When you use the Add Filter window to filter an Events List, you use the top combo box on the window to specify the database field to which you want to apply a filter (see Add a Filter to a List).
You can filter an Events List by various database fields, including:
- Area of Interest—Only displayed if the Area of Interest feature is enabled on your system. Use this field to filter the Events List to those events that are associated with specific Area(s) of Interest. When using the Reference browse window to specify an Area of Interest, you will be offered those Area(s) of Interest to which your User Account has access. For more information, see Restrict Alarm and Event Access to Specific Areas of Interest in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration.
- Alarm State—Use to filter the Events List according to alarm state. Each event that is associated with an alarm has an alarm state, which indicates the particular activity that is associated with that alarm. For example, you can filter the Events List so that it only shows alarms being Acknowledged, or leave the filter values field blank to include or exclude those events that are associated with alarms.
- Alarm Suppression Type—Use to filter the Events List to show or exclude events that relate to alarms being suppressed or unsuppressed. When filtering by this field, the filter value combo box offers four options:
- <Blank>—Use to apply the filter to events that are not alarm-related (that is, events with which alarm suppression cannot be associated).
- Consequential—Use to apply the filter to alarm-related events that are associated with the ‘Consequential’ type of alarm suppression.
- Maintenance—Use to apply the filter to alarm-related events that are associated with the ‘Maintenance’ type of alarm suppression.
- None—Use to apply the filter to alarm-related events that have no associated alarm suppression.
For further information on alarm suppression, see Alarm Suppression in the ClearSCADA Guide to Alarms.
- Category—Use to filter the Events List according to its category values. Each event has a category value that describes the type of system occurrence that caused the event to be logged. For example, if a user performs an Override control, an event is logged with the Action category (as the event was caused by a user performing an action). For more information about the Events List's Category column, including a list of common category values, see Understand Events Lists.
- Comment Number—You can add comments to events in the Events List. Comments are useful for indicating, for example, that an event was logged due to an unusual occurrence (see Insert a Comment for an Event). Use the Comment Number field to filter the Events List to either include or exclude those events that are comments. An event can have multiple comments. The first comment is assigned Comment Number 1, the second is assigned Comment Number 2, and so on. Events that are not comments are assigned Comment Number 0.
- Deleted—Use to filter the Events List to show which events have been deleted. Events are not removed from the database when they are deleted; instead they are merely marked as deleted, which hides them from view when the default Events List filter is used. Events can be deleted, for example, by using the DeleteInterfaceEvent automation method in the CDBObject database table (for more information about this method, see the Database Schema).
- File Id—Event Journal messages are stored in a series of files. Each file has a unique File Id. Use the File Id field for diagnostic purposes, to filter the Events List to those events that are stored in particular Event Journal file(s). The File Id is a string value.
- File Offset—Event Journal messages are stored in a series of files, with each message being assigned a unique offset in each file. Use the File Offset field for diagnostic purposes, to filter the Events List to those events that are stored in a particular location within specific Event Journal file(s). The File Offset is a whole number.
- Message (Message)—Use to filter the Events List according to its message values. Each event has a message value that describes what happened to cause the event to be logged. For example, if a user performs an Override action on a point, the message indicates that an Override action was performed and the value of the override. The Message is a string value.
- Message (MessageLong)—Use as an alternative to the Message (Message) field, to filter the Events List according to its message values, should the relevant messages be over 254 characters long. When using ODBC data access to query the Event Journal, be aware that the MessageLong field is a memo field, and the Message field is a text field. Some third-party applications provide only limited searching of memo fields.
- Named Region—Use to filter the Events List to those events that are stored in specific Historic Regions. Historic Regions are used to retain specific periods of historic data on the system. Normally, historic data is deleted after a certain amount of time; the data recorded during the time specified for a Historic Region is not deleted (see Historic Regions in the ClearSCADA Guide to Server Configuration).
- Raw Encoded Message—ClearSCADA stores event messages internally in raw encoded format. Each message is decoded for display in the Events List. The Raw Encoded Message field can be used for diagnostic purposes. For instance, to ascertain which events contain particular messages elements, or how message elements conveying variable data are passed between server and client.
- Receipt Time—Use to filter the Events List to those events that were received by the server at a specific time or within a defined time range.
- Severity (Severity)—This field is only retained for backwards compatibility, and is an alias for the SeverityValue field. We suggest you filter events by Severity (SeverityValue) rather than by this field.
- Severity (SeverityDesc)—Use to filter the Events List according to severity description. Each event has a severity description that indicates the importance of the event. The default descriptions are Critical, High, Medium, and Low, where, for example, an event with a Low severity would not be as important as an event with a severity description of High or Critical. The default severity descriptions and levels may have been replaced by a custom range of severities on your system.
- Severity (SeverityValue)—Use to filter the Events List according to the severity of the events. Each event has a severity value that indicates the importance of the event. Use this field to filter the Events List to those events that have a specific severity value, or have a severity value within a defined range. The default ranges are Low 1-333, Medium 334-666, High 667-999, and Critical 1000. Unlike the Severity (SeverityDesc) field, you use the Severity (SeverityValue) field to filter events by severity number, rather than severity description. Be aware that the number ranges and corresponding severity descriptions on your system may differ from those above.
- Source (Id)—Each item in the database has a unique ID number that is used internally to identify that item. Use the Source (Id) field to filter the Events List to those events that are associated with a source that has a particular ID number. When you select this field, use the browse button adjacent to the filter value field to select the name of the database item for which you want to filter the events. Alternatively, use the >> button adjacent to the filter condition field, and specify more than one source.
Although the name of each database item is displayed in the simplified form of the filter, the SQL behind the filter filters the List by Id rather than by source name (as can be seen by selecting the Advanced button on the Filter Columns window, to view the WHERE Clause that is used for the filter).
- Source (Source)—Use to filter the Events List according to event source. Each event is associated with a specific ‘source’, which is typically an item in the database. This item is the source of the event. As with the Source (Id) field, you use the browse button adjacent to the filter value field to select the name of the database item for which you want to filter the events, or use the >> button adjacent to the filter condition field to expand the window and specify more than one source.
- Time (RecordTime)—Use this field in the same way as the Time (Time) field, including by third-party applications. Select this field if you want to filter the Events List to those events that occurred at a specific time, or within a specific time range. The RecordTime is the time that an event occurred, as opposed to the ‘receipt time’, which is the time at which the server received the data that caused the event. (For instance, this is the time that a pump started, as opposed to the time that the server dialled the outstation and retrieved the state of the pump (which might be hours later).)
Events Lists are filtered by time. Each List initially displays events for the interval that is defined by your User Account’s Event List Range (or the Event List Range of the Guest User Account, if you are not logged onto ClearSCADA). You can use the Go To Time menu option to Display a Particular Time Interval, or the Previous or Next buttons or options to Displaying the Previous or Next Time Interval, as an alternative to filtering by Time (RecordTime).
- Time (Time)—This field is only retained for backwards compatibility, and is an alias for the RecordTime field. We suggest you filter events by Time (RecordTime) rather than by this field. (‘Time’ is a reserved word in SQL and as such cannot be used by some third-party applications.)
- User—Use to filter the Events List according to the users that caused the events to be logged. Each event can be associated with a specific user, for example, if a user performs an action, an event is logged and the user for that event is the user that performed the action. Many events that are generated due to system activity, such as point state changes, do not have a user value as they are normal system events. However, some system events, such as the server starting, have a user value of System. Typically, you would use this database field to filter the Events List so that it shows events that were caused by users performing actions or altering the configuration of database items.
- User Location (ClientAddress)—Use to filter the Events List to those events that were logged as a result of the actions of a user who was logged on to a specified client. When using this field, you need to specify the IP address of the client you require. Specify the IP address as a 32-bit integer.
This field is primarily for use by applications that are searching the Event Journal for specific events. (It is more efficient than searching by ClientAddressDesc).
Be aware that this field has special security. Access to the field's data might be restricted to administrator-level users (see Specify Whether Access to Sensitive Data is Restricted by Privilege in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).
- User Location (ClientAddressDesc)—Use to filter the Events List to those events that were logged as a result of the actions of a user who was logged on to a specified client. When using this field, you need to specify the IP address of the client you require. Specify the IP address in standard dot-decimal notation, for example, 10.1.5.30.
Be aware that this field has special security. Access to the field's data might be restricted to administrator-level users (see Specify Whether Access to Sensitive Data is Restricted by Privilege in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).
- User Location (ClientName)—Use to filter the Events List to those events that were logged as a result of the actions of a user who was logged on to a specified client. When using this field, the information you need to enter varies, depending on the setting of the 'Use DNS lookup for ClientName column' property in the Events section of the ClearSCADA Server Configuration tool (see Events Display Settings for the Event Journal (Events List)). If the check box is selected, you need to specify the name of the client you require. If the check box is clear, you need to enter the client's IP address (or leave the field blank if there is no location).
Be aware that this field has special security. Access to the field's data might be restricted to administrator-level users (see Specify Whether Access to Sensitive Data is Restricted by Privilege in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).
Other fields perform special functions and are not used for filtering. These include:
- Foreground—This field controls the color in which an entry’s text appears in the Events List. The color indicates, for example, whether an event is associated with alarm activity (see The Color of Entries in a List other than the Alarms List).
- Record ID—This field enables ClearSCADA to retrieve ‘dynasets’ of data. Retrieving dynasets of data minimizes the loading on both the server and client, particularly when requesting large quantities of data.
- Sequence Number—This field is used to sort events that have the same time stamp into the correct order. The Sequence Number is included in the Events List’s ORDER BY clause (as can be ascertained by using the Sort option to display the Sort Order window).
Further Information