wildcard (i.e. exclude results that match the entered characters combined with either the ? or the * wildcard characters)

 

Filter the Alarm List Using the Alarm Filtering Dialog

The following steps are provided as an example to help you use the filtering dialog.

1.    Click the Filtering checkbox to enable the Alarm Filtering dialog.

2.   If there is to be more than one condition in the filter, decide whether the alarms much match all the conditions (e.g. "Priority <=2 AND Area == West") or whether the alarms need match only one of the conditions (e.g. "Priority <= 2 OR Area == West").

a)   If only one of the conditions need be met, check the OR box.

b)   If all the conditions must be met simultaneously, do not check the OR box.

3.    Click the field on which you wish to filter in the Field column.

The corresponding Selection field will become enabled.

4.    Click the operator button until the operator you wish to use appears.

5.    Enter the value on which you wish to filter in the Selection field.

6.    Repeat steps 3 through 5 to configure the next filtering criteria (if necessary). An example of a completed Alarm Filtering dialog is displayed below.

7.    Click the OK button. The Alarm Filtering dialog will close, and you will be returned to your custom alarm page where the Filter Dialog Button object will display a checkmark, indicating that the alarm list currently has filtering applied to it.

 

The result of the above configuration is that the associated alarm list will display all alarms whose priority is less than or equal to "2" (i.e. critical and high alarms), and whose area is "East". The information below will assist you in removing filtering criteria from the alarm list.

Removing Filtering Criteria

Removing filtering applied by the Alarm Filtering dialog can be completed using the steps below.

1.   Click the Filter Dialog Button object on your custom alarm page. The Alarm Filtering dialog will open, displaying the most recent filtering criteria you configured.

2.   Deselect the Filtering checkbox at the top of the Alarm Filtering dialog.

3.   Click the OK button. The checkmark displayed on the Filter Dialog Button object will be removed to indicate that filtering is no longer being applied to the alarm list.