Trigger Processor

The “Trigger Processor” is installed with the UA Office Link Application. The processor controls data flow based on a trigger condition. Data is passed through to the next stage only when the trigger value is “set”.

Data is only passed through if the trigger value is of “good” quality.

Add to Task

Add the “Trigger Processor” to a task by dragging it from the “Build” panel onto the task’s “Task Builder” panel.

../_images/processor-trigger.png

Configuration

Select the “Trigger Processor” item in the “Task Builder” panel to view its properties.

../_images/processor-trigger-edit.png

You can change the following properties:

  • Topic

    The title of the “Trigger Processor” as it appears within the task builder.

  • Trigger Mode

    The trigger mode determines when data is processed, observing the “Set” state of the trigger value (the “Trigger Set Condition” section below describes when the trigger value is considered to be “set”).

    Trigger Mode options are:

    • Process when trigger becomes set
      When the trigger item value changes from being not-set to being set then one data sample is processed and the current tag values are passed through to the next stage.
    • Process while trigger is set
      Current tag values are continuously passed through to the next stage while the trigger item value is set.
    • Process when trigger value changes
      Current tag values are passed through to the next stage whenever the trigger item value changes (the “Trigger Set Condition” does not apply).
    • Process when any trigger value is received
      Current tag values are passed through to the next stage whenever the trigger item receives a value, even when the value has not changed (the “Trigger Set Condition” does not apply).
  • Trigger Set Condition

    This condition determined when a trigger value should be considered as “Set”, with the following options.

    The trigger is considered “set” when the trigger value …

    • “… is not equal to zero or ‘true’”
      The trigger value is considered set when a numerical value is not equal to zero, a boolean value is “true”, or a string value is not empty.
    • “… is equal to zero or ‘false’”
      The trigger value is considered set when a numerical value is zero, a boolean value is “false”, or a string value is empty.
    • “… is greater than or equal to the threshold
      The trigger value is considered set when a numerical value is greater than or equal to the given threshold value.
    • “… is less than the threshold”
      The trigger value is considered set when a numerical value is less than the given threshold value.
    • “… satisfies the trigger condition”
      The trigger value is considered set when a numerical value falls between the two given threshold values according to the configured comparison operation.
  • Trigger Delay in milliseconds

    When this value is greater than zero then the trigger processor takes a snapshot of the input values at the time when the trigger condition is met and forwards those values after the given delay. If the trigger condition is met again during the delay then additional snapshots are taken each time the trigger condition is met and queued for delivery after the given delay relative to the time when the respective snapshot was taken.

Press the “Apply” button to commit your changes.

Example

The following example shows a task that transfers data from OPC UA to an ODBC database. The “Ramp1” tag is used as the trigger. Tags values are passed through to the database when the trigger value becomes not-zero or “true”. In this example the trigger tag itself is also passed through.

../_images/processor-trigger-example.png