NCI is a Network Configuration Input.
You can add an NCI from:
To add a new Network Configuration Input:
Note: If adding an NCI to a Application, browse through to the appropriate Application on the Nav palette.
Note: You cannot add an NCI to a macro. You can only add a Software Input with Point Type as Constant to a macro.
Note: You can create new NVs even if the NV count, field count, or unit stores count has been exceeded. Honeywell Spyder displays a message informing the same but allows creation of NVs.
To expose the NV fields you have added:
| Name | Definition |
| NVName | The name that you can configure this NCI with. |
| Copy From | Enables you to select Standard NVs or User Defined NVs. |
| Standard | If you select Standard you can choose a list of available NVs from the Select list. Standard NVs are pre-defined NVs known as SNVTs. |
| Custom | You have two options to select Custom NVs from:
|
| Fields Properties | Displays the following properties for each field:
|
| Add Field | Use this button to add a field. You can define a maximum of 16 fields. |
| Delete Field | Use this button to delete a selected field. |
| Edit Selected Field | |
| Field Name | User defined field name. |
| Data Category | Select the data type for the NV fields. |
| Network Data Type | It is the engineering unit received by the Honeywell Spyder controller. Specify the Network Data Type. Based on data category selected, the drop-down list changes. |
| Internal Data Type | It is the unit(s) of the output of the Network Variable. Specify the Internal Data Type. Based on data category selected, the drop-down list changes. |
| Value | Indicates the default value of the selected variable. You can edit this field. The units are based on the Internal Data Type selected. |
| Configure Invalid | Use this option to configure an invalid value. Consequently, the Value field is disabled and displays NaN. |
| UNVT Name | Enter UNVT Name in case you are creating a new NCI. |
| Export to File | When creating custom UNVTs, use this option to save it to a .bog file so it can be reused. A single .bog file may contain multiple custom NVs. |
| >> | Click this button to view the network/internal data type details. Click this button to view the Facets Details Viewer for the network/internal data type. The following information is displayed:
OR
|
While in the midst of creating an ControlProgram/Application, if you need to quickly add an NCI, use the Software Inputs item on the Spyder Palette.
Note: You cannot add an NCI to a macro. You can only add a Software Input with Point Type as Constant to a macro.
You cannot add a Software Output to a macro.
To add an NCI to an ControlProgram/Application:
Note: If the Spyder Palette is not visible on the left side of your screen, on the Menu bar, click Windows > Sidebars > Palette to display the Spyder Palette.
Note: If the Point Type is Software Input, this NV behaves as an NVI.
Note: When you create an NV using the Spyder Palette on the wiresheet, by default, the fields are exposed and you do not have to manually expose the fields of the NCI on the wiresheet.
Once you have created an NCI, you can connect a point of an NCI to an NVO/Function Block/Physical point by left-clicking on the output of a point of an NCI and dragging your mouse to the input of an NVO/Function Block/Physical point.
You can group multiple points spread across NVs into a single new NV or add it to an existing one. The points must be available on the wiresheet to make such a grouping possible. Multiple points of an NV of the type NVI and NCI can be grouped together to create a new NV. The new NV created can be saved as an NVI or NCI. When one or more NVs are grouped
Also, invalid points can be grouped with fields of another NV to create a new NV.
You can also group a single point belonging to an NV. In this case a new NV is created.
Note: The Group as NV option is not available for software points of type:
Software Output (NVO points)
ManyToOneNV
Software Input of point type Constant exposed on network (NCI point) or of type Software Input (NVI point)
Software points of a ManyToOneNV if atleast one or whose network datatype of the corresponding field is configured as bit field is selected
Fixed NV fields exposed as points
You can group two or more points of type NVI, NCI, Valid Software Input Point, Invalid Software Input point, or Software Input Point configured as Constant to:
When grouping to create a new NVI/NCI, the number of fields of the new NV equals the number of software input points selected for grouping. When you group points to add to an existing NVI/NCI, the selected software input points are added to the existing fields of the selected target NVI/NCI. The new/edited NVI/NCI appears in the upper pane in the list of NVs in the NV Configuration View. The lower pane in the NV Configuration View displays the list of all NVs with which a particular software input has been grouped.
The result of such a grouping is that the previous NVI/NCI is modified such that the corresponding field to this point is removed from the NV. The NV is deleted if the NV was a single field NV. This happens when points selected are already attached to an existing NV.
Note:
If you group invalid software input points (an invalid NCI point) to form an NVI/NCI, the invalid NCI point is converted to a valid NVI/NCI point.
When a software input point configured as a Constant is grouped to form an NVI or NCI, the software point is converted to a NVI/NCI point and any links from that point to functional blocks slots is broken. Such functional block slots (Property/Input Type) are converted to Connector type of slots. The links are broken only when the target property type in the function blocks is CONSTANT_ONLY, else, target property type is converted to CONNECTOR and the link is retained.
The result of copying and pasting an invalid software input or output point in the wiresheet is the creation of an invalid software input or output point.
When a folder contains some software points(NVI/NCI/NVO points) whose NVs are present in other folders (other than its child folders), the points become invalid as the reference to the NV is lost.
If points selected for grouping have a mixture of software input and output points, Group as NV option is not available.
The following table summarizes how you can group a point(s) of a source NV to form a target NV.
| Source NV Points | Target NV | ||||
| NVI | NCI | NVO | Valid Software Input Point | Valid Software Output Point | |
| NVI | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| NCI | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Valid Software Input Point | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Invalid Software Input point | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Software Input Point configured as Constant | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| NVO | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
To group points of NCIs:
Note: Use the CTRL key on your keyboard to select the different fields you want to group.
| Name | Definition |
| Group as New NV | Select this option if you want to save the selected fields you want to
group as a new NV. In this case, you can enter a new NV Name. Note: The new NV is created on the same folder in which the NV Configuration View is invoked. Example: If you have a ControlProgram which has an Application2 residing in Application1, if you group points on the NV Configuration View of Application2, the new NV is created in the Application2 folder. However, if you grouped NVs on the NV Configuration View of the Application1, the new NV is created in the Application1 folder. |
| Add to Existing NV | Select this option if you want to add the points you want to group to an
existing NV. In this case, you can select an existing custom NVI/NCI from the NV
Name list. On selecting this option, the fields of the NV to which the new points are added are listed in the Fields Properties table. Note: In this case, the selected existing NV is edited to reflect the changes. Note: In the case where the selected NVI was of a SNVT type, the NV is converted to a UNVT after grouping of points is done |
| NV Name | The name that you can configure this NV with. |
| NV Type | The NV type you want to save the selected fields as. You can choose NVI or NCI. |
| Fields Properties | Displays the following properties for each field:
|
| Up Arrow | Use this button to reorder a field and move it up in the list. |
| Down Arrow | Use this button to reorder a field and move it down in the list. |
| Point Name | The name of the point. |
| Field Name | User defined field name. |
| Data Category | Select the data type for the NV fields. |
| Network Data Type | It is the engineering unit received by the Honeywell Spyder controller. Specify the Network Data Type. Based on data category selected, the drop-down list changes. |
| Internal Data Type | It is the unit(s) of the output of the Network Variable. Specify the Internal Data Type. Based on data category selected, the drop-down list changes. |
| UNVT Name | Enter UNVT Name in case you are creating a new NCI. This is not mandatory. |
| >> | Click this button to view the network/internal data type details. |