Entering Data Source Syntax

To select a data source, enter its name in the Data Source field of the Animations dialog box, using the required syntax that tells iFIX what type of source contains the data. To assist you with the data source and its syntax, iFIX provides intelligent defaults, which allows the software to automatically fetch a data source based on an incomplete entry. For example, if your data source is an iFIX tag, and you enter AI1 in the Data Source field, iFIX connects to a .F_CV field in the FIX32 database on the local SCADA server.

The following table lists the syntax for each data source type.

Data Source Syntax
When the data source is...	Use the syntax...
An iFIX tag	Fix32.node.tag.field where: node is the name of the iFIX SCADA server you are connecting to; tag is the database tag; and field is the database field.
A GE Historian tag	Hist.collector.tag where: Hist is the alias of the GE Historian Server; collector is the name of the GE Historian collector you are connecting to; and tag is the database tag.
An I/O address	server.io_address where: server is the name of the OPC server; and io_address is the I/O address of that server.
An object property in a picture	picture.object.property where: picture is the picture that contains the object; object is the object in the picture; and property is the object's property name.
A picture property	picture.property where: picture is the picture that contains the property; and property is the picture's property name.
A VBA event	N/A. When you animate objects with a VBA script, the script handles all of the animation by directly changing the appropriate properties.
A global variable	xxx.variable where: xxx is the global object; and variable is the name of the variable within the global object.
An expression	value operator value where: value is the primary value; operator is an operator relating to both values; and value is the secondary value. For more information on creating expressions, refer to the Building Expressions section.

Some third-party OPC servers require characters in their syntax that are not parsable by the Expression Editor. If the OPC server syntax uses any characters that do not appear in the list of valid characters below, the server syntax must be enclosed within single quotes (`) as follows:

ServerName.'Device:MyAddress'

In this example, ServerName is the name used to identify the third-party OPC server, and single quotes surround Device:MyAddress, the part of the syntax that contains the unparsable character(s). If an unparsable character is not enclosed in single quotes, an error message displays.

Valid Characters: all alphanumeric characters, hyphen (-), underscore (_), exclamation point (!), less than (<), greater than (>), pound (#), percent (%), dollar sign ($), ampersand (&), forward slash (/), backslash (\), pipe (|), opening bracket ([), closing bracket (]), and single quote (`).

NOTE: You will have to remove the added single quotes from any VBA scripts for operation to succeed.

If a single quote (`) is a literal part of the addressing string syntax, it must be preceded by a backslash (\) in order for the character to be passed to the server as part of the address.

Refer to the documentation supplied with third-party OPC servers for information on server-specific syntax.

See Also