Screenshot of Ewon device's web interface

The Tag Values is the page that allows you to see and configure the Ewon tags.

An Ewon tag is a register linked to a data register which source is either in the Ewon device itself (internal source) or in an external device connected to your Ewon device (external source).

  • An internal source can be a digital output/input, analog input, a memory data (stocked in RAM), ...
  • An external device can be a PLC, HMI, sensor,...

Interface Explained

The Tag Values page is divided in two modes which are activated through the Mode slider:

VIEW

The View Mode allows you to see the list of all Ewon tags but also to change their value. You should select this mode if you want to monitor your tags.

SETUP

The Setup Mode allows you to add, modify or delete a tag or a page.

You can also configure the actions - send a notification - of the alarm linked to a tag.

Autosave tag value

By checking this box, your Ewon device will automatically apply the new value you set for a tag.

This enables you to skip the confirmation step that is needed when changing the value of a tag.

To learn how to change the value of a tag, see the Change tag value section.

Auto edit the next tag

By checking this box and as you are modifying the value of a tag, you take advantage of your keyboard Enter key to apply the modification and go directly to the next tag and change its value as well.

This prevents you to click on the Apply button when changing the value of tag and to go to the next tag.

The Pages section allows you to seperate tags into "categories".

When you create a tag, you decide on which page this tag should appear.

Pages can be useful for the following reasons:

  • Pages can have different view permissions based on the user rights (see User Management). This means you can show / hide page (and so tags displayed on this page) depending on the user.
  • Sort tags per page and thus, have a better overview of a tag list.

The Tag Groups feature is used to group tags under the same label.

There are 4 groups available: A, B, C and D.

A tag group can be useful for the following reasons:

  • Sort tags per group and thus, have a better overview of a tag list.
  • Tag Groups can also be used in other context: tag publishing (publish a group of tag instead of all/a single tag through OPC UA), BASIC IDE and Data Management.

The Tag List area allows you to perform 3 main actions:

  • Check the value of your tags.
  • Modify a tag's value.
  • Display a graphical representation of your tags' values.
Search Bar

This element filters down the tag list based on the words you wrote.

The search filter considers only the Name column.

Historical Logging Table

This element open the historical logging as a table.

Alarm level

The icon indicates if the tag has an alarm configured in its properties:

  • : there is no alarm configured for this tag
  • : there is an alarm configured for this tag
Historical Logging

The icon indicates if your Ewon device records/logs the historical values of the tag:

  • : the values are not recorded
  • : the values are recorded

The historical logging differs from the real time logging: historical logs require you to set a timeframe to show the values of a tag during this timeframe.

If your Ewon device records a tag's value (for historial log), it will appear in the Historical Logging Table and in the Historical Graph.

The Historical Logging Table is always available and can be filtered down based on tag groups.

The Historical Graph is available only when selecting a tag first, and if you have enabled the historical logging for this tag

Real Time Logging

The icon indicates if your Ewon device records/logs the real time values of the tag:

  • : the values are not recorded
  • : the values are recorded

If your Ewon device records a tag's value (for real time log), it will appear in the in the Real Time Graph which appears when you select a tag.

The real time log only shows the tag's values for the last few minutes.

KPI

The icon indicates if your tag is set as a KPI:

  • : the tag is not a KPI
  • : the tag is a KPI

There is a limit of 6 tags that you can set as KPI.

KPIs are shown on the Dashboard but also on the M2Web platform and the eCatcher Mobile app.

Name

The name of the tag.

Status / Quality

The icon indicates how reliable the tag value is.

If the quality of the tag is bad, an explanation is provided when you hover the icon.

For more information on the status / quality of a tag, please refer to KB-0039 : Tag Quality document.

Value

The current value of the tag.

Unit

The unit - of measurement - of a tag.

Description

The description gives a context to the tag.

Autorefresh

Your Ewon device will base its timer on this element to refresh the values of all the tags.

Historical Logging Table

The Historical Logging Table shows all the values of all the tags that have the historical logging enabled, for a determined time frame.

You need to select the following options:

  • The time & date of the time frame you would like to see the tags' values.
  • The interval of time between two values for a tag.
  • The group of tags that will be displayed in the table.
  • Include tags that had historical logging enabled once but not anymore.

You can close the historical logging table by clicking the cross in the upper right corner, and come back to the tag list.

Historical Graph

The Historical Graph shows the values of the tag for the timeframe you selected, in a graphical way.

You must first select the tag before being able to see the Historical Graph.

Realtime Graph

The Realtime Graph is similar to the Historical Graph except you don't get to choose the timeframe.

You must first select the tag before being able to see the Realtime Graph.

How to...

Manage a tag

To create a tag, click on Add.

If you want to copy the configure of a tag and create a new one based on this configuration:

  1. Select the tag you want to copy.
  2. Click on near the Add button.
  3. Choose Add as selected.

You will need to configure multiple settings of the tag:

Tag name

The name of the tag.

It will be used for any reference to the tag when using the export or script function. It will also be included in the alarm email / SMS.

It cannot contain: " " (space), “$” (dollar) character or “"” (double quote) character. It shouldn’t contain “-” (minus) character if destined to be used in scripting.

The maximum length for is limited to 64 characters.

Page

The page where the tag should appear on.

The basic configuration offers choices between Default page or System page

Tag Description

If you want to add extra details on the tag.

This description is included in the email sent on alarm (if alarms have been activated).

Server Name

The type of IO server (the data source) you want to retrieve the tags from.

This list represents the protocol linked to specific brands which are the following ones:

MEM
(for memory)

A virtual IO server, internal to the Ewon device.

The value of a MEM tag is free of type (it can be an integer, float, word or string).

EWON

An IO server retrieving values from (digital or analog) inputs of the Ewon device.

MODBUS

An IO server retrieving values from (digital or analog) inputs of the Ewon device.

OPC UA

An IO server retrieving values from an OPC UA server.

DF1

An IO server retrieving values from an Allen-Bradley / Rockwell PLC: PLC 5, SLC 50x or MicroLogix.

ABLOGIX

An IO server retrieving values from an Allen-Bradley / Rockwell PLC: CompactLogix, ControlLogix or FlexLogix.

S73&400

An IO server retrieving values from a Siemens PLC: S7 family (except for S7-200 models).

S7200

An IO server retrieving values from a siemens PLC: S7-200 models.

MELSEC

An IO server retrieving values from a Mitsubishi PLC: FX series (except FX3U & FX5U).

MITSUFX

An IO server retrieving values from a Mitsubishi PLC: Q, A, L, iQ-R, iQ-F, FX3U and FX5U series.

FINS

An IO server retrieving values from an Omron PLC.

Hitachi

An IO server retrieving values from an Hitachi PLC.

BACNET

An IO server retrieving values from a BACNET based device.

UNITE

An IO server retrieving values from a Schneider PLC.

SNMP

An IO server retrieving values from an SNMP based device.

S5-AS511

An IO server retrieving values from a Siemens PLC: S5 fmaily.

NETMPI

An IO server retrieving values from a NETMPI based device.

Topic Name

A topic allows you to select a pre-set of communication parameters (e.g.: baud rate, parity, address, ...) that must be combined with this IO server.

It is used to apply a common configuration to several tags.

A topic must first be configured in the IO Servers menu section, and is linked to a letter: A, B or C.

For the EWON IO server, SYS tells the Address next field to show additional system paths / parameters.

For the MEM IO server, RET is the ability of the Ewon device to remember the value of a MEM tag after a reboot.

Address

The Ewon device will use this address to reach out to the PLC, retrieve the register 's value and set it to the tag.

A tag helper will assist you in configuring the right path to the PLC's register.

Type

Sets the supposed type of the tag:

Automatic

Lets the Ewon device decide the best nature of the tag. The decision depends on the IO server register / modifier type.

Floating Point

A single precision float precision format (IEEE float representation).

Boolean

A binary value

Integer

A 32-bit signed integer

DWord

A 32-bit unsigned integer.

String

A character-based value.

Force read only

This option makes it impossible to change manually the value of the tag (when the MODE is set to View).

Unit

This field allows you to set the engineering unit of the tag.

You can encore a custom value by selecting the Custom Unit option.

The Ewon device uses the defined Unit list of OPCU foundation based on the UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE CODES FOR UNITS OF MEASURE USED IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Ewon value

Defines the offset and scale factor to be applied to the data source retrieved from the third-party device.

The offset and scale are float values, and negative values are accepted.

An alarm is a status linked to the value of a tag.

Based on this status, the Ewon device can send notifications through emails, SMS or SNMP traps.

Alarm Level Low

Low warning threshold value for alarm detection.

Alarm Level High

High warning threshold value for alarm detection.

Alarm Level LowLow

Low danger threshold value for alarm detection.

Alarm Level HighHigh

High Danger threshold value for alarm detection.

Value Deadband

The deadband is the difference between the current alarm level and the RTN level.

For example: if the alarm value is 20°C with a deadband set to 1, the alarm is triggered when the temperature changes from this 20°C value. On the other hand, the alarm status will be set back to normal when the temperature modification exceeds the deadband variation: value is 19°C or 21°C (because 20 + or - 1).

Boolean Alarm Level

The alarm value of a boolean tag name.

This is not applicable for analog tag name

Activation Delay

The delay represents how long the value must remain to trigger the alarm status.

Auto acknowledge on RTN

If checked, the Ewon device will automatically acknowledge the alarm when the alarm state goes to RTN. Thus, the alarm is directly ended.

Alarm Hint

The information related to the alarm action. This Information will be included in the alarm email.

The values of a tag can be logged in a circular flash file system. This is a non-volatile logging.

All the data is stored in the same file, the maximum number of values that can be saved is from ~314572 to ~996147, depending on the resources storage setup of your Ewon device.

When maximum size is reached, the oldest data will be erased first.

Logging Deadband

Defines how much the tag value should vary to be logged.

Setting a negative value will disable it.

Logging Interval

Defines the interval, in seconds, for the tag recording. It can be used at the same time as logging deadband.

Setting 0 will disable it.

The values of the tag can be logged in memory.

Real-time logging is different than historical logging because the data is saved in a circular memory buffer. The other difference is that incremental recording is not possible, only fixed interval recording can be performed.

Time Span

Defines the total logging window time in seconds.

Logging Interval

Defines the interval, in seconds, of the tag recording.

Published value

The value published by the Ewon device could be the same as the tag value or could be modified with a scale factor and an offset.

You can set up your Ewon device to log the original value (without scale or factor) received from the source data and then publish (export / send) a transformed value to third-party device.

Modbus TCP

If enabled, the tag will be visible to another Modbus device.

Each tag in the Ewon device can be accessed through a Modbus TCP master.

The address of the register starts with 1. Only the register address has to be specified, the type of tag (coil, contact, input register or holding register) is obtained from the tag type (analog or boolean) and the tag readonly or read/write property (obtained from the IO server).

If the Use 32-bit format is checked then 2 consecutive 16 bits registers will be reserved and the value will be an output as a 4 bytes IEEE float in those 2 registers (standard Modbus float representation). If the tag is published as integer it may need to be scaled to fit the 16 bits Modbus register. This operation will be applied to the tag value before publishing it.

SNMP

If enabled, the tag can be seen by an SNMP manager.

The base OID is already defined. The only parameter that must be configured is the last part of the OID.

KPI

If enable, the tag name, value and description will appear on the summary page (Dashboard).

Allows the grouping of tags into group (from A to D).

Tag Value Modification

You can change manually the value of a tag through 2 different methods:

  • First Method
    1. Select the tag that needs a new value.
    2. Click on Edit value near the Filter search field
    3. Set the new value
    4. Hit the keyboard Enter key.
    5. Click on Apply.
  • Second Method
    1. Double click on the value you want to change.
    2. Set the new value
    3. Hit the keyboard Enter key.
    4. Click on Apply.

    If you have the option Auto edit the next tag checked, the next tag value will be automatically highlighted.

Check the alarm status

Make sure your Mode is set to View.

You can check the alarm status by double-clicking on the icon.

Configure the alarm notification

Depending on an alarm status, you can send an email, an SMS, FTP file or an SNMP trap.

Make sure your Mode is set to SETUP and hit the Configure Alarm actions button or double click the icon in the concerned tag row.

For each support (email, SMS, FTP or SNMP), you can decide on which status to send the notification:

  • ALM: alarm has been triggered.
  • ACK: an alarm has been acknowledged (= noticed).
  • RTN: the tag has recovered a normal value.
  • END: the alarm is considered as finished.

The email attachment can hold EBD to generate specific files, tables, pictures, ... More information on EBD can be found in the RG-0009-00: Export Block Descriptors.

The syntax for the SMS destination can be found in the RG-0008-00 - Flexy (Appendix: SMS Recipient(s) Syntax).

You can also use the Talk2M relay which allows you to send an email that will be transformed into an SMS. More information in the SSH-0046-00 - Email and SMS relay using Talk2M.

Filters

To filter down the tag list, you must set the Mode to View.

You can filter the tag list via different methods:

  • pages,
  • tag groups,
  • search field

Manage the Pages

You can add, rename or delete a page:

  • To add a page, click on the + near the Pages label.
  • To rename a page, right click on the page you want to rename:
    1. Select Rename.
    2. Rename the page as desired.
    3. Hit OK to confirm or Cancel to discard.
  • To delete a page, right click on the page you want to erase:
    1. Select Delete.
    2. Hit Yes to confirm or No to discard.