VTS includes a detailed, yet easy-to-use Historical Data Viewer page. This provides a way for you to plot live and historical data on a graph, and manipulate that data for the purposes of data analysis. The Historical Data Viewer page replaces the Trends page used in VTS versions earlier than 7.0.

When you create a new application, VTS automatically configures a fully operational Historical Data Viewer page for you. You need only create basic I/O tags and logger tags within your application to begin graphing tag data on the Historical Data Viewer page.

An example of the Historical Data Viewer page is as follows:

As shown, the Historical Data Viewer page is in essence a large graph upon which you can view data that has been logged for the tags in your application.

Quick Plotting Data

By default, VTS has been configured in such a way that you can instantly graph data for any basic input tag (analog input or digital input), simply by clicking the tag's associated drawing method. This operation is known as "quick plotting". When you do so, a windowed version of the Historical Data Viewer page opens on top of the application page you are currently viewing. An example is shown below.  If the tag has a logger attached, its full history will be available.  If no logger is attached, then the history window will show data only from the moment when it was opened.  Doing a quick plot of a tag is not a substitute for adding a logger. If the tag has no logger, there will be no long-term collection of its data. See: Plotting Live and Historical Data.

The Historical Data Viewer page also provides a tabular view of tag data. In this view, you may sort the display in either ascending or descending order by time. An example is displayed below.