Wonderware InTouch Interface

to the PI System
Interface to the PI System

Version 1.4.74.0
Rev E
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Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1
Reference Manuals......................................................................................................1
Supported Features......................................................................................................1
Diagram of Hardware Connection................................................................................4

Principles of Operation.................................................................................................5

Installation Checklist.....................................................................................................7

Interface Installation......................................................................................................9
Naming Conventions and Requirements......................................................................9
Interface Directories...................................................................................................10
The PIHOME Directory Tree...................................................................................10
Interface Installation Directory................................................................................10
Interface Installation Procedure..................................................................................10
Installing the Interface as an NT Service....................................................................10
Installing the Interface Service with PI-Interface Configuration Utility....................10
Installing the Interface Service Manually................................................................13

PointSource.................................................................................................................. 15

PI Point Configuration.................................................................................................17
Point Attributes........................................................................................................... 17
Tag......................................................................................................................... 17
PointSource............................................................................................................ 17
PointType............................................................................................................... 17
Location1................................................................................................................ 17
Location2................................................................................................................ 17
Location3................................................................................................................ 18
Location4................................................................................................................ 18
Location5................................................................................................................ 18
InstrumentTag........................................................................................................18
ExDesc................................................................................................................... 18

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System iii

 Scan....................................................................................................................... 19
Shutdown................................................................................................................ 19
SourceTag.............................................................................................................. 20
Convers.................................................................................................................. 21

Performance Point Configuration...............................................................................23

Configuring Performance Points with PI-ICU.............................................................23
Configuring Performance Points Manually.................................................................24

I/O Rate Tag Configuration..........................................................................................25

Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node...............................................................25
Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI-ICU (NT-Intel).......................................................25
Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually..........................................................................26
Configuring the PI Point on the PI Server...............................................................26
Configuration on the Interface Node.......................................................................27

Startup Command File.................................................................................................29

Configuring the Startup Command File with PI-ICU...................................................29
Configuring the Startup Command File Manually.......................................................30
Command-line Parameters.....................................................................................31
Sample PI_InTouch.bat File...................................................................................35

System Variable Path..................................................................................................37

Interface Node Clock...................................................................................................39

Security......................................................................................................................... 41

Starting / Stopping the Interface.................................................................................43

Starting / Stopping the Interface with PI-ICU..............................................................43
Starting / Stopping the Interface Manually.................................................................43
Starting Interface as a Service...............................................................................43
Stopping Interface Running as a Service...............................................................44

Buffering....................................................................................................................... 45
Configuring Buffering with PI-ICU (NT-Intel)...............................................................45
Configuring Buffering Manually..................................................................................48
Sample piclient.ini File................................................................................................49

Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages.......................................................51

Message Logs............................................................................................................ 51
Messages................................................................................................................... 51

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System iv

 System Errors and PI Errors.......................................................................................52

Revision History............................................................................................................. 53

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System v

Introduction
The PI-Wonderware InTouch interface is designed to integrate the PI System from
OSIsoft with the InTouch system from Wonderware. It consists of the OSI Universal
Interface core linked with a module, which customizes it for the InTouch
environment. The interface is compatible with InTouch versions 6.0b – 9.x.
This interface transfers data between the InTouch database and the PI archive via the
InTouch Database External Access (IDEA) Software Development Kit (SDK). The
interface runs on Microsoft NT. Input tags (for sending data from InTouch to PI) as
well as output tags (from PI to InTouch) are supported.

Reference Manuals
OSIsoft
 UniInt End User Document
 PI Data Archive Manual
 PI-API Installation Instructions

Vendor
 The Extensibility Toolkit for InTouch User’s Guide

Supported Features
Feature Support
Part Number PI-IN-WW-INTCH-NT
Platforms NTI (4.0 / 2000 / XP)
APS Connector No
Point Builder Utility No
ICU Control Yes
Automatically Incorporates PI Point Yes
Attribute Changes
Exception Reporting Yes
Outputs from PI Yes
Inputs to PI: Scan-based / Unsolicited / Scan-based / Event Tags
Event Tags
Maximum Point Count Unlimited
Uses PI-SDK No
PINet to PI 3 String Support N/A

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 1

 Feature Support
* Source of Timestamps PI Server
History Recovery No
* Failover Yes
* UniInt-based Yes
* Vendor Software Required Yes
Vendor Hardware Required No
Additional PI Software Included with No
Interface
* Device Point Types Discrete, Integer, Real, and String
* See paragraphs below for further explanation.

Source of Timestamps
When the value of a tag is read from InTouch, the PI server time is used as the event’s
timestamp. This timestamp may be adjusted using the /to=n argument. This
argument specifies the number of seconds (as a positive or negative number) to adjust
the timestamp by. This offset, when specified, applies to all tags and all scans.
There is also a mechanism for adjusting the timestamp of individual tags. This is
typically used when there is a significant delay between the value of a tag actually
being scanned in the field and the value being received by InTouch. For example, a
tag may be scanned in the field every 15 minutes but takes several minutes to reach
InTouch. In this case you would typically want the timestamp in PI to represent the
time the tag was scanned in the field rather than when it was written to InTouch. This
can be achieved by using a combination of scan class and Location2 settings. See the
section on Location2 on page 17 for more information.
The /tm argument tells the interface to output timestamp messages to the error log
file. This is useful for debugging any timestamp manipulation that is configured.

Failover
In a typical Wonderware InTouch - PI-InTouch application, there are three
components that can fail:
1. I/O Server (The means by which real-world data is brought into InTouch).
2. InTouch (The actual MMI product).
3. PI-InTouch (The interface used to exchange data between InTouch and PI).
The Failover mechanism built into the PI-InTouch Interface only applies to failure of
the I/O Server.
The failover mechanism in this interface is very simple and works with any number
of InTouch hosts. The interface simply examines a specified InTouch point, which
holds the name of the active/online I/O Server, and if it is not the current host (also
specified), then it does not scan that InTouch node for updated point values.
To operate using failover simply install and run the interface on the two or more
InTouch hosts, making sure to specify the /fp and /fs arguments in the startup

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 2

 command file. The /fp argument (InTouch failover point name) will be identical on
each of the hosts, but the /fs argument (local server name for failover) will differ.
See the “Command-Line Parameters” section on page 30 for a description of these
arguments.

UniInt-based
UniInt stands for Universal Interface. UniInt is not a separate product or file; it is an
OSIsoft-developed template used by our developers, and is integrated into many
interfaces, such as the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface. The purpose of UniInt is to
keep a consistent feature set and behavior across as many of our interfaces as
possible. It also allows for the very rapid development of new interfaces. In any
UniInt-based interface, the interface uses some of the UniInt-supplied configuration
parameters and some interface-specific parameters. UniInt is constantly being
upgraded with new options and features.
The UniInt End User Document is a supplement to this manual.

Vendor Software Required

The IDEA SDK (InTouch Database External Access Software Development Kit) must
be purchased with InTouch version 6.0b. Subsequent releases have the necessary
components embedded.

Device Point Types

InTouch uses the following point types: Discrete, Integer, Real, and String. The
interface supports the following point types: Digital, Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32,
Float64, and String. The interface supports all combinations and makes every effort to
convert between types – even strings.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 3

Introduction

Diagram of Hardware Connection

4
Principles of Operation
The PI-Wonderware InTouch interface is a console-based, UniInt-based, interface.
The interface starts by first searching the PI tag database for all tags whose PointSource
matches the interface’s PointSource as designated at startup. The interface then attempts
to make a connection to each of the associated tags within InTouch.
When the interface process has completed these initial tasks, it enters a permanent loop
in which it checks for the expiration of the update period for each scan class, and the
expiration of the tag attributes update period. This loop is repeated until the interface is
stopped.
The PI-Wonderware InTouch interface supports scan-based input tags, event-based input
tags, and output tags. The interface groups all the event-based tags having a common
event tag into a dynamic list for servicing together, so that all event-based tags in the list
are updated when their event tag has an exception.
The manner in which the interface manages the connection to InTouch is determined by
the /ws and the /ht flags that are specified in the startup command file. If the /ws flag
is not specified, the interface will exit when a connection attempt fails – this includes the
initial connection at startup. Otherwise, the value of the /ws argument is the number of
seconds to delay between reconnection attempts. This allows the interface to start before
InTouch does, in which case a connection will be attempted periodically until successful.
Also, if InTouch exits, the interface will continue to operate, attempting a connection
periodically until successful.
The /ht argument tells the interface to hold a tag connection open between scans. If this
is not specified, a tag connection is made, the tag is read, and then the tag is
disconnected, for each scan. This is obviously an inefficient way to process tags. For the
sake of efficiency this argument should be specified except when the system resources
are low and the interface becomes unstable.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 5

Installation Checklist
For those users who are familiar with running PI data collection interface programs,
this checklist helps you get the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface running. If you are
not familiar with PI interfaces, you should return to this section after reading the rest
of the manual in detail.
1. Install the PI-Interface Configuration Utility (which installs PI-SDK and PI-API)
2. Verify that PI-API has been installed.
3. Install the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface.
4. Choose a point source. If PI 2 home node, create the point source.
5. Configure PI points.
Location1 is the interface number.
Location2 is the time offset in seconds.
Location3 specifies whether the point is an input point (0) or output point (1).
Location4 is the scan class.
Location5 is not used.
ExDesc specifies whether tags are event-based.
InstrumentTag specifies the InTouch point name associated with the PI tag.
6. Configure performance points.
7. Configure I/O Rate tag.
8. Edit startup command file.
/id=# defines the connection.
9. Add the InTouch directory to the System Variable Path.
10. Set interface node clock.
11. Set up security.
12. Start the interface without buffering.
13. Verify data.
14. Stop interface, start buffering, start interface.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 7

Interface Installation
OSIsoft recommends that interfaces be installed on PI-API nodes instead of directly on
the PI Server node. A PI-API node is any node other than the PI Server node where the
PI Application Programming Interface (PI-API) has been installed (see the
PI-API Installation Instructions manual). With this approach, the PI Server need not
compete with interfaces for the machine’s resources. The primary function of the
PI Server is to archive data and to service clients that request data.
After the interface has been installed and tested, Bufserv should be enabled on the
PI-API node (once again, see the PI-API Installation Instructions manual). Bufserv is
distributed with the PI-API. It is a utility program that provides the capability to store
and forward events to a PI Server, allowing continuous data collection when
communication to the PI Server is lost. Communication will be lost when there are
network problems or when the PI Server is shut down for maintenance, upgrades,
backups, or unexpected failures.
In most cases, interfaces on PI-API nodes should be installed as automatic services .
Services keep running after the user logs off. Automatic services automatically restart
when the computer is restarted, which is useful in the event of a power failure.
The guidelines are different if an interface is installed on the PI Server node . In this case,
the typical procedure is to install the PI Server as an automatic service and interfaces as
manual services that are launched by site-specific command files when the PI Server is
started. Interfaces that are started as manual services are also stopped in conjunction with
the PI Server by site-specific command files. This typical scenario assumes that Bufserv
is not enabled on the PI Server node. Bufserv can be enabled on the PI Server node so
that interfaces on the PI Server node do not need to be started and stopped in conjunction
with PI, but it is not standard practice to enable buffering on the PI Server node . See the
UniInt End User Document for special procedural information.
The WinTouch interface setup program for interface version 1.4.72.0 and later uses the
services of the Microsoft Windows Installer. Windows Installer is a standard part of
Windows 2000. When running on Windows NT 4.0 systems, the WinTouch setup
program will install the Windows Installer itself if necessary. To install, run the
WinTouch_x.x.x.exe installation kit.

Naming Conventions and Requirements

In the installation procedure below, it is assumed that the name of the interface
executable is PI_InTouch.exe and that the startup command file is called
PI_InTouch.bat.
It is customary for the user to rename the executable and the startup command file when
multiple copies of the interface are run. For example, one would typically use
PI_InTouch1.exe and PI_InTouch1.bat for interface number 1,
PI_InTouch2.exe and PI_InTouch2.bat for interface number 2, and so on. When an
interface is run as a service, the executable and the command file must have the same
root name because the service looks for its command-line arguments in a file that has the
same root name.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 9

Interface Directories

The PIHOME Directory Tree

The PIHOME directory tree is defined by the PIHOME entry in the pipc.ini
configuration file. This pipc.ini file is an ASCII text file, which is located in the
WinNT directory. A typical pipc.ini file contains the following lines:
[PIPC]
PIHOME=c:\pipc

The above lines define the \pipc directory as the root of the PIHOME directory tree on
the C: drive. OSIsoft recommends using \pipc as the root directory name. The
PIHOME directory does not need to be on the C: drive.

Interface Installation Directory

The interface is installed to:
PIHOME\interfaces\PIInTouch\
Where PIHOME is the corresponding entry in the pipc.ini file.

Interface Installation Procedure

The PI-InTouch interface setup program uses the services of the Microsoft Windows
Installer. When running on Windows NT 4.0 systems, the PI-InTouch setup program will
install the Windows Installer itself if necessary. To install, run the
WinTouch_x.x.x.x.exe installation kit.

Installing the Interface as an NT Service

The PI-InTouch interface service can be created with the PI-Interface Configuration
Utility, or can be created manually.

Installing the Interface Service with PI-Interface Configuration Utility

The PI-Interface Configuration Utility provides a user interface for creating, editing, and
deleting the interface service:

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 10

Service Configuration

Service Name
The Service to Add box shows the name of the current interface service. This service
name is obtained from the interface executable.

Display Name
The Display Name text box shows the current Display Name of the interface service. If
there is currently no service for the selected interface, the default Display Name is the
service name with a “PI-” prefix. Users may specify a different Display Name. OSIsoft
suggests that the prefix “PI-” be appended to the beginning of the interface to indicate
that the service is part of the OSI suite of products.

Log on as
This text box is available only when the service does not yet exist. It allows users to set
what user account the interface service will use when they first create the interface
service. If this text box is left blank when the service is created, then LocalSystem is
used.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 11

Interface Installation

To edit the username after the service has been created, users need to use the Services
Applet.

Password
This text box is available only when the service does not yet exist. If the username
specified in the Log on as text box requires a password, this field is where the password
should be typed. If no password is required, this field can remain blank.
To edit the password after the service has been created, users need to use the Services
Applet.

Service Startup Type

The Service Startup Type indicates whether the interface service will start automatically
or need to be started manually on reboot.
If the Auto option is selected, the service will be installed to start automatically when the
machine reboots.
If the Manual option is selected, the interface service will not start on reboot, but will
require someone to manually start the service.
If the Disabled option is selected, the service will not start at all.
Generally, interface services are set to start automatically.

Interface Dependencies
The Installed Services list is a list of the services currently installed on this machine.
Services upon which this Interface is dependant should be moved into the Interface
Dependencies list using the “Add>>” button. For example, if API Buffering is running,
then “bufserv” should be selected from the list at the right and added to the list on the
left. Often interface services also depend on a vendor program.
When the PI Interface is started (as a service), the services listed in the dependency list
will be verified as running (or an attempt will be made to start them). If the dependent
service(s) cannot be started for any reason, then the PI interface service will not run.

Note: Please see the PI Log and Operating System Event Logger for messages that
may indicate the cause for any server not running as expected.

Add
To add a dependency from the list of Installed Services, select the dependency name, and
click the Add button.

Remove
To remove a selected dependency, highlight the service name in the Installed
Dependencies list, and click the Remove button.
The full name of the service selected in the Installed Services list is displayed below the
Installed Services list box.

12
Create or Remove Interface Service

Create
The Create button adds the displayed service with the specified Dependencies and with
the specified Startup Type.

Remove
The Remove button removes the displayed service. If the service is not currently
installed, or if the service is currently running, this button will be grayed out.

Start or Stop Service

To Start or Stop the interface service, use the Start button and the Stop button on
the toolbar at the top of the PI-ICU. If this interface service is not currently installed,
these buttons will remain grayed out until the service is added. If this interface service is
running, the Stop button is available. If this service is not running, the Start button is
available.
The status of the Interface service is indicated in the lower portion of the PI-ICU dialog.

Status of the
Interface
Service

Installing the Interface Service Manually

If PI-ICU is not used to configure and control the interface service, the following
describes the steps to manually configure and control the interface service. One can get
help for installing the interface as a service at any time with the command:
PI_InTouch.exe –help
Change to the directory where the PI_InTouch1.exe executable is located. Then,
consult the following table to determine the appropriate service installation command .
InTouch version 7.0 or greater can be installed as a NT service (view) and is
recommended to do so. Consult the InTouch Users Manual for information on how to
start InTouch as an NT service.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 13

Interface Installation

NT Service Installation Commands on a PI Interface Node or a PI Server Node

with Bufserv Implemented
Manual service PI_InTouch.exe –install –depend “tcpip bufserv view”
Automatic service PI_InTouch.exe –install –auto –depend “tcpip bufserv view ”
NT Service Installation Commands on a PI Interface Node or a PI Server Node
without Bufserv Implemented
Manual service PI_InTouch.exe –install –depend “tcpip view”
Automatic service PI_InTouch.exe –install –auto –depend “tcpip view”

When the interface is installed as a service on the PI Server node and when Bufserv is
not implemented, a dependency on the PI network manager is not necessary because the
interface will repeatedly attempt to connect to the PI Server until it is successful .

Note: Interfaces are typically not installed as automatic services when the interface is
installed on the PI Server node.
Check the Microsoft Windows NT services control panel to verify that the service was
added successfully. One can use the services control panel at any time to change the
interface from an automatic service to a manual service or vice versa .

14
PointSource
The PointSource is a single, unique character that is used to identify the PI point as a
point that belongs to a particular interface. For example, one may choose the letter I to
identify points that belong to the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface. To implement this,
one would set the PointSource attribute to I for every PI Point that is configured for the
PI-Wonderware InTouch interface. Then, if one uses /ps=I on the startup-command line
of the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface, the PI-Wonderware InTouch interface will
search the PI Point Database upon startup for every PI point that is configured with a
PointSource of I. Before an interface loads a point, the interface usually performs
further checks by examining additional PI point attributes to determine whether a
particular point is valid for the interface. For additional information, see the /ps
argument.

Case-sensitivity for PointSource Attributes

One does not need to be careful with the case of the PointSource. In all cases, the point
source character that is supplied with the /ps command-line argument is not case
sensitive. That is, /ps=I and /ps=i are equivalent.

PI 2 Server Nodes
The following point source characters are reserved on PI 2 systems and cannot be used as
the point source character for an interface: C, ?, @, Q, T. Also, if one does not specify a
point source character when creating a PI point, the point is assigned a default point
source character of L. Therefore, it would be confusing to use L as the point source
character for an interface.
Before a PI point with a given point source can be created, the point source character
must be added to the PI 2 point source table. For example, if point source I is not
defined in the PI 2 point source table, a point with a point source of I cannot be created.
This prevents the user from accidentally creating a point with an incorrect point source
character.

Defining a Point Source Character in the PI 2 Point Source Table

1. Enter PI by typing the following command from a VMS command prompt:
@pisysexe:pi
2. Select the PointSrc option from the menu.
3. Select New from the menu.
4. Assign a point source next to the Code: field. Also, assign minimum and maximum
values for the Location1 to Location5 attributes.
Location1 Location2 Location3 Location4 Location5
Minimum 1 0 0 1 -20000000
Maximum 99 86400 1 256 20000000

5. Select “Save” from the menu.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 15

PI 3 Server Nodes
No point source table exists on a PI 3 Server, which means that points can be
immediately created on PI 3 with any point source character. Several subsystems and
applications that ship with PI 3 are associated with default point source characters. The
Totalizer Subsystem uses the point source character T, the Alarm Subsystem uses G and
@, Random uses R, RampSoak uses 9, and the Performance Equations Subsystem uses C.
Either do not use these point source characters or change the default point source
characters for these applications. Also, if one does not specify a point source character
when creating a PI point, the point is assigned a default point source character of L.
Therefore, it would be confusing to use L as the point source character for an interface.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 16

PI Point Configuration
The PI point is the basic building block for controlling data flow to and from the
PI Data Archive. A single point is configured for each measurement value that needs to
be archived. Use the point attributes below to define what data to transfer.

Point Attributes

Tag
A tag is a label or name for a point. Any tag name can be used in accordance to the
normal PI point naming conventions.

PointSource
The PointSource is a single, unique character that is used to identify the PI point as a
point that belongs to a particular interface. For additional information, see the
/ps command-line argument on page 30 and the “PointSource” section on page 15.

PointType
Typically, device point types do not need to correspond to PI point types. For example,
integer values from a device can be sent to floating point or digital PI tags. Similarly, a
floating-point value from the device can be sent to integer or digital PI tags, although the
values will be truncated.

PI 2 Server Nodes
Scaled real, full-precision real, integer, and digital point types are supported on
PI 2 Servers. For more information on the individual point types, refer to the
Data Archive (DA) section of PI System Manual I.

PI 3 Server Nodes
Float16, float32, float64, int16, int32, digital, and string point types are supported on
PI 3 Servers. For more information on the individual point types, see
PI Data Archive for NT and UNIX.

Location1
Location1 specifies the interface number. It identifies which points belong to a particular
interface when multiple copies of the interface program are running. This value must
match the /id=n number for the appropriate interface. With no /id= argument, this
field should be zero.

Location2
Location2 specifies the time offset in seconds. It adjusts the timestamp of a value to be
the previous offset. It is used in cases where InTouch may not receive a value until
sometime after it was actually recorded.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 17

 For example, a device records a set of values every 15 minutes but takes several minutes
to send these values to InTouch. These points should be configured to be scanned at a 15
minute scan rate as follows:
/f=00:15:00,00:00:00
This means scans will occur on the hour, 15 minutes past the hour, half past the hour,
and 45 minutes past the hour. However, the values scanned really belong to the previous
15 minute time. Location2 for these points should be set to 900 (15 minutes).
Scans can be late also so it is not just a matter of subtracting 15 minutes from the
timestamp. For example, if an event is received by the interface at 12:15:30 (30 seconds
late on this scan) then the nearest 15 minute timestamp is 12:15:00. The correct
timestamp is the previous one, 12:00:00 which is what will be recorded with the above
point configuration.

Location3
This value indicates whether a point is an input or an output point:
0 = input
1 = output.

Location4
Scan-based Inputs
For interfaces that support scan-based collection of data, Location4 defines the scan class
for the PI point. The scan class determines the frequency at which input points are
scanned for new values. For more information, see the description of the /f flag in the
section called “Command-Line Parameters” on page 30.

Event-based Inputs and Output Points

Location 4 should be set to zero for these points.

Location5
The Location5 attribute is not used by the PI-InTouch interface.

InstrumentTag
The instrument tag attribute is limited to 32 characters.
The instrument tag name specifies the InTouch point name associated with the PI tag.

ExDesc
This is the extended descriptor attribute. It is limited to 80 characters.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 18

 Trigger-based or Event-based Inputs
For trigger-based input points, a separate trigger point must be configured. An input
point is associated with a trigger point by entering a case-insensitive string in the
extended descriptor (ExDesc) PI point attribute of the input point of the form:
keyword=trigger_tag_name
where keyword is replaced by “event” and trigger_tag_name is replaced by the
name of the trigger point. There should be no spaces in the string. UniInt automatically
assumes that an input point is trigger-based instead of scan-based when the
keyword=trigger_tag_name string is found in the extended descriptor attribute.
An input is triggered when a new value is sent to the Snapshot of the trigger point. The
new value does not need to be different than the previous Snapshot value to trigger an
input, but the timestamp of the new value must be greater than (more recent than) or
equal to the timestamp of the previous value. This is different than the trigger mechanism
for output points. For output points, the timestamp of the trigger value must be greater
than (not greater than or equal to) the timestamp of the previous value.

Performance Points
The extended descriptor is also checked for the string “PERFORMANCE_POINT”. If
this character string is found, this point is treated as a performance point. See the section
“Performance Point Configuration” on page 23 for more information.

Scan
By default, the Scan attribute has a value of 1, which means that scanning is turned on
for the point. Setting the scan attribute to 0 turns scanning off. If the scan attribute is 0
when the interface starts, SCAN OFF will be written to the PI point. If the scan attribute
is changed from 1 to 0 while the interface is running, SCAN OFF will also be written to
the PI point after the point edit is detected by the interface.
There is one other situation, which is independent of the Scan attribute, where UniInt
will write SCAN OFF to a PI point. If a point that is currently loaded by the interface is
edited so that the point is no longer valid for the interface, the point will be removed
from the interface, and SCAN OFF will be written to the point. For example, if the
PointSource of a PI point that is currently loaded by the interface is changed, the point
will be removed from the interface and SCAN OFF will be written to the point.

Shutdown
PI 2 Server Nodes
The Shutdown attribute is not used if the server node is a PI 2 system. For information
on configuring shutdown events for PI 2, see Data Archive (DA) section 4.2.3 of
PI System Manual I.

PI 3 Server Nodes
The shutdown attribute is used only if the server node is a PI 3 system.
The Shutdown attribute is 1 (true) by default. The default behavior of the PI Shutdown
subsystem is to write the SHUTDOWN digital state to all PI points when PI is started.
The timestamp that is used for the SHUTDOWN events is retrieved from a file that is
updated by the Snapshot Subsystem. The timestamp is usually updated every 15 minutes,
which means that the timestamp for the SHUTDOWN events will be accurate to within

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 19

PI Point Configuration

15 minutes in the event of a power failure. For additional information on shutdown

events, refer to PI Data Archive for NT and UNIX.

Note: The SHUTDOWN events that are written by the PI Shutdown subsystem are
independent of the SHUTDOWN events that are written by the interface when the
/stopstat=Shutdown command-line argument is specified.
One can disable SHUTDOWN events from being written to PI when PI is restarted by
setting the Shutdown attribute to 0 for each point. Alternatively, one can change the
default behavior of the PI Shutdown Subsystem to write SHUTDOWN events only for
PI points that have their Shutdown attribute set to 0. To change the default behavior, edit
the \PI\dat\Shutdown.dat file, as discussed in PI Data Archive for NT and UNIX.

Bufserv
It is undesirable to write shutdown events when Bufserv is being used. Bufserv is a
utility program that provides the capability to store and forward events to a PI Server,
allowing continuous data collection when the Server is down for maintenance, upgrades,
backups, and unexpected failures. That is, when PI is shut down, Bufserv will continue
to collect data for the interface, making it undesirable to write SHUTDOWN events to
the PI points for this interface.

SourceTag
Output points control the flow of data from the PI Data Archive to any destination that is
external to the PI Data Archive, such as a PLC or a third-party database. For example, to
write a value to a register in a PLC, one would use an output point. Each interface has its
own rules for determining whether a given point is an input point or an output point.
There is no de facto PI point attribute that distinguishes a point as an input point or an
output point.
Outputs are triggered for UniInt-based interfaces. That is, outputs are typically not
scheduled to occur on a periodic basis. There are two mechanisms for triggering an
output.

Trigger Method 1 (Recommended)

For trigger method 1, a separate trigger point must be configured. The output point must
have the same point source as the interface. The trigger point can be associated with any
point source, including the point source of the interface. Also, the point type of the
trigger point does not need to be the same as the point type of the output point.
The output point is associated with the trigger point by setting the SourceTag attribute of
the output point equal to the tag name of the trigger point. An output is triggered when a
new value is sent to the Snapshot of the trigger point. The new value does not need to be
different than the previous value that was sent to the Snapshot to trigger an output, but
the timestamp of the new value must be more recent than the previous value. If no error
is indicated, then the value that was sent to the trigger point is also written to the output
point. If the output is unsuccessful, then an appropriate digital state that is indicative of
the failure is usually written to the output point. If an error is not indicated, the output
still may not have succeeded because the interface may not be able to tell with certainty
that an output has failed.

Trigger Method 2
For trigger method 2, a separate trigger point is not configured. To trigger an output,
write a new value to the Snapshot of the output point itself. The new value does not need
20
 to be different than the previous value to trigger an output, but the timestamp of the new
value must be more recent than the previous value.
Trigger method 2 may be easier to configure than trigger method 1, but trigger method 2
has a significant disadvantage. If the output is unsuccessful, there is no tag to receive a
digital state that is indicative of the failure, which is very important for troubleshooting.

Convers
This attribute specifies the conversion factor that is used for scaling purposes. Scaling
can be configured in three ways:
 Convers = 0. No scaling will take place.
 Convers <> 0 for Input Tags. The value in Convers is interpreted as a straight
multiplier. This causes the input value from the WW InTouch server to be multiplied
by the value in Convers before being sent to PI.
 Convers <> 0 for Output Tags. The value being sent from PI to the WW InTouch
server is divided by the value in Convers.
The default value of Convers in PI 3 and PI 2 is 1.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 21

Performance Point Configuration
One can configure performance points to monitor the amount of time in seconds that an
interface takes to complete a scan for a particular scan class. The closer the scan
completion time is to 0 seconds, the better the performance. The scan completion time is
recorded to millisecond resolution.

Configuring Performance Points with PI-ICU

The PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility (PI-ICU) provides a user interface
for creating and managing Performance Points.

The right mouse menu provides options for creating and deleting Performance Points.

Create
To create a Performance Point, right mouse click the line belonging to the tag to be
created, and select Create.

Delete
To delete a Performance Point, right mouse click the line belonging to the tag to be
deleted, and select Delete.

Correct
If the “Status” of a point is marked “Incorrect”, the point configuration can be
automatically corrected by ICU by right mouse clicking on the line belonging to the tag
to be corrected, and selecting Correct. The Performance Points are created with the
following PI attribute values. If ICU detects that a Performance Point is not defined with
the following, it will be marked Incorrect:
Attribute Details
Tag Tag name that appears in the list box
Point Source Point Source for tags for this interface, as specified on the first tab
Compressing Off
Excmax 0
Descriptor Interface name + “ Scan Class # Performance Point”

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 23

 Rename
To rename a Performance Point, right mouse click the line belonging to the tag to be
renamed, and select “Rename”.
Status
The Status column in the Performance Points table indicates whether the Performance
Point exists for the scan class in column 2.
Created – Indicates that the Performance Point does exist
Not Created – Indicates that the Performance Point does not exist
Deleted – Indicates that a Performance Point existed, but was just deleted by the user
Scan Class
The Scan Class column indicates which scan class the Performance Point in the
Tagname column belongs to. There will be one scan class in the Scan Class column for
each scan class listed in the Scan Classes combo box on the Uniint Parameters tab.
Tagname
The Tagname column holds the Performance Point tag name.
Snapshot
The Snapshot column holds the snapshot value of each Performance Point that exists in
PI. The Snapshot column is updated when the Performance Points/Counters tab is
clicked, and when the interface is first loaded.

Configuring Performance Points Manually

Performance point configuration is the same on all operating system platforms.
Performance points are configured as follows.
1. Set the extended descriptor to:
PERFORMANCE_POINT
or to:
PERFORMANCE_POINT=interface_id
where interface_id corresponds to the identifier that is specified with the
/id flag on the startup command line of the interface. The character string
PERFORMANCE_POINT is case insenstive. The interface_id does not need to be
specified if there is only one copy of an interface that is associated with a particular
point source.
2. Set Location4 to correspond to the scan class whose performance is to be monitored.
For example, to monitor scan class 2, set Location4 to 2. See the /f flag for a
description of scan classes.
3. Set the PointSource attribute to correspond to the /ps flag on the startup command
line of the interface.
4. Set the PointType attribute to float32.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 24

I/O Rate Tag Configuration
An I/O Rate point can be configured to receive 10-minute averages of the total number of
exceptions per minute that are sent to PI by the interface. An exception is a value that has
passed the exception specifications for a given PI point. Since 10-minute averages are
taken, the first average is not written to PI until 10 minutes after the interface has started.
One I/O Rate tag can be configured for each copy of the interface that is in use.

Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node

For NT and UNIX nodes, the 10-minute rate averages (in events/minute) can be
monitored with a client application such as ProcessBook. For Open VMS nodes, the rate
(events/minute) can be monitored with the PISysExe:IOMonitor.exe program or
with another client program such as Process Book. The IOMonitor program is discussed
on page DA-71 of PI System Manual I.

Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI-ICU (NT-Intel)

The PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility (PI-ICU) provides a user interface
for creating and managing IORates Tags.

PI-ICU currently allows for one I/O Rate tag to be configured for each copy of the
interface that is in use. Some interfaces allow for multiple I/O Rates tags.

Enable IORates for this Interface

The Enable IORates for this interface check box enables or disables IORates for the
current interface. To disable IORates for the selected interface, uncheck this box. To
enable IORates for the selected interface, check this box.

Tag Status
The Tag Status column indicates whether the IORates tag exists in PI. The possible
states are:
 Created – This status indicates that the tag exist in PI
 Not Created – This status indicates that the tag does not yet exist in PI
 Deleted – This status indicates that the tag has just been deleted
 Unknown – This status indicates that the ICU is not able to access the PI Server

In File
The In File column indicates whether the IORates tag listed in the tag name and the
event counter is in the IORates.dat file. The possible states are:

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 25

I/O Rate Tag Configuration

 Yes – This status indicates that the tag name and event counter are in the
IORates.dat file
 No – This status indicates that the tag name and event counter are not in the
IORates.dat file

Event Counter
The Event Counter correlates a tag specified in the iorates.dat file with this copy of the
interface. The command line equivalent is /ec=x, where x is the same number that is
assigned to a tag name in the iorates.dat file.

Tagname
The tag name listed under the Tagname column is the name of the IORates tag.

Snapshot
The Snapshot column holds the snapshot value of the IORates tag, if the IORates tag
exists in PI. The Snapshot column is updated when the IORates/Status Tags tab is
clicked, and when the interface is first loaded.

Right Mouse Button Menu Options

Create
Create the suggested IORates tag with the tag name indicated in the Tagname column.

Delete
Delete the IORates tag listed in the Tagname column.

Rename
Allows the user to specify a new name for the IORates tag listed in the Tagname column.

Add to File
Adds the tag to the IORates.dat file with the event counter listed in the Event Counter
Column.

Search
Allows the user to search the PI Server for a previously defined IORates tag.

Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually

There are two configuration steps for configuring an IORates tag manually.

Configuring the PI Point on the PI Server

PI 2 Server Nodes
A listing of the I/O Rate Tags that are currently being monitored can be obtained with
the command:
@PISysDat:IOMonitor.com

Create an I/O Rate Tag using one of the existing I/O Rate Tags as a template.
26
PI 3 Server Nodes
Create an I/O Rate Tag with the following point attribute values.
Attribute Value
PointSource L
PointType float32
Compressing 0
ExcDev 0

Configuration on the Interface Node

For the following examples, assume that the name of the PI tag is intouch001, and that
the name of the I/O Rate on the home node is intouch001.
1. Edit/Create a file called iorates.dat in the PIHOME\dat directory. The PIHOME
directory is defined either by the PIPCSHARE entry or the PIHOME entry in the
pipc.ini file, which is located in the \WinNT directory. If both are specified, the
PIPCSHARE entry takes precedence.
Since the PIHOME directory is typically C:\PIPC, the full name of the
iorates.dat file will typically be C:\PIPC\dat\iorates.dat.
Add a line in the iorates.dat file of the form:
intouch001, x
where intouch001 is the name of the I/O Rate Tag and x corresponds to the first
instance of the /ec=x flag in the startup command file. x can be any number
between 2 and 34 or between 51 and 200, inclusive. To specify additional rate
counters for additional copies of the interface, create additional I/O Rate tags and
additional entries in the iorates.dat file. The event counter, /ec=x, should be
unique for each copy of the interface.
2. Set the /ec=x flag on the startup command file of the interface to match the event
counter in the iorates.dat file.
The interface must be stopped and restarted in order for the I/O Rate tag to take effect.
I/O Rates will not be written to the tag until 10 minutes after the interface is started.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 27

Startup Command File

Configuring the Startup Command File with PI-ICU

The PI-InTouch interface has an ICU Control that will aid in configuring the interface
startup command file:

General Options

Wait time between reconnection attempts

This specifies the number of seconds to wait between reconnection attempts. It allows
the interface to start before InTouch does, in which case a connection will be attempted
periodically until successful. The minimum period is 10 seconds and the maximum
period is 600 seconds (10 minutes). The command line equivalent is /ws.

Hold tag connection open between scans

This allows the interface to hold a tag connection open between scans. The command
line equivalent is /ht.

Failover

Enable Failover
If you are using failover nodes, checking this box will allow you to pass the required
parameters to the interface. Un-checking this box will remove all command-line
parameters relating to failover.

InTouch host
This specifies the name of the InTouch host that the interface is running on. This flag
should be specified if configuring failover. The command line equivalent is /fs.
Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 29
Startup Command File

InTouch point that specifies active server

This specifies the name of the point on InTouch, which holds the name of the currently
active server. This flag should be specified if configuring failover. The command line
equivalent is /fp.

Timestamps

Adjust the timestamp of scanned values

This causes the interface to adjust the timestamp associated with scanned values by n
seconds. This value can be a positive or negative number of seconds. The command line
equivalent is /to.

InTouch-specific Debugging

Output additional timestamp debug messages

This causes the interface to output additional debug messages that are specifically
associated with timestamps of scanned values. The command line equivalent is /tm.

Write InTouch-specific messages to PI log file

This causes PI-InTouch specific debugging messages to be sent to the PI log file. The
passed debug level can be 0, 1 or 2, with 2 giving the most verbose output, 0 being the
same as if this option were absent. The command line equivalent is /dd.

Process this number of points only

This option allows a limit to be placed on the number of tags that the interface will
process. Passing a value of 10 forces the interface to only process the first 10 tags found
– all other tags are ignored. The command line equivalent is /mt.

Additional Arguments
The Additional Arguments section is provided for any flags that may be required in the
future.
Command-line arguments can begin with a / or with a -. For example, the /ps=I and
-ps=I command-line arguments are equivalent.

Configuring the Startup Command File Manually

If the ICU Control is not used to configure the interface startup file, then the following
section explains the arguments available for the .bat file.
Command file names have a .bat extension. The NT continuation character ( ^) allows
one to use multiple lines for the startup command. The maximum length of each line is
1024 characters (1 kilobyte). The number of flags is unlimited, and the maximum length
of each flag is 1024 characters.

Note: The UniInt End User Document includes details about other command line
parameters which may be useful.

30
Command-line Parameters
Parameter Description
/fp=pointname The /fp flag specifies the name of the point on InTouch, which
holds the name of the currently active server. The flag should be
Optional
specified if configuring failover. Refer to the InTouch User Guide,
Monitoring the status of an I/O conversation chapter, for details on
configuring this flag.
/fs=servername The /fs flag specifies the name of the InTouch host that the
interface is running on. The flag should be specified if configuring
Optional
failover.
When the value of pointname matches servername, then data
will be collected on this node. Refer to the InTouch Reference
Guide for information regarding the GetNodeName( ) system
function. This function returns the NetDDE node name to a string
variable.
/ws=n The /ws flag specifies the number of seconds to wait between
reconnection attempts. It allows the interface to start before InTouch
Optional
does, in which case a connection will be attempted periodically until
successful. Also, if InTouch exits, the interface will continue to
operate, attempting a connection periodically until successful.
The minimum period is 10 seconds and the maximum period is 600
seconds (10 minutes). If this argument is not specified then any
failure to make a connection or loss of an existing connection will
cause the interface to exit– this includes the initial connection at
startup.
/ht The /ht flag allows the interface to hold a tag connection open
Optional between scans. If this is not specified then a tag connection is made,
the tag is read, and the tag is disconnected, for each scan. This is
obviously an inefficient way to process tags. For the sake of
efficiency this argument should be specified except when the system
resources are low and the interface becomes unstable.
/to=n The /to flag causes the interface to adjust the timestamp associated
with scanned values by n seconds. This value can be a positive or
Optional
negative number of seconds. The PI server time is used as the base
of the event’s timestamp. See the section “Source of Timestamps”
on page 2 or the section on Location2 on page 17 for more
information.
/tm The /tm flag causes the interface to output additional debug
messages that are specifically associated with timestamps of scanned
Optional
values. This can be useful in situations where time issues may arise,
or when debugging any timestamp manipulation that is configured. .
/mt=n The /mt flag allows a limit to be placed on the number of tags that
the interface will process. /mt=10 forces the interface to only
Optional
process the first 10 tags found–all other tags are ignored. This is
useful for debugging.
/dd=n The /dd flag causes InTouch specific debugging messages to be
sent to the PI log file. N can be 0, 1 or 2, with 2 giving the most
Optional
verbose output, 0 being the same as if “/dd=n” was absent.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 31

Startup Command File

Parameter Description
/db The /db flag causes informative messages to be sent from the
Universal Interface core to the PI log file for debugging or
Optional
diagnostic purposes.
/ps=x The /ps flag specifies the point source for the interface. x is not
case sensitive and can be any single character. For example, /ps=I
Required
and /ps=i are equivalent.
The point source that is assigned with the /ps flag corresponds to
the PointSource attribute of individual PI Points. The interface will
attempt to load only those PI points with the appropriate point
source.
/id=x The /id flag is used to specify the interface identifier.
Optional The interface identifier is a string that is no longer than 9 characters
in length. UniInt concatenates this string to the header that is used to
identify error messages as belonging to a particular interface. See
the section called “Error and Informational Messages” for more
information on page 51.
UniInt always uses the /id flag in the fashion described above. This
interface also uses the /id flag to identify a particular interface
copy number that corresponds to an integer value that is assigned to
Location1. This allows multiple copies of the interface to run on the
same node and handle different sets of tags. X must be the same as
the Location1 field of each of the PI tags associated with this
interface copy.
The /id flag can also be useful in failover situations where
different tags may require different failover nodes.
For this interface, one should use only numeric characters in the
identifier. For example,
/id=1

32
 Parameter Description
/f=SS The /f flag defines the time period between scans in terms of hours
or (HH), minutes (MM), and seconds (SS). The scans can be scheduled
/f=SS,SS to occur at discrete moments in time with an optional time offset
or specified in terms of hours (hh), minutes (mm), and seconds (ss). If
/f=HH:MM:SS HH and MM are omitted, then the time period that is specified is
or assumed to be in seconds.
/f=HH:MM:SS,hh:
mm:ss Each instance of the /f flag on the command line defines a scan
class for the interface. There is no limit to the number of scan
classes that can be defined. The first occurrence of the /f flag on
Required the command line defines the first scan class of the interface, the
second occurrence defines the second scan class, and so on. PI
Points are associated with a particular scan class via the Location4
PI Point attribute. For example, all PI Points that have Location4 set
to 1 will receive input values at the frequency defined by the first
scan class. Similarly, all points that have Location4 set to 2 will
receive input values at the frequency specified by the second scan
class, and so on.
Two scan classes are defined in the following example:
/f=00:01:00,00:00:05 /f=00:00:07
or, equivalently:
/f=60,5 /f=7
The first scan class has a scanning frequency of 1 minute with an
offset of 5 seconds, and the second scan class has a scanning
frequency of 7 seconds. When an offset is specified, the scans occur
at discrete moments in time according to the formula:
scan times = (reference time) + n(frequency) + offset
where n is an integer and the reference time is midnight on the day
that the interface was started. In the above example, frequency is 60
seconds and offset is 5 seconds for the first scan class. This means
that if the interface was started at 05:06:06, the first scan would be
at 05:06:10, the second scan would be at 05:07:10, and so on. Since
no offset is specified for the second scan class, the absolute scan
times are undefined.
The definition of a scan class does not guarantee that the associated
points will be scanned at the given frequency. If the interface is
under a large load, then some scans may occur late or be skipped
entirely. See the section called “Performance Point Configuration”
on page 23 for more information on skipped or missed scans.
Sub-second Scan Classes:
One can also specify sub-second scan classes on the command line
such as
/f=0.5 /f=0.1
where the scanning frequency associated with the first scan class is
0.5 seconds and the scanning frequency associated with the second
scan class is 0.1 seconds.
Similarly, sub-second scan classes with sub-second offsets can be
defined, such as
/f=0.5,0.2 /f=1,0

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 33

Startup Command File

Parameter Description
/host=host:port The /host flag is used to specify the PI Home node. host is the
IP address of the PI Sever node or the domain name of the PI Server
Optional
node. port is the port number for TCP/IP communication. The
port is always 5450 for a PI 3 Server and 545 for a PI 2 Server. It is
recommended to explicitly define the host and port on the command
line with the /host flag. Nevertheless, if either the host or port is
not specified, the interface will attempt to use defaults.
Defaults:
The default port name and server name is specified in the
pilogin.ini or piclient.ini file. The piclient.ini file is ignored if
a pilogin.ini file is found. Refer to the PI-API Installation
Instructions manual for more information on the piclient.ini and
pilogin.ini files.
Examples:
The interface is running on an API node, the domain name of the PI
3 home node is Marvin, and the IP address of Marvin is
206.79.198.30. Valid /host flags would be:
/host=marvin
/host=marvin:5450
/host=206.79.198.30
/host=206.79.198.30:5450
/stopstat If the /stopstat flag is present on the startup command line, then
or the digital state I/O Timeout will be written to each PI Point when
/stopatat= the interface is stopped.
digstate
If /stopstat=digstate is present on the command line, then
Default: the digital state, digstate, will be written to each PI Point when
/stopstat= the interface is stopped. For a PI 3 Server, digstate must be in
”Intf shut” the system digital state table. For a PI 2 Server, where there is only
Optional one digital state table available, digstate must simply be
somewhere in the table. UniInt uses the first occurrence in the table.
If neither /stopstat nor /stopstat=digstate is specified
on the command line, then no digital states will be written when the
interface is shut down.
Examples:
/stopstat=”Intf shut”
The entire parameter is enclosed within double quotes when there is
a space in digstate.
/ec=x The first instance of the /ec flag on the command line is used to
specify a counter number, x, for an I/O Rate point. If x is not
Optional
specified, then the default event counter is 1. Also, if the /ec flag
is not specified at all, there is still a default event counter of 1
associated with the interface. If there is an I/O Rate point that is
associated with an event counter of 1, each copy of the interface that
is running without /ec=x explicitly defined will write to the same
I/O Rate point. This means that one should either explicitly define
an event counter other than 1 for each copy of the interface or one
should not associate any I/O Rate points with event counter 1.
Configuration of I/O Rate points is discussed in the section called
“I/O Rate Tag Configuration,” p. 25.

34
 Parameter Description
/sio The /sio flag stands for “suppress initial outputs.” The flag applies
only for interfaces that support outputs. If the /sio flag is not
Optional
specified, the interface will behave in the following manner.
When the interface is started, the interface determines the current
Snapshot value of each output tag. Next, the interface writes this
value to each output tag. In addition, whenever an individual output
tag is edited while the interface is running, the interface will write
the current Snapshot value to the edited output tag.
This behavior is suppressed if the /sio flag is specified on the
command line. That is, outputs will not be written when the
interface starts or when an output tag is edited. In other words, when
the /sio flag is specified, outputs will only be written when they
are explicitly triggered.
/q When the /q flag is present, Snapshots and exceptions are queued
before they are sent to the PI Server node.
Optional
The maximum queue size is close to 4000 bytes. The queue is
flushed between scans if it is not filled.

Sample PI_InTouch.bat File

The following is an example of a start-up file, PIInTouch.bat:
REM PI_InTouch.bat
REM ----------------------------------------------------------------
REM
REM Sample startup file for the PI Wonderware InTouch interface.
REM
REM ----------------------------------------------------------------
REM
REM Required command-line parameters
REM /ps=x Point source character
REM /f=HH:MM:SS scan class
REM
REM Optional command-line parameters
REM /fp=pointname InTouch point name
REM /fs=servername InTouch host the interface is running on
REM /ws=n Number of seconds between reconnection attempts
REM /ht Hold tag connections open between scans
REM /to=n Number of seconds to adjust timestamps by
REM /tm Output debug messages associated with timestamps
REM /mt=n Maximum number of tags
REM /dd=n Output InTouch specific debugging messages
REM /db Output UniInt debugging messages
REM /id=x Interface identifier
REM /host=host:port PI Home node
REM /stopstat=digstate Write digstate to every PI point when interface stops
REM /ec=x Counter number for I/O Rate point
REM /sio Suppress initial outputs
REM /q Queue snapshots and exceptions

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 35

Startup Command File

REM Sample command line:

REM PI_InTouch.exe /ht /ps=I /f=00:00:10 /id=1 /host=liz:5450 /ec=3
REM
REM ----------------------------------------------------------------
REM Revison History
REM Date Author Comment
REM 21-May-01 EW Written
REM ----------------------------------------------------------------

36
System Variable Path
The InTouch directory must be added to the System Variable Path. To do this click on:
Start  Settings  Control Panel  System Environment
Then highlight Path under System Variables and add the directory.
For Wonderware InTouch version 6.0b the directory to add to the path is usually:
C:\InTouch.32
For version 7.0 the directory is usually:
C:\Program Files\FactorySuite\InTouch.
For example, if the local version of InTouch is 6.0b, the path might be:
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;c:\intouch.32

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 37

Interface Node Clock
The correct settings for the time and time zone should be set in the Date/Time control
panel. If local time participates in Daylight Savings, from the control panel, configure
the time to be automatically adjusted for Daylight Savings Time . The correct local
settings should be used even if the interface node runs in a different time zone than the PI
Server node.
Make sure that the TZ environment variable is not defined. The currently defined
environment variables can be listed by going to Start | Settings | Control Panel, double
clicking on the system icon, and selecting the environment tab on the resulting dialog
box. Also, make sure that the TZ variable is not defined in an autoexec.bat file. When
the TZ variable is defined in an autoexec.bat file, the TZ variable may not appear as
being defined in the System control panel even though the variable is defined .
Admittedly, autoexec.bat files are not typically used on NT, but this does not prevent
a rogue user from creating such a file and defining the TZ variable unbeknownst to the
System Administrator.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 39

Security
If the home node is a PI 3 Server, the PI Firewall Database and the PI Proxy Database
must be configured so that the interface is allowed to write data to the PI Data Archive .
See “Modifying the Firewall Database” and “Modifying the Proxy Database” in the PI
Server manuals.
Note that the Trust Database, which is maintained by the Base Subsystem, replaces the
Proxy Database used prior to PI version 3.3. The Trust Database maintains all the
functionality of the proxy mechanism while being more secure.
See “Trust Login Security” in the chapter “PI System Management” of the PI Universal
Data Server System Management Guide.
If the home node is a PI 2 Server, the read/write permissions should be set appropriately
in the pisysdat:piserver.dat file on the PI 2 home node. For more information on
setting permissions on PI 2, see the pibuild:piserver.txt file on the PI 2 home
node.
If the interface cannot write data to a PI 3 Server because it has insufficient privileges, a
–10401 error will be reported in the pipc.log file. If the interface cannot send data to a
PI2 Serve, it writes a –999 error. See the section “Appendix A: Error and Informational
Messages” for additional information on error messaging.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 41

Starting / Stopping the Interface
This section describes starting and stopping the interface once it has been installed as a
service. See the UniInt End User Document to run the interface interactively.

Starting / Stopping the Interface with PI-ICU

The PI-Interface Configuration Utility can be used to start and stop the interface service.

To Start or Stop the interface service, use the Start button and the Stop button on
the toolbar at the top of the PI-ICU. If this interface service is not currently installed,
these buttons will remain grayed out until the service is added. If this interface service is
running, the Stop button is available. If this service is not running, the Start button is
available.
The status of the Interface service is indicated in the lower portion of the PI-ICU dialog.

Status of the
Interface
Service

Starting / Stopping the Interface Manually

If PI-ICU is not used, then the following sections describe how to manage the interface
service manually.

Starting Interface as a Service

If the interface was installed as a service, it can be started from the services control panel
or with the command:
PI_InTouch.exe –start
A message will be echoed to the screen informing the user whether or not the interface
has been successfully started as a service. Even if the message indicates that the service
started successfully, make sure that the service is still running by checking in the services
control panel. There are several reasons that a service may immediately terminate after
startup. One is that the service may not be able to find the command-line arguments in
the associated .bat file. For this to succeed, the root name of the .bat file and the .exe
file must be the same, and the .bat file and the .exe file must be in the same directory.
If the service terminates prematurely for whatever reason, no error messages will be
Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 43
 echoed to the screen. The user must consult the pipc.log file for error messages. See
the section “Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages,” for additional information.
Note: It is recommended to run the InTouch Application as a service also. Locate
View.exe and from a command prompt type “view.exe –install”. Refer to the
Wonderware Documentation for further details about installing as a service.

Stopping Interface Running as a Service

If the interface was installed a service, it can be stopped at any time from the services
control panel or with the command:
PI_InTouch.exe –stop
The service can be removed by:
PI_InTouch.exe –remove

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 44

Buffering
For complete information on buffering, please refer to the Wonderware InTouch
Interface to the PI System.
PI-API Node buffering consists of a buffering process which runs continuously on the
local node, a PI-API library whose calls can send data to this buffering process, and a
utility program for examining the state of buffering and controlling the buffering process.

Configuring Buffering with PI-ICU (NT-Intel)

Buffering is enabled through the PI-Interface Configuration Utility’s Tools>API
Buffering… menu. Unless buffering is explicitly enabled, the PI-API will not buffer data,
sending data directly to the home node.
The API Buffering… dialog allows the user to view and configure the parameters
associated with the API Buffering (bufserv) process. The user can start and stop the API
Buffering process from the Service tab:

Service Tab
The Service tab allows for some API Buffering service configuration. For further
configuration changes, use the Services applet.

Service name
The Service name displays the name of the API Buffering Service.

Display name
The Display name displays the full name associated with the API Buffering service.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 45

 Log on as
This text box allows users to set what user account the API Buffering service will use. If
this text box is left blank, then LocalSystem is used. Typically, the API Buffering service
needs to run under the local Administrator account.

Password
If the username specified in the Log on as text box requires a password, this field is
where the password should be typed. If no password is required, this field can remain
blank.

Confirm password
The Confirm password text box is used to confirm the password typed into the Password
text box.

Dependencies
The Dependencies lists the Windows services on which the API Buffering service is
dependent.

Start / Stop
The Start / Stop buttons allow for the API Buffering service to be started and stopped.
After a change is made to any of the settings on the Settings tab, the Save button must be
clicked, and then the service must be stopped and restarted for the changes to be picked
up by bufserv.

Startup Type
The Startup Type indicates whether the API Buffering service is setup to start
automatically on reboot or manually on reboot, or is disabled.
If the Auto option is selected, the service will be installed to start automatically when the
machine reboots.
If the Manual option is selected, the interface service will not start on reboot, but will
require someone to manually start the service.
If the Disabled option is selected, the service will not start at all.
Generally, the API Buffering service is set to start automatically.

Create / Remove
The Create button creates the API Buffering service with the specified Dependencies and
with the specified Startup Type.
The Remove button removes the API Buffering service. If the service is not currently
installed, or if the service is currently running, this button will be grayed out.

Settings Tab
The Settings tab allows for configuration of the 7 configurable settings used by API
Buffering. Default values are used if no other value is provided. The default value for
each parameter, as well as the range, is specified next to each parameter.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 46

 Enable API Buffering
Enables the API Buffering feature.

Maximum File Size

Maximum buffer file size in kilobytes before buffering fails and discards events. Default
value is 100,000. Range is 1 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Send Rate
Send rate is the time to wait between sending up to MAXTRANSFEROBJS to the server
(milliseconds). Default value is 100. Range is 0 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Primary Memory Buffer Size

Primary memory buffer size is the size in bytes of the Primary memory buffer. Default
value is 32768. Range is 64 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Secondary Memory Buffer Size

Secondary memory buffer size is the size in bytes of the Secondary memory buffer.
Default value is 32768. Range is 64 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 47

Buffering

Max Transfer Objects

Max transfer objects is the maximum number of events to send between each
SENDRATE pause. Default value is 500. Range is 1 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Pause Rate
When buffers are empty the buffering process will wait for this number of seconds before
attempting to send more data to the home node. Default value is 2. Range is 0 to
2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Retry Rate
When the buffering process discovers the home node is unavailable it will wait this
number of seconds before attempting to reconnect. Default value is 120. Range is 0 to
2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value,
click the Apply button.

Max Theoretical Send Rate

This is the theoretical max send rate is calculated like this:
max = MAXTRANSFEROBJS / SENDRATE * 1000
Default value is 5000.

Configuring Buffering Manually

If PI-ICU is not used to configure and manage Buffering, the following steps describe
how to manually configure and manage Buffering. Buffering is enabled through the use
of a configuration file, piclient.ini. Unless this file is modified to explicitly enable
buffering, the PI-API will not buffer data, sending data directly to the home node.
There are no additional steps needed to install buffering after installing the PI-API. The
delivered PI-API library supports both buffered and un-buffered calls.

Note: When buffering is configured to be on, the bufserv process must be started
before other programs using the PI-API, so that these programs can access the shared
buffering resources. Any program that makes a connection to a PI Server has this
requirement even if it does not write to PI.

Configuration of buffering is achieved through entries in the piclient.ini file. The

file is found in the dat subdirectory of the PIHOME directory (typically c:\
Program Files\pipc\dat) under Windows NT. This file follows the conventions of
Microsoft Windows initialization files with sections, keywords within sections, and
values for keywords. All buffering settings are entered in a section called
[APIBUFFER]. To modify settings, simply edit the piclient.ini file in a text editor
(Notepad) to the desired values.
The following settings are available for buffering configuration:

48
 Keywords Values Default Description
BUFFERING 0,1 0 Turn off/on buffering. OFF = 0, ON = 1,
PAUSERATE 0 - 2,000,000 2 When buffers are empty the buffering
process will wait for this long before
attempting to send more data to the home
node (seconds)
RETRYRATE 0 - 2,000,000 120 When the buffering process discovers the
home node is unavailable it will wait this
long before attempting to reconnect
(seconds)
MAXFILESIZE 1 - 2,000,000 100,000 Maximum buffer file size before buffering
fails and discards events. (Kbytes)
MAXTRANSFEROBJ 1 - 2,000,000 500 Maximum number of events to send between
S each SENDRATE pause.
BUF1SIZE 64 - 2,000,000 32768 Primary memory buffer size. (bytes)
BUF2SIZE 64 - 2,000,000 32768 Secondary memory buffer size. (bytes)
SENDRATE 0 - 2,000,000 100 The time to wait between sending up to
MAXTRANSFEROBJS to the server
(milliseconds)

In addition to the [APIBUFFER] section, the [PISERVER] section may be used to define
the default PI server and an optional time offset change that may occur between the client
and server.
Keywords Values Default Description
PIHOMENODE string None Only used on Unix. On Windows, default
server is in pilogin.ini
DSTMISMATCH 0 - 2,000,000 0 The time that the server and client local time
offset is allowed to jump. Typically, 3600 if the
nodes are in time zones whose DST rules differ
(seconds)

Sample piclient.ini File

On Windows NT the default server information is stored in the pilogin.ini file so the
piclient.ini would only have the [APIBUFFER] section. The BUFFERING=1
indicates that buffering is on. The MAXFILESIZE entry in Kbytes of 100000 allows up to
100 Megabytes of data storage. Do not use commas or other separators in the numeric
entries. The retry rate is set to 600 seconds meaning wait 10 minutes after losing a
connection before retrying.
A piclient.ini file might look like:
[APIBUFFER]
BUFFERING=1
MAXFILESIZE=100000
; The PI-API connection routines have a 1 minute default timeout.
RETRYRATE=600

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 49

Buffering

50
Appendix A:
Error and Informational Messages
A string NameID is pre-pended to error messages written to the message log. Name is a
non-configurable identifier that is no longer than 9 characters . ID is a configurable
identifier that is no longer than 9 characters and is specified using the /id flag on the
startup command line.

Message Logs
The location of the message log depends upon the platform on which the interface is
running. See the UniInt End User Document for more information.
Messages are written to PIHOME\dat\pipc.log at the following times.
 When the interface starts many informational messages are written to the log.
These include the version of the interface, the version of UniInt, the command-line
parameters used, and the number of points.
 As the interface retrieves points, messages are sent to the log if there are any
problems with the configuration of the points.
 If the /db is used on the command line, then various informational messages are
written to the log file.

Messages
InTouch is not running
Verify InTouch is running.

Tag refused: Maximum tag count exceeded.

Reduce the number of tags.

If experiencing problems with the InTouch interface, verify the following:

 The interface must run on the same node as InTouch.
 InTouch must be running before starting the interface.
 InTouch must be configured as a service if configuring the interface as an
automatic service.
 Data from servers must be logged in InTouch or selected to gather data for all
points (InTouch normally only collects data for points on the active displays)
 The interface must be configured to “Interact with Desktop”.
 If the InTouch screen stops updating, remove the /ht parameter from the
command line.

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 51

System Errors and PI Errors
System errors are associated with positive error numbers . Errors related to PI are
associated with negative error numbers.

Error Descriptions on NT and Unix

On NT, descriptions of system and PI errors can be obtained with the pidiag utility:
\PI\adm\pidiag –e error_number

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 52

Revision History
Date Author Comments
22-may-01 EW Updated manual version 1.4.70 with skeleton
v. 1.08.
21-Aug-01 Chrys Format changes; footers; fix diagram w/ heading
27-Sep-01 B Payne Removed reference to WWLogSvc, causes
problems when trying to start the interface as a
service with a depends on the WWLogSvc

14 – May –02 CS Added information regarding Failover and changed

all references to .exe file to use PI_InTouch.exe
21-May-02 JPM Added WonderWare InTouch ICU Control to
Startup Command File section. Added ICU to
IORates section and Perf Points section.
14-Jun-02 B Payne Added to appendix A – more hints for
troubleshooting.
06-Sep-02 Holly Updated with info the Wise setup kit, updated
sections on PI-ICU for IORates, PerfPoints, Service
Config, Buffering. (1.4.72.0)
26-Sep-02 B Payne Removed the reference to CHIP to PI from ICU
section.
23-Apr-03 B Payne Changed the version to 1.4.72.0
05-Sep-03 B Payne Added support for Convers
24-Oct-03 Holly Updated screen shots of ICU and ICU Control
(1.4.73.0, doc rev A).
28-Oct-03 Chrys 1.4.73.0 Rev B: fixed copyright, removed MS dlls,
clarified Convers, added standard text for ICU into
performance pts, fixed general options of ICU
control, added trust to security
29-Oct-03 Chrys 1.4.73.0 Rev C: fixed TOC
23-Dec-03 B Payne 1.4.74.0 Rev C incremented version
16-Dec-04 B Payne Updated supported InTouch versions. Updated
supported features section.
16-Dec-04 Chrys Version 1.4.74.0 Rev E: Specified which OS

Wonderware InTouch Interface to the PI System 53