Alarm Class

Overview

An alarm class describes the general properties of an alarm. The configured alarm classes are available for selection in the Class column of the editor of the alarm group. They serve as a core configuration of an alarm and define the following:

Specific acknowledgment method (how the user must confirm the alarm).
Action execution (what happens automatically if an alarm conditions occurs).
Display options for the Alarm Table or the Alarm Banner (how the alarms are visualized).

For further information, refer to Configuration of the Alarm Management.

Elements of the Alarm Class Editor — General Section

Element	Description
Priority	Specifies the priority of the alarm condition in this class (0...255). 0 represents the highest priority, 255 the lowest priority.
Archiving	If selected, the alarms of this class are recorded. Create an Alarm Storage node to configure the archiving parameters.
Acknowledgment section
Acknowledgment method	Defines how an alarm is acknowledged: REP: Alarm is set to inactive after the cause has been resolved. ACK: Alarm is set to inactive after it has been acknowledged; acknowledgment method for Event alarms. REP_ACK: Alarm is set to inactive after the cause has been resolved and the alarm has been acknowledged. ACK_REP: Alarm is set to inactive after the alarm has been acknowledged and the cause has been resolved. ACK_REP_ACK: Alarm is set to inactive after optional acknowledgment that the alarm was received, the cause has been resolved and acknowledgment that the alarm situation was ended. NOTE: You have to ensure that the user notices the alarm during operation. To achieve this, use the actions that are available in the Alarm Class. The user must confirm (acknowledge) the alarm in order to remove the alarm from the alarm list. Also refer to Acknowledgment Methods — Detailed Information.
Acknowledge separately	If selected, the user cannot acknowledge the alarm together with other alarms during operation but must acknowledge it separately. This helps to prevent the user from inadvertently acknowledging an alarm with other alarms. NOTE: If this option is selected, the Acknowledge all visible button of the Alarm Table element in the visualization does not acknowledge all alarms.

Acknowledgment Methods — Detailed Information

The table provides the acknowledgment methods as diagrams depending on the alarm states and status transitions:

Element	Description
REP
ACK
REP_ACK
ACK_REP
ACK_REP_ACK
Alarm status: 1 - Normal No alarm situation. 2 - Active An alarm situation has been detected. 3 - Waiting for confirmation The alarm situation no longer applies, an acknowledgment has not been performed. 4 - Active, Acknowledged The alarm situation still applies, the alarm has been acknowledged. Status transitions: 5 - Activate An alarm situation is detected (“alarm coming”). 6 - Deactivate The alarm situation no longer applies (“alarm going”). 7 - Confirm Acknowledgment of an alarm that no longer applies. 8 - ACK Acknowledgment of an alarm that still applies.

NOTE: The status transition Confirm and ACK can be also managed by the Acknowledge selected and Acknowledge all visible buttons of the Alarm Table element in the visualization. However, with the ACK status transition the alarm is still active.

For details, refer to:

Elements of the Alarm Class Editor — Notifications Actions Section

You can assign a list of actions to each alarm class to be executed as soon as the alarm is subject to a status transition.

Element	Description
Action	Click the Action column and select one of the following actions: Variable: A value is assigned to a variable. Execute: A program is executed. Call: A function block instance is called.
Activate Deactivate Confirm Details	If selected, the action is executed with the status transition. The available status transitions depend on the Acknowledgment method that has been selected.
Details	Displays a summary of the action. Define the action in the section below the table (the Details section of the selected Variable, Execute or Call) or edit the action directly in this row.
Deactivation	Defines a variable that allows an application to deactivate the action.

Elements of the Alarm Class Editor — Variable, Execute or Call Section

The Details section changes to Variable, Execute or Call depending on the Action selected in the Notifications Actions section.

Action	Elements
Variable	Contains the variable to which you assign a value or an expression on the left-hand side and the assigned variable or expression on the right-hand side. You can use the following placeholders: For Boolean values use `ALARM`: Status (TRUE or FALSE) of the alarm of this alarm class that was last activated/deactivated. For integer variables use `STATE`: Status of the alarm of this alarm class that last changed its status. (0: Normal, 2: Active, 3: WaitingForConfirmation, 4: ActiveAcknowledged) For string variables you can enter any IEC literal (for example, `'too high!'`).
Execute	The Action > Execute is unsupported.
Call	Function block instance: Enter the function block that is called. The function block must implement the interface `IAlarmNotifiable` (`AlarmManager.library`). The action to be executed on a change of state is implemented in the method Execute. Additional parameter structure: If the function block requires an additional parameter structure, this table lists the members of the structure and allows you to enter data. An additional parameter structure is defined in the function block with the attribute AlarmManagerAdditionalData. Example: The function block has the attribute: `{attribute 'AlarmManagerAdditionalData' := 'StructEmailParams'}` The structure must consist of scalar components or components of the type `POINTER TO`. User-defined data types or ARRAY data types are unsupported. NOTE: You can mark structure members as mandatory parameters by using the attribute `{attribute 'AlarmManagerMandatoryParameter'}`.

Action

Elements

Variable

Contains the variable to which you assign a value or an expression on the left-hand side and the assigned variable or expression on the right-hand side.

You can use the following placeholders:

For Boolean values use ALARM: Status (TRUE or FALSE) of the alarm of this alarm class that was last activated/deactivated.
For integer variables use STATE: Status of the alarm of this alarm class that last changed its status. (0: Normal, 2: Active, 3: WaitingForConfirmation, 4: ActiveAcknowledged)

For string variables you can enter any IEC literal (for example, 'too high!').

Execute

The Action > Execute is unsupported.

Call

Function block instance: Enter the function block that is called. The function block must implement the interface IAlarmNotifiable (AlarmManager.library). The action to be executed on a change of state is implemented in the method Execute.
Additional parameter structure: If the function block requires an additional parameter structure, this table lists the members of the structure and allows you to enter data. An additional parameter structure is defined in the function block with the attribute AlarmManagerAdditionalData.

Example:

The function block has the attribute:

{attribute 'AlarmManagerAdditionalData' := 'StructEmailParams'}

The structure must consist of scalar components or components of the type POINTER TO. User-defined data types or ARRAY data types are unsupported.

NOTE: You can mark structure members as mandatory parameters by using the attribute {attribute 'AlarmManagerMandatoryParameter'}.

Elements of the Alarm Class Editor — Display Options for Alarm Table / Alarm Banner Section

Defines how the individual alarm state is displayed in the alarm visualization element Alarm Table or Alarm Banner.

Element	Description
State	The available alarm states depend on the Acknowledgment method that has been selected.
Font	Click the browse ... button to open the default dialog box for selecting the text font and color.
Background Color	Select the background color for the alarm message from the list.
Bitmap	You can add a bitmap by entering the bitmap ID. If no image file is assigned to this ID yet, the default file open dialog box is displayed. After you have selected a file, the bitmap is added to the GlobalImagePool.
Transparent	Activate this option if the bitmap has a transparent color.
Transparent color	This parameter only applies if the option Transparent is selected: Select the color that shall be displayed transparently.