Time Management

A great deal of flexibility is built into setting and managing time in Proficy Portal.

Two time concepts are key in understanding Proficy Portal time management:

Time Initialization - the initial time configured for the first data retrieval for the display. This is determined by an established precedence.
Time Notification - time changes that occur because of user interaction, parameter bindings, component control, or display control. These changes can only occur after the initial time is set and the first data retrieval has taken place.

Time Elements

There are a variety of components in Proficy Portal that interact with time properties. These components can either be a source of time, a target of time, or both a source and a target of time. In addition, there are several components that can be configured to show different time presentations. It is important, however, to understand the difference between the configuration of the time presentation and the actual time property values that drive data requests.

Two primary data requests that interact with time are:

Historical - historical data always requires StartDateTime and EndDateTime properties.
Relational database queries - An SQL query time parameter is of type DATE and can be driven by any one of the Proficy Portal component time properties (StartDateTime, EndDateTime, StartTime, StartDate, EndTime, or EndDate).

After establishing the type of data, the user interface components can be selected, along with the property parameter bindings that will ensure the required data is retrieved.

Before continuing in this section, it is important to understand what is meant by `property parameter bindings' or `linking'. For additional information, see Parameter Connections.

The following table provides a cross reference of the supported properties for each type of component, along with the user interface options.

Component	Supported Properties	User Interface Options
Display	StartDateTime, EndDateTime	Run-time toolbar with Quick Time and/or scrolling Auto update Symbols Variables See Quick Time, Scrolling, Automatic Update, Symbols, and Variable Connections for more information.
Time Component	StartTime, StartDate, StartDateTime, EndTime, EndDate, EndDateTime	Quick Time
Time chart	StartDateTime, EndDateTime	Quick Time and/or scrolling Auto update
Historian grid	StartDateTime, EndDateTime	Quick Time and/or scrolling Auto update
Historian Data Item	StartDateTime, EndDateTime	Edit Source dialog box See Data Sources for more information.
SQL Data Item	(SQL data type DATE) can use StartTime, StartDate, StartDateTime, EndTime, EndDate, EndDateTime	SQL Statement Builder See Introduction to the SQL Statement Builder for more information.

Time Initialization

When a display is first opened (in Run mode), initial time values for all properties are resolved. There are various factors that affect time initialization; however, Proficy Portal uses a precedence to resolve initial time values. This precedence is described in the following, starting with the highest priority:

Display – the display has StartDateTime and EndDateTime properties and these values (when assigned) have the highest priority of all the components. The display time properties can be assigned with the Quick Time control in the Edit Current Display Settings dialog box. The run-time toolbar does not need to be enabled for the initial assignment (default priority). For more information on setting the display-level Quick Time, see Display Settings.
StartDateTime and EndDateTime properties can be passed to a display as parameters from another display with the use of symbols. For more information, see Passing Parameters Between Displays.

NOTE: The StartDateTime and EndDateTime parameters cannot be linked to from other objects (such as a Time Component).

Time Component – the Time Component properties (StartTime, StartDate, StartDateTime, EndTime, EndDate, EndDateTime) can be assigned by the component itself or StartDateTime and EndDateTime values can be passed to another component, such as a Time chart.
NOTE: A Time Component time property can be used only as a source property. Proficy Portal does not allow you to `link' another component to the Time Component.

For information on how to configure the Time Component, see Time Component.

Time chart and Historian grid – the Time chart and Historian grid components have StartDateTime and EndDateTime properties. You can assign values to these properties with the component's Quick Time controls. In addition, the Time Component object or the display can be linked to the chart or grid's properties. The chart and grid can be used as sources or targets, and therefore it is possible to link them to each other. A number of possible configurations may occur at the chart or grid component property level, as described in the following points:
- A chart or grid component is linked with the display. In this case, the display has the highest priority (the time set for the display will be set for the chart/grid).
- A chart or grid component is linked with the Time Component. In this case, the Time Component has the higher priority and the time that is assigned to the Time Component will be set as the initial time of the chart or grid.
- A chart or grid is not linked to anything. In this case, the initial time will be set by the value assigned in component's Quick Time panel (if Quick Time is enabled).
- A chart and grid are linked to each other. In this case, both components are at the same priority level and the initial time will be set to the value that is configured for the component's Quick Time control. This configuration does not ensure the times will be synchronized unless both Quick Time values are set the same. If you want synchronization on initialization, then you should use the display Quick Time control or a Time Component.

For information on Time chart/Historian grid configuration, see Time Charts and Historian Grid.

There are a number of possible configurations for data contained in the chart or grid that affect time:

Data items are added to a chart/grid and Quick Time is not enabled. In this case, the time assigned to the data item properties are the ones that were configured in the Edit Source dialog box. If the data item is an SQL query, then the time would have been assigned in the SQL Statement Builder.
Data items are added to a chart/grid and Quick Time is enabled. In this case, the time assigned to the data item properties will be the time that is assigned to the chart or grid component following all the other rules.
Data items can be individually assigned to work with component Quick Time and/or scrolling. See Quick Time and Scrolling for detailed information.

Data Items – data item properties (StartDateTime and EndDateTime for Historical and SQL DATE for SQL queries) have their initial time properties assigned from the Edit Source dialog box (for historical) or the SQL Statement Builder (for real time). In addition, they can be driven by a higher level component, such as a Time chart or Historian grid), or by a Time Component or display. All of the precedence rules previously described apply.
NOTE: A data item can only be a target property. Proficy Portal does not allow you to `link' data items to other components.

For more information on configuring data items, see Data Sources and Introduction to the SQL Statement Builder.

Time Notification

Time notification refers to the ability to change the start and/or end time of components and/or data sources, so that new data is retrieved based on the updated time. This can be performed after time initialization has taken place. With historical data sources, for example, you can set an automatic update at specific intervals, or you can set up various ways for the user to update the time as needed. The following sections describe, at a basic level, the methods of time notification.

Methods of updating time are:

Combinations of time update methods can be used. For example, within one display, you can have time update controls over the entire display, any number of specific components, and any number of specific data sources. The interactions among the time update methods are, in some cases, configurable on the data source. Refer to Time Updates on Data Sources for more information.

Time notification methods apply primarily to historical data sources, although relational data sources allow for auto update configuration. Real time data sources will refresh according to a defined refresh rate on the source, but the rate is not configurable in Proficy Portal.