Deprecated PLC Alarm (OGS)

The PLC Alarm Tag was developed in the Oil and Gas Solutions layer. That legacy version of the tag is now deprecated. Customers who were using it should consider updating their applications to use the replacement version.

Should I update my PLC alarm tags, or continue to use the deprecated version?

The deprecated version of the PLC alarm tag is not supported and may have functional problems. For this reason, we recommend upgrading to the current version. It is possible to continue using the deprecated version until you are ready to update to the newer version.

Features available only in the legacy PLC Alarm tag:

Trip alarms
Pulse Acknowledging
Alarm Pop-ups
Explicit Owner Tags and Contribution Types

(the basic contribution of alarm information of the tag is passed along implicitly to the "Associated Tag")
Custom Alarm Sounds
Reset and Latch bit control
Custom bitwise inversion of all read addresses

Legacy features, not supported by either version:

Alarm Suppression (P_SuppressedAddr, P_WrSuppressAddr, P_WrUnSuppressAddr)
Alarm Delay (Supplying an alarm delay duration using the right-click menu)

Features available only in the replacement PLC Alarm tag:

Reporting and control of the Disabled/Shelved/Acked status of the PLC alarm from the Alarm Page for Custom and Allen Bradley CIP PLC alarms
Display of the tag description on the alarm page.
Display of useful setpoints/values of PLC alarm tags on the alarm page.
No graphical glitches in the alarm tag properties dialog.
The ability to configure shelving durations for alarms
Consistent right-click functionality of the alarm records.
Functional delays for alarms
Individual control of security for the PLC alarm tag
The ability to mark the data from the tag as being Questionable
The ability to set an alarm’s Setpoint, Priority, Deadband, Delay, and Alarm condition (for digital alarms) in the PLC directly.
Custom alarm priority/severity mapping between VTS and the PLC
Custom display options for the tag, such as using an associated tag for displaying information on the alarm page, units, and style settings tags
Integration with the higher performance situational awareness widgets

To Continue Using the Deprecated PLC Alarm Tag:

Perform the following steps in each application for which you would like to continue using the deprecated PLC alarm tag.

Add a Property containing the following information:

Repeat this process, adding the following properties:

Property Name	Section	Value
PLCAlarm	RenamedVariables	LegacyPLCAlarm
PLCAlarmConfig	RenamedVariables	LegacyPLCAlarmConfig
PLCAlarmCommon	RenamedVariables	LegacyPLCAlarmCommon

Restart the application.

You should be able to continue using the deprecated PLC Alarm tag. The warning should not reappear.

Update to the Current Version of the PLC Alarm Tag

Perform the following steps in each application for which you would like to update the PLC alarm tags.

These instructions assume that Microsoft Excel is installed on your workstation.

Ensure your application's language is set to English.
Add a Property containing the following information:
(This is necessary in order to export the existing tags.)

Restart the application.
The application will now be using the Legacy PLC alarm tag, allowing you to export the legacy parameters.
Open the Application Configuration dialog.
Open the Export, Synchronize page
Select the export options, "Mark empty sheets as hidden", "Exclude automatically created tags".
Export the tag database, paying attention to your choice of destination folder.
Using Windows File Explorer, navigate to the destination folder.
Make a copy of the exported tag database.
(It is always advisable to have a backup. You may wish to save incremental backups as you work through the following procedure.)

Do the following within the Excel workbook, created in the previous set of steps.

The columns you will insert and modify must be placed after the Export Info column and before the Tag_Start_Condition column. Other than that restriction, the order of the columns does not matter.

Navigate to the PLCAlarm sheet.
Delete the following columns, which represent features not supported in the new PLC Alarm tag:

P_LAlarmAddr

P_SuppressedAddr

P_WrSuppressAddr

P_WrUnSuppressAddr

ResetAddr

Trip

Delay

AlarmSound

OwnerTag

ContributionType

PopUp

PulseAck

Insert a Column titled “PLCType”.
Refer to the earlier note about column placement.
For every row that has AB CIP PLC alarm blocks, enter the following as the PLCType:
Allen Bradley CIP PLC
For all other alarm block types, enter the following as the PLCType:
Custom PLC
In the AlarmType column, perform the following replacements:

Current Value Replace With

AB-Digital Alarm Digital Alarm

AB-HiHi Alarm High High Alarm

AB-Hi Alarm High Alarm

AB-Lo Alarm Low Alarm

AB-LoLo Alarm Low Low Alarm

AB-PosROC Alarm Positive Rate of Change Alarm

AB-NegROC Alarm Negative Rate of Change Alarm

Current Value	Replace With
AB-Digital Alarm	Digital Alarm
AB-HiHi Alarm	High High Alarm
AB-Hi Alarm	High Alarm
AB-Lo Alarm	Low Alarm
AB-LoLo Alarm	Low Low Alarm
AB-PosROC Alarm	Positive Rate of Change Alarm
AB-NegROC Alarm	Negative Rate of Change Alarm

For any rows that now have “Custom PLC" as the PLCType, populate the AlarmType Column with the appropriate alarm type from the list above (e.g. Low Alarm or Digital Alarm)
Perform the following replacements of column titles:

Current Title Replace With

DeviceTag I/O Device Name

P_AlarmAddr ActiveAddress

P_AckAddress AckedAddresss

P_WrAckAddress AckAddress

P_DisabledAddr DisabledAddress

P_WrDisableAddr DisableAddress

P_WrEnableAddr EnableAddress

P_ShelvedAddr ShelvedAddress

P_WrShelveAddr ShelveAddress

P_WrUnshelveAddr UnshelveAddress

P_TimerAddr DelayAddress

ScanInterval ScanRate

InvertInput InvertAddrBits

DelayUnits PLCDelayInSec

Priority PriorityParm

AlmBlkName AlarmBlockName

Current Title	Replace With
DeviceTag	I/O Device Name
P_AlarmAddr	ActiveAddress
P_AckAddress	AckedAddresss
P_WrAckAddress	AckAddress
P_DisabledAddr	DisabledAddress
P_WrDisableAddr	DisableAddress
P_WrEnableAddr	EnableAddress
P_ShelvedAddr	ShelvedAddress
P_WrShelveAddr	ShelveAddress
P_WrUnshelveAddr	UnshelveAddress
P_TimerAddr	DelayAddress
ScanInterval	ScanRate
InvertInput	InvertAddrBits
DelayUnits	PLCDelayInSec
Priority	PriorityParm
AlmBlkName	AlarmBlockName

(This step is conditional. If the following does not apply, skip to step 10)
-> If using any Custom PLC alarm tags
OR
-> If using the AlarmBlockName parameter
Then...
For each Custom PLC alarm tag, ensure that the *Address columns (P_AlmAddr, P_AckAddress, etc.) do not contain that tag’s AlarmBlockName. For each address that contains the text of that tag's AlarmBlockName as a prefix, either delete that tag's AlarmBlockName parameter to store this information in the addresses or delete the alarm block name prefix in the address columns. (This can be done with find and replace in the applicable cells.)

The final address is a combination of the AlarmBlockName and the address, so ensure that any necessary delimiters are contained in the alarm block name or the addresses.
As appropriate for your tags:
Set the value of InvertAddrBits to 1 to invert the alarm condition, or either 0 or blank for normal behavior.
For every cell in the column PLCDelayInSec that has the value 1000, replace the 1000 with 0.
(Optional) To configure additional settings in the tag and take advantage of the new features of the PLC alarm tag, insert the following columns:

Column Data Type

SecurityBit String

Questionable Boolean

Associated Tag
String

Set every cell to *Numeric, which will link to the parent numeric tag.
This column is recommended in order to retain default linking.

StyleTag
String

Optionally, set every cell to *Style Settings, which will link to the default System Style tag.

DisplayHookInfo Boolean

Units
String

Must be a phrase ID for the desired units

TripOptions Set as 2 to add the digital state to the alarm message.
Set as 0 otherwise.

PriorityMap String
Comma separated values of numeric severities in the PLC

ValueAddress String
Address to the alarm trigger value

SetpointAddress
String

Address to the alarm setpoint

PriorityAddress
String

Address to the alarm priority

DeadbandAddress
String

Address to the alarm deadband

ConditionAddress
String

Address to the alarm condition

Column	Data Type
SecurityBit	String
Questionable	Boolean
Associated Tag	String Set every cell to `*Numeric`, which will link to the parent numeric tag. This column is recommended in order to retain default linking.
StyleTag	String Optionally, set every cell to `*Style Settings`, which will link to the default System Style tag.
DisplayHookInfo	Boolean
Units	String Must be a phrase ID for the desired units
TripOptions	Set as 2 to add the digital state to the alarm message. Set as 0 otherwise.
PriorityMap	String Comma separated values of numeric severities in the PLC
ValueAddress	String Address to the alarm trigger value
SetpointAddress	String Address to the alarm setpoint
PriorityAddress	String Address to the alarm priority
DeadbandAddress	String Address to the alarm deadband
ConditionAddress	String Address to the alarm condition

Save and close the Excel spreadsheet.
If your application contains any custom tag types that contain a PLC alarm tag as a child, there are additional steps to be taken here. Repeat the steps from 7 in the preceding block (export to Excel) through to 13, for each of the custom types with PLC alarm tag children, exporting the excel spreadsheet from the Manage Types tab of the application configuration dialog.
Delete the application setting added in Step 2 of the first set of steps.
This will cause the application to use the upgraded PLC Alarm tag.
Restart the application.
(A warning will remind you that you have legacy PLC Alarm tags.)
Sync the changes to the tags in the Excel spreadsheet (Export, Synchronize).

You should not see the warning about deprecated PLC alarm tags on your next restart. You can continue to use the updated PLC alarm tag.