Alarms Tab of the Edit Properties Page
Use the alarms tab of the Edit Properties page to set general appearance and behavior of alarm displays and the VTScada Alarm Notification System.
Visual options set where and whether alarm indicators flash, whether pop-up notifications can be configured, and the time and date display format. You can disable alarm sounds or have the server speak a message instead of using the default tones. Automatic page navigation can be enabled so that a relevant page opens automatically when there is no user-activity for a period of time, and you can choose to require notes to accompany operation actions such as acknowledging or shelving an alarm.
This is also the place to configure the Alarm Notification system, setting which priority of alarms will be sent, delays, notification rules and whether digits should be spoken as operators press the keys on their phone.
If using a mail server for alarm notifications or reports, or Twilio® for alarm notifications, you would configure the connection parameters here.
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Flash alarm icon in title bar when there are unacknowledged alarms. |
When selected, the alarm icon in the title bar will flash rather than simply showing red. If your internet connection is limited by bandwidth restrictions, we recommend that you do not enable this option for the VIC display. |
|
| Flash title bar red when there are unacknowledged alarms |
When selected, the entire title bar will flash red while there are unacknowledged alarms that are visible to the logged-on user. If your internet connection is limited by bandwidth restrictions, we recommend that you do not enable this option for the VIC display. |
|
| Flash unacknowledged alarms in alarm lists | FlashUnackedAlarmsOnServer
FlashUnackedAlarmsOnVIC |
When selected, unacknowledged alarms in the alarm list will flash, to draw operator attention. Separate options exist for the server and VIC  VTScada Internet Client. Allows you to connect to an application over the Internet with many of the features of a full VTScada workstation. displays. If your internet connection is limited by bandwidth restrictions, we recommend that you do not enable this option for the VIC display. |
| Highlight unacknowledged alarms in alarm list | HighlightUnackedAlarms
|
When selected, unacknowledged alarms will be shown with a highlight color in alarm lists. |
| Use priority color for alarm list text. | AlarmListUsePriorityTextColor | When selected, text for the alarm in the Alarm Page and Alarm List uses the priority color. Otherwise, white text is used on a dark background, and black when the background is light. |
| Allow pop-up notification when alarm trips | AlarmPopupsEnable | Pop-up alarm notifications must be enabled on an alarm-by-alarm basis, but may not be enable at all unless this option has been selected. |
| Require confirmation when Acknowledge All is clicked | AckAllRequiresConfirmation | Operators must click through a confirmation dialog when attempting to acknowledge all the alarms shown in the list. |
| Time format in alarm list | AlarmDisplayTimeFormat | Choose how time will be shown. |
| Date format in alarm list | AlarmDisplayDateFormat | Choose how dates will be shown. |
Sounds and Speech
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Disable all alarm sounds | AlarmSoundDisable | When selected, alarms will be silent. |
|
Speak alarms instead of playing sounds |
AlarmSpeechEnable | Enables spoken alarms on the server. Other configuration may be required. See: Spoken Alarms on the Server or Workstation |
| Configure speech lexicon | file: Lexicon.VLX |
Opens the Configure Lexicon dialog, where you may adjust the pronunciation of words phonetically. |
Alarm Behavior
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Automatically acknowledge alarms when they clear | AutoAckClearedAlarms | If set, all alarms in the application will be set as acknowledged automatically upon clearing (the trigger condition returning to normal) |
Automatic Page Navigation
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable automatic page navigation when an alarm triggers | AlarmAutoNavEnable | When selected, new alarms will cause the application to open a page where the alarm tag (or triggering tag) is displayed. If drawn on several pages, VTScada will decide the most suitable. If drawn on none, the alarm page will open. |
| Open the target page in a pop-up window. | AlarmAutoNavWindowed |
Relevant only if the preceding option is also selected. Causes the automatically-opened page to be opened in a pop-up window if possible. Ignored if the page is configured to never open in a pop-up window. Subject to limits imposed by PopupPageLimit. |
| Time without user activity preceding an alarm, to enable automatic navigation. | AlarmAutoNavTimeout | Automatic navigation will occur only if there has been no user activity for the set number of seconds preceding the alarm. |
| Minimum time to display a page after switching to it. | AlarmAutoNavHold | Number of seconds to hold one automatically-opened page before another may open. Has no effect on operator navigation. |
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Require note when acknowledging alarm | NoteRequiredForAck | When set, operators must create a note when acknowledging an alarm. Notes will be added to the notebook associated with the alarm's database. |
| Minimum length of acknowledge note | NoteMinLengthForAck | Minimum length of acknowledge note. If a minimum length is not provided, the note dialog will open, but operators can click OK to close it without saving a note. (Empty notes will not be recorded.) This may be useful if notes are suggested, but not required. Set a minimum length to enforce note creation. This will be true of the following properties as well. |
|
Require note when shelving alarm |
NoteRequiredForShelve | When selected, operators must add a note when shelving an alarm. |
| Minimum length of shelving note | NoteMinLengthForShelve | Minimum length of shelve note. |
| Require note when unshelving alarm | NoteRequiredForUnshelve | When selected, operators must add a note when unshelving an alarm. |
| Minimum length of unshelving note | NoteMinLengthForUnshelve | Minimum length of unshelve note. |
Alarm Notification. See also: Alarm Notification Options
The options in this section apply only to VTScada licenses that include the Alarm Notification System.
While the term "dial" is used, these options apply equally to alarms sent by email or SMS-text message.
| Property | Stored as | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Dial-out priority:
|
Use the options in this section to control which priority-level alarms will be sent to remote operators. The choice made here affects the following two options, since a delay before dialing does not apply to alarms that are not dialed out at all. Note that when Dial on Priority 1 is set, other priority alarms will also be read on a call, but only priority 1 alarms will cause a call. |
|
| Delay to notify on priority 1 alarms | CallOutDelay1 | Controls the number of seconds that VTScada will wait for a priority 1 alarm to be acknowledged by a local operator before it is sent to a remote operator. |
| Delay to notify on priority 2 alarms | CallOutDelay2 | Controls the number of seconds that VTScada will wait for a priority 2 alarm to be acknowledged by a local operator before it is sent to a remote operator. |
| Delay between calls | RosterDelay | Sets the length of time that VTScada will wait between making calls. The call sequence is controlled by a roster, configured within the application. If the roster fails to send a notification to one contact, no delay is used before attempting the next (if any). |
| Initial section | IncomingCallSection | Alarms sent by phone are organized according to a menu. You may choose which page of the menu will be spoken first, allowing operators to immediately hear the most relevant information without needing to step through a menu. |
| Echo phone through speaker | EchoPhoneThroughSpeaker | If the server has a properly configured sound card and speaker, alarms that are dialed out can also be spoken at the server. |
| Answer Inbound Calls | AnswerAlarmCalls | If set to 0, prevents the Alarm Notification System audio discriminator from being registered with the Modem Manager. This would be useful in an application where the Alarm Notification System is not being used for incoming voice calls, but other drivers are registered for incoming data calls. 30 seconds of time can thereby be saved from each inbound call. Not to be confused with the Modem Manager property, AnswerCalls. |
| Dial when alarm triggers | DialOnActive | Controls whether active alarms should dialed out. |
| Dial when alarm clears | DialOnClear | When set to 1 (true), the alarm system will dial out when the alarm clears. |
| Cancel call when alarm is acknowledged | DialCancelOnAck | If one operator acknowledges the alarm while the notification system is calling another, this option will cancel the phone call. |
| Cancel call when alarm clears | DialCancelOnNormal | Controls whether unacknowledged alarms whose condition has become normal should be dialed out to operators |
| Speak digit on phone key press | DialDTMFFeedback | When set to 1 (true) all phone key presses are spoken back to the user. |
Outgoing Alarm Emails
Email configuration is discussed in greater detail in the topic, Email Configuration for Alarms and Reports. The following properties are repeated there. OAuth2 configuration is discussed only in that topic.
These properties are stored in an encrypted format, and cannot be modified in the Settings.Dynamic file.
| Protocol | Only SMTP is allowed. |
|
Email server name or IP |
The name or IP address of your email server. |
| Email server port number | The port number used by your email server. Always check with your provider to determine the port to use, but for most local email server programs, this will be 25. If using Transport Layer Security, the port will usually be 587. |
| Email transport layer security | Controls whether TLS is used for communications. This is required by some email servers, such as Google’s Gmail. |
| Email from address | The text you fill in here will be used in the FROM: field of all emails sent by the system. Note that some email servers will check that this is a valid email address and will reject the message if it is not.
If you are configuring for alarm acknowledgment by email, this field must include the email address configured in the Incoming Alarm Email Acknowledgments section. The field may also contain a common name as well as the address. For example: "VTScada System" <VTSSystem@YourCompany.com> Multiple addresses may be used, separated by semi-colons. In the case of alarm acknowledgment by email, the other addresses will be each receive a copy of the acknowledgment. |
| User name |
The account name on our SMTP server, if it is using username / password authentication. Disabled if you are using OAuth2 authorization |
| Password | The account name on our SMTP server, if it is using username / password authentication. Disabled if you are using OAuth2 authorization. Both the user name and the password are encrypted for storage. |
| Use OAuth 2.0 | Disables both User name and Passwords fields. Enables access to the OAuth 2.0 configuration dialogs in the VTScada security system. See: OAuth 2.0 Configuration |
| Grant | Select which OAuth 2.0 grant should be used if more than one has been configured. |
| Consent | Initiate the consent process for the selected grant in order to use that email service. |
| Revoke | Revoke consent for the selected grant, ending the ability to use the email account configured with that service. |
Incoming Alarm Email Acknowledgments
These properties are stored in an encrypted format, and cannot be modified in the Settings.Dynamic file.
Note that the "ack" code in outgoing emails is controlled by the presence of a contact user name in the Roster, not by whether incoming email acknowledgments are enabled.
| Protocol | Only POP3 is allowed. |
| Email server name or IP | The name or IP address of your email server. This information should be available from your system administrator or your email provider. It will typically take the form: "pop.yourcompany.com" for an internal email server or (using Google’s Gmail as an example) "pop.gmail.com". |
| Email server port number | The port number used by your email server. Always check with your provider to determine the port to use, but for most local email server programs, this will be 110. If using Transport Layer Security, the port will usually be 995 |
| Email transport layer security | Controls whether security is used for communications. This is required by some email servers, such as Google’s Gmail. |
| User name | Use if your POP3 email server requires username / password authentication. Disabled if you are using OAuth2 authorization. |
| Password | As with Username, use this field if your POP3 email server requires username / password authentication. Disabled if you are using OAuth2 authorization. Both the user name and the password are encrypted for storage. |
| Maximum message size in bytes | Reject any message larger than this size. Use this field to block emails with large attachments, which might otherwise delay legitimate alarm acknowledgments. |
| Use OAuth 2.0 | Disables both User name and Passwords fields. Enables access to the OAuth 2.0 configuration dialogs in the VTScada security system. See: OAuth 2.0 Configuration |
| Grant | Select which OAuth 2.0 grant should be used if more than one has been configured. |
| Consent | Initiate the consent process for the selected grant in order to use that email service. |
| Revoke | Revoke consent for the selected grant, ending the ability to use the email account configured with that service. |
Twilio Account Settings
You must have a Twilio account before configuring these settings. Refer to https://www.twilio.com/try-twilio.
A Twilio account can be used in place of a modem for sending voice calls with the VTScada Alarm Notification System.
| Enable Twilio | Select before proceeding with the following configuration options. |
| Twilio account ID | Your Twilio account identifier |
| Twilio auth token | Your authentication token, provided by Twilio. |
| Domain for Twilio verification |
The HTTPS domain, at which Twilio can reach your VTScada server. This is an HTTP POST verification exchange from Twilio, which must be able to reach your server. Your server must be visible to the Twilio server without the use of a VPN. |
| Realm for Twilio verification |
The corresponding realm that you created for your application. Do not use a realm defined for Realm Filtering. |
| VTScada account name | The account that you created, which will receive the Twilio security verification exchange. This should have the VIC client access privilege and none other. |
| VTScada password | The password for the above account. |
