The following preparations should be done prior to setting up a hierarchy.
- Lay out how you want your hierarchy to look on a piece of paper before you begin assigning tags and creating components for
buildings, offices, etc.
NOTE: It may be helpful to model the desired navigation nodes in the station using folders to represent objects such as offices
or floors.
- Make a list of tags you plan to use and to which components you will assign the tags. You are not limited to using tags from
one tag dictionary. You can use any tags that are available, as well as individual Ad Hoc tags which you create as needed
(they do not need to be in a tag dictionary). For any tags that you create, use a consistent tag naming convention, such as
acme:AHU, acme:building, etc.
NOTE: Only the tags that you add to an object appear on its property sheet. To view both implied tags and directly added tags for
a component, right-click the component in the Nav tree and select Edit Tags, then click the tabs to view either Direct or Implied tags.
- Confirm that the necessary tag dictionaries are installed. If desired, create a custom tag dictionary containing a collection
of tags that you create in order to simplify the tagging process.
NOTE: The Niagara tag dictionary is installed by default. Also, the Haystack open source tag dictionary, included in the installation,
can be added from the haystack palette.
- Confirm devices and points are already discovered and tagged. If not, add the necessary tags. You can assign multiple tags
to any component. For example, one piece of equipment might have the following tags applied: n:device, acme:AHU2, acme:equipRef,
etc. For details on adding tags, see the Tagging Guide.
NOTE: Tags are case sensitive. Make sure you use the correct case when entering tags in your hierarchy definition queries otherwise
the queries will return nothing.
- Confirm any additional components (any model components representing buildings, offices, etc.) are already created and tagged.
If not, add necessary tags.
- Confirm any necessary relationships between components are already added. If not, add any necessary relations. For example,
you may need to add a relation between a folder in your model representing a particular floor and several air handler units.
For details on adding relations, see the Relations Guide.
NOTE: When editing a hierarchy definition (in the HierarchyService) those changes are not automatically reflected in the individual
hierarchy tree (in the Hierarchy space). To view changes in an individual hierarchy tree, right-click that hierarchy node
in the Hierarchy space and select Refresh Tree Node. This updates the hierarchy tree according to the current definition.
Once you have tagged all components as needed and added any desired relations between components you are ready to define
your hierarchy.
Additional Tips
- You can speed up hierarchy creation by copying and pasting level definitions within the current hierarchy, or from one hierarchy
to another. Then make any necessary edits to the pasted level definitions.
- You can create multiple hierarchies for the same station in order to have different users navigate the station differently.
For example a Facilities Manager might navigate the system differently than an Operator.
- When defining a hierarchy, a common practice is to frequently save and evaluate the resulting hierarchy. In this way, you
are able to identify where an additional level definition is required. Tweak the resulting hierarchy by making iterative passes
in this manner.