Confirm that Alarms are Updated for All Clusters
In a multi-cluster system, alarm data may appear on a display client in different time frames due to the proximity of the alarm server associated with each cluster.
For example, an alarm page may retrieve alarm data for one cluster from a local alarm server, while the alarm server for another cluster may be located remotely on a slow network. This could cause moments where alarm data is only partially retrieved for an alarms list, an SOE list or alarm summary.
If this situation is a possibility, you can use the Cicode function AlarmGetInfo to provide a visual indication of the status of your alarm data across all clusters. By calling this function from an animation object on a page, you can indicate the following to an operator:
- If data has been retrieved for no clusters, some clusters or all clusters
- If data has been retrieved for a specific cluster
- If any timeouts have occurred.
To do this:
- Determine where you would like to implement AlarmGetInfo. You should use the Cicode function in a way that will indicate to an operator how alarm data retrieval is progressing for all clusters (see the example below).
- Specify the AN associated with the alarms list that you would like the function to monitor.
- Specify a Type of 13, 14 or 16, where:
- 13 - the return value is used to indicate if data has been retrieved for all, some, or no clusters
- 14 - the return value is used to indicate if data has been updated for a particular cluster (specified using the ClusterName argument)
- 16 - the return value is used to indicate if a timeout occurred.
Example
The following call of AlarmGetInfo() could be used to determine if the alarm data for the list at AN 21 has been retrieved for all clusters.
AlarmGetInfo(21,13)
- If zero (0) is returned, it would indicate that data is not ready for any clusters.
- If 1 is returned, it would indicate that data is ready for only some clusters.
- If 2 is returned, it would indicate that data is now ready for all clusters.
These return values could be implemented on a graphics page to indicate the completeness of the alarms list. For example, you could create an object that represents a traffic light, where "0" displays red, "1" displays amber, and "2" displays green.
Published June 2018