R2ObixClient Points

The Points extension of the R2ObixClient device is where most AX engineering is anticipated—double-click the Points icon of an R2ObixClient to see the Obix Point Manager. Then click Discover.

In the discovered pane of the Obix Point Manager, expand the root “lobby” to see the tree organization, as shown in Figure 9. Items of practical interest for proxy points are under the “config” branch.

Figure 9. Top-level lobby structure in R2 station


Top-level lobby structure in R2 station

Expand the “config” branch of the lobby to find proxy point candidates. The config hierarchy reflects the R2 station’s object hierarchy, including a row for each object property, and expandable rows for child objects. The highest-level config node is the Station object. So when you first expand config, at the top are the properties found on the various tabs of the property sheet for the Station (when using the R2 JDE). See Figure 10.

Figure 10. ObixPointManager with lobby expanded to show discovered proxy point candidates


ObixPointManager with lobby expanded to show discovered proxy point candidates

NoteAs needed, click on column headers in the Discovered pane to sort as ascending  or descending , in ASCII character order. For example, if you have the Obix Name column sorted ascending, when you expand items containers will be at top, and properties at bottom, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Use column header sorts and expand containers as needed to find R2 objects and properties


Use column header sorts and expand containers as needed to find R2 objects and properties

NoteR2 container objects appear in the discovered lobby as expandable gray rows (Figure 11), which you can add as Obix Point Folders by double-clicking. See About Discover “Include” options.

Typical expandable target containers contain R2 “shadow objects” or related objects in the R2 station—often the same objects that are linked to R2 Gx objects in GxPages for real-time values and commands.

NoteAlthough each discovered object is available as a “root” node, you should always expand discovered objects to specify a property for any proxy point. For related details, see Specify the property.

See the following sections for more details:

About Discover “Include” options

Starting in the AX-3.2, the Obix R2 points discovery behavior was improved, and new properties were added to the Points device extension (R2PointsDeviceExt). Improvements made include the following:

  • All R2 container-type objects, including types Container, Bundle, PollOnDemand, and PollAlways appear in the discovered lobby tree as “groups” (gray rows)—you still expand them to see child objects. If you double-click (to add), an Obix Point Folder is immediately created, without an intervening popup dialog.

  • By default, all R2 Gx objects (GxText, GxFan, and so on) are omitted from the discovered lobby tree, although GxPage containers still appear. This is controlled by the setting of the property of the Points extension of the parent R2ObixClient: Include Ui Nodes (default value is false). It is recommended to be left at default.

  • By default (if the associated R2 host has the file nre/lib/obixInternal.properties installed), all named properties of R2 objects are globally omitted from the AX discovered lobby tree, typically those rarely adjusted (if ever) during normal R2 configuration. On the AX side, this is controlled by the setting of the property of the Points extension of the parent R2ObixClient: Include Internal Props (default value is false). If you need AX access to these properties, set this slot to true.

    Note the R2 “shipped” version of obixInternal.properties contains a minimal list of properties—you can edit this file to add more properties, one per line. Driver-specific properties, such as LON props and so on, are not included.

    If the R2 host does not have the obixInternal.properties file installed, or its station has not been restarted since that file was installed, the value of the “Include Internal Props” property makes no difference—all properties are included in any AX point discovery for that R2ObixClient.

Figure 12 shows the property sheet for the Points extension of an R2ObixClient, including the default settings for the two “Include” in discovery properties.

Figure 12. R2PointsDeviceExt property sheet with Include defaults


R2PointsDeviceExt property sheet with Include defaults


Specify the property

When creating proxy points under an R2ObixClient, always select the specific property you want to display, rather than the parent root object (node) itself. For example, expand the entry for a BinaryOutput object and select its statusOutput property (Figure 13).

Figure 13. Select property of a discovered R2 object, vs. root (Node) object


Select property of a discovered R2 object, vs. root (Node) object

Otherwise, if you select the root object rather than a child property, the watch is on the Href for that node. As a result, the watch returns every property of the object. However, only one “default property” is used by the R2ObixClient proxy point— all the other returned properties add overhead, reducing throughput.

NoteStarting in obixDriver builds 3.2.23, 3.3.26, and AX-3.4, proxying any property also provides the parent R2 object’s commands, by default. These appear as actions on each Obix proxy point. In previous obixDriver builds, only “root object” proxy points provided these command actions.

Typical properties selected for proxying/display include “statusOutput”, “prioritizedOutput”, or perhaps “sOut” or “pOut” (varies according to R2 object type). However, note any property is selectable.

In summary, selecting object properties (rather than their root objects) will have a big impact on performance of the oBIX integration. Typically, an order of magnitude or two can be gained by specifying a property for each proxy point, versus specifying the root object.

See the next section Add notes for R2 Obix proxy points for additional details.

Add notes for R2 Obix proxy points

When adding R2 Obix proxy points from the discovered lobby, and selecting a property (recommended), note that currently the default Name is the same as the selected R2 property name, such as “statusOutput”, “prioritizedOutput”, and so on. In addition, Facets show default values. See Figure 14.

Figure 14. Example Add dialog for R2 Obix proxy point


Example Add dialog for R2 Obix proxy point

Edit the default Name to a more descriptive value for that R2 object. If needed, you can find the R2 object’s name inside the shown “Href “value (you may need to click inside that field and press End).

Facets in the Add dialog do not need editing, even though uninitialized values (sometimes “null”) are shown. Upon adding the proxy point to the station, the units (or activeInactiveText) in the source R2 object are automatically uploaded and used as the Facets in the proxy point, as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. Facets are automatically learned from the R2 object’s units or activeInactiveText


Facets are automatically learned from the R2 object’s units or activeInactiveText

See the next section About Obix proxy points for additional details.