until the comparison is true for that period of time.

Not_In ( "ON OFF" )

Not_In ( 'tagname' )
Not_In ( ref )
Not_In ( ON ) +1h
Table 8–5. Comparisons of the Not_In Operator
Operator Source point
value
Test value Trigger an
alarm?
Comparison
Not_In ON “OFF ON” No digital source and
string test value
Not_In OF “OFF ON” No digital source and
string test value
Not_In ONE “OFF ON” Yes digital source and
string test value
Not_In “1” 12345678 No string source and
digital test value
Not_In 9 “12345678” Yes digital source and
string test value
Not_In 10 100 Error numeric source
and digital test
value
Not_In 10 “100” Error numeric source
and string test
value
Includes
The operator Includes tests digital states, strings or points that evaluate into digital states or
strings against a digital state or string. In the comparison, all digital states are converted into
strings and a string to string comparison is performed. The Includes operator triggers an
alarm if the source point value includes the test value. For a reference point, the tagname of
the reference point is used as the argument. If keyword ref is used as the argument, the
ReferenceTag attribute contains the tagname of the reference point. A time parameter in the
form of a relative timestamp can delay the triggering of an alarm until the comparison is true
for that period of time.
Includes ( HI )
Includes ( 'tagname' )
Includes ( ref )
Includes ( "This is a string" ) +1h
8.2 - Alarm Point Configuration
PI Server Applications User Guide Page 305
Table 8–6. Comparisons of the Includes Operator
Operator Source point
value
Test value Trigger an
alarm?
Comparison
Includes Hihi “HI” Yes digital source and
string test value
Includes High HI Yes digital source and
digital test value
Includes “VIN3234A” “VIN3234” Yes string source and
string test value
Includes “VIN3234A” “VIN3235” No string source and
string test value
Includes 1002 100 Error numeric source and
digital test value
Includes 1002 “100” Error numeric source and
string test value
Change
The operator Change tests numeric values, digital states, strings or points that evaluate into
numeric values, digital states or strings. All numeric comparisons are done as floating point
operations and comparisons of all digital states are converted into strings and a string-tostring
comparison is performed. The Change operator triggers an alarm if the source point
value is different from the previous value. A time parameter in the form of a relative
timestamp can delay the triggering of an alarm until the comparison is true for that period of
time.
Change ( )
Change ( ) +1h
CondEQ
The operator CondEQ tests alarm point conditions against alarm points. An alarm will
trigger if an alarm of another alarm point is equal to the test value. For a reference point, the
tagname of the reference point is used as the argument. If keyword ref is used as the
argument, the ReferenceTag attribute contains the tagname of the reference point. A time
parameter in the form of a relative timestamp can delay the triggering of an alarm until the
comparison is true for that period of time. The argument is an alarm condition. In the
following examples, an alarm is triggered if the condition of the source alarm point is low,
the condition of the source alarm point is equal to the condition of the reference point (ref),
and the condition of the source point is high for over one hour, respectively.
CondEQ ( low )
CondEQ ( 'alarmtagname' )
CondEQ ( ref )
CondEQ ( high ) +1h
Table 8–7 show examples of the CondEQ operator using the sample Alarm Digital State Set
given in the Alarm State Sets section of this chapter. The digital state for a new alarm with
Chapter 8 - PI Alarm Subsystem
Page 306
the condition of low is low << and the digital state for an acknowledged alarm with the
condition of low and an urgent priority is ** low.
For more information about Alarm Digital States, see Section 8.3, Alarm State Sets.
Table 8–7. Comparisons of the CondEQ Operator
Operator Source point
value
Test value Trigger an
alarm?
Comparison
CondEQ Low Low Yes digital source and
digital test value
CondEQ Low << Low Yes digital source and
digital test value
CondEQ ** low Low Yes digital source and
digital test value
CondEQ Low Lolo No digital source and
digital test value
CondNE
The operator CondNE tests alarm point against an alarm point. An alarm will trigger if an
alarm of another alarm point is not equal to the test value. For a reference point, the tagname
of the reference point is used as the argument. If keyword ref is used as the argument, the
ReferenceTag attribute contains the tagname of the reference point. A time parameter in the
form of a relative timestamp can delay the triggering of an alarm until the comparison is true
for that period of time. The argument is an alarm condition. In the following examples, an
alarm is triggered if the condition of the source alarm point is not low, the condition of the
source alarm point is not equal to the condition of the reference point (ref), and the condition
of the source point is not high for over one hour, respectively.
CondNE ( low )
CondNE ( 'alarmtagname' )
CondNE ( ref )
CondNE ( high ) + 1h
IsUnack
IsUnack tests an alarm point against another alarm point. This operator has no arguments and
triggers an alarm if the source alarm point is unacknowledged.
In the following examples, an alarm is triggered if the source alarm point is unacknowledged
and goes unacknowledged for over one hour, respectively.
IsUnack ( )
IsUnack ( ) +1h
8.2 - Alarm Point Configuration
PI Server Applications User Guide Page 307
8.2.3 Action1, Action2, Action3, Action4
The set of four attributes Action 1, Action 2, Action 3 and Action 4 specify the digital state
that is set when the corresponding test set in the Test1, Test2, Test3, Test4 attributes trigger
an alarm. There are two forms of the attribute and their syntax is as follows.
Syntax: Form 1) Condition Priority
Form 2) StateName
If an Alarm State Set is the Digital State Set for the alarm point, then the first form of the
attribute is used. In this case Condition is the alarm condition to be set for the alarm point
and Priority is the numeric priority level alarm. See Section 8.3, Alarm State Sets, for more
information about conditions and priorities. Table 8–8 gives examples of the use of the first
syntax and the resulting digital state that is set using the example Alarm Digital State Set
shown in Table 8–15.
Table 8–8. Examples Using First Syntax (Condition Priority)
Action1 Digital State Description
Hihi 1 __ hihi << New unacknowledged HIHI alarm with priority
level 1
Hihi 2 _* hihi << New unacknowledged HIHI alarm with priority
level 2
High 3 ** high << New unacknowledged HIGH alarm with priority
level 3
Low 0 LOW LOW alarm with priority 0 always returns just the
alarm condition
In the above examples, the digital state that is set is for a new alarm with the attribute
AutoAck set to NO. Furthermore, it is also possible to have a priority level of 0, which is
shown as the last example in Table 8–8. In that case, only the alarm condition is returned
regardless of the acknowledgement status.
The second case is not limited to the Alarm Digital State Set and any digital state set may be
utilized. The second case only requires that the attribute contain a digital state (StateName)
that belongs to the digital state set of the alarm point.
Table 8–9. Examples Using Second Syntax (StateName)
Action
1
Digital State Description
Hihi HIHI Condition only. Similar to using the first syntax with priority 0
** high ** High Alarm Digital State
auto Auto Digital Set used is Modes {Manual, Auto, Cascade, Program, Prog-Auto}
Chapter 8 - PI Alarm Subsystem
Page 308
The first two examples given in Table 8–9 use the Alarm Digital State Set from Table 8–15.
The last example used a default digital state set, Modes, with the digital states {Manual,
Auto, Cascade, Program, Prog-Auto}.
When more than one alarm is triggered simultaneously, the combiner logic determines the
digital state that is set by using the following rules:
• Priorities have precedence.
• When two conditions of the same priority are true, it is the first (in order of the
tests) that is used to set the Alarm State.
Table 8–10 gives examples of which “action” will be taken when more than one “action”
attribute is triggered. In these examples, it is assumed that all four tests were done and the
“actions” that were left blank are the result of alarms that were not triggered.
Table 8–10. Combiner Logic Examples
Action1 Action2 Action3 Action4 Result
Hihi 1 High 1 Hihi 1
Hihi 2 High 1 Hihi 2
auto Manual auto
In the first combiner logic example, all the priorities are the same; hence Action1 is set
because it is the first test that is true. In the second example, even though Action4 and
Action1 are both true, Action1 is used because it has a higher priority. The last example
demonstrates the second syntax where priority is not used; hence Action1 is set because it is
the first test that is true. Refer to Alarm State Sets on