PC tasks

Pc Tasks

As long as a PC running the iNetGrow software is connected to the LAN, it may perform several tasks independent of the controllers and the modules. The PC tasks fall under three categories.

Data Logging

Independent of the data logged on the controller, a PC may also collect and log data from all controllers (see the section “Data Logging”). Check the box “Enable data logging” to start logging data on the PC. A log interval from 1 minute to 60 minutes may be selected.

The logged data is saved in files. Two log file formats are supported. These two formats, comma-separated values (CSV) or tab-separted values (Tab), are readable by spreadsheet programs.

Select a log file directory. You may also choose to start a new log file every day. This is especially useful if you are frequently logging data from many controllers. The daily log files will have the format ““iNetGrowLog_Month_Day_Year.txt,” for example, “iNetGrowLog_June_09_2005.txt.”

E-Mail

The PC may generate periodic e-mail messages. Click the “Configure” button in the e-mail group to specify a mailing list. In order to send e-mail messages, the PC must have access to the Internet. The outgoing mail server is the same as you would use to configure your personal e-mail program. Select how often you would like to send e-mail. INetGrow has the capability to include the current log file as a mail attachment.

MAPI (Mail Applications Programming Interface) is a mechanism for you to use your existing mail client (for example, Eudora or MS Outlook) to send the e-mail. This may be desirable if you have mailing lists in your mail client program. Uncheck the box “Use MAPI” if you do not have a mail client program. If you choose to use MAPI, you must configure your mail client to allow other programs to send e-mail. This is referred to as “automation.”

The e-mail address of the sender is necessary for the e-mail protocol. However, it is not used by iNetGrow.

Web Publishing

The PC may periodically update a web page. Click the “Configure” button under the “Publish web page” group to specify how the page is to be updated. The page displays the current values of the inputs and outputs collected from all controllers on the LAN. The web page may be generated as a plain text file, or as an HTML file. You must have a HTML server to which you can upload the page. iNetGrow uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to upload the page. Specify the IP address, user name and password for FTP uploads. The remote path must exist on the target system.