Alarm status line and alarm information list

Alarm status line

The alarm status line display alarms that cannot be acknowledged during runtime as a red bar with black text. The alarm status line is always visible and defined as the topmost window. It covers all zenon pictures and all other applications.

You can configure the behavior and the font of the the alarm status line in the group Alarm information list / Alarm status line of the project properties.

If the option display next is set, the alarm status line is defined as a ring. As ring size the size of the ring buffer of the alarm information list is used. Option Display oldest uses a FIFO buffer. Option Display newest uses a LIFO buffer.

If the option display next is deactivated, the alarm status line always contains only one alarm.

Positioning:

By default, the alarm status line is displayed on the top border of the screen (height=18 pixels with standard font). You can change its size and position in the templates. In order to do this, select the alarm status bar and deactivated option Use standard position. After that you can position the alarm status bar - in the same way as a template - anywhere on the screen.
For multi-project administration, the alarm status line of the integration project determines the position. The settings of the subprojects are ignored.

Status messages:

You can define three status messages to inform the user that the number of unacknowleged alarms has exceeded a certain number, or that the ring buffer of the alarm information list is going to overflow soon.
The status messages cover the red alarm status line until they are acknowledged. You can acknowledge them by double-clicking them with the right mouse button. For that, the user must be in the according authorization group. You can configure that in the function authorizations.

Alarm Information List

The alarm information list shows alarm messages line by line during runtime. You can configure the display format in the filter of the picture switch function to an alarm picture, in the section entry in the list. Exception:The font is configured at the list element in the picture.

In general there are two different alarm storages in zenon, which can be displayed:

Memory: A ring buffer that contains all current and not acknowledged alarms. As soon as an alarm has a received and acknowledged time stamp, it is removed from the ring buffer. (Exception: The option to delete is set for the alarm. This means that the alarm is only removed from the ring buffer after the user deletes it.
The size of the ring buffer can be changed and should never be exceeded during runtime, as this leads to data loss. -> Configure warning messages. See above.
You can configure the behavior of the ring buffer after an overflow.
The ring buffer is automatically saved when the runtime is stopped. If the runtime is stopped unexpectedly, e.g. due to a power failure, there will also be data loss. In order to avoid this, the ring buffer can be saved (e.g. cyclically) with the function Save AML and CEL memory buffer. Alternatively, you can also configure the ring buffer to be saved after every new alarm (save ring buffer spontaneously). However, this option increases the load on hard disk/flash memory.
File: All alarms entered in the ring buffer are automatically saved to .AML files. This is called historical data recording or also alarm archiving. On the PC, this option is activated by default. In CE it can be configured optionally. One alarm information list file is written automatically by the system each day. The file contains the same information as the memory (ring buffer). Additionally, it stores the acknowledging information for all alarms. This means: alarms that have all three time stamps can be displayed.
The AML files are handled with the function file operations. You have to see to it yourself that the files are deleted or moved so that the mass storage does not overflow.

Example for the structure of the alarm information list in the runtime:

Date/Time received	Date/Time cleared	Variable	Information text
20.03.1995 13:00:00	20.03.1995 13:05:35	Motor1_failure	Motor's protective relay activated

Every row can be acknowledged by double-clicking it with the right mouse button. For that, the user must be in the according authorization group. You can configure that in the function authorizations.