Explorer Release 4.8.0

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The P2 Explorer version 4.8 release introduces Time Windows, which extends the capabilities of the Trend to associate time windows with event data.

Explorer 4.8 also adds a new Histogram charting component, more trend enhancements, access to a user’s recently opened items, and the ability to create a case via a link action. This version also addresses issues found in previous releases.

 

Time Windows in the Trend

The Explorer Trend now allows users to create a Time Window, which is a defined time period of interest. Typically, these time periods would be associated with significant events that have occurred, such as a shut in or downtime event. In the following screenshots, you can see a shut in event, with Time Windows created for the event.

Time Windows can be created for any data item: tags, attributes, calculations, or analyses.

Viewing Time Windows

A new Duration mode has been added to the trend specifically for viewing Time Windows. Duration mode has the effect of changing the x-axis so that it starts at 0 seconds, and represents a period of time, rather than a time range. The Trend controls now only show Sample Interval and Sample Method.

When Duration mode is turned on, Time Windows also become automatically enabled, with the Time Window table being shown to the right of the Trace Table. This Time Window table can be toggled on and off by clicking the Time Windows button in the Trend ribbon.

Time Windows can only be shown for data items that have been added to a trend. So if you’ve added Tag A and Tag B to the trend, you will see Time Windows for those tags. If a tag has multiple associated time windows, they will be grouped with each window in a different shade of the same colour.

When you click a Time Window in the table, the corresponding trace lines are bolded, for each data item in that time window.

Editing a Time Window

If you need to change a Time Window, this is as simple as clicking the edit icon next to the data item in the Time Window table.

The Analysis panel will open with the Time Windows tab automatically selected.

Creating a Time Window

Time Windows are part of the Analysis panel, which can be toggled on or off by clicking the Analysis  button in the Trend ribbon.

When Time Windows is selected in the Analysis panel, dual hairlines are automatically enabled, and the Time Windows table appears to the right of the Trace Table.

You can create a Time Window by clicking the button in the Time Window panel, or the Time Window  icon in a hairline.

From the Time Windows panel: From the hairline:

When you create a new Time Window via the side panel, any data items on the trend are automatically added, and the start and end times are set to the hairline times. When you create a new Time Window from a hairline, only that hairline’s data item is automatically added, and the timestamp becomes the Start Time.

You may change the data items and start/end time if you wish, and optionally add a label and description. Note that End Time is optional, so that ongoing Time Windows can be created.

After clicking Save, the new Time Window is added to the Time Window table.

Note that Time Windows will only be visible if the data item has been added as a trace on the trend. You can add additional data items when creating a Time Window, but they will not automatically appear on the trend unless they have been added as a trace.

 


Time Windows in Page Charts

Page charts can also be configured to show Time Windows.

There are 3 configuration options to be aware of.

Chart Data

A new Time Windows category has been added to the data selector. This is only available for the Chart component.

The Time Windows data selector category allows you to add data items for the time windows you are interested in, and whether to show the last xx number of associated time windows, or time windows within a certain start and end time.

Last xx number of Time Windows: Time Windows within a specified period:

X-Axis Configuration

When configuring the x-axis, the Column should remain as ‘Timestamp’. However a new Duration Data Type has been added, which should be selected in order to display the Time Windows.

Series Configuration

Series configuration is as per usual; that is, you should add a series for each data item you want to show in the chart.

The Chart will automatically split out all the Time Windows for that data item into individual series.

 


Recently Accessed in My Environment

The My Environment page has been updated to include a list of the last 50 pages, trends, or workbooks that you have opened. You can filter the list to only show pages (or trends or workbooks) by clicking the corresponding icon next to the title .

 


Link Action to Create a New Case

A new Link Action type ‘New Case’ has been added for Hyperlinks, Hotspots, Status Tiles, Images, and some Charts.

Clicking the link will open a dialog box with pre-populated fields to create a new Explorer or Sentinel case, depending on how the link has been configured. The user will have the opportunity to change the fields before the case is created. Once created, the case will then appear in Case Management.

A new External Reference field has been added to Case Management, which can only be populated by using the New Case link action. This field is used to send a string to an external system, such as an entry ID. In the link action configuration, it is hooked up to a variable which stores the information that needs to be passed. One common way of using this is to pass the content of a table cell into the variable, such as the ID of a case. So if the hyperlink is used inside a Data Table, the row would publish a value to this variable, which could be passed to an external system from the Case.

The link can also be configured to be inactive if certain conditions are not met; for example, it could be active only for certain entities.

Example Active Hyperlink: Example Inactive Hyperlink:

New Histogram Component

The Histogram component allows page designers to plot sets of normalised data and generate a bell curve. The component also provides a range of statistical features in a separate panel, which can be hidden if required.

In Design Mode:

In Explorer Studio, the Histogram component has been added to the Chart group in the Toolbox.

In design mode, the page designer specifies the data they want to visualise and the colours they want to use. Style designers can change the font size, family, colour, weight, and case for the axis ticks and the text in the statistics panel. For the gridlines, the colour, thickness, and style can be changed, as well the background colour of the chart.


Table Layout Header Alignment

In the Table Layout, header rows now have an alignment style, which can be overridden on a per-column basis.

Style administrators can specify a default style for the header alignment, using the Text Header Alignment property.

When configuring a page, page designers can override the default style for each column, if desired. The alignment override behaves in the same way as other alignment overrides, such as the Text Label.

During Style administration: During page design:

Trend Enhancements

Digital States on Trend and Charts

In previous versions of Explorer, digital state tags on the trend would only show the numerical value of the digital state on the y-axis. In this version, the y-axis shows the text value of the digital state value, and changes the style type of the trace to the step-after style.

Trend String Tags

In previous versions of Explorer, attempting to add a string tag on the trend would result in a data error, with the trend unable to show any values. In this version, the y-axis shows the string value of the tag, and the trace uses the step-after style.

Align Min Max Ranges on Trace Table

The trace table on the Trend has a new column which allows you to align the minimum and maximum to a specified tag. When you click the vertical double arrow  next to the Max column, the minimum and maximum of all traces change to match that of the selected row. To revert, click the Autorange button in the Trend ribbon.

Align Ranges turned off:

Align ranges turned off

Align Ranges turned on:

Trace Table Functions

The following statistical functions have been added to the trace table, when dual hairlines are enabled:

  • Average Value
  • SI Integral
  • Minute Integral
  • Hour Integral
  • Day Integral
  • Absolute SI Integral
  • Absolute Minute Integral
  • Absolute Hour Integral
  • Absolute Day Integral

Note that Total Weighted Average Value (in Explorer 2.6) has been renamed to Time Weighted Average in the current version of P2 Explorer.

Entity Keyword in Templated Trend

When saving a templated trend by using the ‘Save this as a Template Link’ option, entity names in the saved trend are replaced with "entity" keyword when opening the calculation.

 

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