Vaisala viewLinc 4.1 User Manual

USER GUIDE

viewLinc 4.1

Vaisala Veriteq viewLinc Software

M211519EN-A

No copying, distribution, publication, modification, or incorporation of this document, in whole or part, is permitted for commercial purposes without the express written permission of Vaisala Canada Inc.

Vaisala Canada Inc 13775 Commerce Parkway Richmond, BC V6V 2V4 Canada

Trademarks

Vaisala Canada Inc, Vaisala Veriteq, Vaisala Veriteq vLog, and Vaisala Veriteq viewLinc are trademarks of Vaisala Canada Inc.

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

All other trademarks referred to are the property of their respective owners.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

Vaisala Canada Inc and its subsidiaries assume no responsibility for any damage or loss resulting from the use of this manual.

Vaisala Canada Inc and its subsidiaries assume no responsibility for any loss or claims by third parties which may arise through the use of this software. Vaisala Canada Inc and its subsidiaries assume no responsibility for any damage or loss caused by deletion of data as a result of hardware malfunction. Be sure to make backup copies of all important data to protect against data loss.

Vaisala Canada Inc makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, regarding Vaisala Veriteq data loggers, Vaisala 300 Series Transmitters, or software, its merchantability, or its fitness for any particular purpose. The exclusion of implied warranties is not permitted by some states. As such, the exclusion may not apply to you.

Vaisala Veriteq viewLinc has been tested using a variety of network systems. However, the large number of possible hardware and network configurations makes testing under every circumstance impossible. If you have trouble using Vaisala Veriteq viewLinc software, contact Vaisala Canada Inc.

Technical Support

For technical support in North America, please call 1-866-861-3388, or for customers outside North America, see “Getting Help” on page 6.

Email: veriteqsupport@vaisala.com

Document part number: M211519EN-A

Release date: Oct 2012

Contents

Chapter 1: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2: Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Logging in to viewLinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What’s New in viewLinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

What is a Location? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Understanding the Locations Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Understanding the Options Dropdown Menu in Locations . 13

Understanding The Tabs in Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Building a Trend with the Trend Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Understanding the Dropdown Menus and Buttons in the Loca-

tions Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Opening Large Popup Trend Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Real-Time Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Reading Graphs in Popup Trend View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Viewing Graph Detail in Large Popup Trend View . . . . . . . . 21

Acknowledging Alarms from Large Popup Trend View . . . . 21

Chapter 3: Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

About Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

What Happens When an Alarm is Triggered? . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Threshold Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Acknowledging Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Pausing Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter 4: Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Viewing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Adding Comments to Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Adding Custom Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide i

Contents

Printing Event Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Exporting Event Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Chapter 5: Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

About Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Generating Historical Data Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Generating Alarm History Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Generating Location History Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 6: Mobile UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

About the Mobile UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Logging in to the the Mobile UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Working with the Mobile UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Acknowledging Alarms with the Mobile UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Chapter 1: Getting Started

This section includes:

• Overview of the Vaisala Veriteq Continuous Monitoring System (CMS)

• Logging in to viewLinc from an Internet Browser to Monitor Conditions

• First Steps in viewLinc

• What’s New in viewLinc

• Getting Help

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 1

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Overview

Welcome to viewLinc 4.1, a key element in the Vaisala Veriteq Continuous Monitoring System (CMS). Using viewLinc you can easily monitor device readings locally on a PC or across a network using a supported version of

Microsoft the iPhone

administrator will determine the best way to install viewLinc for your needs.

With viewLinc 4.1, you can:

• Monitor remote conditions in multiple languages from multiple devices from a local or remote PC desktop

• View real-time data in a customizable graphical format

• Generate historical data and alarm reports

• Receive visual or email alarms when conditions you are monitoring are out of compliance or if there is a network communication problem

• Analyze automatically documented device events, such as when alarms are triggered, acknowledged or there are device communication problems

• Schedule transfers of Vaisala Veriteq device data (also referred to as ‘historical data’) to be viewed and graphed with the vLog software

• Easily identify devices and the zones in which they operate

• Create preconfigured comments for alarm notifications

• Check readings and acknowledge alarms from your mobile device

When installed, the Vaisala Veriteq CMS is comprised of software components (including viewLinc), and hardware components (including devices, a PC with a supported Internet browser, and, depending on how you connect the devices to your PC, various cables, Vaisala Veriteq vNet or Digi networking devices).

® Internet Explorer® or from mobile devices like

®, Google Android®, or Blackberry®. Your

Logging in to viewLinc

viewLinc allows you to:

• watch conditions (such as temperature and relative humidity) being recorded by devices and in the viewLinc historical database

• receive alarms if conditions are outside limits you set or if there is a communication problem

When you are ready to start using viewLinc, log in to viewLinc from a supported Internet browser.

To log in to viewLinc:

1 Double-click the desktop icon . 2 Or, in the address box of a supported Internet browser,

enter the name or address of the machine where viewLinc is installed, and the port number. Your administrator will give you the correct address. For example, http://computername:portnumber or https:// computername:portnumber if secure. (if no port number is specified, 443 is used by default). Save this address to your favorites or set as your homepage to easily access viewLinc from your browser.

3 In the login screen, first select your language from the

language drop-down. When a new language is selected, the page will automatically refresh and update accordingly. This language setting will remain the same as long as the browser’s cookies are kept.

Logging in to viewLinc

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 3

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Note: Ensure that your browser is not set to automati-

Enter your username and password. Click Login.

4 5 The main viewLinc screen appears, showing “Getting

Started” screen. To start using viewLinc, click the Options button and choose Locations.

cally delete cookies upon exit.

6 Here you will find a tree view with your location and

device data. Expand the tree with the plus icon. If you don’t see any Location data, click a Location from the

tree view, and select

Options | Refresh. The selected

Location’s data should appear. If no Locations display, you may not have any Locations assigned to you, the administrator may need to configure the system, or there could be a problem with viewLinc itself. Speak to your administrator.

Note: The administrator may have set up the system to

prompt for password periodically to ensure sys-

tem security. When prompted, re-enter your password.

For more on locations, see Chapter 2: Locations.

What’s New in viewLinc

Locations: A Location is a ‘data point’ which can be linked to

any channel and is located in a hierarchical tree of zones. The Locations feature replaces the previous channels/my channels functionality, providing improved customization and flexibility with more information available from the tree view.

Views: A View is a customized combination of locations

selected from all available zones by the user. They offer the flexibility of navigating a tree view similar to the locations view with a customized hierarchical zone organization. They can be customized so a user can create a view of all location readings regardless of zone. These Views remain saved and allow each user to have the software set up in a way that better suits their role or job function.

Trends: Trends are custom graphs which can be built with

user friendly drag and drop functionality. The trend view allows you to combine, contrast and compare location history in visual graphs using real-time data.

Dashboards: Dashboards provide the ability to upload a

custom image for any zone or view and place locations on this image (for example a map or floor plan). They provide a customized display of the current readings at several locations at a glance.

Mobile Support: viewLinc 4.1 provides improved access from

mobile devices, allowing you to perform key tasks from your smartphone or tablet. Apple iPhone iOS

2.1+, and BlackBerry

Device Support: viewLinc 4.1 provides support and

configuration options for all new compatible devices, including the Vaisala HUMICAP® Wireless Humidity and

Temperature Transmitter HMT140.

® 6+ devices are supported.

What’s New in viewLinc

® 3+, Android®

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 5

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Getting Help

If you need help, technical support is available:

North America

Contact Vaisala Canada Inc, 8am-4pm PST Monday - Friday, at 1-866-861-3388 (or 604-273-6850) or email veriteqsupport@vaisala.com. See also http:// www.vaisala.com/en/lifescience.

For sales, pricing, quotations, or general information, please call 1-800-683-8374 (or 604-273-6850).

Outside of North America:

helpdesk@vaisala.com

Vaisala Headquarters (Finland)

Vanha Nurmijärventie 21

01670 Vantaa

FINLAND

Industrial Instruments

Phone: +358 9 8949 2658

Fax: +358 9 8949 2295

Japan Service Center

42 Kagurazaka 6-Chome

Shinjuku-ku

Tokyo 162-0825

JAPAN

Phone: +81 3 3266 9611

Fax: +81 3 3266 9610

China Service Center

Floor 2, EAS Building

No. 21, Xiao Yun Road, Dongsanhuan Beilu

Chaoyang District

Beijing 100027

CHINA

Phone: +86 10 5827 4100

Fax: +86 10 8526 1155

Getting Help

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 7

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: Locations

This section is for administrators and general users.

In this section, you’ll learn about:

• Locations, Trends, and Zones

• Selecting Channels and Zones to display as Locations

• Opening Large Popup Trend Views

• Viewing and Working with Real-time Graphs in a Large Popup Trend View

• Displaying or hiding Location information

Let’s get started learning what locations are in viewLinc.

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 9

Chapter 2: Locations

About Locations

What is a Location?

The Locations feature is new to viewLinc 4.1, giving the user improved customization with more information available more readily from the Location tree view. A Location is a ‘data point’ which can be linked to any single channel and can be located in a hierarchical tree of zones. It removes the hardware definition of host/device/channel from the Location tree, allowing any channel to become a Location. Depending on the type of Vaisala devices you have installed, a device may have up to five active channels and up to 27 definable channels available to measure readings such as temperature, relative humidity, voltage, pressure, current, etc. (one channel is used for each type of measurement).

Note: 300 Series Transmitters Output Quantities are

Using viewLinc, you can monitor any device that is connected to the network using Locations.

When you first log in to viewLinc, you can load the Locations function by clicking on the main screen selecting

• zones and locations available for monitoring in an expandable tree view

• locations available for each selected zone

• table view which allows you to view and monitor data from zones and/or locations

• trend view which allows you to combine, contrast and compare location history in visual graphs with real-time data

• context-sensitive help

Locations. This window includes:

displayed as Channels. (currently 27 possible types)

Options button and

About Locations

Understanding the Locations Screen

The Locations screen in viewLinc contains many important features:

Item Details

1 - Tabs Contains main viewLinc tabs: Table View, Dash-

board, Location Alarms, Trend.

2 - Options dropdown

Contain buttons like Refresh, Popup Trend, Pause Alarming, etc. These menus are context-sensitive

- they change depending on which tab is open and which item is selected within the tab.

3 - Zones area Where configuration of locations and zones takes

place. Use the locations tree to organize the locations that are connected to viewLinc into zones. Zones are represented by folders with Locations located below them in the tree. Locations are found below the zones. The table view on the right will display information about the zone or location that you have selected.

4 - Search You can search for locations here by entering a

search term in the text box and clicking the magnifying glass icon.

Tabl e 1: Important features of the Locations screen

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 11

Chapter 2: Locations

Item Details

5 - Location Details

In Table View mode, includes details on channel configurations, paths, current data readings, latest timestamp and threshold information.

Tabl e 1: Important features of the Locations screen

The Locations screen displays general information about the corresponding data source. When a location has no data source associated with it, it will be displayed with a blue exclamation mark icon. The Locations screen can also display views by clicking anywhere in the dark grey bar labelled “Views.” Views have the same functionality as locations, but are customized versions of the locations tree.

Each View can also have a Trend associated with it that is displayed in the Trend panel whenever a View is selected. A Trend is a historical view of Location data.

Most columns in the 4 tabs (Table View, Dashboard, Location Alarms, Trend) are easy to understand; however, here are their definitions to help you get familiar with viewLinc. To see all options, see “Hiding and Showing Location Columns” on page 36:

Column Displays

Icon The color coded icon associated with the

location.

Location ID Device description (can be edited from the

System tab).

Device ID The number associated with the device.

Location Path The subfolders currently linked with the

location. The top folder in the path will always be the default ‘System’.

Location Description The description for the location that was

entered at the time of creation.

Tabl e 2: Columns of information in Locations

About Locations

Column Displays

Device Serial Number The serial number associated with the

device.

Device Description The description that was entered for the

device at the time of configuration.

Channel ID The system defined number associated

with the channel.

Channel Number Number representing the channel for that

device (each device has 1 or more channels, and labels them 1, 2, and so on).

Channel Description Description of channel (editable from the

System tab).

Battery Status The estimated battery level or if no bat-

tery, power method. Please note that any battery level readings are estimated readings and may not be precisely accurate.

Value Reading of that channel, for example the

temperature in Celsius.

Timestamp Time that the last reading was taken.

Device Status The current status of the device. Displays

errors if the device is inactive.

Threshold Status “OK” appears if there are no currently

active alarms. Changes to indicate if a threshold alarm condition has been detected.

Threshold Summary Summary of threshold status, if active.

Tabl e 2: Columns of information in Locations

Understanding the Options Dropdown Menu in Locations

The Options dropdown menu in the left panel of Locations allows you to select commonly used commands. Some of

viewLinc 4.1 User Guide 13

Chapter 2: Locations

these commands will be available or greyed out depending on the location/zone you have selected, if any. You will also need the appropriate permissions to perform certain commands. If you don’t have permission but think you should, speak to your administrator. The following options are available:

Refresh: Reloads the selected tree.

•

Expand/Collapse All Zones: Expands/collapses all zones

and sub-zones of the tree in the left locations panel.

Pause Threshold Alarming: Pauses the threshold alarms

• for the zone or location selected in the tree. If a zone is selected and there are child locations, this command will pause alarming on all child locations within the selected zone.

Resume Threshold Alarming: Resumes threshold alarms in

• all data locations selected in the right panel. If a zone is selected and there are child locations, this command will resume alarming on all child locations within the selected zone.

Understanding The Tabs in Locations

The right panel in locations is a tabbed panel consisting of four tabs that are updated as the Locations tree is navigated. The four tabs are as follows:

Table View Tab: Displays the location, device, threshold

• and status information for the currently selected location. Only locations that have channels assigned to them will be displayed.

Dashboard Tab: Displays the dashboard for the current

• selected location or zone and sub-zones. Locations are displayed on the dashboard with their current reading. Zones are displayed as a folder icon and can be opened by double clicking this icon. Hovering over a zone or location will cause the mouse pointer to change and will display a tooltip with extra information.

Location Alarms Tab: All active alarms for the current

• location or zone and sub-zones are shown under this tab. If acknowledgement is required on an Alarm, the alarm will be present in this window whether it is on or off. If

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