Filtering Alarms and Events in the Alarm and Event Display Control

Complete the following steps to set the filter criteria to see certain alarms and events in the Alarm and Event Display control. To complete these steps, you must have a VI with an Alarm and Event Display control.
  1. Select Operate»Change to Run Mode to switch the VI to run mode. You also can press Ctrl-M to switch between edit mode and run mode.
    Note When you set filters for events, the Alarm and Event Display control clears the existing events. When new events occur, the Alarm and Event Display control displays only the events that meet the filter criteria.
  2. Right-click the Alarm and Event Display control and select Filter Options from the shortcut menu to display the Filter dialog box.
  3. Specify filter criteria to display only alarms and events. You can select from the following filter criteria:
    • Specifying Priorities — Place a checkmark in the Priority checkbox and enter priority values in the Min and Max text boxes.
    • Specifying Users — Place a checkmark in the User Name checkbox and enter a user name in the text box to monitor alarms and events that occurred while that user is logged on. You can enter only one user name at a time.
      Note You can use asterisk (*) and question mark (?) wildcards to expand the scope of the filter. The asterisk represents one or more characters, and the question mark represents a single character. For example, a* stands for all user names that start with letter a. a? also stands for all user names start with letter a, but these user names must have only two characters.
    • Specifying Acknowledging Users — Place a checkmark in the Ack. User Name checkbox and enter a user name in the text box. You can enter only one user name at a time, but you can use wildcards to expand the scope of the filter.
    • Specifying Comments — Place a checkmark in the Ack. Comment checkbox and enter a comment in the text box. You can use wildcards to expand the scope of the filter.
    • Specifying Object Names — Place a checkmark in the Object Name checkbox and enter an object name. You can enter only one object name at a time, but you can use wildcards to expand the scope of the filter.
      Note You must enter the full path to the system tree object, for example, \\computer\process\object.
    • Specifying Descriptions — Place a checkmark in the Description checkbox and enter a description in the text box to restrict monitoring to alarms with the description. You can use wildcards to expand the scope of the filter.
    • Specifying Area Names — Place a checkmark in the Area Name checkbox and enter an area name in the text box to restrict monitoring to that alarm area. You can enter only one alarm area at a time, but you can use wildcards to expand the scope of the filter.
      Note You can click the Browse button to display the Select Area dialog box. This dialog box displays alarm areas of the alarms in the Alarm and Event Display control. You can select an alarm area in the dialog box and click the OK button to apply this alarm area to the text box.
  4. Optional: Use the Old Alarms section to display alarms that the user or the system has acknowledged and cleared. You can enter a number in the Number text box to specify the number of old alarms that the Alarm and Event Display control shows. You also can specify a starting time in the Start Time text box to display old alarms that occurred later than the starting time.
  5. Optional: Select a display option among Show Alarms, Show Events, or Show Everything to display alarms, events, or both alarms and events in the Alarm and Event Display control.
  6. Optional: Place a checkmark in the Audible Alarms checkbox to enable a sound alert when an alarm takes place. The sound depends on the system setting for error sounds.
  7. Click the OK button.
    The Alarm and Event Display control displays only the alarms and events that meet all the filter criteria.