Explorer Release 4.5.4

P2_RGB Explorer Icon

P2 Explorer 4.5 addresses the need for users to build their own Explorer pages and trends. With the addition of two critical components, the Performance Curve and the Embedded Trend, Studio’s Toolbox has a comprehensive set of controls, enabling you to create the pages that you need, in order to optimise the way you display your data.

Explorer 4.5 offers a more usable Design Mode, and a Display Mode that makes it simpler for users to navigate through the displays, and easier to understand data and trends. Navigation has been streamlined to give a better user experience, allowing users to link to pages, trends or related information on external URLs through hyperlinks or drill-down charts on pages, as well as view a trend or point details of data displayed on pages. Workspaces are easier to work with than before, and the ribbon tabs have been consolidated.

Patch Release 4.5.4 provides dozens of fixes, as well as changes to several components, making them easier to work with. Studio has had some improvements to navigation, making it easier to work with pages while editing. Notable features are the wildcard search on tags and attributes, the new ‘relative time’ trigger type, the Save As feature that’s now available in Display Mode, and the ability to drag tags and attributes from the Navigators onto any open page or trend, or from a page to any other page or trend (in Design and Display modes).

Note: P2 Server 4.5.4 is a prerequisite for P2 Explorer 4.5.4.

 

Searching with Wildcard Filtering

All Search functions in Explorer now have Wildcard filtering capabilities for tags and entities, allowing you to search for patterns, as an alternative to the regular simple text match available since earlier versions.

Using Asterisks

Use an asterisk (*) at the beginning, middle and/or end of the search text, to search for patterns that contain one or more alpha-numeric values.

Search results match the search term for all text before or after the asterisks. Any number of alpha-numerical characters can replace the asterisks in the search term. For example, the search term ‘*900’ will return search results ending in ‘900’ (such as 12350900, ‘ABC900’, ‘989hhh900’, etc.), while the search term ‘*.pump*rate’ returns results that contain alpha-numeric values before and after ‘.pump’, and end with ‘rate’ (such as ‘Abes.PumpFlowRate’, ‘Alligator.PumpFlowRate’, etc.).

Using Question Marks

Use one or more question mark characters (?), to limit replacement text to one alpha-numeric character per question mark symbol.

Examples Using One or Both Symbols

You can also use a combination of asterisks and question marks, as shown in the table below.

Search String Valid Search Results
RT??MN RTABMN
RTW1MN
RT12MN
*99?2?4 Hello991234
ABCDEFG99H2I4
A99Z2S4
Pump*8? Pump000981
PumpXYZ12383
Pump8888880

Note: When searching for page names or trend names, do not use wildcard symbols.

Saving a Page from Display Mode

Now you can save a page without being a page editor. This means you can copy a page to another workspace, or to the same workspace using a different page name, without making any changes to the page.

You can click Save As either from a workspace detail for a page, or from the page itself, in Display mode.


Clicking Save As in the Workspace Detail panel, for a page


Clicking Save As from the Page ribbon, for a page in Display mode

The Save Display As window appears, so that you can select a name and workspace to save the page to.

 


Dragging Data between Display Tabs

In Explorer, there are various ways to move data (tags and attribute values) to a page or a trend. For example, you can drag a tag from the Tags Navigator onto an embedded trend on a page (in Display mode), or you can drag it onto a trend. Also in Display mode, you can drag a data label to an Embedded Trend on the same page.

In Studio mode, you can drag a Tag from the Tags Navigator onto a page, or into a component’s editor, or you can drag an Attribute Value from the Attributes Panel onto a page.

In this version of Explorer, you have the same functionality available, except now you can choose which page or trend to add to, from any open display. Drag the data item, then hover over a page or trend tab to give it focus, before dropping it onto that page or trend.

Note that if you are dragging a data label from a page, the original data label remains on the page.

The example below demonstrates how you can add a label to an embedded trend on Page 3, from a data label on Page 1.

1. Drag a data label to the tab of an open page or trend.

2. The page/trend gets focus. Drag over the embedded trend on the page.

3. Drop the data label onto the embedded trend.


Trend Updates

New Adaptive Raw Sample Method

This version of P2 Explorer introduces a new Trend sample method, called ‘Adaptive Raw’. Adaptive Raw fetches far fewer data points from P2 Server (a maximum of 2000 points), yet renders a trend that is virtually identical to that produced when using the ‘Raw’ sample method (you may need to adjust the Sample Interval for Raw, to notice this).

The Adaptive Raw method renders the trend much faster than the ‘Raw’ method does. The Sample Interval cannot be selected for this method; it is called ‘Auto’, and is determined automatically to deliver the optimal number of data points. Server fetches the raw data points from the Historian, then uses an algorithm within its calculation engine to reduce the number of points, before sending these on to Explorer for trending.

Using the Adaptive Raw method, you can now view granular trends over a much longer period than before (up to two years, rather than up to eight hours).

Sample Intervals

The trend Sample Intervals, which are limited depending on the selected Time Range and Sample Method used, have had these limitations relaxed.

The trend durations allow for smaller sample intervals, and the default sample method for each duration is more granular than in earlier versions. For example, a 3 months duration now defaults to a 4 hours sample interval (previously, the default was a 12 hours sample interval), and it has 1 hour as its smallest sample interval (previously it was 2 hours).

New Save As Button

There are now two buttons on the Trend ribbon, for saving trends. The Save As button is used for saving the trend to a specified name and workspace. This is what the Save button used to do. The Save button is now used to save to the current trend name and workspace; there is no longer a confirmation dialog for the Save button.


The dialog that appears when you click Save As

 


Ribbon Updates

There is a new ribbon tab, called Details, that is activated when the Point Detail page is opened, for a tag or an attribute value. The Details ribbon tab was introduced in the previous release, 4.5.3.


Details Ribbon tab

 


Studio Updates

Component Focus in Studio

In Studio, in Design mode, as soon as you click on a component on the page, the Component editor opens. If you have any of the other Configuration panels open (for Default Values, Triggers, or Properties) this will toggle to the Component editor panel as soon as you click on a component on the page, or drag a new component onto the page.

This saves you from having to click the Component button on the Studio ribbon, each time you want to edit a component.


Clicking on a component opens the Component editor panel

New Trigger Type for Relative Time

Explorer has a new trigger type, called Relative Time. This trigger is used to set an output Datetime variable to a time that is relative to an input Datetime variable.

The new output variable can be used elsewhere on the page, effectively allowing you to have a relative time that keeps pace with the date and time that you are selecting.

In the example below, a Relative Time’s output time variable is used as the end time for an embedded trend, while its input time variable is the page’s startTime.

For the above example, this is how the relative time was configured:

a. Click Add, to add a new Relative Time Trigger
b. Optionally add a Trigger Title. We type in RelativeTime1.
c. The Input Time is the time that the relative time trigger relates to. We select startTime, which is a page variable.
d. The Time Difference can be any number of Days, hours, minutes and seconds (Days, Hours, Mins, and Secs). We type in 60 for Days, and leave the other fields as zero.
e. Choose to have the relative time Before or After the Input Time. We select After.
f. The Output Time is a variable, and requires a name. We type in twoMonthsLater.

Note: The different triggers now each have a Trigger Title, which can be used to help organise them.

Changes to Default Values

The Default Values startTime, when configured to use the Relative Datetime option, has had a format change, matching the new Relative Time Trigger Type. It is easier to configure, and the smallest duration can be measured in seconds.

   
The new formatting for Relative Datetime Previous versions used a Minutes-only format

Dropping Tags and Attribute Values in Preview Mode

Previously, there was no change to a page when a tag or an attribute value was dragged from one of the navigators onto a Studio page that was in Preview mode.

With this release, a page that is in Preview mode automatically switches to Design mode when a user tries to drag a tag or an attribute value onto the page, or into the property editor of a component, so that it can be added.

   
1. The page is in Preview mode. 2. As you hover over the page, it changes to Design mode, so that you can drop the tag onto the page.

Dropping Components in Preview Mode

In Studio, a page that is in Preview mode automatically switches to Design mode when a user tries to drag a component from the Toolbox onto the page.

   
1. The Studio page is in Preview mode. 2. As you hover over the page, it changes to Design mode, so that you can drop the component onto the page.

 


Component Changes

Changes to the Hyperlink

The hyperlink component now has all three Tab Type options for any of the hyperlink types. These options are: New Explorer Tab, Same Explorer Tab, and New Browser Tab.

Note: Unsecured (HTTP) URLs will always open in a new browser tab, when opened from a secured Explorer (HTTPS) site, regardless of the selected tab type.

Embedded Trend with Adhoc Calcs

Previously you could drag and drop a data label onto an embedded trend to show an attribute value or a tag. In this version of Explorer, ad hoc calculation data labels can also be dragged onto an embedded trend.

Changes to the Bullet Graph

The bullet graph has several small updates, as part of the work addressing isses that were raised.

The two bullet charts shown below share the same style properties, and are also configured to use the same values (Actual = 10, Target = 20, Measure 1 = 10, Measure 2=15 and Measure 3=18).


A bullet chart in version 4.5.4


The same bullet chart in earlier versions

In version 4.5.4, the changes in appearance for the bullet chart are as follows:

  • The last measure region no longer extends to fill the width of the container. Instead it obeys the limits set in the editor (in the example, target is greater than measure 3; this is clearly shown, in version 4.5.4).
  • There is now a fixed padding on the right equal to 1/2 of the target bar width (which is determined by style settings).
  • The target bar is centred on the target value, whereas previously the left edge of the target bar corresponded with the target value
  • The target bar (using a style that has a line style property) is no longer twice as thick as it should be.

Changes to the Status Indicator

The Status Indicator component has had extensive changes in the editor. Subjective and potentially ambiguous terms such as ‘Good’, ‘Bad’, ‘Reversed’, and so on, have been replaced by clear and unambiguous labels and graphical representations.

The Status Indicator is now easier to work with, and can also be used for various purposes. The behaviour in Display mode is essentially the same, although symbols might be different (configured from a wider selection), and the indicator can also be configured for two states instead of three.

Here are some of the changes:

  • The labels Good, Average and Bad have been replaced by state configuration options (symbols and colours), with arrows indicating progression from one state to the next.
  • Instead of a Reversed option, you can now pick a Direction: ‘Ascending’ or ‘Descending’.
  • Selecting Percentage changes the Limit label/s from ‘Limit’ to ‘Limit %’; this makes it clear that the Actual value is evaluated as a percentage (the Limit %) of the Target.
  • Colours for the different ‘States’ are now set in the editor, rather than in the Styles. You are now also able to select an icon for each of the different states.
   
Selecting an icon and colour for a state, in the editor This is how the status indicator look in display mode, for the colour and icon

In the examples below, the numbers are the same in both cases (Actual is 42, which is less than 50% of 90). Depending on the Direction (Ascending or Descending), this is either depicted as ‘above’ the limit, or it is ‘below’ the limit.

   
In Ascending Direction, Actual (42) is below 45 (50% of Target), hence the configured red warning symbol (exclamation mark) is shown in the component. In Descending Direction, Actual (42) is above 45 (50% of Target), hence the configured green tick is shown in the component.

When a new component editor is dragged onto a page, the default State Count is 2 States. For a more complex Status Indicator, you can choose 3 States.

Note that Status Indicators from earlier versions will have 3 States selected.

Images

You can now upload and use .gif images in the Explorer image component. Previously, image file types were limited to: .png, .jpg, .ico, and .svg.

The types of supported images can be seen, when you upload an image in Explorer.

 


Previous Releases

For a complete list of P2 Explorer release notes, see Explorer Releases.

 

Comments are closed