Ignition Scripting, Perspective, and Reporting Flashcards

Flashcards about Ignition Scripting, Python, Perspective, and Reporting

Scripting

Offers flexibility and customization where standard options fall short in Ignition.

Python and Expression Language

Two major scripting languages in Ignition.

Python in Ignition

A general-purpose programming language developed in the early 90s, widely used and interacts gracefully with Java, which is essential for Ignition as it is written in Java.

Jython

An interpreter that converts Python to Java.

Python 2.7

The version of Python used in Ignition, due to Jython's current version.

Monty Python

The 70s-era British comedy group, the language Python is named after.

Script Console

A simple interactive editor in Designer for writing and executing Python code.

Print Keyword

A handy tool in Python for displaying text in the output console, useful for debugging scripts.

Syntax

The grammar of a programming language, ensuring the interpreter understands the code's instructions.

Basic Syntax Rules

Case sensitive and whitespace sensitive.

Comments

Notes left in the code to describe its function, ignored by Python but useful for understanding and maintaining the code.

Keywords

Vocabulary of a programming language; coding environments in Ignition highlight these in bold and blue, and they are case sensitive.

Event Handling

Enables scripting to respond to a wide variety of events, crucial for interactive windows Vision and Perspective projects.

Variables

A way to store a value for later use, identified by a name.

Data Types

Used to differentiate between values in Python; includes Strings, Integers, Floats, and Booleans.

Strings

Any sequence of characters, usually text.

Integers

A whole number.

Floats

Decimal numbers.

Boolean

A value that is either True or False.

Loosely Typed Language

A language where you do not need to declare the data type when you define the variable. Instead, Python will look at the value you assign and decide on the data type for you.

Variable Names

Must begin with a letter or underscore and can contain letters, underscores, and numbers after the first character.

Camel Case

A method of writing multi-word variable names, removing spaces and capitalizing the first letter of every word except the first.

Script Console Limitations

Won’t save our work if you close Designer, cannot interact with components on a window.

Button

It is a simple component that does not do anything on its own until you write script of some kind to get a Button to work.

Navigation Tab

Allows us to navigate somewhere–most often, another window—when the button is clicked.

Set Tag Value

States a specific Tag will hold a given value upon button click.

SQL Update

Triggers a query to the database to update values on clicking the button.

Set Property

Changes the property of a component to a different value when clicking the button.

Script Editor

The tab is where you write your own code.

OK Button

Saves the changes made in the dialog and closes it.

Apply Button

Saves the changes in the dialog but leaves it open.

Non-Modal Dialog

A dialog box that can stay open because we can still interact with the rest of the program.

Console Panel

Can display the results of executing a print statement, and also display errors if they occur.

Modulo

This is the remainder of a division problem.

If Block

In Python, you can create it to perform basic binary logic; that is, evaluate a value and do something if that evaluation is true, and something else (or possible nothing) if it is false.

Else Statement

Needs to be at the same level of indentation as if, and the statement to execute on else needs to be indented the same amount as the statement to execute when the if statement is true.

Elif

Short for “else if”, allows you to check another condition when the previous one is not met. This form can optionally have a catch-all else clause at the end.

Lists

Allow us to store multiple data points in a single object that can be then be referenced as a whole, but also still referenced as individual pieces as well.

Square Brackets

Used whenever we are creating a list.

Referencing Items in a List

You can reference an item in a list by using its index number. Python uses zero-indexing, meaning that the first item in the list is at index 0, and second at index 1, and so forth.

Adding to the List

You can add items to a list with the append() function. This function is called on the list using dot notation: you type the name of the list, then a period (dot), and then the function.

For Loop

Has one purpose: looping over a list.

String Concatenation

Adding several strings together using the plus symbol.

String Formatting

Allows you to enter values into specific points into the string.

Type Casting

Forcing Python to convert a variable from one type to another.

System Functions

Full of functions that are useful when designing projects in Ignition; built into Ignition to ease certain common tasks and interact with various systems in Ignition.

Message Box Function

Opens a modal message box on the screen, which is a fancy way of saying a dialog box that we must deal with before we can do anything else.

system.tag.readBlocking()

Function that reads from a Tag in Ignition using its path.

Documentation Appendix

A complete reference to Ignition components, Expression Functions, System Functions, and Reference Pages.

Component Extension Functions

Are pre-defined functions used to expand on the functionality of the component.

Client and Gateway Event Scripts

Are special events not based around components.

Project Script Library

A place where you can create your own script functions. These functions can be called from anywhere in the project, and are helpful when you have scripts that you need to use repeatedly.

Perspective

A module that allows you to create resources that enable a user to easily transition from Viewing the project on a computer to Viewing it on a mobile device

View

The basic thing we create in Perspective - Similar conceptually to both Windows and Templates in Vision

Page

A View in Perspective with an assigned Page URL, viewable directly from a web browser

Session

When we launch Perspective in the browser, we launch this - Conceptually similar to the Client in Vision

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language - Used to define the structure of a web page

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets - the standard for formatting on the web - All formatting, positioning, sizing, and layout of components and Views in Perspective is done with this

JavaScript

A scripting language, conceptually similar to Python, that is widely used on the web

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation - a lightweight, plain-text format for describing data

Coordinate Container

This container allows you to place components in arbitrary locations in the View and freely move and resize them.

Breakpoint Container

The Breakpoint Container allows you to embed Views at specific screen widths, and have the browser automaticlaly switch between them.

Flex Container

Allows you to create Views that can work on the widest variety of screen sizes

Smart Guides

A feature in Perspective that includes red guides as you drag a component in the View, that will help you to line up components with each other and with the View as a whole.

Anchor

The point around which an component will rotate.

Props

Basic properties of the components.

Position

Properties needed to position the component.

Custom

You can add custom properties to components.

Meta

Other properties, such as the Name of the component, can be found here.

Binding Preview

A feature in Perspective that you can always check to make sure that the binding is working before clicking OK.

Flexbox

A CSS technology that creates flexible layouts that can rearrange and resize parts of a page to fit on larger or smaller displays

Grow

This property allows a component to grow along the main axis, both in initial sizing and if the container grows in response to being displayed in a larger window.

Shrink

Works the same as Grow, but in the opposite direction: if the container gets smaller, the space for the components will be redistributed based on this value.

Basis

The starting size of the component, before remaining space is distributed

Deep Selection

Which container we want to set properties on and add new components to - Displayed as a crosshair icon

Perspective Custom Property Types

These are the choices because the underlying data for all properties in Perspective is JSON

Perspective Edit Binding Dialog Box - Binding Preview

Lets you confirm that your binding is correct before you close the dialog box.

Resizing the Coordinate Container

If you resize the MotorView, we will see that the components inside Flex containers resize based on the properties we set. The motor image, however, is in a Coordinate container with a fixed size, so it does not resize.

Breakpoint

The process where modern web designers create layouts to fit one screen, and then as that screen gets bigger or smaller, there will be points where the layout breaks

Classes

Components are defined in Perspective as style definitions.

Naming Classes

How you should name classes - Based on how they will be used rather than how they look

Element State

In CSS, this will define a set of style properties that we can have the browser automatically apply when a state is met

Identity Providers

Are used to authenticate users in a Perspective Session.

Security Levels

A new security system that works with the user information provided by the IdP to grant users certain permissions that can then later be applied to a Perspective project

Client Reports

Allows users to dynamically view reports on any Window in your Client.

Reporting Module

Simplifies and enhances reporting from beginning to end.

Report Overview

A tab that is a collection of useful information about your report.

Data Tab

A tab where you define the data that goes into your report.

Design Tab

A tab that is the primary workspace when creating a report. You will add components such as tables and charts here, as well as static text elements like headers and page numbers

Preview Tab

A tab that is how you make sure the data is displaying correctly, during the design process.

Schedule Tab

A tab where you set up schedules so your report can automatically be printed, saved, or emailed.

Named Query

Use this to save SQL statements into the project for reuse.

SQL Query

Directly write SQL to query the database through this.

Basic SQL Query

This also allows you to directly write SQL to query the database. But it is an older method for writing queries that is maintained for legacy use.

Tag Historian Query

Use this to retrieve that data in a simpler way.

Tag Calculation Query

This query also relies on the Tag Historian, but allows you to perform calculations such as sum, average, and the like.

Alarm Journal Query

While the tables created for the Alarm Journal can be queried directly, this provides a simpler interface for working with that data.

Script

It’s possible to write a Python script to retrieve data. This can be used if you need to get data from multiple sources or pre-process the data.

Static CSV

Rather than retrieving data from a database, you can import a static CSV file, such as a file created in Excel, and use it for reports.

SQL Query Builder Tool

An interactive visual interface that which allows us to create most of the query.