Starting in AX-3.7, more enhancements were made to Niagara virtuals, where the former “Virtual gateway” (Virtual) component of a NiagaraStation is
now a “NiagaraVirtualDeviceExt”, sourced from a separate niagaraVirtual module. Figure 112 shows example virtual components under the Virtual device extension of a NiagaraStation.
In AX-3.7, the basic operation of Niagara virtuals remains unchanged from AX-3.6 and AX-3.5. As shown in Figure 112, a small “virtual” ghost (
) is superimposed in the lower right over the “normal” icon for each Niagara virtual component representing any component
type—a visual reminder that you are looking into the “virtual component space” representing that station. However, the AX-3.7
and later virtual architecture provides the following benefits:
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“Niagara virtuals to Niagara virtuals” are now supported. For example, in an “
n-tiered” system, a top-tiered Supervisor station can map Niagara virtuals in a NiagaraStation in its NiagaraNetwork, which in turn has mapped those Niagara virtuals in a lower-tiered NiagaraStation in its NiagaraNetwork, and so on. -
“Niagara virtuals to other virtual gateways” are also supported. Currently this applies to the BACnet driver, where each BacnetDevice has its own “Virtual” gateway that provides access to virtual components that represent BACnet objects. Now you can map those Bacnet virtual components as Niagara virtual components in that NiagaraStation. This saves having to create Bacnet proxy points in JACE stations for Px access at the Supervisor.
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“Shorter virtual ord slot paths” now result, instead of the longer virtual ord syntax previously used (which included encoded data on the target slot’s facets and config flags). Shorter slot paths were necessary for the “virtuals to virtuals” feature. They also allow easy editing of slot paths, if necessary.
Simplified ords are facilitated by a “Virtual Cache” mechanism, which stores the extra data removed from virtual slot paths. This virtual cache operates transparently, yet has a component interface and Workbench view for advanced users who want to inspect or remove cached items. For related details, see Ords for Niagara virtual components and Niagara virtuals cache (Virtual Policies).
The following sections provide more details about Niagara virtual components: