The name of the device.

Specifies how the data is formatted in the device. The format is determined by the type of device, and the data that is sent to the device (see Format Data in the Device). Enter a value of 120 characters or less.

If you are logging alarms or command messages, you need to specify a format, or no data is written to the device.

See Command Fields for a list of the fields (or field combinations) you can use to format a command logging device.

For a list of the fields you can use to format an alarm logging device, see the following:

• Alarm display fields
• Alarm SOE fields
• Alarm summary fields.

Note: The log device for a command is specified wherever the command is defined. The log device for an alarm is specified at the Alarm Categories form.

When producing reports, the format is ignored. (The format defined for the report is used to write the report to the device.)

Additional information for the device. Enter a value of 254 characters or less.

The file name of the device. Enter a value of 253 characters or less.

The type of device. Enter a value of 16 characters or less.

* When defining RTF report properties, an ASCII device would be selected if the report was to be saved as a file.

This property is optional. If you do not specify a type, the device Type is ASCII_DEV unless:

• The file name is a printer device (LPT1: to LPT4: or COM1: to COM4: or a UNC name), where Type is PRINTER_DEV, or
• The file name extension is .DBF, where Type is dBASE_DEV.

See Print Management.

The number of history files (see Use Device History Files). Enter a value of 4 characters or less.

By default, Citect SCADA creates a single data file for each device. (This data file is called <filename.TXT> or <filename.DBF>, depending whether the device is an ASCII device or database device.) The number of history files you specify here are in addition to the data file.

Note: If you do not want history files created, you need to enter 0 (zero) here, and set the [Device]CreateHistoryFiles parameter to 0; otherwise, 10 history files will be created as a default. You need to also verify that the data file is of a fixed size. (If the data accumulates, the file eventually fills the hard disk.)

If you specify -1 the data is appended to the end of one file.

If you are logging alarm, keyboard commands, or reports to the device, specify the number of files to be created, and the time of each file.

The time of day to synchronize the beginning of the history file, in hh:mm:ss (hours:minutes:seconds). Enter a value of 32 characters or less. If you accepted the default number of history files above, and you specify a time and period, 10 history files will be created. If you do not specify a time, the file is synchronized at 0:00:00 (i.e. midnight).

If you omit both the time and the period, additional history files will still be created (with the default time and period). If you don't want history files to be created, you need to set the [Device]CreateHistoryFiles parameter to 0 (zero).

The period of the history file, in hh:mm:ss (hours:minutes:seconds). Enter a value of 32 characters or less. Alternatively you can:

• Specify a weekly period by entering the day of the week on which to start the history file, for example Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.
• Specify a monthly period by entering the day of the month on which to start the history file, for example 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.
• Specify a yearly period by entering the day and month on which to start the history file, for example 1st January, 25th February, etc. The day and month needs to be separated by a space.

If you accepted the default number of history files above, and you specify a time and period, 10 history files will be created.

If you do not specify a period, the time field will be ignored and the device will assume users will invoke device logging manually.

If you omit the time but have specified a period, additional history files will still be created (with the default time mid-night at 00:00:00). If you don't want history files to be created, you need to set the [Device]CreateHistoryFiles parameter to 0 (zero).

Any useful comment.

Select a cluster from the list of clusters defined previously with the in the Topology activity of Citect Studio. If this is a single cluster system this field can be left blank.