Manual vs DC points in @ptitude Analyst and Microlog TCTdBX

Summary

Thin Client Transfer dBX does not accept negative values for manual entry process POINTs.

In @ptitude Analyst, there are two types of “process” POINT:

• Microlog / General / Manual
• Microlog / General / DC

In Analyst itself, the distinction between these is that DC POINTs have a sensor sensitivity property (mV/EU) and are intended to collect a DC voltage measurement at the device’s signal input channel, which is converted to actual units using this sensitivity.  The POINT also has a Units property, so for example if you measure 2 V DC and your POINT uses 1000 mV/widgets, you get a result of 2 widgets.

Manual POINTs are used for manual entry only, for example, via the keypad of the Microlog.

With the CMXA series (70, 75 and 80) and earlier, the device can use either of these inputs for the DC POINT, so you can choose to measure a voltage or type in the value at the keypad.

The TCTdBX (CMVA 90) has an architecture which does not allow that mixing of entry methods.
Consultation with the regions and application engineers confirms that this mixed mode is not generally used.

Therefore, we will program the TCTdBX process POINTs as either manual or DC.
For the library, it is the value of the Coupling property that makes the distinction: “Process” is for DC measurement, and any other value is for manual entry.

There is a problem, however, in that TCTdBX (and the original TCT) receives only one POINT type value (255 = “wildcard”), no matter what the type of the original POINT coming from Analyst.

We have decided that the way to make the distinction is to inspect the sensor sensitivity property of the POINT and if it is zero, it is a manual point; if non-zero, it is a DC point.

Solution

To set the “sensor sensitivity” (Input mV/EU) to zero in Analyst:

1. For a single instance:
   1. Right click on a Microlog Analyzer \ General Manual measurement point in the Hierarchy or Route view and select Properties
      
      
      
      
   2. Select the Setup tab
   3. In the Input mV/EU: field enter 0.0
      
      
   4. Click OK to save the value
      
      
2. For multiple points via filtered workspaces
   1. Open up Route the hierarchy containing the desired points
   2. From the main menu, select Insert \ Apply Filter...
      
      
      
      
   3. In the Filter on attributes tree control, select Point \ General \ Sensor Type. In the Settings options, select Manual
      
      
      
      
   4.  Click OK to create the filtered workspace.
   5. Highlight the root node and select Modify by Attribute from the main menu.
   6. In the Attributes tree control, select General Settings \ Input mV/EU and then select the first measurement point in the Attribute values section.
   7. Set the Value to 0
      
   8. Click Set All 
      
      
      
3. Globally, via scripting
   
   1. The following code will adjust the Input mV/EU field to 0.0 for all Analyst Microlog Points with a Manual Sensors:
      

-- Get RegisrationId values.
Declare @DadId numeric = (Select REGISTRATIONID from REGISTRATION where SIGNATURE = 'SKFCM_ASPF_Dad_Id')
Declare @SensorId numeric = (Select REGISTRATIONID from REGISTRATION where SIGNATURE = 'SKFCM_ASPF_Sensor')
Declare @MicrologId numeric = (Select REGISTRATIONID from REGISTRATION where SIGNATURE = 'SKFCM_ASDD_MicrologDAD')
Declare @InputmVEU numeric = (Select REGISTRATIONID from REGISTRATION where SIGNATURE = 'SKFCM_ASPF_Input_mVEU')

-- Display results
Select P1.ElementId, P1.FieldId AS DadId, P1.ValueString AS MicrologDadId, P2.FieldId AS SensorId, p2.ValueString AS SensorType
From Point P1 inner join Point P2 ON
P1.ElementId = P2.ElementId
Where (P1.FieldId = @DadId and P1.ValueString = Cast(@MicrologId as nvarchar(20)))
and (P2.FieldId = @SensorId and P2.ValueString = 'Manual')

Select * from Point P inner join REGISTRATION R 
ON P.FIELDID = R.REGISTRATIONID
Where ElementId in 
(
Select P1.ElementId
From Point P1 inner join Point P2 ON
P1.ElementId = P2.ElementId
Where (P1.FieldId = @DadId and P1.ValueString = Cast(@MicrologId as nvarchar(20)))
and (P2.FieldId = @SensorId and P2.ValueString = 'Manual')
)
and FieldId = @InputmVEU

-- Update Point table for Microlog Analyzer points Where sensor type is manual.
Update Point
Set ValueString = '0.0'
Where ElementId in 
(
Select P1.ElementId
From Point P1 inner join Point P2 ON
P1.ElementId = P2.ElementId
Where (P1.FieldId = @DadId and P1.ValueString = Cast(@MicrologId as nvarchar(20)))
and (P2.FieldId = @SensorId and P2.ValueString = 'Manual')
)
and FieldId = @InputmVEU

SQL Script available as attachment. 

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