Mimic Parameters

The following faceplate symbol is created to act as a generic display for Pumps. It is to contain the name of a pump, its state, alarm state description, and state description.

The following parameters are created for the pump faceplate symbol:

The Pump parameter is a parent group parameter. It contains the 4 parameters: AlarmStateDesc, CurrentState, CurrentStateDesc, and PumpID. Each of the parameters has a unique property name—none of the parameter names are already in use by embedded Mimics (embedded Mimics have no AlarmStateDesc, CurrentState, CurrentStateDesc, or PumpID properties).

The PumpID is associated with the top text box. It is associated with the Text property of the text box. This means that when the symbol Mimic is embedded on another Mimic, it can have its PumpID property animated by a ViewX expression. The ViewX expression will either define a value or associate the PumpID with the value of an object in the database. The value for the PumpID will be used as the value for the text box's Text animation property.

The CurrentState is associated with the second text box (the text box directly below the top text box). It is associated with the Text property of the text box. This means that when the symbol Mimic is embedded on another Mimic, it can have its CurrentState property animated by a ViewX expression. The ViewX expression will either define a value or associate the CurrentState with the value of an object in the database. The value for the CurrentState will be used as the value for the text box's Text animation property.

The CurrentStateDesc parameter is associated with the Text property of the third text box and the AlarmStateDesc parameter is associated with the Text property of the bottom text box.

The parameters have names that correspond to fields in the database, except the PumpID parameter. There is no field named PumpID. The parameter names affect the Auto Configure option that can be used when animating the symbol when it is embedded on another Mimic.

The faceplate symbol Mimic is saved and is then embedded on another Mimic. The embedded faceplate symbol Mimic has the same animation properties as other embedded Mimics (see Embedded Mimic Animations), and also an extra group of animation properties—the Pump animation properties. The parameters are added to the list of available animation properties.

The Pump animation properties can be configured to have a ViewX expression that defines a specific value or associates the properties with database item properties. For example, the CurrentStateDesc animation property can be associated with the CurrentStateDesc property of a specific point.

The expressions for the animations can be made manually, on an individual basis. However, the AutoConfigure feature allows the Pump animation properties to be associated with the corresponding fields for a selected database item.

The AutoConfigure feature is made available by selecting the embedded Mimic and then dragging the required database item from the Database Bar onto the embedded Mimic. The Auto Configure Animations option sets the embedded Mimic's parameters to be associated with the corresponding fields for the selected database item. However, the Auto Configure Animations feature can only set up those animations where the parameter name matches a field name of the database item.

So, when the Pump symbol is associated with a database point, the Auto Configure Animations feature will associate the point's values with the parameters as follows:

The PumpID parameter is not configured automatically. This is because the database point does not have a property named PumpID. The PumpID parameter has to be associated with an expression manually.