Strategy

Summary

A Strategy is a workflow made of blocks that can be executed to automate every task such as:

• Add and set components to create or enhance logic

• Set parameters

• Create px views

• Add some widgets in views

• Invoke actions

• Process alarms

• Process histories

• ...

A strategy is triggered based on changes in the model and a source (a component that contains an InfoSource). When you create/edit/delete a Node, one or more strategies can be executed to automate some tasks (create a view on a building for example).

Strategies can also be used in a macro style to handle repetitive operations when you record a set of operations and replay the sequence on other targets (organize a wiresheet, create logics inside devices already deployed...)

Implementation

• Drag and drop a strategy from the palette or create a new one via the manager on the strategies folder (BtibService > StrategyFolder)

• Some details about the components always present in a strategy
  

  • LogExt: Used to override the strategies folder LogExt (that will be used by default for all strategies)

  • Trigger: To define the strategy execution (automatically, at regular intervals, manually...)

  • Start: The first block of the process. Other blocks should be added after this one. Only one Start block is allowed

  • End: The last block of the process. Every chain of blocks should be linked to this block to be executed. Only one End block is allowed

 Properties

• Enabled: Enables or disables the strategy.

• CreatesTraces: Enables or disables the creation of traces. Traces are used in some block to undo the done task.

 Creation

• Trigger

   Choose the trigger according to your needs:
  

  • AutomaticTrigger: to execute automatically strategies on Node and InfoSource's actions (initialize, disable and clean)

  • MacroTrigger: to execute macros manually from a selection. This trigger is actually automatically added when a macro is recorded.

• Blocks Every block has one action and one topic:

  • The "executed" topic should be linked to one or more "execute" actions to create a workflow. Blocks will be executed in the blocks order

  • All chains have to be linked from Start to End

Undo

Some blocks have the possibility to undo the task previously done (in the documentation, those blocks have a "Behavior: UNDO" section)

The Undo in a block will be triggered if:

• the selection is changed

• the strategy is disabled or removed

• the link going from the executed slot in the start block is removed and the strategy is triggered

• an if block is added before the block

Common issues

• My strategy is not executed after an initialization of a node or InfoSource

  • Trigger: ensure that an automatic trigger is linked to the start block

  • Selection: ensure that the selection is active and selects the targeted node or InfoSource

  • Logs: logs can be checked (Workbench > Logs Console) to see errors

  • Cache: some caches can be manually refreshed

    • Selection: BtibService > SelectionFolder > inoke action "RefreshCache"

    • Strategy: BtibService > StrategyFolder > invoke action "RefreshCache"

• My block has not been executed
  

  • Execute/Executed: ensure that executed topic from previous block is linked to execute of your block

  • Start/End: ensure that the flow including your block is correctly linked to start and end

  • Logs: you can check through logs if your block has actually been executed or not

• My block doesn't work as expected

  • Debug: you can check value of SFormat during execution by adding some debug blocks

• I don't know if my strategy is still running

  • Sidebar: a sidebar is available to monitor the status of the strategies' engine. Status can be:

    •  Idle: all the strategies have been executed

    • Running: some strategies are still processing

  • Sidebar can be displayed via Workbench > Window > Side Bars > Monitor