Emerson Exchange 365

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Control module description

Hello everyone;

is it possible to increase the number of characters at the desciption of control modules that the client requires it especially at the faceplates.

And the same for the number of controls open modules.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Best regards.

Butler faith.

Butler faith

• 19 Nov 2015 1:57 PM
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4 Replies

• Matt Stoner

  

  • 19 Nov 2015 6:42 PM

  Butler,

  Yes you can increase the length of descriptions in control modules but requires you to modify every faceplate and detail used to support the longer lengths.

  • On the FP/Detail change the Description object MaxCharactersPerLine to longer but just make sure that it will fit into the width of the FP/Detail.
  • You can also do a lot of VB work and split the description into two lines that will allow even more characters but the logic is pretty intensive for this forum. Send me a message and I could email the logic but it is many lines of logic (80+ probably).

  Not sure what you are asking for the number of control modules open.

  • If this is the number of control modules open with Control Studio, the answer is no.
  • If this is the number of control module faceplates open at a time (pinning the FP), the answer is yes. You need to set the frsVariables.pn_CopyNumber.CurrentValue to the number you want (default is 3).
    • Just keep in mind that by increasing this number, you could be putting more communication load on the system and the system performance most likely will be affected by having more FPs open at one time (not sure what is 'truly' supported). 
    • Also remember that when you upgrade, you will have to reset this variable back to the number you want as you shouldn't overwrite the frsVariables when migrating to a new DeltaV revision.

  Regards,

  Matt

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• Butler faith

  

  • 19 Nov 2015 7:12 PM

  In reply to Matt Stoner:

  Matt;
  Thank you very much for your response.
  I am very interested in the fact to change the number of characters in the description of the module controls and I know I have to adapt the faceplate .
  I will need your help to find out the method or the vb code.
  Thank you for your reactivity.
  Best regards.

  Best regards.

  Butler faith.

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• Andre Dicaire

  

  • 19 Nov 2015 11:13 PM

  In reply to Matt Stoner:

  Matt,
  
  I'm not sure what the max size of the description is, but I just downloaded a 180 character string as a test. I wonder if it would be possible to parse the descriptor and push into a tool tip dynamically in the faceplate. Or place it in a multiline text field that is animated when the user hovers over the descriptor field in the faceplate. The descriptor could be separated with a character to have a 24 character prefix used for typical faceplates and the balance of the string placed in hidden portion, allowing the entire string to viewed on demand. Using the Split command, the two strings would be easily extracted.
  
  Agreed that all faceplates would need to be updated where this is needed, but I'm wondering if a tool tip wouldn't work? Or is there a way to make a text item appear when hovering over the descriptor field?
  
  As for the number of faceplates open at one time, if the modules are already displayed with a theme dynamo in the display, most, if not all the data from the module has already been requested for the dynamo. I would not expect to see much change in communication. Also, most of the data for a faceplate is static (alarm limits, scaling) and don't have exception. PV, SP, MODE, OUT are all in the dynamos already, and so are the alarm limits with the new dynamos. On my system, I'm not seeing any increase in unsolicited Sends with 5 faceplates open.

  Andre Dicaire

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• Matt Stoner

  

  • 20 Nov 2015 2:43 PM

  In reply to Andre Dicaire:

  Andre,
  
  The tool tip I think wouldn't look very good if it went across the whole operator screen for a large description but that is indeed an option that Butler could try as well. The multiple line option is what my suggested logic was going to do but the problem with the split is that there will be many " " in a description and you have to do almost the same amount of logic to put the strings back together to fit. I was going to look for where a space was at half way for the supported number of chars per line and then back track and put that portion of the description on line 1 and the rest on line 2.
  
  Tool tip is the only think that I know about that is simple unless doing ALOT of other logic...which is possible but not suggested :)
  
  Yes I agree with what you have stated but what I have seen is that the operators don't stay on that graphic with the dynamo so the links would get pruned at some point if the FP wasn't open. With the FP still open now, they would stay open so all those links would stay and continue communicating. I'm just putting the Warning out there that they should at least consider looking at that and testing to ensure the system still performs adequately if they allow more than the 3 (FYI, some people don't relize that this pinning is by faceplate name so you could actually have many more than 4 total FPs open).

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