DateTime Picker+

Overview

When to use it

Use this symbol when you need to:

• Let operators choose a day, week, month or production day with one click instead of typing times in the PI Vision time bar.
• Offer named ranges such as Yesterday or Last 8 hours.
• Let operators pick a start and end date from a calendar.
• Step the range to the previous or next day with arrows.
• Turn the recorded values of a data source, such as a shift name, into selectable periods.
• Open a display on a known range every time.

If operators only need to nudge the current range backward and forward, the standard PI Vision time bar is enough.

Before you begin

• Decide which periods the display needs, how long each one is and which boundary it starts on.
• The symbol takes one data source. Only the data source mode reads its values: use a PI Point or AF attribute whose values mark the start of each period, such as a shift name written at every shift change.
• To color those periods by status, add a multi-state to the same data source.

Add and set up the symbol

This quick start builds a row of buttons for the last seven days.

1. Select DateTime Picker+ in the PI Vision symbol gallery and drag a PI Point or AF attribute onto the display.
2. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
3. Under Source, open Quick Start (1) and select Last 7 days. The pane fills in the label format (2) and the number of periods (3).
4. Close the configuration pane. The symbol shows seven buttons, from Today to 6 Days ago.
5. Select Yesterday. The time bar shows yesterday from midnight to midnight.

Every item you select applies its range to the display. You can change everything a quick start writes in the rows below it.

Common tasks

Pick a start and end from a calendar

Use this when operators need any range, not a fixed list of periods.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
2. Under Source, set Mode (1) to Calendar.
3. Set the calendar Mode (2) to Date Range for one input with two days, or to Start & End Time for two inputs.
4. Turn on Reset Button (3) to add a clock button that returns the display to a default range. Default Range sets how far back it goes, and Align To sets the boundary it starts on.

Operators click the input, then the first day and the last day. The display range starts at the beginning of the first day and ends at the beginning of the second day, so picking October 5 and October 8 gives October 5 to October 8 at 12:00 AM. To include a whole last day, pick the following day. With Start & End Time and Include Time of Day on, the operator sets an exact time for each end.

Offer named ranges such as Last 8 hours

Use this when the ranges are not regular periods, or when operators know them by name.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
2. Under Source, set Mode (1) to List.
3. Select Add (2) to create an entry. The new entry is selected.
4. Enter the button text in Label (3).
5. Enter the range in Start Time (4) and End Time (5) as PI time expressions, for example *-8h and *.

Each entry becomes a button, in list order. Use the arrows under the list to reorder entries. Selecting Last 8 hours applies the last eight hours to the display, ending now.

Select production days that run from 06:00 to 06:00

Use this when your day does not start at midnight.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
2. Under Source, set Mode to Periods.
3. Set Period (1) to 1 and Day, and set Align To (2) to Day.
4. Set Offset (3) to 6 and Hour. Every period now starts six hours after midnight.
5. Select a Label Format (4), for example 09 Oct.
6. Set Group By to OFF for one flat row, or to Month to group the days.

Each button covers one production day. Selecting 09 Oct sets the range from 10/9 6:00 AM to 10/10 6:00 AM.

The quick start Shift days from 06:00 writes these settings for you. Turn Include End Time off to end each day at 5:59:59 AM instead of 6:00:00 AM.

Step through days with arrows

Use this when operators compare one day with the day before it.

1. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
2. Under Source, use Mode Periods with a Period of 1 day, and set Group By to OFF.
3. Under Layout, set View to Dropdown.
4. Under Behavior, turn on Navigation Arrows (1).

Two arrows appear beside the drop-down list. The left arrow always selects the earlier period and the right arrow the later one, and each click moves the display range. A single-date calendar offers the same arrows.

Select a shift from recorded values

Use this when a PI Point records the current shift or batch name, and operators want to see the data of one shift.

1. Drag the PI Point that records the shift name onto the symbol. A string or digital point works.
2. Right-click the symbol and select Configure Date Picker....
3. Under Source, set Mode (1) to the data source option, the third entry in the list.
4. Set Start Time and End Time to the window to read, for example *-7d and *. Keep the data retrieval Mode on Recorded.
5. Set Label (2) to Value so each button shows the shift name.
6. Set Number of Periods (3), and set Skip Most Recent (4) to 1 to hide the period that is still running.
7. Set Group By (5) to Day.

Each recorded value becomes one button, and it covers the time from that value to the next one. Select Shift A in the 08 Oct group and the display shows exactly that shift.

The quick start Shift tag (data source) applies these settings in one step. To color the buttons by status, add a multi-state and choose what it colors with the multi-state selector at the end of Layout.

Use the symbol

• Select an item to apply its range to the display. Every symbol that follows the display time range refreshes. Nothing is written to the PI System.
• Use the arrows. They step to the earlier or later item, or to the previous or next day in a single-date calendar.
• Pick from the calendar. A date or range applies as soon as it is chosen. The clock button next to the input returns the display to the default range.
• Open a display on a range. With Auto-Select Default Item on, the picker applies one item when the display loads. If the display link carries a start or end time, as report links do, the picker leaves that range alone.

A single-date calendar always shows the start of the display range, so it keeps showing the picked day even after another symbol changes the display time.

Configure the symbol

All settings are on one General panel in five groups: Source, Selection, Behavior, Style and Layout.

Quick Start

Quick Start, at the top of Source, is an action, not a setting. It writes a complete working combination of settings and returns to Select, so you can apply the same preset again. Everything it writes stays editable.

Source

These rows sit under Items and are offered only where they apply.

Selection

Behavior

Style

Layout

Troubleshooting and limitations

Limitation: The picker changes the display time range for everything that follows it. It cannot change the range of selected symbols only.

Limitation: Wrap and Align are hidden while Fit is on, because fitted items already fill their axis.