Common Data Logger and Recipe General Properties

Each Data Logger or Recipe object, from the moment it is inserted, can be configured in their General properties as described below. The General properties are used to determine the Data logger's or Recipe's name, activation and any associated report file.

To modify the General properties of a Data Logger or Recipe, simply select the object and use the Movicon 'Properties Window'.

Name

This property allows you to enter a name for the Data Logger or Recipe which has been inserted. The name entered here is used to identify the Data Logger or Recipe object in the "Data Loggers & Recipes" resource. If no name is specified in the "Table Name" property, the "Name" of the Data Logger or Recipe entered will also be used as the table's name.

Enable Data Logger / Recipe

This property allows you to enable or disable the Data Logger or Recipe. This command allows you to temporarily deactivate the recording and operation of individual Data Loggers or Recipes.

When the Data Logger or Recipe object is disabled, it will not be created at runtime and, therefore, unaccessible through their basic script functions. In addition, other viewer objects, such as the Data Logger window or Trend that have been linked to the object will not be able to recover its associated database structure.

Always in Use

When setting this option to "false", the variables used in the recipe fields will not be placed into use when the recipe is initialized. As a result, these variables will no longer be counted on the licensed except when the recipe activation command is used for which they will only go into use for the time strictly necessary to transfer the recipe values to the field (via the opc client or the communication driver).

When you manage a recipe by means of using a screen window, you will need to use it with temporary variables. Otherwise, you will not be able to edit it when the 'always in use' option has been disabled. However, if you use the "Recipe Manager" window, it will not be necessary to use the recipe with temporary variables.

The recipe's variables must be connected to the field by using "Exception Output" tasks when using a communication driver.

Warning! If a communication error should occur while the recipe is active, the recipe's variables will remain in use until the driver becomes unable to perform the relating "Exception Output" tasks correctly. This means that if the communication error persists for more than two hours and the recipe variables have been put into use by means of using the activation command, the project will go into demo mode if the licensed byte limit is exceeded and will close after the two hours have expired.

Report File

Each Data Logger or Recipe can be connected to a Report file to display and print documents with formatted texts and graphics. The Report files, containing the print matrix, can be created with the Report Designer or Crystal Reports©. The Report file can be connected to the Database by accessing the file directly or by using the ODBC link created by Movicon.

The Report file can be predisposed to connect to variables recorded in the Database table's records.

You can select a report in the "Report Designer" format by using the browse button on the right hand side of the field. If you need to insert a "Crystal Report" file, you must enter its name manually.

Edit Report File

This command opens the Report Designer to create or edit reports to associated to the DataLoggers or Recipes. When creating the report, Movicon will associate the DSN for the DataLogger or Recipe to be used with the report. Before opening the report in edit mode, a dialog box will show with the following message:

Do you want to recreate the table and update this in the report ?

You should answer "Yes" to this question if the following are true:

The report does not yet exist and will be created for the first time
The report has been created but the structure or the DataLogger's name has been changed.

When using a DataLogger or Recipe as a Template, the table structure will be created only after the project has been launched into runtime for the first time. In this case, the report should be created by using the Movicon command after the table has been created, and therefore after having launched the project at least once. In the same way, if the DataLogger or Recipe structure is edited, you will need to re-launch the project in runtime to update the table's structure.

Printer name

This property allows you to insert the name of the printer where eventual reports associated to the Data Logger or Recipe are to be printed. The printer predefined by the system will be used if no name is entered here.

Table Name

This property allows you to insert the name of the table associated to the Data Logger or Recipe. Each Data Logger or Recipe keeps its data in tables composed of records and columns. The table must be given a name in the database because database files linked through the ODBC may contain several tables.

If no name for the table is entered here, one will be created by using the same "Name" of the Data Logger or Recipe.