Point Status Report

Operators often desire a snap shot report which displays the status of points. In particular emphasis is placed on points which are in an abnormal state such as overridden, alarm, fault, disabled or which have alarm functionality disabled.

Displaying Points with Alarm Functionality Disabled

Alarm extensions have a boolean property called 'Alarm Inhibit'. When the property value is 'true', processing of alarm events is prevented. The alarm inhibit status is not displayed in the status of the parent point because it is not actually a property of the BStatus type.

Using bql the station can be searched for components which are alarm source extensions. The bql query builder (see Figure 3) can be used to create the query or you can simply type the syntax, as shown below.
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select * from
alarm:AlarmSourceExt
```
Figure 3. Bql query builder constructing query for alarm source extensions
- Filtering by Alarm Inhibit Property
  
  This query returns a list of all alarm source extensions in the station regardless of whether the extension is inhibited or not. To limit the return based on the alarm inhibit property, the query needs to be modified as below (see Figure 4).
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select * from
alarm:AlarmSourceExt where alarmInhibit.boolean = 'true'
```
  Figure 4. Bql query builder constructing query filtered by alarm inhibit property
- Displaying Specific Columns
  
  The filtered query returns a list of alarm source extensions whose alarm inhibit property is set to true, but the table displays all of the properties for the extension. It is preferable to further filter the results so that only the desired properties are displayed. The columns which are displayed in the table may be limited by further modifying the query as below (see Figure 5).
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select parent.name
as 'Point Name',parent.out as 'Point Status' from alarm:AlarmSourceExt where
alarmInhibit.boolean = 'true'
```
  Figure 5. Bql query builder constructing query to filter the displayed columns
  
  In the example above, bformat text is used to display information from the parent component of the alarm source extension. The name or displayName of the parent point and the out slot would likely be useful information to display. Other columns could be added to display information from the alarm source extension as well.
Displaying the Number of Records in a Query

It is also possible to use a bql query to calculate and display the number of records returned in the query. The original query can be modified as below.
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select * from
alarm:AlarmSourceExt where alarmInhibit.boolean = 'true'│bql:size
```
The bql query builder does not support the '│bql:size' syntax, although it is a valid query. It is necessary to delete this syntax from the query prior to opening the bql query builder.
Displaying Points Currently In Alarm

Each control point in the station has both a value and a status. The status reflects the current condition or reliability of the point value. Available statuses are down, alarm, unacknowledged alarm, overridden, disabled, fault and stale.

Using bql the station can be searched for control points where the alarm status flag is true. The bql query builder (see Figure 6) can be used to create the query or you can simply type the syntax below.
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select name
as 'Point Name',out as 'Point Status' from control:ControlPoint where status.alarm = 'true'
```
Figure 6. Bql query builder constructing query for control points in alarm
Displaying Points Currently Overridden

Using bql the station can be searched for control points where the overridden status flag is true. The bql query builder (see Figure 7) can be used to create the query or you can simply type the syntax below.
```
station:│slot:/│bql:select name
as 'Point Name',out as 'Point Status' from control:ControlPoint where status.overridden = 'true'
```
Figure 7. Bql query builder constructing query for control points currently overridden