Actions with logging capabilities
The following two actions are available for logging in FA-Server.
Action Name |
overview |
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This action is for logging. Logging to a CSV file or ODBC database is possible.
To perform logging using a logger action, you must register and configure the logger action in FA-Server.
For more information about logger actions, see "Logger Actions. Also, examples of building logger actions are described in "Using Logger Actions.
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This action integrates logging and aggregation functions (daily report creation function). Logging to CSV files and ODBC databases are possible. Furthermore, if you need to aggregate log data into Daily/Monthly/Yearly Report or similar, you will need to use this action.
To perform logging using a summary action, you need to register the summary action in FA-Server and configure various master files such as the summary master and tag feed master.
For details on the settings for summary actions as a whole, see "Summary Actions" in the Action Reference. For details on the logging function of summary actions, see Logging Function in Summary Actions.
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To determine which action to use, see "Comparison of Logger Actions and Summary Actions" below.
Difference between logger actions and summary actions
Logger Action is a function developed in versions prior to Ver4, and is specialized only for logging processing. On the other hand, Summary Action is a new function added in Ver5, and is a function that integrates logging function, aggregation processing, and report creation function.
If you only want to build a process that logs tag values, you can use either action to achieve logging, but they each have the following characteristics. Which action to choose should be based on the specifications and uses of each.
■Comparison between logger actions and summary actions
Logger Actions |
Summary Actions |
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High speed logging |
Logging is possible down to milliseconds.
For example, when saving to a CSV file, logging can be done in about a few tens of milliseconds, although this depends on the writing speed of the HDD and the communication speed with the PLC, etc.
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The fastest logging cycle is 1 second. |
How to set tags for logging |
You can easily set up the desired tags by simply dragging and dropping them on the FA-Server screen.
Each action corresponds to one database (one file for CSV, one table for ODBC). If you want to save to multiple CSV files or tables, you need to define multiple actions in parallel.
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Set the tag path to be logged in the summary action configuration file "Tag Field Master" (text file). Tag field masters are set manually using Excel or Notepad.
Furthermore, by defining the maximum number of columns in the database in advance, the data will be automatically split and saved into multiple databases (multiple files for CSV, multiple tables for ODBC) at runtime.
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Log Format |
In addition to general time-series logs, it is also possible to generate event-type logs.
For information about event-based logs, see "Log data storage format".
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Only general time-series logs are supported.
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Aggregation function |
none.
This action can only be used for logging. Furthermore, historical data generated by this action cannot be aggregated by summary actions.
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Yes.
Based on the historical data (logging data) generated by Summary Action itself, it automatically performs aggregation processing using various statistical methods such as sum, average, maximum, and minimum. You can also perform calculations between aggregated data from each field and save the results as aggregated data.
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Reporting |
none.
This action can only be used for logging. Furthermore, historical data generated by this action cannot be aggregated by summary actions.
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Yes.
Built-in report creation function. Reports such as Daily/Monthly/Yearly Report are created based on the data collected by Summary Action itself.
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Historical data server Features |
Yes.
You can connect to historical data from the client FA-Client and display trend graphs on the screen.
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Yes.
(Same as left) |
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Use a logger action if you want to log at a high speed interval such as milliseconds, or if you simply want to log without needing aggregation processing. On the other hand, if a logging interval of 1 second or more is OK and you need to perform daily report aggregation, use a summary action (*If you want to perform daily report aggregation, you must select a summary action). |
