Prerequisites

What User Permissions are required to run the Periscope Service?

An AX user will require “Operator Read” permission on any point/trend they intend to access. They will also require “Admin Invoke” for the Periscope Service. The installer or Systems Integrator typically sets up user permissions.

Installing Periscope

What components do I need to install Periscope?

 Periscope requires the following JAR files installed into NiagaraAX:

     •    oBIX.jar

     •    alxPeriscope.jar

Periscope also requires the following components from those jars installed into the station:

     •     oBIX Network (Installed in Config/Drivers)

     •     Periscope Service (Installed in Config/Services) 

How do I install the Periscope Service?

     •     Install the jar file on the Web Supervisor 

     •     Add an oBIX Network to the Drivers (if not already present)

     •     Open the alxPeriscope palette

     •     Drop the PeriscopeService into your Services

General

What is a Viewlet?

A viewlet is a basic component of Periscope, sometimes referred to as a widget or pod. Viewlets are broken into three categories: Historical, Point (live), and General.

What is a Tab?

In Periscope, tabs are used to separate groups of viewlets. They are located across the top of the dashboard.

What is a Location?

A location is a physical area that can be assigned properties such as square feet. In Periscope, every mapped variable is assigned to a location, providing associated area and cost information. It also allows for better filtering of points/trends by being able to view all variables from a single location.

Is there a limit to how many points or trends I can bring into Periscope?

No. The user can import and map an unlimited amount of data into Periscope.

Can Periscope be integrated with R2?

Yes, however Periscope requires at least one instance of AX, as well as the oBIX driver to communicate. As long as the R2 station or JACEs has the oBIX driver installed, the data can be brought into AX and then Periscope.

What is the difference between a “Point” Line Chart and a “History” Line Chart?

A Point Line Chart is simply a trend of real-time values for a selected variable captured and displayed while the user’s dashboard is active.
A History Line Chart is a trend of calculated values, each of which may be a user selectable “average”, “maximum”, “minimum” or “sum” of all the historical points in a given time interval for a range of dates.

Periscope Operation

Will Periscope run on a JACE?

Yes, Periscope will run on a Niagara JACE. Certain viewlet functionality may not be as useful on a single JACE, however. For instance, JACEs usually have less trend data stored on them due to the lack of file space. Nevertheless, we do not restrict usage and users are free to run Periscope on any station (JACE or Web Supervisor).

Why do my PX pages have a navigation bar on the top or left side?

Periscope uses an HTML frame to display PX pages in the PX Viewlet. This means that whatever NiagaraAX user profile is logged into Periscope will also be used in the PX Viewlet. If you would like a PX page to be displayed without left and top navigation, use the profile Handheld Wb Web Profile.

Why can’t my browser get past the Periscope loading screen?

In certain cases, an incorrect or missing install of Adobe’s Shockwave and/or Flash player will cause the browser to hang up and stop Periscope from launching. Make sure you have the latest version of plug-ins loaded before trying to access Periscope.

Do I have the most recent version of flash?

To make sure you have the latest version of Flash loaded, visit http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html and check the Flash Player version number. If the computer’s Flash Player is not up to date, follow the links to download the most recent version.

Why can’t I maximize or restore my viewlet?

Adobe Flash/Flex has a strict definition of a double click. If the mouse moves between the first and second click, it will be registered as two separate single clicks. If you experience problems when trying to maximize or restore a viewlet, try lowering the sensitivity of your mouse.

Why can’t I access the viewlet options menu?

Occasionally you may have trouble opening the viewlet options menu due to a nearby viewlet’s interference. Try moving the viewlet you are having trouble with to the left side of the screen, or double-clicking the viewlet’s title bar to expand the viewlet, and then open the options menu.

How do I re-name a tab or viewlet?

To rename a viewlet, the user should open the viewlet menu (gear icon) and select “edit viewlet title”. Several naming options are available through the menu. Viewlets can also be renamed by right-clicking the title bar of the viewlet and selecting “rename viewlet”. Tabs can be renamed by selecting the tab and pressing “F2”.

How do I set a custom time range on viewlets with the time range menu at the bottom of their display?

Select “time range” in the pull-down menu, then click the “refresh” button to the right. The viewlet will then display a “from” and “to” calendar where you can select the specific dates of interest.

Why am I automatically logged into Periscope, without having entered a username or password?

In Niagara, if the guest user is enabled (under user service properties for the guest user, enabled=true), and the guest has permission to access the Periscope through the CategoryService, it will automatically login. To disable this, either set the guest user to enabled=false, or remove any permissions that would allow the guest account access to Periscope.

I added a new point or trend via discovery and yet my point is not available when I configure a viewlet?

Verify that you saved the discovery changes after they were made in the periscopeconfig browser. Check to see if you have both Periscope and Configuration browser windows open. If so, refresh the Periscope browser. Also make sure to that when you mapped the variable you assigned the proper unit and location.

How do I print a viewlet?

Periscope supports exporting viewlets to a PDF or as an image file through a right-click option list on the title bar of any viewlet, or in the viewlet’s options menu. The easiest way to configure your image and paper set up is to copy the exported image into Microsoft Word or similar word processing software.

PX and Web Viewlets cannot be exported.  These viewlets are created by an IFrame overlayed on Periscope.

Is it possible to change scaling of the Web Viewlet so as not to use the scroll bars to see other parts?

Periscope uses an iFrame to display external web pages. The display is determined by what the web page is designed for, so standard pages will be bigger than the pixels available to display the image, particularly if you are showing six viewlets per tab, and will require scrolling, both vertically and horizontally. We have found that the “iweb” pages designed for mobile phones work well.

If I have a Web Viewlet open and navigate to a different page on the site, how do I keep it from opening the new browser window outside of Periscope?

This is determined by the site HTML for that hyperlink – some will open in the same frame, or new window. Note that if there is a link on a web page that opens in the viewlet and you want to open it in a new tab, you can right click it and choose “Open in New Window/Tab” (depending on your browser). You can’t go the other way though. This should work with either Firefox or IE.

How do I address a PX view when using the PX Viewlet?

To display PX pages, you need to have the complete URL for the page you want. You can acknowledge alarms and other basic functions but it is not the recommended way to navigate through the Niagara system, but rather to display common PX pages, like alarm consoles and equipment animations, etc..

Why can I not double-click and drilldown into my JACEs in my Network Health Viewlet?

When trying to open or expand equipment in the Network Health, the Web Supervisor will open a connection to the JACE and try to run a BQL query to identify the tree structure. This is not possible if the Web Supervisor does not have the same modules as the JACE, so make sure to load all relative modules on the Web Supervisor to allow the drilldown functionality.

What do the numbers at the bottom of my dashboard stand for?

The first two numbers stand for the version of Periscope. The third number is for the JAR file, and the last is the flash version. The flash is server side, so it is likely to change on occasion. When a new flash-based update is made on the server side a small “notifier” icon will appear in footer of each users dashboard (near the version number) the first time they log-in after the change is made. Right clicking on the “notifier” icon will display a pop-up dialog that describes the changes that have been made and to which viewlet(s) they apply.

Why does it sometimes take so long to update a trend chart?

 Periscope is very efficient when transferring data to and from NiagaraAX but some viewlets can be overloaded with too much data. A couple reasons for slow loading are:

    •     Slow download speed from end-user internet connection 

    •     Slow upload speed from the Periscope server JACE/WS

    •     Your time range and rollup are set so that there is a very large amount of data being loaded.