Overview

The DataXchange interface is separated into 5 panes; the ribbon bar, the equipment tree, the detail section, the message window, and the service log.

The Ribbon Bar

The buttons in the ribbon bar will vary depending on whether or not the Client is connected to a DX Service.  When disconnected from a DX Service all of the buttons that are visible are to accomplish tasks that can be performed while disconnected from a DX Service.

Once Connected to a DX Service a few of the buttons will change and the ribbon bar will fill with some additional buttons.

 

The DX Service section is used to connect to a specific DX Service. See configuration and settings information below*.

A green or red flag is used to identify whether or not all of the monitored DX Services are currently communicating with the Cloud servers. When disconnected, any of the monitored DX Services that have not been in contact with the Cloud servers for more than 2 minutes will display a red flag. If all of the monitored DX Services have been in contact with the Cloud servers within two minutes then the flag will be green. When connected clicking on the flag will bring up the DX Settings. More information can be found here.

The Restart button is used to remotely restart the DX Services. While services are restarting, a cloud icon will appear indicating a connection to the PCS cloud as seen in the first screen shot. Once you are re-connected to the DX Services the cloud will disappear. The Scytec DataXchange PCS Update Service must be running for the remote restart functionality to work properly. Detailed information about the service can be found here. More Information

The Email button in the Template section is used to Add, Create, and modify email templates to be used in expressions.

The Modify button in the Data section is used to change data that has been previously collected. This is an administrative function allowing previously collected data to be adjusted in the event that the data was not collected appropriately.

The Custom section has two buttons. The first is used to create custom Variables. Click here for more details. The Data Entry section is used to create and assign Custom commands. Click here for more information.

The DX Configuration is used to create a Snapshot and restore the current DX configuration files. Click here for more detail.

In the DX Commands section there are three buttons which provide the ability to start and stop the equipment from listening for data as well as to modify the startup type for each piece of equipment.  The Start and Stop commands work at the node level within the tree.  If an individual piece of equipment is selected, the buttons will control only the selected equipment.  If a group node is selected, all equipment in the group will be controlled.  The Modify button allows the startup type of each piece of equipment to be changed.  The options are Automatic, Manual, and Disabled and work the same as the settings for Windows services.  The Automatic setting will cause the equipment to start listening for data as soon as the DataXchange service starts.  The Manual setting will require a user to manually start the equipment, and the Disabled setting will prevent the equipment from starting at all.

The DX Setup section is used to create and modify the communication and expression definitions.  The Communication button will bring up the  Communication Information page which allows Sources and Targets to be added and configured. The Expressions button allows the Expressions to be created or assigned, and the Copy button allows the configured information to be copied and pasted to other pieces of equipment. 

The DX Logging allows viewing of activity on the selected equipment while it is connected to DataXchange. More information on live logging can be found by clicking here.

The MTConnect Data Viewer is used to display the data stream values being returned from a MTConnect enabled machine.  Data is refreshed every second when the viewer is connected.

If there are multiple machines with MTConnect, a dialog box will appear prompting you to dynamically select the correct device. More information on MTConnect can be found here.

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