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Export Alarm Summary to XML

I am looking for a way to activate the same functionality of "Export Alarm Summary to XML" that is built on to the DeltaV Operate displays "AlarmList"  and "AlmSupp" to be used on a custom VB script in Operate. So when the custom VB script runs on operate it will create the appropriate XML file under the folder "D:\DeltaV\DVData\AlmSummary_export". Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Madhawa. 

mastermadhawa

• 29 Apr 2015 4:36 PM
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8 Replies

• Kim Van Camp

  

  • 29 Apr 2015 5:22 PM

  The utility that creates the xml files is an exe that you can call from logic, located in the DeltaV/bin folder. Open a command window, switch to the deltav/bin folder and input c:\deltav\bin>alarmsummaryutility.exe /? to get the list of available command line switches. There are lots of switch options, enabling you to tune what you want to get in the xml file. If you are lucky enough to have a v12 system, a new /silent switch was added so that the exe could be run without the pesky window that opens on DeltaV Operate when launched using the button on the AlarmList and AlmSupp displays. If you have an earlier system, there is a place in the registry to set the timer for how long the window in DeltaV Operate is open... so you can set it to zero. You'd have to ask the GSC where it is. Incidently, even if this DeltaV Operate window is open it is not modal so operators are not prevented from doing their work. There is also a write-up on the utility in Books-On-Line. Good luck.

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• mastermadhawa

  

  • 29 Apr 2015 6:01 PM

  In reply to Kim Van Camp:

  Hi Kim,
  
  Thank you for your response. Our system is a V11.3.1. I had previously used the alarmsummaryutility.exe on a command window but I was never able to get it to save the XML file. It will always show me the alarms based on the filtering I used within the command window but I haven't seen a XML file that it created. The command line I used to execute this is "alarmsummaryutility 10 "TP=2" /export". I believe that this should give me a XML file that contains the suppressed alarms. Do you see any obvious errors in this that it wont create the XML? Thanks in advance for your help.

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• Kim Van Camp

  

  • 29 Apr 2015 7:35 PM

  In reply to mastermadhawa:

  I'm sure the issue is with your syntax and I suspect it wanted you to specify more switches than you did. Command line switches can be very fussy. I suppressed an alarm, then ran the utility with the following specification and did get the expected xml file.
  
  c:\DeltaV\bin> AlarmSummaryUtility 10 TP=2;PT=4,15;DT=11,15 2 16,2,10,14,3 1 0 "W h:m:s:F:p" / export
  
  How I came to this particular string was using /? to get the instructions for using command line switches, which I copied and pasted into a txt file for reference. Then I copied and pasted a few of the example strings, like the one above, only with TP=2 to request suppressed alarms.
  
  For starters, try cutting and pasting my sample string. Once you get your first xml file, it becomes a matter of tweaking it to get what you really want.

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• Kim Van Camp

  

  • 29 Apr 2015 8:27 PM

  In reply to Kim Van Camp:

  Oops. There should be no space between the slash (/) and word export above, which I expect you noticed already. I did my test on one PC and sent my reply to you from another.

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• mastermadhawa

  

  • 29 Apr 2015 9:16 PM

  In reply to Kim Van Camp:

  Thanks a bunch Kim.
  
  Indeed it needed more switches than I had initially. After placing the missing switches it is creating the XML file.
  
  Something I found with some testing - When I used the /? to get the help, <desiredFields> field id numbers are shown from 1 through 21. The alarm parameter (<param>) which I needed happened to be at value of 0.
  
  Thanks for your help again.

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• mastermadhawa

  

  • 12 Jun 2015 4:36 PM

  In reply to mastermadhawa:

  Kim, is there a way to make the XML export work even when the DeltaV module description has a XML special character like "&" ?. When I run the alarmsummaryutility.exe with "/export" function it wouldn't create a good XML file if one of the modules descriptions contained a "&" character in it.

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• Kim Van Camp

  

  • 12 Jun 2015 5:15 PM

  In reply to mastermadhawa:

  I am not aware of a solution for this issue. You may want to contact the Global Service Center and ask them. I realize that changing a module description requires a module download, but for DeltaV v12 users there is another alternative. The advanced properties of an alarm includes a field where you can supply an alarm description, which replaces the module description in alarm lists. If a module had five alarms that would mean doing this for each alarm, but alarm descriptions can also be bulk editied if that helps. Alarm descriptions do not affect/require a download to the running control module. Alarm descriptions are distributed to all workstations in the system using "Alarm Help Download" in the DeltaV Explorer. Note that you do not require an Alarm Help license to use the Alarm Help Download feature in the Deltav Explorer. The Alarm Help licenses only enable the alarm help dialog pop-up boxes in DeltaV Operate.

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• mastermadhawa

  

  • 12 Jun 2015 5:31 PM

  In reply to Kim Van Camp:

  Thanks for the information Kim. We are still on DeltaV v11.3 .1. So I will update the module descriptions online with watchit and do a upload from the controller to the database. This way we don't need to do any downloads to the controllers and its only a few modules we have this issue with. Our next upgrade is going to be to DeltaV v13. Looking forward to seeing the new functionality you mentioned. Thanks.

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