Layout and Functions of the BACnet Device Explorer

Tree View of all created devices and their objects

In the area on the left of the Device Explorer (Tree View) all devices that have been created in the Engineering Explorer are listed. Unlike the Engineering Explorer, the Device Explorer also lists the corresponding objects (WinCC OA datapoints).

A right mouse-click on an object opens the corresponding faceplate.

A right mouse-click on the tree root opens the context menu with the "Show Forced Values" option. This option opens the same-named dialog. This dialog lists all objects with the corresponding values (properties). Only the objects are listed for which a value has been set.

Filter Settings

With the aid of the filter settings above the tabular list of devices or objects it is possible to shown only selective devices or objects in the table.

The filtering takes place using wildcards (see supported wildcards), which can be set before or behind the searching criterion, or with the aid of predefined filters, which can be selected in the corresponding combo boxes of the filter settings. Once the Enter key was pressed the table is filtered according to the entered searching criterion.

Depending on whether present/found devices or present/found objects are listed in the table the following filter settings can be set:

Filter settings for present devices

In the filter settings for present devices every given column can be filtered separately (excepting "Type", as it is always the same: "Device"). As there are only two possible states for the "State" column the only two offered filter settings are here "offline" and "online".

Filter settings for present objects

In the filter settings for present objects it is possible to filter the "Name" column for the entered searching criterion.

Tabular List of devices/objects

The following information on a found object is given in the table after a device/EDE file has been browsed:

• "Type" - object type

• "Name" - object name

• "Description"

• "State"

• "Value" - present value

• "Unit"

Double-click on an object/device from the table to open the corresponding faceplate. The faceplate contains all information that is also available in WinCC OA (for detailed information on a specific faceplate see, the object-specific chapter - Overview Tables of BACnet Object Types).