Navigator

Functional explanation

The Navigator shows one plant tree on a runtime page. The tree is the Asset Manager hierarchy: each node opens the page attached to it, a node without a page expands, and a leaf node without a page opens the faceplate of the UDT instance attached to it. An instance row opens the page that shows it, resolved from the symbol bound to that instance, so clicking a piece of equipment in the tree goes to the page where it is drawn, where that symbol is then framed for a few seconds. Pages that are attached to no asset node follow in a Pages section, grouped by their Library Path, so every page the operator may open is reachable from the same panel.

Every node carries the four alarm severity badges used in the Alarm Viewer: a square for Critical, a triangle pointing down for High, a triangle pointing up for Medium and a diamond for Low, each with the number of active alarms under that node. A badge blinks while one of those alarms is still unacknowledged. Badges at zero are hidden, so a quiet plant shows a quiet panel.

The counts are the same for every user: they are the active alarms of the plant, read from the SYSTEM.AlarmCount_ and SYSTEM.AlarmUnacked_ variables the alarm engine publishes per asset node. Which alarms a user may see and acknowledge is decided by the Alarm Groups of each alarm and by the user group rights, and applies in the Alarm Banner, the Alarm Viewer and the faceplate, as before. The Navigator itself never acknowledges anything.

The panel keeps the operator's own state per browser session: which nodes are expanded, the scroll position and whether the panel is collapsed to its rail. A page change reloads the page, and the Navigator opens again exactly as the operator left it.

Place the Navigator inside a group symbol master that is used on every page. One push of the master then updates the panel on the whole project.

What the tree lists

The Navigator has no list of its own. It reads three project settings, so the same tree appears on every page that carries the object.

Restricted pages are pages the logged in user may not open according to the User Groups of the page. A page with an empty User Groups can be opened by Administrators only. The Navigator decides this on the server with the same rule the page itself applies, so it never offers a page that would refuse the operator on arrival.

Object name

Set the object name shown in the Navigator decorator context. The object name also keys the operator state the panel keeps per browser session, so two Navigators with different names keep separate states.

Navigator

Configure the placement and the content of the panel.

Docked keeps the panel at the position and size it has on the page, but measured against the browser window in runtime, outside the zoom and pan of the page: it stays in place while the operator moves around a large page and scales with the page like every other object. The design environment always shows the object at its position on the page, which is also how it is saved. With Docked unchecked the Navigator is an ordinary positioned object that moves and zooms with the page.

Alarm Counts

Configure how the alarm badges are summed up the tree. The alarm engine counts per exact asset node, so the Navigator adds the counts of the child nodes to show a total for a parent.

Panel

Configure the parts of the panel around the tree. The filter box narrows the tree to the nodes whose name contains the typed text, with their parent nodes opened. The rail button collapses the panel to a narrow strip that shows only the four severity totals of the tree, and opens it again.

Individual

Configure the colors of the panel. Every color accepts a color value or the name of a Color Library entry. The severity colors of the badges are the colors of the Alarm Viewer and are the same on every page.

When a color is left empty, the panel follows the Viewer colors of the current theme, set on the Parameters page: Background Color follows Viewer Background Color, Text Color follows Viewer Font Color, Hover Color follows Viewer Row Hover Color, Current Page Color follows Viewer Row Alternate Color and Line Color follows Viewer Line Color. A Navigator with empty colors therefore switches with the Dark and Light themes without further settings; a Color Library name in a color field does the same with a color of your choice.

Using the tree

Click a node with a page to open that page. Click the arrow in front of a node to open or close it without leaving the page; a node without a page opens or closes on a click on its name as well. Click a leaf node without a page to open the faceplate of the UDT instance attached to it; the faceplate is the group symbol master bound to the UDT definition, opened with the replacers of that instance. With Show Instances checked, the UDT instances attached to a node are listed under it with their own alarm badges; click an instance row to open the page that shows that instance.

The page is resolved from the symbol bound to the instance, so an instance row leads to the page where its equipment is drawn. When the instance is drawn on several pages, the page attached to its asset node in the Asset Manager is used if that page shows it, and otherwise the first page in alphabetical order. An instance that no page shows opens its faceplate from the tree instead, and a row whose page the logged in user may not open follows the Restricted Pages setting like any other page.

When the page opens, the symbol of that instance is scrolled into view and framed for a few seconds, so it is clear which symbol on the page the row pointed at. The frame is a neutral grey, it carries no process meaning, and it disappears on its own.

Click the alarm badges of an asset node or an instance row to open the alarms behind them: the Alarm Viewer filters on the node path, which includes everything under the node, or on the instance. Click the trend icon at the right of an instance row to open the Trend Analyst with the Trend Analyst Configuration of its UDT definition, resolved for that instance; the icon is shown only when the definition has a configuration. Both open the Alarms Page or the Trend Page when one is set in the Navigator settings, otherwise the Alarm Viewer or Trend Analyst page. A restricted page shows a lock and does nothing when clicked.

The tree can be used from the keyboard: Enter or Space activates the focused row, the right arrow opens it and the left arrow closes it.

Position / Size

Configure the position and size of the Navigator object. With Docked checked the same position and size are used in runtime, measured against the browser window instead of the page.

Border

Configure the border drawn around the Navigator object.

Access Control

Configure access control for the Navigator object. This decides whether the panel is shown for a user group. Which pages are listed inside it is decided by the User Groups of each page, and the alarm counts are the same for every user.

Visibility

Configure the runtime visibility and blinking behavior for the Navigator object.

Variables published by the alarm engine

The counts the Navigator shows are ordinary system variables, so they can also be used in expressions, alarms and reports. The asset key is the node path with spaces removed, for example WTP/LineA for the node WTP/Line A. A counter exists once an alarm with that severity and that Asset has been loaded. In an expression, a counter name that contains slashes is read as one variable name, for example SYSTEM.AlarmCount_Severity1_WTP/Intake > 0 in a Visibility expression or in the Suppress When setting of an alarm.