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Automated Email

Created by: gnook at: 6/28/2006 1:52 PM (26 Replies)

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6/28/2006 1:52 PM	Rate (0)
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	Hello WinCC world, I am about toexpand the focus of my WinCC application to take on a condition monitoring and early warning role. As most users are quite lazy and are not likely to look up data unless there is a problem I would like to use some kind of automated emailing system for specific alarm events. I can use these emails for two things, 1: traceability of notification, 2: Early warning of possible failure situation. Has anybody got any experience in using WinCC in this way? If yes can you share your experience with me please.
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)
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6/28/2006 2:10 PM	Rate (0)
Salma Gold Member Joined: 9/27/2005 Last visit: 11/27/2007 Posts: 1398 Rating: (151)	I am aware of a couple of sites in the UK that are using WinCC in this way. I have not personally developed such a solution but have seen it on some customers sites. You can easily send e-mails using VBS (there is an example on this forum). Alarms are detected using the GMsgFunction standard function which triggers a VBS script via an internal tag to send the e-mail. Another way would be to use the e-mailing functionality of SQLServer instead of VBS. Alarm detection would still be done using the GMsgFunction.

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6/28/2006 2:11 PM	Rate (0)
Nemo Posts: 3149 Rating: (171)	Hi, we´ve already discussed some interesting points: /tf/WW/en/Posts/3351 nemo
Nemo Posts: 3149 Rating: (171)
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6/28/2006 2:35 PM	Rate (0)
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	Hello Nemo, OK, I think I understand I have also used the Gmsg script to add some information into alarm message before so I think I can start with this part. If I am succesful getting the email part working I would then like to be a little more precise with my email. I have lets sayten email recipients and I want each one only to get the messages they need (otherwise they won't read them!). Do you have any idea of a good way to filter who gets the alarm message? At the moment I am thinking of using a 'if then' or 'case' and using some kind of identifier in the alarm message, the result would then call a specific VBS function to send the email. If there is a more elegant method I would like to use it.
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)
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6/29/2006 11:00 AM	Rate (0)
Nemo Posts: 3149 Rating: (171)	Unfortunately I don´t see any real "elegant" method. You should always keep in mind, that huge global scripts will slow down your system performance. nemo
Nemo Posts: 3149 Rating: (171)
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6/29/2006 11:06 AM	Rate (0)
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	Hello Nemo, I am starting to think that I might not use the gmsg script at all but write some custom scripts triggered by internal tags that are in turn triggered from the alarms in some way, either at source or through the alarm event.
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)
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6/29/2006 11:54 AM	Rate (0)
Salma Gold Member Joined: 9/27/2005 Last visit: 11/27/2007 Posts: 1398 Rating: (151)	As long as the site is not generating hundreds of alarms or has frequent bursts of alarms, the GMsgFunction should be fine for alarm detection. The e-mail will be sent by a separate VBS function. To create e-mail distribution lists I would use database table. So createa new database in the SQLServer, create a table to store recipients names and e-mail addresses. I would have another table that contained which alarms get sent to which recipient. You could then query this lookup table in the VBS script to get a list of e-mail addresses for each alarm. Obviously this requires a good working knowledge of SQL but if you have this then it's easy. If not then maybe you could use a file based (CSV) solution instead. The key is to store which alarms go to which e-mail address somewhere and have the script simply check this list. Hope this helps, Salma

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6/29/2006 12:14 PM	Rate (0)
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	Hello Salma, This is definitely a good solution for the email portion and definitely something I will consider. My problem with gMsg is that I have thousands of alarms already that appear in bursts and sometimes in a persistent flow so the function is going to be running a lot. My worry is that it will become a resource munching monster and affect other processes in WinCC. So in the interim I will probably use gMsg but in the long term I think I may need to look at alternatives.
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)
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6/29/2006 12:30 PM	Rate (0)
Salma Gold Member Joined: 9/27/2005 Last visit: 11/27/2007 Posts: 1398 Rating: (151)	I agree with you completely. A solution with GMsgFunction will not work with bursts of alarms as scripts are queued in WinCC and only 5000 scripts can be in the queue - after that the script engine will fail. Let us know if you come up with a good workable solution. Or does anyone else have anything to add to this ??

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6/29/2006 12:41 PM	Rate (0)
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	I expect to try my initial solution over the next weeks, after I have implemented and tested it I will post an update. After that I will work on the long term option, I am open to any advice other users may have. So far so good, I have triggered email from a VBs script and it got where it was supposed to go! Alas, I have hit my first mini glitch! I do most of my work in C and very little in VBs so I am a newbie here so I have some queries if any one could help: - How can I trigger a VB script from the 'c' gMsg function? Can I pass variables into the script in the same way as I would with a 'c' function?
gnook Posts: 42 Rating: (1)	Last edited by: gnook at: 6/29/2006 5:07 PM
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