Add an Alarm Category in Citect Studio | Alarms

Setup > Alarming > Add an Alarm Category

Add an Alarm Category

You can use alarm categories to group the alarms in your Citect SCADA system (see Categorize Alarms). Up to 16376 alarm categories can be created.

To add an alarm category to a project:

In the Setup activity, select Alarming.
On the menu below the Command Bar, select Alarm Categories.
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.

You will now be able to assign alarms to the category you have created in the System Model activity (see Assign an Alarm to an Alarm Category).

UNINTENDED EQUIPMENT OPERATION

When configuring an alarm category, do not use a blocking Cicode function in the following fields:

ON Action
OFF Action
ACK Action.

A blocking function or a lengthy operation will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing. Therefore, do not configure long running functions in these fields but keep the functions simple or they may not be executed correctly. To execute complicated functions, it is recommended to use TaskNew() function to initiate a new task which performs the required function in a separate task.

If the configuration of these fields is updated and reloaded by the alarm server, the new actions will be executed. However, the updated configuration can not call any new or updated user functions which did not exist before reloading, even if a new task is used to run it. If used, nothing will happen until the alarm server is restarted. Hence, confirm that the updated actions do not refer to brand new or updated functions or tasks prior to reloading the alarm server.

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

Alarm Category Properties

General Properties

Field	Description
Category	The alarm category as a numeric value (0-16375). The following category numbers are reserved: Category 0 is reserved for selecting all the alarms with all categories. Category 254 is reserved for user-created alarm summary entries. Category 255 is reserved for hardware alarms. This field supports up to 16 characters.
Priority	The priority applied to alarms assigned to this alarm category (0- 255). Alarm priority determines the order in which alarms are displayed, acknowledged, enabled and so on. Priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 255 is the lowest. For example, if alarms with priorities 1 to 8 were displayed, priority 1 alarms would be displayed first in their time/date order, then priority 2 alarms, then priority 3, and so on up to priority 8. Priority 0 is the default priority. It is reserved for selecting alarms of all priorities when referencing priorities. For example, if you use the Cicode function AlarmSetInfo to change an alarms list so that alarms of all priorities are displayed, you would use the following settings: Type = 7, Value = 0. Note: When priority 0 is used to display alarms of priorities, priority 0 only alarms will display first, followed by priority 1 alarms, then priority 2, and so on. You can also customize the order in which alarms are displayed on an alarm summary page using the SummarySort and SummarySortMode parameters. (This order will override the alarm category priority order.)
Show on Active	Determines if alarms assigned to this category display on active alarms pages. You can set this field to TRUE or FALSE. The default value is TRUE.
Show on Summary	Determines if alarms assigned to this category display on alarm summary pages. You can set this field to TRUE or FALSE. The default value is TRUE.
Comment	Any useful comment.

Font Properties

Field	Description
UnAck On Font	Defines the font used to display alarms that are unacknowledged and active. This property is optional. If no font is specified, the font defaults to 10pt YELLOW. This field supports up to 16 characters.
UnAck Off Font	Defines the font used to display alarms that are unacknowledged and no longer active. This property is optional. If no font is specified, the font defaults to 10pt BROWN. This field supports up to 16 characters.
Ack On Font	Defines the font used to display alarms that have been acknowledged and are still active. This property is optional. If no font is specified, the font defaults to 10pt CYAN. This field supports up to 16 characters.
Ack Off Font	Defines the font used to display alarms that have been acknowledged and are no longer active. This property is optional. If no font is specified, the font defaults to 10pt WHITE. This field supports up to 16 characters.
Disabled Font	Defines the font used to display disabled alarms. This property is optional. If no font is specified, the font defaults to 10pt WHITE. This field supports up to 16 characters.

Format Properties

Field	Description
Alarm Format	Defines the screen display format used on active alarm pages for alarms in this category. Note: Alarm pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an alarm page is set by the first available of the following definitions: • [Format]Alarm parameter • The Alarm Format specified for category 0 • The default alarm display format. When applied to pages based on a standard template, Alarm Format specifies how the data for alarms in this category are displayed on alarms pages (on the screen only). Each alarm displays on the alarms page in a single line, for example: 12:32:21RFP3 Raw Feed pump 3 Overload When alarms are displayed using variable width fonts (such as Arial or Helvetica), the alarm fields may not align properly across different rows. This can be avoided by using a field separator in the alarm format configuration instead of just a space. Tab characters, denoted by either "^t" (horizontal tab) or "^v" (vertical tab), between the alarm fields will act as alignment points in your alarm display. If you leave the Alarm Format field blank, the format defaults to: {Time,12} {Tag,10} {Name,20} {Desc,32} You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefDspFmt. See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type. Note: If an alarm value is longer than the field it is to be displayed in, it will be truncated or replaced with the #OVR ("overflow of format width") alert message. When the alarm is logged to a device (i.e. printed or written to a file or database), the format specified for the logging device overrides the display format.
Summary Format	Defines the screen display format used on alarm summary pages for alarms in this category. Note: Alarm summary pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an alarm summary page is set by the first available of the following definitions: • [Format]Alarm parameter • The Alarm format specified for category 0 • Default Alarm display format. When applied to pages based on a standard template, Summary Format is defined the same way as Alarm Format (see above). However, you can also use additional data fields. See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type. If you leave the Summary Format field blank, the format defaults to: {Name,20} {OnTime,8} {OffTime,8} {DeltaTime,8} {Comment,22} You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefSumFmt. Note: When an alarm is logged to a summary device (i.e. printed or written to a file or database), the format specified for the logging device overrides the display format.
SOE Format	Defines the screen display format used on sequence of event (SOE) pages for alarms in this category. Note: SOE pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an SOE page is set by the first available of the following definitions: • [Format]Alarm parameter • The Alarm format specified for category 0 • Default Alarm display format. When applied to pages based on a standard template, SOE Format is defined the same way as Alarm Format (see above). However, you can also use additional data fields. See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type. If you leave the SOE Format field blank, the format defaults to: {DATE,16} {TIME,16} {TAG,10} {NAME,15} {MESSAGE,64} {STATE,16} {CLASSIFICATION,13} {USERNAME,16} {USERLOCATION,16} You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefSOEFmt.

Field

Description

Alarm Format

Defines the screen display format used on active alarm pages for alarms in this category.

Note: Alarm pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an alarm page is set by the first available of the following definitions:
• [Format]Alarm parameter
• The Alarm Format specified for category 0
• The default alarm display format.

When applied to pages based on a standard template, Alarm Format specifies how the data for alarms in this category are displayed on alarms pages (on the screen only). Each alarm displays on the alarms page in a single line, for example:

12:32:21RFP3 Raw Feed pump 3 Overload

When alarms are displayed using variable width fonts (such as Arial or Helvetica), the alarm fields may not align properly across different rows. This can be avoided by using a field separator in the alarm format configuration instead of just a space.

Tab characters, denoted by either "^t" (horizontal tab) or "^v" (vertical tab), between the alarm fields will act as alignment points in your alarm display.

If you leave the Alarm Format field blank, the format defaults to:

{Time,12} {Tag,10} {Name,20} {Desc,32}

You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefDspFmt.

See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type.

Note: If an alarm value is longer than the field it is to be displayed in, it will be truncated or replaced with the #OVR ("overflow of format width") alert message. When the alarm is logged to a device (i.e. printed or written to a file or database), the format specified for the logging device overrides the display format.

Summary Format

Defines the screen display format used on alarm summary pages for alarms in this category.

Note: Alarm summary pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an alarm summary page is set by the first available of the following definitions:
• [Format]Alarm parameter
• The Alarm format specified for category 0
• Default Alarm display format.

When applied to pages based on a standard template, Summary Format is defined the same way as Alarm Format (see above). However, you can also use additional data fields.

See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type.

If you leave the Summary Format field blank, the format defaults to:

{Name,20} {OnTime,8} {OffTime,8} {DeltaTime,8} {Comment,22}

You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefSumFmt.

Note: When an alarm is logged to a summary device (i.e. printed or written to a file or database), the format specified for the logging device overrides the display format.

SOE Format

Defines the screen display format used on sequence of event (SOE) pages for alarms in this category.

Note: SOE pages based on the tab-style templates will not consider individual formats for each category. The screen display format used for an SOE page is set by the first available of the following definitions:
• [Format]Alarm parameter
• The Alarm format specified for category 0
• Default Alarm display format.

When applied to pages based on a standard template, SOE Format is defined the same way as Alarm Format (see above). However, you can also use additional data fields.

See Alarm Format Fields for details about each field type.

If you leave the SOE Format field blank, the format defaults to:

{DATE,16} {TIME,16} {TAG,10} {NAME,15} {MESSAGE,64} {STATE,16} {CLASSIFICATION,13} {USERNAME,16} {USERLOCATION,16}

You can change this default setting with the parameter [Alarm]DefSOEFmt.

Actions Properties

Field	Description
ON Action	Specifies a Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category becomes active (ON). Example: Where ON Action is STOP_PROCESS = 1; In this example the digital variable STOP_PROCESS is set to ON when an alarm in this category is triggered. Note: Do not put a blocking Cicode function in this field. The alarm system executes ON, OFF, or ACK 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 ON Action is self-referring, with a form such as TAG1 = TAG1 + 1. This command will not work properly since tags are not reread before processing the ON action (for performance reasons). This particular command will therefore initially set the value of TAG1 to 1 rather than incrementing it. To correctly run a command of this type in the ON Action, use TaskNew() to run your own Cicode function to perform the tag command. For example: ON Action is TaskNew("MyFunc","Data",5);
OFF Action	Specifies a Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category is reset (OFF). Example: Where OFF Actionis 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, OFF, or ACK actions within the polling loop. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing.
ACK Action	A Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category is acknowledged. Note: Do not put a blocking Cicode function in this field. The alarm system executes ON, OFF, or ACK actions within the polling loop. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing.

Field

Description

ON Action

Specifies a Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category becomes active (ON).

Example:

Where ON Action is STOP_PROCESS = 1;

In this example the digital variable STOP_PROCESS is set to ON when an alarm in this category is triggered.

Note: Do not put a blocking Cicode function in this field. The alarm system executes ON, OFF, or ACK 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 ON Action is self-referring, with a form such as TAG1 = TAG1 + 1. This command will not work properly since tags are not reread before processing the ON action (for performance reasons). This particular command will therefore initially set the value of TAG1 to 1 rather than incrementing it.

To correctly run a command of this type in the ON Action, use TaskNew() to run your own Cicode function to perform the tag command. For example:

ON Action is TaskNew("MyFunc","Data",5);

OFF Action

Specifies a Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category is reset (OFF).

Example:

Where OFF Actionis 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, OFF, or ACK actions within the polling loop. A blocking function will affect the polling of alarms, and may result in slow or delayed alarm processing.

ACK Action

A Cicode command that is executed when an alarm of this Category is acknowledged.

Storage Properties

Field	Description
Alarm Acquisition Error	Acquisition error is an error related to acquiring data from I/O sub-system for the underlying tag and/or expression, for example, Device Offline, Tag Unknown, etc. (Integer length 6). All acquisition errors are stored for each alarm record separately within the alarm server as a new AcqError field. They are not logged and no hardware alarm is raised from them. The AcqError field stores the error as the Citect error code (for example, NO ERROR). This field is made accessible through the alarm browse functionality. If there are multiple acquisition errors for a single alarm record, then the first of these is stored within the system.
Summary Device	Specified the device to which the alarm summary is sent. The format specified in the device is used instead the display format. If not specified, alarm summaries are not logged.
Log Device	Specifies the device to which alarm state changes are logged. An alarm entry is made in the log device each time an alarm assigned to the category changes state (on, off, acknowledged, enabled, or disabled). When the alarm is printed, or written to a file or device, the format specified in the device overrides the display format. If not specified, alarm state changes are not logged.
Log Transitions: ON	Determines if the alarm details are logged when an alarm assigned to this category becomes active. You can set this field to TRUE or FALSE. The default value is TRUE.
Log Transitions: OFF	Determines if the alarm details are logged when an alarm assigned to this category becomes inactive. You can set this field to TRUE or FALSE. The default value is TRUE.
Log Transitions: ACK	Determines if the alarm details are logged when an alarm assigned to this category is acknowledged. You can set this field to TRUE or FALSE. The default value is TRUE.

Project Properties

Property	Description
Project	The project in which the specified alarm category is included.