How can a make or set the Y-axis of a processanalyst pen dynamically, based on an argument when I call the cicode function to be implemented

Hi Jan,

There could be a number of reasons why it is not working, but I suspect it is probably hitting an error and aborting. I would put breakpoints in your functions and attach the Cicode Debugger. If all your code is executing in foreground that won't work, so you can use trace statements to see where it is getting up to.

When is the function loadProcessAnalyst_advAS called?

I noted in that function it ends with a WHILE 1 DO which then calls the PAAutoscale function which also does a WHILE 1 DO. So that needs to be corrected.

Because you want to execute this code every so many seconds you need to consider when it needs to be called, and what happens when someone interacts with the PA (e.g. deletes a pen), or changes pages.

Probably the easiest method, is to just execute the PAAutoscale function on the Process Analyst's pages' OnPageShown event. (Open the page in Graphics Builder, go to File >Properties, then the Event tab, and paste the function into the On Page Shown event).

This will mean, everytime that Process Analsyt page is shown it will begin executing this function - regardless of whether the PA actually has any pens on display.

For this to work, you would need to improve the PAAutoScale function by adding in Error handling. What I mean by that, is that is calling ObjectIsValid before executing commands like ObjectCallMethod/GetProperty etc. I have feeling you would probably need to put ErrSet(1) at the beginning of the PAAutoScale function and ErrSet(0) at the end as well to prevent the function terminating if the user did something in the PA just after you validated the object.

I would also "Pause the function" whenever you call loadProcessAnalyst_advAS as well. You can use a global variable for that. There is no point trying to autoscale while a PAV file is loading. You can undo the pause by handling the Process Analyst's ViewLoadedSaved event: ViewLoadedSaved[Event]. This will tell you when the file is finished loading and ready.

I have added a tag in Studio like:

but then I get errors because I do not have an address

So I put in an 'fake' address like 'i999' and it compiles OK.

The I have set this into the page property:

So in theory on page entry the PAAutoScaleEnable tag should be set to 1

But doing it like this still does not trigger the while do when coded like:

FUNCTION
loadProcessAnalyst_advAS (STRING strFileTag)

	PageDisplay("1_Recorder_PA_print");
	SleepMS(20);
	ProcessAnalystLoadFile(strFileTag, 0, 483, "AN139");
	OBJECT hProcessAnalyst = ObjectByName("AN139");
	_ObjectCallMethod(hProcessAnalyst, "SynchroniseToNow");
	SleepMS(20);

WHILE PAAutoScaleEnable=1 DO

PAAutoScale("AN139", 1);
Sleep(5);

END

END

FUNCTION PAAutoScale( STRING sPAName = "", INT nPane = 1)

OBJECT hPen1;
OBJECT hAnalyst;
OBJECT hPanes;
OBJECT hPane;
OBJECT hPens;
STRING sPVMax;
STRING sPVMin;
REAL rPVMax;
REAL rPVMin;
REAL rSpanHi;
REAL rSpanLo;

hAnalyst = ObjectByName(sPAName);
hPanes = _ObjectGetProperty(hAnalyst,"Panes");
hPane = _ObjectCallMethod(hPanes,"get_Item",nPane);
hPens = _ObjectGetProperty(hPane,"Pens");

hPen1 = _OBJECTCallMethod(hPens, "get_item", 1);

sPVMax = _ObjectCallMethod(hPen1, "GetStatistic", "Maximum");
sPVMin = _ObjectCallMethod(hPen1, "GetStatistic", "Minimum");

rPVMax = StrToReal(sPVMax);
rPVMin = StrToReal(sPVMin);

rSpanHi = rPVMax + 5.0;
rSpanLo = rPVMin - 5.0; 

_OBJECTCallMethod(hPen1, "PutVerticalAxisSpan", rSpanLo, rSpanHi);

END

Any help is appriciated

Hi Jan,

Use a Local Variable rather than a normal variable. The variable will be machine scope, and won't require fake PLC and addresses.

Also, have you put some Debug_Trace calls in your code and then checked syslog.dat to make sure your code is being called?

Hello Bradley,

I have solved the issue by using the 'While page shown' Page property.
I call the PAPageAutoScale function from this event and every 5 seconds the page is updated to the new ranges for pen1. 

Thanks for all your help.