A drawing comes alive when its symbols are connected to device values. You do this in one place: the Views of a device or a site. The drawing stays generic; each device or site keeps its own connections, so one drawing can serve many places.
Where views live
| Subject | Where |
|---|---|
| A device | The device page’s Views tab |
| A site or asset | Sites & Assets, open the site, then the Views button (a wide drawer) |
| All devices of a profile | The device profile page’s Views button (see One drawing for many places) |
A device or site can have several views, for example a 2D drawing and a 3D view, or two 3D views. Each view is known by its kind and its drawing’s name, for example “3D view · Pool plant”; a second view of the same name reads “(2)”.
1. Attach a view
- Open the device’s Views tab (or the site’s Views).
- Choose Choose a drawing to use an existing 2D drawing, or Add a 3D view.
- Pick the drawing from the list (it shows how many devices or sites already use each). To start from nothing, use New from this device (or New from this site). It asks for a name first, prefilled with the subject’s name.
You need the write permission for drawings or 3D designs, and read access to the device and its telemetry.
On a site:
- A site with no view of its own can reuse a child’s view with Use
‘s drawing here or Use‘s 3D view here . “A copy … becomes this site’s own: the same drawing, the same devices and its N links.keeps its view.” - A site under a building that has a view says “This site is shown by
‘s view”: dashboards draw the part of that view where the site is. - A device that is part of a site’s view says “Shown in
‘s view”. Give it a view of its own only if it should look different.
2. Connect the symbols
- Select Edit symbols beside the picture. “Click a symbol to connect it.” Unconnected symbols are tinted, and the title counts “12 / 20 connected”.
- Click a symbol. The Symbol data panel opens for that symbol only.
- Device: pick the device that measures it. On a site, the site’s devices are listed first. A suggestion may be offered: “Suggested: P-201. Its name matches this symbol.” or “It is placed where this symbol’s name says.” or “the device you picked last”.
- What this symbol shows: for each field the symbol draws, pick its source, A device value or An expression. The values list shows the device’s latest keys with their live values and age; a key that matches the field by name is suggested.
- Select Save, or Save and next to move on. Next symbol goes to the next symbol that is not connected.
The fields a symbol draws:
| Field | Used for |
|---|---|
| Running | On/off: rotating, flowing, lit |
| Reading | The number printed under or beside the symbol, or a level |
| Second reading | A second number on two-row symbols |
| Status | Normal, warning or critical colour |
| Opening | How far a valve, damper, door or blind is open (%) |
| Speed | How fast fans, pumps, reels and flow run (% of nominal) |
| Mode (hand / auto) | A badge for manual, local, maintenance, locked out or simulated |
| Direction | Forward or reverse |
Automatic by name. A device that sends keys named <symbol id>.<field> is connected without picking: p1.running, t1.value, fan_2.speed. The progress line then reads “18 of 20 symbols connected (15 by name)”. The fields a key can end in are value, value2, running, status, warning, critical, label, capacity, mode, quality, speed, direction, ack, position, pending and failed.
The panel warns when a value does not fit, for example “This value is on/off; the drawing expects a number.” or “This value says closed or stopped; the drawing shows open or running here. Invert it with an expression.”
Clear what this symbol reads removes its connections; the symbol stays on the drawing.
Expressions
An expression converts a value in one line, for example a raw 0–4095 reading into a percentage. “One line. Use the names below; tap one to insert it.” A live preview shows the result: “Result now: 62.5”.
| Device sends | Symbol wants | Expression |
|---|---|---|
0 / 1 | running yes/no | value == 1 |
| tenths of a degree | degrees | value / 10 |
1 when stopped | running | !value |
| raw 0–4095 | percent | value / 4095 * 100 |
| a number | a status word | value > 80 ? "critical" : "ok" |
| supply and return temperatures | the difference | supply - return_in |
Rules:
- One JavaScript expression, at most 200 characters, no line breaks.
- Names it may read:
value(the field’s raw value),row(the symbol’s other fields),now(milliseconds since the epoch),Math,Number,String,Boolean,parseFloat,parseInt,isNaN,isFinite. - Up to 4 more values of any device, each with a short name (a lowercase letter first, at most 16 letters, digits or underscores), with Add a value.
- No statements, assignments, functions, loops or comments. Expressions run in an isolated sandbox in your browser. They only compute.
Ready-made forms are offered: Difference, Invert, Ratio (%), Round, Scale 0–100 (Make 0–100 from the raw value: “Use the numbers of the device’s own scale, for example 1500 when dry and 3300 when soaked.”), Threshold and Words.
Use this expression on the same symbols of this drawing copies it to the other symbols of the same kind; each keeps its own device and value.
Match everything
Match everything… proposes a device and a value for every symbol that has none, in one table (Symbol, Shows, Reads, Certain). “N values proposed for this drawing; M are certain and ticked. Untick what is wrong, then apply.” Select Apply N proposals; Undo puts the connections back. On a site, it ranks the site’s devices.
When the drawing changes
If someone changes a drawing so that saved connections no longer match (a symbol removed or its id changed), the view shows “N saved connections no longer match the drawing.” with Review. Moving a symbol, changing a rule or the first save of a blank drawing does not trigger it.
When you attach a second view with the same symbols as one the device already uses, you are asked Use the links of the other view?: Copy the links or Start empty.
3. Show it on a dashboard
Put a Process diagram or Design, live (3D) card on a board whose page is about a device or a site. Its Picture setting decides what it draws:
| Picture | The card draws |
|---|---|
| The drawing chosen on the device’s page (default) | The view of the device or site the page shows, with its values |
| A drawing of this card’s own | One saved drawing whatever the page; the card says Fixed picture · |
Which view picks, by name, which of the device’s views a card draws when it has several. A viewer who may change the board can switch a fixed card back with Follow the device’s view instead.
Under each view, the Views tab says where it is shown: “Shown on N dashboards; M keep their own picture:
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| “This drawing is not linked to devices here yet. Link it in the Views of its site or device.” | Connect the symbols on Views. |
| “N symbols read devices this card does not show, so they show no values” | Add those devices to the card’s data. |
| “No value yet” | The device has not sent that key. Check its Telemetry tab. |
| “Typing alone connects nothing: pick one of the values in the list.” | Pick a value from the list, or choose An expression. |
More: Troubleshooting SCADA.