Operating Instructions

Chapter 4 – Configuring Groups, Shared Points, and Statistics
Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. 33
If you want to: Then create a:
Enable values and commands to be
transferred in both directions between a
virtual point and an OPC item on a
third-party server.
Bi-directional point that has a virtual point as its Master
(input) and a third-party OPC item as its Slave (output).
A maximum of 200 points per group is recommended.
To add a shared point to a group, do the following steps:
1. In the Data Manager Groups section, click the group that will hold the point, and then do one of the
following:
• To add a point with pre-selected OPC items for its input and output, find the Master OPC item in
the top-right OPC Server Directory, and then click, drag, and drop that OPC item onto the Slave
OPC item.
The Add Shared Point dialog box opens. The fields for Group, (input) Server Name and OPC
Item, and (output) Server Name and OPC item are automatically filled.
• To add a point to the selected group, click
.
The Add Shared Point dialog box opens. The Group field is automatically filled.
2. On the General tab, do the following:
• Group—Confirm, or type, the name of the group to which you want to add the point.
• Tag Name—Type a name for the point. Tag names must be unique within a group.
• Reference String—If you want to add a point description, type a brief description. The reference
string has no effect on program operation; it is for user informational purposes only.
• Input OPC Server—Enter or verify all of the following:
− Server Name—Select the server containing the OPC item that will act as the Master.
− Type—Select the requested data type. If you want to accept any data type chosen by the
server, select VT_EMPTY.
− OPC Item—Type the OPC item ID, or click
to browse for the item and enter its ID.
Access paths can be specified in square brackets following the item ID. For example:
This.Is.an:ItemID[this is the access path]
• Output OPC Server—Enter or verify all of the following:
− Server Name—Select the server containing the OPC item that will act as the Slave.
− Type—Select the sent data type. If you want to send any data type, select VT_EMPTY.
− OPC Item—Type the OPC item ID, or click
to browse for the item and enter its ID.
3. Click the Options tab, and then do the following:
• Direction—If data transfer should be from Master (input) to Slave (output) only, select
Unidirectional. If data transfer should be allowed in both directions, select Bidirectional.
• Scaling—Select this option to perform input/output scaling.