This article describes how comments are used throughout Explorer, and the various ways to view and capture comments.
Overview
Comments in Explorer are associated with time series data: tags, entities, and attributes. Each comment includes the data's name and timestamp, the date and time the comment was added, and the name of the user who commented. Comments can also have replies, each one with the name of the user who replied, and when they replied.
Comment for an Entity
Comment for an Attribute
Comment for a Tag
What are the Comments About?
Depending on where the comments are added, they can be about tags, entities, or attributes.
They are grouped in the Explore panel, or on an Explorer page, with other related comments. Related comments (all for the specified time range) could be:
Comments for a specific tag
Comments for a specific entity and its attributes
Comments for a specific attribute of an entity
Comments for an entity, its child entities within a specified hierarchy, and attributes from all of these
Collections of comments can be further refined through the use of a Comment Context filter.
Each collection of comments appears as a list, ordered with the most recently added comments at the top.
Comments for a Tag
Comments for a tag can be added from a Trend, an Embedded Trend, a Chart, or from the Point Details page for the tag, or from a Comments Button component, or Comments component on an Explorer page.
Comments for tag {Current_Flowrate}
Note: The Embedded Trend and Chart components need to be configured for adding comments.
Comments for an attribute can be added from a Trend, an Embedded Trend, or a Chart, or from the Point Details page for the attribute, or from a Comments Button component, or Comments component on an Explorer page.
Comments for attribute TWell 1[Oil Producing Well]:Tubing Head Pressure!Actual
Note: The Embedded Trend and Chart components need to be configured for adding comments.
Comments for an Entity
Comments for an entity can be added and accessed from a Comments Button component, or a Comments component.
Comments are for the specified entity as well as its attributes.
Comments relating to entity TWell 1 and its attributes
Comments for a hierarchy section can be added from a Comments Button component, or a Comments component.
Comments are for the specified entity, as well as all of its descendent entities. Comments for attributes of all of these entities are also listed here.
Comments relating to entity TArea 1, its attributes, its child entities, and all of their attributes
Comment Context
Comment Context can be applied to the Comments Button component and the Comments component.
Comments are saved with their comment context. This enables filtering (for the selected time range) as follows:
A comment component with no comment context will show all comments that were saved for the same data (entity, attribute, tag)
A comment component with comment context will show all comments that were saved for the same data and the same comment context
A comment component with comment context will not show comments that were saved for a different comment context
A comment component with comment context will not show comments that were saved with no comment context
The examples below show how comment context affects the way comments are saved and then viewed:
Saved Comment
Viewed Comment
Entity
Comment Context
TWell 1
Daily Report
TWell 1
Monthly Report
Silver
High Values
Silver
High Values
Silver
Silver
Entity
Comment Context
Outcome
TWell 1
Daily Report
The saved comment will appear
TWell 1
Daily Report
The saved comment will NOT appear (because of unmatched comment context)
Silver
High Values
The saved comment will appear
Silver
The saved comment will appear (because there is no comment context)
Silver
The saved comment will appear (because there is no comment context)
Silver
High Values
The saved comment will NOT appear (because of unmatched comment context)
As with all other comments, you can save a comment with comment context on one page, and view it in another.
If a comment has Comment Context, this appears after the entity name, as in this example:
In the examples below, you can see how two comment lists for the same entity and time period differ based on the Comment Context. The third comment list has no Comment Context, so all comments for the entity and time period appear in the list.
Comments for entity TWell 6 with a Comment Context Monthly
Comments for entity TWell 6 with a Comment Context Daily
Comments for entity TWell 6 with no Comment Context
Comments on a Page or in the Explore Panel
Comments can appear on a Point Details page, or on a page (if the Comments component is used) or they can appear in the Explore panel (when opened from a Comments button on a trend, chart, or page).
Comments on a page
Comments in the Explore panel
The features for both are essentially the same, although for page comments you cannot change the comment's time range. Note that having a Time Picker control (such as the Date/Time Range Picker) enables users to change the comments time range. By default, both use the page variables startTime and endTime to define their start and end times.
Comments Structure
Regardless of where the comments are displayed (on the page itself, or on the Explore panel), you can do most the following in a list of related comments:
Add a new comment
Change the range of comments to search for (* see note below)
Reply to a comment
Edit or delete a comment or reply (with the appropriate privileges)
Open an entity from a pill
* Note: For comments on a page, you need a time picker on the page to change the time range of comments
1.
Data Name: This is the configured data for the comments in the list. This could be a tag, an entity, or an attribute name.
2.
New comment: Type a new comment in the edit box, then press enter or click Save. The new comment's time is the page's end time, and for trends or charts, it is the hairline's timestamp. The new comment's data is the same as that shown in the list header (TWell 1, in this example).
Note: From version 4.6.4, you can format the text in a comment.
3.
Date range: For a page, this defaults to the page's start time (Show From) to end time (To), and for charts and trends, both times default to the hairline's timestamp.
Use the date/time pickers to change the range. Only comments within the time range appear in the list. Note that these times do not affect the time of any new or edited comments.
For comments on a page, you can only change this range by changing the page start and end time, for example with Time Pickers, if these have been added to the page.
4.
Comment Header: Each comment has a header containing the name of the user who commented, as well as data's name and timestamp.
Comment Details: The comment text appears here. Comments can include entities in pills. Click an entity pill such as this one to open the Entity Details in the Explore panel. Comments can also include user names (see Comment Mentions).
Comment Footer: The comment footer shows the time that the comment was added. Click the Reply icon to reply to the comment. Click Show Replies(n)… to show replies to this comment, and Hide Replies… to close the replies again. Click the Edit icon to edit the comment, or click the Trash icon to delete the comment.
5.
Scrollbar: Use the vertical scrollbar to locate older comments.
Locating Comments
Comments are marked on the page or trend by a comment marker or button, or they just appear on the page when a Comments component is used.
Comments in trends, charts and embedded trends are marked by a comment marker: a small, inverted triangle coloured to match the comment data's trace line. The comment marker has a dashed line that extends through the trace line to the X Axis, so that you can approximate the comment's time (the actual timestamp appears when you open the comments).
Click a comment marker to open the data's comments for this timestamp, in the Explore panel. You can change the comment period using the Show From and To dates.
Comment Buttons are filled in if there are comments. When you mouse-hover over the comment button, a tooltip appears showing the number of comments for this data and time period.
Click a comment button to open the data's comments for the page's start and end times, in the Explore panel. You can change the comment period using the Show From and To dates.
Comments for the page start and end dates appear on a page when Comment components are used. If there is a date picker on the page, you can use this to change the comment period.
Adding, Replying to, Editing, and Deleting Comments
In the comments editor, you can add a new comment, or you can reply, edit, or delete (depending on your privileges).
When adding, editing, or replying to comments you can mention another user, and you can include an entity reference, by using mentions @ and hashtags # in the content.
Regardless of your role's privileges, you can edit and delete any of the comments that you added. Aside from this, comments can only be secured at the resource level and above.
When adding a comment in Explorer, you can type an at @ symbol, followed by one or more characters, then choose a user from the list of Explorer users that appears.
You can also type in the hash # symbol, followed by one or more characters, then choose an entity from the list of Explorer entities.
Comment Mentions
When you add a user to a comment by using the @ symbol, their name appears in a pill in the comment, together with a user icon.
Two users have been mentioned in this comment
Each of the mentioned users receives a new type of notification, called a Comment Mentions notification.
Here, P2 User receives a new Comment Mentions notification, which the user can click to view the Comment Mention.
When you add an entity to a comment by using the # symbol, the entity name appears, prefixed by its primary template icon, in a pill in the comment. If there is no icon, then the standard entity icon is shown. The entity name is in blue, indicating that it is a hyperlink.
An entity with a well icon
An entity with the standard entity icon
Click an entity pill to open that entity’s overview and commentary in the Explore panel.
Note: Live Preview only applies to version 4.6.2. In later versions, mentions are supported natively and a text format toolbar is available.
When adding, editing, or replying to a comment, a Live Preview tab appears below the edit box, showing the entity and user names, if any have been used.
After saving, the pills appear as they did in the Live Preview.
Comment Components in Studio
There are two comment components that can be added to pages:
Comments Button component
Comments component
Apart from this, charts and embedded trends can also be configured to allow comments.
The Comments Button component shows a small icon, which can be clicked to open the entity/tag/attribute's comments in the Explore panel.
This comment button opens comments for entity TRegion 1, in the Explore panel
The Comments component displays the entity/tag/attribute's comments on the page.
This comment component shows all comments relating to entity TWell 1 and its attributes, for the selected period.
Comments in Explorer
ON THIS PAGE:
This article describes how comments are used throughout Explorer, and the various ways to view and capture comments.
Overview
Comments in Explorer are associated with time series data: tags, entities, and attributes. Each comment includes the data's name and timestamp, the date and time the comment was added, and the name of the user who commented. Comments can also have replies, each one with the name of the user who replied, and when they replied.
What are the Comments About?
Depending on where the comments are added, they can be about tags, entities, or attributes.
They are grouped in the Explore panel, or on an Explorer page, with other related comments. Related comments (all for the specified time range) could be:
Collections of comments can be further refined through the use of a Comment Context filter.
Each collection of comments appears as a list, ordered with the most recently added comments at the top.
Comments for a Tag
Comments for a tag can be added from a Trend, an Embedded Trend, a Chart, or from the Point Details page for the tag, or from a Comments Button component, or Comments component on an Explorer page.
Note: The Embedded Trend and Chart components need to be configured for adding comments.
Read more: Embedded Trend Comments, Chart Comments, Hairlines: adding a comment from a trend, Formatting Text
Comments for an Attribute
Comments for an attribute can be added from a Trend, an Embedded Trend, or a Chart, or from the Point Details page for the attribute, or from a Comments Button component, or Comments component on an Explorer page.
Note: The Embedded Trend and Chart components need to be configured for adding comments.
Comments for an Entity
Comments for an entity can be added and accessed from a Comments Button component, or a Comments component.
Comments are for the specified entity as well as its attributes.
Read more: Comments Button component
Comments for a Hierarchy Section
Comments for a hierarchy section can be added from a Comments Button component, or a Comments component.
Comments are for the specified entity, as well as all of its descendent entities. Comments for attributes of all of these entities are also listed here.
Comment Context
Comment Context can be applied to the Comments Button component and the Comments component.
Comments are saved with their comment context. This enables filtering (for the selected time range) as follows:
The examples below show how comment context affects the way comments are saved and then viewed:
As with all other comments, you can save a comment with comment context on one page, and view it in another.
If a comment has Comment Context, this appears after the entity name, as in this example:
In the examples below, you can see how two comment lists for the same entity and time period differ based on the Comment Context. The third comment list has no Comment Context, so all comments for the entity and time period appear in the list.
Comments on a Page or in the Explore Panel
Comments can appear on a Point Details page, or on a page (if the Comments component is used) or they can appear in the Explore panel (when opened from a Comments button on a trend, chart, or page).
The features for both are essentially the same, although for page comments you cannot change the comment's time range. Note that having a Time Picker control (such as the Date/Time Range Picker) enables users to change the comments time range. By default, both use the page variables startTime and endTime to define their start and end times.
Comments Structure
Regardless of where the comments are displayed (on the page itself, or on the Explore panel), you can do most the following in a list of related comments:
* Note: For comments on a page, you need a time picker on the page to change the time range of comments
Note: From version 4.6.4, you can format the text in a comment.
Locating Comments
Comments are marked on the page or trend by a comment marker or button, or they just appear on the page when a Comments component is used.
Comments in trends, charts and embedded trends are marked by a comment marker: a small, inverted triangle coloured to match the comment data's trace line. The comment marker has a dashed line that extends through the trace line to the X Axis, so that you can approximate the comment's time (the actual timestamp appears when you open the comments).
Click a comment marker to open the data's comments for this timestamp, in the Explore panel. You can change the comment period using the Show From and To dates.
Comment Buttons are filled in if there are comments. When you mouse-hover over the comment button, a tooltip appears showing the number of comments for this data and time period.
Click a comment button to open the data's comments for the page's start and end times, in the Explore panel. You can change the comment period using the Show From and To dates.
Comments for the page start and end dates appear on a page when Comment components are used. If there is a date picker on the page, you can use this to change the comment period.
Read more: Finding a Comment, View and Add Comments (on a chart)
Adding, Replying to, Editing, and Deleting Comments
In the comments editor, you can add a new comment, or you can reply, edit, or delete (depending on your privileges).
When adding, editing, or replying to comments you can mention another user, and you can include an entity reference, by using mentions @ and hashtags # in the content.
Read more: Adding a Comment, Replying to a Comment, Editing a Comment
Comments Security
Regardless of your role's privileges, you can edit and delete any of the comments that you added. Aside from this, comments can only be secured at the resource level and above.
Read more: Comments Security
Mentions and Hashtags in Comments
When adding a comment in Explorer, you can type an at @ symbol, followed by one or more characters, then choose a user from the list of Explorer users that appears.
You can also type in the hash # symbol, followed by one or more characters, then choose an entity from the list of Explorer entities.
Comment Mentions
When you add a user to a comment by using the @ symbol, their name appears in a pill in the comment, together with a user
icon.
Each of the mentioned users receives a new type of notification, called a Comment Mentions notification.
Here, P2 User receives a new Comment Mentions notification, which the user can click to view the Comment Mention.
Read more: Comment Mention
Entities in Comments
When you add an entity to a comment by using the # symbol, the entity name appears, prefixed by its primary template icon, in a pill in the comment. If there is no icon, then the standard entity
icon is shown. The entity name is in blue, indicating that it is a hyperlink.
Click an entity pill to open that entity’s overview and commentary in the Explore panel.
Read more: Entity Details
Live Preview
Note: Live Preview only applies to version 4.6.2. In later versions, mentions are supported natively and a text format toolbar is available.
When adding, editing, or replying to a comment, a Live Preview tab appears below the edit box, showing the entity and user names, if any have been used.
After saving, the pills appear as they did in the Live Preview.
Comment Components in Studio
There are two comment components that can be added to pages:
Apart from this, charts and embedded trends can also be configured to allow comments.
The Comments Button component shows a small icon, which can be clicked to open the entity/tag/attribute's comments in the Explore panel.
The Comments component displays the entity/tag/attribute's comments on the page.
Read about how to configure the Comments Button component, and the Comments component, and how to configure Hairlines and Comments in a Chart.
Comments in Server
Comments are stored in the database.
Read about how they are stored and how they can be used: Comments