Using Plant Database Data Sources

The Plant Database connector is used to connect to Proficy Plant Applications Plant Databases.

When you look at a Plant Database data source in either the Data Sources tree or the Data Source Browser, you see a hierarchical representation of your Plant data model. The levels of the Plant Model are replicated, from the top level (Plant) down to the Variable Group level.

The Plant Database connector comes with a set of standard functions that are built from stored procedures. The purpose of the functions is to retrieve specific information from the Plant Database. For a list of the default functions that are provided, see Plant Database Functions. The functions that come with Proficy Portal are customizable. Your database administrator can change the names of the functions, parameters, and result columns. It is also possible that the database administrator has created new functions that meet the specific needs of your operations.

The functions are available at certain levels of the Data model. By default, there are functions at the Plant, Unit (Master), Unit (Slave), and Variable Group levels. Some functions appear at more than one level. For example, the List Faults function appears at Plant, Unit (Master), and Unit (Slave) levels. The levels at which functions appear are also customizable (can be changed by your administrator). The icons that appear beside the functions correspond to the icons used in Plant Applications to denote the Plant Model level. These icons are:

	Plant
	Unit - master
	Unit - slave
	Variable Group

The functions that appear under the Variable Group level in Proficy Portal actually apply to the Variable level of your Plant Model. You will notice that the Variable Group icon (as shown above) is the icon you would normally see for Variables in your Plant Model.

When you select a function to use, the item configuration dialog box allows you to assign default values to input parameters that are not already fixed, and to select the columns you want to display. When you set default parameter values on the item configuration dialog box, you either enter the value manually in the value box, or with some values, when you click in the box you will be prompted with an additional dialog box. For detailed information on these parameter value dialog boxes, refer to Plant Database Parameter Value Properties.

See Also

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