Actions Tab

Actions allow you to define what should be done to an element in the system in response to an associated control condition. The Actions tab provides a list of all actions defined in the system. There are two types of actions: simple actions and composite actions. Actions have an application-provided non-editable ID (e.g., A01 for simple, AA01 for composite).

The Actions tab is divided into sections:

The Actions List displays a list of all logical actions defined in the system. The list contains four columns: ID (the application defined ID, e.g., A01 for simple, AA01 for composite), Type (simple or composite), description, and references (logical control references).
Located above the Conditions List is a toolbar with the following buttons:
- New—Opens the New Logical Action dialog box, where you can create a new logical action.
- Edit—Depending on whether a simple or composite action is highlighted, this button opens the Simple Logical Action or Composite Logical Action dialog box, which allows you to edit the highlighted action.
- Delete—Deletes the highlighted action. You will be prompted to confirm this action.
- Find—Opens the Find Logical Action dialog box, which allows you to find a particular action based on a variety of criteria.
- Report—Generates a summary of the highlighted action.
Below the toolbar is a set of filters that allow you to only display controls that meet criteria defined by the filter settings. The following filters are available:
- Control Set—When a control set is specified, only actions that are a component of that control set are displayed in the Actions list.
- Type—When a Type filter other than <All> is specified, only actions of that type will be displayed in the Actions list.
- Action Element—When an Action Element filter other than <All> is specified, only actions containing the selected Element will be displayed in the Actions list. You can filter the available actions to include only actions that are applicable to the element or elements that are currently selected in the drawing pane by selecting the <Current Selection> option.

The controls used to create or edit an action vary depending on whether the action is simple or composite.

Simple Actions

The following controls are used to define or edit Simple Actions:

Element—The Element field allows you to specify which element the action will be based upon and provides three methods of choosing this element. The drop-down list displays elements that have been used in other logical controls, the Ellipsis (…) button, which opens the Single Element Selection box, and the Select From Drawing button, which allows you to select the element using the graphical Drawing view.
Attribute—This field displays the available attributes for the element type specified in the Element field. Not all attributes are available for all element types. The available attributes include:
Status—This attribute is used to change the status of a pipe, pump, or valve when the related conditions are met. The available choices are dependant on the element type.
Setting—This attribute is used to change the settings of a pump or valve when the related conditions are met. The setting type varies depending on the type of element.
Pump Hydraulic Grade (Target)— This attribute is available for variable speed pumps or batteries to modify the target head of a parallel VSP group (the change can apply to one of the pumps belonging to a parallel VSP group) or of a VSPB.
Pump Pressure (Target)— This attribute is available for variable speed pumps or batteries to modify the target pressure of a parallel VSP group (the change can apply to one of the pumps belonging to a parallel VSP group) or of a VSPB.

Note: Pipes can only utilize the Status Attribute, Pumps and all Valves except for the GPV can utilize either the Status or Setting Attribute. GPVs can only use the Status Attribute.

Note: For all valves except for the GPV, there is no explicit Active status with which to base a control upon—the status choices are Inactive or Closed. After a control sets a valve to Inactive or Closed, to reactivate the valve another control must be created with a Setting attribute. This is because a valve cannot be set to Active, but must have specific input data to work with. For GPVs, there is no Inactive setting. GPVs can only be set to Active or Closed. If the GPV is not closed, the valve will always produce the headlosses associated with it through the Head-Discharge Points table.

Operator—The operator for logical actions is always EQUAL TO (=).
Attribute Value—This field’s label will change depending on the attribute that is chosen. Depending on the element type and the attribute that was chosen, the input field may also change to a drop-down list, which contains the possible settings for that element. Not all settings are available for all element types.

Note: Pipes can be set to Open or Closed, Pumps can be set to On, Off, or have their relative speed factors increase or decrease. GPVs can be set to Active or Closed. All other valves can be set to Inactive, Closed, or have their respective settings changed, depending on the Valve type.

Description—This area of the dialog box is preset with a default description. There is an option to change the default description. To do so, click the check box to activate the description field, and enter your description in the text box. Additionally, the description field supports the following expandable masks:

%#	ID
%e	Element
%a	Attribute
%o	Operator
%v	Value (and Unit, if applicable)

Aside from reducing the amount of data input, using these masks provides the additional benefit of automatically updating the corresponding information when changes are made to the various control components.

Note: Click the description list box to select one of the predefined masks.

Summary—This area of the dialog displays an automatically updated preview of the expanded description.

Composite Actions

When a Composite Action is being defined or edited, the lower section of the dialog box is comprised of a single column table and two buttons. The Table contains a list of the Actions to be used. Each row is a drop-down list that allows you to choose an action that was already created beforehand.

Insert—Adds a new row to the Action list

Delete—Deletes the highlighted row from the Action list.

%#	ID
%v	Value

Note: Click the description list box to select one of the predefined masks.

Composite logical actions consist of multiple simple logical actions. These actions are linked with an AND statement.

Summary—This area of the dialog box displays an automatically updated preview of the expanded description.