Object: Alarm Class

An alarm class describes the general properties of an alarm. This includes the priority and whether an archiving should take place. To make sure that the user has noticed the alarm, you also define here how the alarms of this class have to be acknowledged. Moreover, you can define actions which should be taken when specific alarm statuses are reached.

In addition, the alarm class can define how the alarm status is displayed in the visualization elements (font, background color, bitmap, etc.).

Priority

Specification of the priority of the alarms in this class (0–255). The priority describes the priority of the alarm condition. 0 represents the highest priority, 255 the lowest.

Archiving

: The alarms of this class are recorded. To do this you have to create an Alarm Storage object.

Acknowledgment

Acknowledgment method:

The user has to confirm (acknowledge) the alarm in order for the alarm to be removed from the alarm list.

In the following section, you see the status diagrams for the different acknowledgment methods. You see the respective diagram in a tooltip when you position the mouse pointer over the selection box in the configuration editor.

REP: Alarm inactive after rectification of the cause

 

ACK: Alarm inactive after acknowledgment; acknowledgment method for "events"

 

\REP_ACK: Alarm inactive after rectification of the cause and acknowledgment

 

ACK_REP: Alarm inactive after acknowledgment and rectification of the cause

 

ACK_REP_ACK: Inactive after optional acknowledgment that the alarm was received, rectification of the cause and acknowledgment that the alarm situation was ended

 

Alarm status:

  • ① Normal: No alarm situation

  • ② Active: Alarm situation has occurred

  • ➂ Wait for confirmation: there is no longer an alarm; acknowledgment has not taken place yet

  • ➃ Active, Acknowledged: Alarm still exists; acknowledgment already completed

 

Status transitions:

  • ⑤ Activate: Alarm situation occurs ("alarm coming")

  • ⑥ Deactivate: Alarm situation ended ("alarm going")

  • ⑦ Confirm: Acknowledgment of an alarm that is already ended

  • ⑧ ACK: Acknowledgment of an alarm that still exists

Acknowledge separately

: In runtime mode, the user cannot acknowledge the alarm together with other alarms, but must acknowledge it separately. This prevents the user from inadvertently acknowledging an alarm together with other alarms.

Notification Actions
 

Action

Select one of the following actions by double-clicking the action column:

  • Variable: Value assignment of a variable

  • Execute: Execution of a program

  • Call: Call a function block instance

Enable

Disable

Acknowledge

ACK

The available status transitions depend on the selected Acknowledgment method.

: The action is executed with the status transition.

Details

Displays a summary of the action. You define the action below the table or edit the action directly in this row.

Deactivation:

Variable via which an application can deactivate the action.

Variable/Execute/Call

You define the parameters of the action in the field below the table. The parameters depend on the selected action:

 
  • Variable:

    Variable: Variable to which you assign a value or an expression.

    In the field on the right: Assigned variable or expression. You can select the variables via the Input Assistant.

    In the case of Boolean variables you can use the placeholder ALARM, in the case of integer variables the placeholder STATE. In the case of string variables you can enter any IEC literal (example: "too high").

    • ALARM: Status (TRUE or FALSE) of the alarm of this alarm class that was last activated/deactivated

    • STATE: Status of the alarm of this alarm class that last changed its status. (0: Normal, 2: Active, 3: WaitingForConfirmation, 4: ActiveAcknowledged)

  • Execute:

    Executable file: Path and file name of the executable file on the controller.

    Parameter: One or more parameters that you add to the call. You separate several parameters by a space.

  • Call:

    Function block instance: Function block that is called. The function block has to implement the interface IAlarmNotifiable (AlarmManager.library). The desired action on a change of state is implemented in the method Execute.

    Additional parameter structure: If the function block requires an additional parameter structure, the structure members are listed on this table and can be filled here. 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 employed has to consist of scalar components or components of the type POINTER TO. CODESYS does not support the ARRAY data type or user-defined data types.

    Note: Using the attribute {attribute 'AlarmManagerMandatoryParameter'} you can identify structure members as mandatory parameters.

Presentation Options for Alarm Table/Alarm Banner

Configures how the individual statuses of an alarm are displayed in the alarm visualization element (alarm table, alarm banner).

Status

Alarm status. The available statuses depend on the selected Acknowledgment method.

Font

The default dialog for the selection of a font or color is opened with the button.

Background color

Background color for the alarm message

Bitmap

You can add a bitmap by entering the bitmap ID. If no image file is assigned to this ID yet, the standard file search dialog opens. After having selected a file, the bitmap definition of the image pool GlobalImagePool is added.

Transparent

Activate this option if the bitmap has a transparent color.

Transparent color

Color that is to be displayed transparently. Relevant only if the Transparent option is activated.