AlarmName parameter syntax guidelines

The format for using FactoryTalk alarm and event functions is:
<
Alarm and event function
>("
AlarmName
")
where
AlarmName
is an absolute or relative path to one or more alarms. You can also click the
Alarms
button to open the
Alarm Source Browser
 to browse for areas, groups, and alarm sources within the areas to be used with the alarm and event functions.
Absolute path
The format for the absolute path to an alarm is:
  • /<
    AreaPath
    >::<
    AlarmName
    >
  • /<
    AreaPath
    >:<
    GroupPath
    >::<
    AlarmName
    >
where
AreaPath
 - includes the application and area path, but not the application name. The parameter represents an area under the application where the alarm is defined. It must begin with the forward slash character and does not contain the application name.
GroupPath
– includes the application, area path, group path, but not application name. The parameter represents a group under the area or application where the alarm is defined. It must begin with the forward slash character and does not contain the application name.
AlarmName
- specifies a single alarm name, or uses the wildcard characters ? and * (question mark and asterisk) to specify multiple alarms.
Examples
  • /Area1/SubArea1::[CLX]Program:LineProgram.MixingTank1
    Specifies a single alarm.
  • /Area1/SubArea1::[CLX]Program:LineProgram.MixingTank*
    Specifies all the alarms that begin with MixingTank, and are in the specified area and subarea.
  • /Area1/SubArea1::*
    Specifies all the alarms that are contained in SubArea1.
  • /Area/SubArea:NGServer::[CLX]Program:LineProgram.MixingTank*
    Specifies all the alarms that begin with MixingTank, and are in the specified area and group.
  • /Area/SubArea:TagServer:Group.Sub Group1::*
    Specifies all the alarms that are contained in Sub Group 1.
Relative path
The format for the relative path is:
[::]<
AlarmName
>
where
AlarmName
- specifies a single alarm name, or uses the wildcard characters ? and * (question mark and asterisk) to specify multiple alarms that are contained in the same area as the display.
Examples
  • [CLX12]Program:Line1Program.MixingTank1
    Specifies a single alarm
  • [CLX12]Program:Line1Program.MixingTank1*
    Specifies all alarms that begin with MixingTank1
  • *
    Specifies all the alarms that are contained in the same area as the display
Remarks
  • Only the
    AlarmName
    parameter is used in the relative path format and the colons (::) that precede the alarm name are optional, unless there is a colon (:) in the tag name. In that case, double colons (::) must precede the alarm name.
  • The
    AlarmName
    parameter supports the replacement of tag placeholders used in graphic displays. For example, in
    /Area1/SubArea1::[CLX]Program:Line1Program.#1_TempAlarm
     the placeholder #1 would be replaced by the parameter #1 that is passed to the display. If the expression function cannot replace all the placeholders in an alarm name, nothing is returned by the expression function, and an error message is logged to FactoryTalk Diagnostics.
  • To get a total for all areas in a network distributed application with multiple areas, you need to use the absolute path syntax and sum functions for each area together. For example,
    AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area1::*") + AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area2::*") + AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area3::*")
  • To get a total for all alarms in an area or one server or one Group with sub Groups, you can use the absolute path syntax. For example,
    AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area1::*")
    AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area1:TagServer::*")
    AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area1:FactoryTalkLinxServer::*")
    AE_InAlmUnackedCount("/Area1:TagServer:Group1::*")
  • For the Navigation Menu's alarm notification, you only need to specify alarms in multiple areas, servers, or groups, and separate them with a semicolon (;). It will automatically calculate the total of active alarms. For example,
    /Area1::*
    /Area1:TagServer::*
    /Area1:FactoryTalkLinxServer::*
    /Area1:TagServer:Group1::*
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