CS Database and Tag Tools

There are two tools which can be used to edit the configuration of objects in the CS-Database. Until now both are only working with an ODBC data source on the local machine. Both tools are working by default with the CS-Database, but you can edit any other database which has the correct format and is configured as an ODBC data source.

DB_transfer

This tool can be used to transfer the configuration of objects from one system to another. You can export the data for objects from the database to an ini-file and vice versa. There is also the option to create a tagfile for the instances which are transfered.

DB_Config

This tool can be used to configure multiple instances without using MS-Access. You can create new entries either by using an existing configuration as default values or starting with an empty data sheet.

To edit instances, select the class they belong to in the classes list, then select one or more instances you want to edit in the instances list and press "edit instances". When editing the attribute values there are different forms which can be used to set the values, depending on the attribute type. (In some cases attributes which are actual of type string are used to store boolean or number values. The "as number"/"as bool"/"as tags" buttons provide the possibility to use other types than the original one.)

How to create tag files ?

To create a 'tag file' with one of the both tools you have to provide a default tag configuration file by performing the following steps :

1. A set of tags for this class has already to be configured.
2. Export the tag configuration from the DSC-Engine to a spreadsheet file.
   1. Select LabVIEWTools -> DSC Module -> Configure Tags
   2. Mark the tags to be exported.
   3. Select File -> Export.
   4. Select a name for a spread-sheet file: The format is "CLASSNAMEtags.txt" as filename. (e.g. BaseProcesstags.txt).
   5. Select the "All >>" button.
   6. Select the "Default Order" button.
   7. Select the "OK" button.
3. Edit the saved spreadsheet file with a text editor.
   1. Delete all tags which are not needed for this class. (There is no inheritance implemented yet so you also have to include the tags of the parent classes).
   2. Delete the first row (field names).
   3. Replace the instancename by "INSTANCENAME" at the tagnames. (e.g. BaseProcess_periodic_status -> INSTANCENAME_periodic_status)
4. Put the file in
   1. development system: ROOTPATH\LV71\GPL\Projects\cs-framework\CSClass\CSInterface\DB_Config.
   2. runtime system: BINARYPATH\data.

Now this 'default tag file' can be used to create new tag configurations, which can be imported to the DSC-Engine. I'm sorry for this extensive procedure, but until now (there is a mass tag configuration promised for LV8) i see no easier way for this and once you got this tag file ready, it is very easy to create a lot of tags at once.

How to create a file defining the relations between DIM and DSC

The relationship between DIM and DSC is defined via XML files, see Configuration of DSC Module. The relationship is pre-defined in a dedicated text file for each class. From that text file, an XML file can be created.

1. Create a dedicated text file, CLASSNAME_dim_dsc.txt. It has to be situated in the folder
   1. Development system: ROOTPATH\LV71\GPL\Projects\cs-framework\CSClass\CSInterface\DB_Config or
   2. runtime system: BINARYPATH\data.
2. Edit the text file using a text editor The file needs the following format:
   

INSTANCENAME_TagSuffix /tab DIRECTION /tab DATATYPE
where
DIRECTION is either "Write" or "Read", and
DATATYPE equals "Analog", "Discrete", "BitArray" or "String".

Important: For performance reasons, there is no name mapping from DIM service names to DSC tag names. Therefore, the name of a DIM service must be identical to the name of a DSC tag. This requires, that DIM service names that are connected to DSC must not use characters whitch are not supported by DSC. Examples for illegal characters are "\", "-", ...

How to migrate existing DSC-Tags to the DSCIntProc for DIM

The DCS-DIM-Migration Tool can be used to extract existing tags from DSC and store them to a XML-file to be used by the DSCIntProc. The format of the XML-file is the same as described in the previous format. This tool reads the existing tags from a running DSC-Engine. You can select a tag group and apply a filter to include or exclude tags from the list to be exported. The selected tags are displayed with some additional information and you can specify whether a tag should be linked to DIM or not and the direction (read write). The default direction is taken from the access rights, type output results in false and means publish to DIM. The XML-file can be read by the DSC/DIM-Tool to be appended to other XML-files.
-- HolgerBrand - 15 Sep 2006

Using the 'apply attribute mapping' function

When using the BaseProcess attributes (Special/Interface/Address) to store data which actual belongs a child class, this funcion can be used to replace the attributenames when editing objects of this class. To use this, the mapping has to be entered in an ini-file called 'mapping.ini' which is placed in the 'cs-framework\CSTools\CSDBTools\DB_Config\' folder. It has the following format :
[Classname]
BaseProcessAttributeName = synonym
...

-- TobiasHabermann - 27 Dec 2005
-- DietrichBeck - 05 Oct 2006