Replace alarm line printers. Custom events for alarms and notifications
Task:
We want to replace our alarm line printers in our Control Centre and setup audio notification on ALARM messages.
Requirements:
It is assumed that:
The program is installed successfully.
Solution:
This task can be solved using alert sounds that will be played when the program detects the specified signature in a printed message. You may use a combination of two plugins: Event generator and Events notification.
Event generator - the plugin can generate an event if it finds some text in the parsed data.
Note: because this plugin works with parser variables, therefore the parser should work correctly and extract data packets from a common data flow;
Event notification - executes specified actions for one or more events. For example, it can play sounds or send emails.
Configuration:
1. Create a configuration in our logger by clicking the "Green Plus" button and configure the connection:
1.1 RS232 printer - select a COM port and configure the hardware flow control (fig. 1,2).
1.2 RS232 printer via the RS232-Ethernet converter - the settings depend on the converter and its operation mode. If the converter can create a virtual COM port on a target computer, you may configure a typical COM connection. If the device converts an RS232 stream to a pure TCP stream, you should configure the TCP connection.
1.3 Network line printers - the default TCP port for the network printer is 9100 (fig. 3). Our software should work as the TCP server.
![COM Port settings](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-1.png)
Fig.1. COM port settings
![Hardware flow control settings](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-2.png)
Fig.2. Hardware flow control settings
![TCP settings](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-3.png)
Fig.3. TCP settings
2. Configure a log file.
![Log file settings](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-4.png)
Fig.4. The log file settings
3. Select and configure the parser. To configure the parser, click the "Setup" button near it.
![Plugins](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-5.png)
Fig. 5. Plugins
The expression "#0D" means that each line ends with the <CR> ASCII character. If it does not work you may try "#0A" (ASCII <LF>). Leave other parser settings unchanged.
![ASCII Data Parser](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-6.png)
Fig. 6. ASCII Data Parser
4. Select (fig. 5) and configure the "Events generator" plugin (fig. 7). The "ALARM" event will be triggered if a line will contain the specified text. In this example, the event will be generated for lines with the "Offnormal" text.
![Events generator](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-7.png)
Fig.7. Events generator
5. Select and configure the "Events notification" plugin.
![Event notification plugin](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-8.png)
Fig.8. Events notification plugin
5.1 Add the new event handler.
![Adding a new event handler](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-9.png)
Fig.9. Adding the new event handler
5.2 Simple notification - play a sound.
![Configuring the notification](/serial-data-logger/tutorials/images/alarm-printer-10.png)
Fig.10. Configuring the notification
Then click the "OK" button and save all settings. As from now, the program will play the sound for each alarm.
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