Add a Multi-Digital Alarm in Citect Studio

System Model > Alarms > Configure Alarms > Add a Multi-Digital Alarm

Add a Multi-Digital Alarm

Multi-digital alarms use the output from three digital variables to define eight states. These states represent every possible combination of true and false values. You can then specify which of these states will trigger an alarm.

For more information, see Multi-digital alarms.

To add a multi-digital alarm:

In the System Model activity, select Alarms.
On the menu below the Command Bar, select Multi-Digital Alarms.
Add a row to the Grid Editor.
Type the required information in each column, or in the fields in the Property Grid (see below for a description of the fields).
Click Save.

Note: Configure the [Alarm]UseConfigLimits parameter to force the Citect SCADA alarms server to use digital alarm property values from the RDB, rather than using the values which may be stored in the database file.

Multi-digital Alarms Properties

UNINTENDED EQUIPMENT OPERATION

Do not put a blocking Cicode function in the ON Function or OFF Function fields. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing.

Failure to follow these instructions can result in death, serious injury, or equipment damage.

Note: If an alarm was generated by the Equipment Editor, a number of fields on the properties form will be shaded. To configure these fields, you will need to use Equipment Editor (see Use Equipment Editor to Configure Alarms).

Equipment Properties

Field	Description
Equipment	The name of the equipment associated with the multi-digital alarm. Select a name from the drop-down list of existing equipment definitions, or enter a name. There is a limit of 254 characters across the Equipment and Item Name fields, including any separating periods (.).
Item Name	The name of the item with which the alarm is associated. Items form part of an equipment hierarchy. They can be used to associate tags, alarms and trends with a particular attribute of a physical piece of equipment (see Items). There is a limit of 254 characters across the Equipment and Item Name, including any separating periods (.). If you leave this field blank, the last 63 characters of the Alarm Tag field will be used for the Item Name. Be aware that the Alarm Tag allows 79 characters, while Tag Item has a maximum of 63 characters. This may result in compiler errors if the combination of '<Equipment>.<TagItem>' is not unique. Note: When entering an Item Name, there are a number of reserved words that you need to avoid. These reserved words relate to syntax that is used for tag extensions. They are: • field • valid • override • overridemode • controlmode • status • v • vt • q • qt • t If you use one of these reserved words, an error message will display when you compile your project.

Field

Description

Equipment

The name of the equipment associated with the multi-digital alarm. Select a name from the drop-down list of existing equipment definitions, or enter a name.

There is a limit of 254 characters across the Equipment and Item Name fields, including any separating periods (.).

Item Name

The name of the item with which the alarm is associated.

Items form part of an equipment hierarchy. They can be used to associate tags, alarms and trends with a particular attribute of a physical piece of equipment (see Items).

There is a limit of 254 characters across the Equipment and Item Name, including any separating periods (.).

If you leave this field blank, the last 63 characters of the Alarm Tag field will be used for the Item Name. Be aware that the Alarm Tag allows 79 characters, while Tag Item has a maximum of 63 characters. This may result in compiler errors if the combination of '<Equipment>.<TagItem>' is not unique.

Note: When entering an Item Name, there are a number of reserved words that you need to avoid. These reserved words relate to syntax that is used for tag extensions. They are:
• field
• valid
• override
• overridemode
• controlmode
• status
• v
• vt
• q
• qt
• t
If you use one of these reserved words, an error message will display when you compile your project.

General Properties

Field	Description
Alarm Tag	The name of the alarm tag. The name needs to be unique to the cluster and adhere to tag name syntax rules. If your project includes a large number of tags, a naming convention can be helpful when searching and debugging tags (see Using structured tag names).
Alarm Name	A meaningful description of the alarm, for example, a name that includes the physical device associated with the alarm. The name is used when details of the alarm are displayed on the screen or logged to a device. This field does not support variable data.
Cluster Name	The name of the cluster that runs the alarm. This field needs to be defined if your project has more than one cluster. You can leave this field blank in a multi-cluster system if cluster replication is enabled (see the parameter [General]ClusterReplication).
Category	The alarm category to which the alarm is assigned, defined as either a category number or a label (see Categorize Alarms). If not specified, the category defaults to category 0.
Alarm Desc	A meaningful description of the alarm condition. This description is used when details of the alarm are displayed on screen or logged to a device. This field can support variable data (by enclosing an expression in braces). For example: "Line Broken Alarm at Line Speed {LineSpeed1}" See Add Variable Data to Alarm Messages.
On function(254 chars)	A Cicode function that is executed when the Multi-Digital Alarm becomes active, for example: ON Function is STOP_PROCESS = 1; In this example the digital variable STOP_PROCESS is set to ON when the alarm is triggered. Note: Do not put a blocking Cicode function in this field. The alarm system executes ON or OFF actions within the polling loop. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing. A special case of this command occurs when the Alarm ON Function is self-referring, for example: TAG1 = TAG1 + 1. This command will not work properly since tags are not read again before processing the Alarm On function (for performance reasons). Therefore this particular command will initially set the value of TAG1 to 1 rather than incrementing it. To correctly run a command of this type in the Alarm ON Function, use TaskNew() to run your own Cicode function to perform the tag command: ON function is TaskNew("MyFunc","Data",5);
OFF function (254 chars)	A Cicode function that is executed when a Multi-Digital Alarm becomes inactive. For example: OFF Function is ENABLE_PROCESS = 1; In this example the digital variable ENABLE_PROCESS is set to ON when an alarm in this category is reset. Note: Do not put a blocking Cicode function in this field. The alarm system executes ON or OFF actions within the polling loop. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing.
Help	The name of the graphics page that displays when the AlarmHelp() function is called by a user-defined command. If not specified, no action occurs when the AlarmHelp() function is called.
Comment	Any useful comment.

Source Properties

Field	Description
Variable Tag A/ Variable Tag B / Variable Tag C	The three digital variables used to define eight states. Each state represents a different combination of tag values for these three variables.

Field

Description

Variable Tag A/

Variable Tag B

Variable Tag C

The three digital variables used to define eight states. Each state represents a different combination of tag values for these three variables.

States Properties

Field	Description
States and Descriptions	The following eight states represent any possible tag value combinations. The variable tags are presented in the order tag C, tag B, tag A. • State 000 - all 3 tags are false. • State 00A - tags C and B are false, tag A is true. • State 0B0 - tags C and A are false, tag B is true. • State 0BA - tag C is false, tags B and A are true. • State C00 - tag C is true, and tags B and A are false. • State C0A - tags C and A are true, tag B is false. • State CB0 - tags C and B are true, tag A is false. • State CBA - all 3 tags are true. For each state, there are two fields you can configure. In the first field enter a description (for example, "Healthy" or "Stopped") with a maximum of eight characters. In the second field, indicate whether the state will trigger an alarm. A value of 1 indicates an alarm state, and a 0 indicates no alarm will be triggered.

Field

Description

States and Descriptions

The following eight states represent any possible tag value combinations. The variable tags are presented in the order tag C, tag B, tag A.

• State 000 - all 3 tags are false.
• State 00A - tags C and B are false, tag A is true.
• State 0B0 - tags C and A are false, tag B is true.
• State 0BA - tag C is false, tags B and A are true.
• State C00 - tag C is true, and tags B and A are false.
• State C0A - tags C and A are true, tag B is false.
• State CB0 - tags C and B are true, tag A is false.
• State CBA - all 3 tags are true.

For each state, there are two fields you can configure.

In the first field enter a description (for example, "Healthy" or "Stopped") with a maximum of eight characters.

In the second field, indicate whether the state will trigger an alarm. A value of 1 indicates an alarm state, and a 0 indicates no alarm will be triggered.

Suppression Properties

Field	Description
Suppression	The number of the Suppression Group to which the alarm belongs. Integer value between 0–32767. Alarms in the same group display the same value in this field. Use in conjunction with Suppression Level. Note: To assign a name to a Suppression Group, define the name as a label with an integer value.
Level	The level of an alarm within its Suppression Group (integer value). This is a value between 0 and 255, where a lower level represents a higher priority. This property enables an active alarmAn active alarm is an alarm in one of the following states: ON and unacknowledged; ON and acknowledged; OFF and unacknowledged. which is in an ON state (irrespective of whether it is acknowledged or not) to suppress lower priority alarms within the same Suppression Group. When this occurs, only the higher priority (lower level) alarms are displayed. Alarms with lower priorities (higher levels) will only activate and display when the higher priority (lower level) alarms become inactive.

Field

Description

Suppression

The number of the Suppression Group to which the alarm belongs.

Integer value between 0–32767.

Alarms in the same group display the same value in this field. Use in conjunction with Suppression Level.

Note: To assign a name to a Suppression Group, define the name as a label with an integer value.

Level

The level of an alarm within its Suppression Group (integer value). This is a value between 0 and 255, where a lower level represents a higher priority.

This property enables an active alarmAn active alarm is an alarm in one of the following states: ON and unacknowledged; ON and acknowledged; OFF and unacknowledged. which is in an ON state (irrespective of whether it is acknowledged or not) to suppress lower priority alarms within the same Suppression Group. When this occurs, only the higher priority (lower level) alarms are displayed. Alarms with lower priorities (higher levels) will only activate and display when the higher priority (lower level) alarms become inactive.

Custom Properties

Field	Description
Custom 1 to Custom 8	A user-defined string for filtering active alarms (maximum 64 characters). Used in a custom Cicode query function as search criteria, the custom alarm filterCustom alarm filters provide a way to filter and display active alarms. Up to eight custom filter strings can be assigned to a configured alarm. In conjunction with a user-defined query function, the custom filters enable operators to identify and display active alarms of interest. enables operators to identify and display a subset of active alarms. Notes: • Custom filters are visible only when the MultiDigital Alarm form is open in Extended mode. • The fields are not case-sensitive and can contain 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z', '0'..'9', and the underscore '_'. • A custom filter cannot start with a digit.

Field

Description

Custom 1 to Custom 8

A user-defined string for filtering active alarms (maximum 64 characters).

Used in a custom Cicode query function as search criteria, the custom alarm filterCustom alarm filters provide a way to filter and display active alarms. Up to eight custom filter strings can be assigned to a configured alarm. In conjunction with a user-defined query function, the custom filters enable operators to identify and display active alarms of interest. enables operators to identify and display a subset of active alarms.

Notes:

• Custom filters are visible only when the MultiDigital Alarm form is open in Extended mode.
• The fields are not case-sensitive and can contain 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z', '0'..'9', and the underscore '_'.
• A custom filter cannot start with a digit.

Paging Properties

Field	Description
Paging	A read/write property that indicates whether the alarm will be paged. When the value is 1 (TRUE) the alarm will be paged. The default value is 0 (FALSE). This property can be read using alarm tag browsing and read or modified when tag properties are enabled using the tag name "myCluster.myAlarm.paging".
Paging Group	A read only text string that indicates the paging group to which the alarm belongs. Maximum length is 80 characters. See your third-party paging system documentation for information on how to use this Paging Group string. This property can be read using alarm tag browsing or when tag properties are enabled read using the tagname "myCluster.myAlarm.paginggroup". For example, assign the value of PagingGroup to a variable: myString = myCluster.Alarm_1.paginggroup

Field

Description

Paging

A read/write property that indicates whether the alarm will be paged. When the value is 1 (TRUE) the alarm will be paged. The default value is 0 (FALSE). This property can be read using alarm tag browsing and read or modified when tag properties are enabled using the tag name "myCluster.myAlarm.paging".

Paging Group

A read only text string that indicates the paging group to which the alarm belongs. Maximum length is 80 characters. See your third-party paging system documentation for information on how to use this Paging Group string. This property can be read using alarm tag browsing or when tag properties are enabled read using the tagname "myCluster.myAlarm.paginggroup". For example, assign the value of PagingGroup to a variable:

myString = myCluster.Alarm_1.paginggroup

Security Properties

Field	Description
Area	The Area to which the alarm belongs. If an operator does not have access to an area, the alarm is not visible on the alarm display. For example, if you enter Area 1 here, operator need to have access to Area 1 (plus any necessary privileges) to acknowledge or disable this alarm. The area and privilege fields defined here needs to be designed to work in conjunction. A privilege defined on a button (say) will ignore the alarm defined area.
Privilege	Privilege necessary by an operator to acknowledge or disable the alarm. If you assign an acknowledgment privilege to an alarm, you should also check the privilege that is assigned to the command(s) that acknowledge the alarm. If you assign a different privilege to the commands, an operator needs to have both privileges to acknowledge the command. More importantly, the area defined here may be ignored.

Field

Description

Area

The Area to which the alarm belongs. If an operator does not have access to an area, the alarm is not visible on the alarm display. For example, if you enter Area 1 here, operator need to have access to Area 1 (plus any necessary privileges) to acknowledge or disable this alarm.

The area and privilege fields defined here needs to be designed to work in conjunction. A privilege defined on a button (say) will ignore the alarm defined area.

Privilege

Privilege necessary by an operator to acknowledge or disable the alarm.

If you assign an acknowledgment privilege to an alarm, you should also check the privilege that is assigned to the command(s) that acknowledge the alarm. If you assign a different privilege to the commands, an operator needs to have both privileges to acknowledge the command. More importantly, the area defined here may be ignored.

Historian Properties

Field	Description
Historize	This field enables you to automatically historizeAn object ID associated with every tag in a project that uniquely identifies the tag for use by tag-based drivers, automatically generated at compile. It is used instead of the actual address of the register (which is what most other drivers use to read from and write to I/O devices). and publish the specified digital alarm in Schneider Electric's Historian application. If you set this field to "TRUE", the variable will be included in an automated configuration process within the Historian environment. If you set the field to "FALSE" (or leave it blank), the variable will not be included. See Integration with Historian.

Field

Description

Historize

This field enables you to automatically historizeAn object ID associated with every tag in a project that uniquely identifies the tag for use by tag-based drivers, automatically generated at compile. It is used instead of the actual address of the register (which is what most other drivers use to read from and write to I/O devices). and publish the specified digital alarm in Schneider Electric's Historian application.

If you set this field to "TRUE", the variable will be included in an automated configuration process within the Historian environment. If you set the field to "FALSE" (or leave it blank), the variable will not be included.

See Integration with Historian.

Project Properties

Field	Description
Project	The project in which the alarm is configured.