Import of "Actions Items" or "Triggers"

Import\Export
1

Is it feasible to import and add an “action item” to an Event object? When programming new iSTAR panels and numerous doors, it is rather time consuming going to each object one by one to setup forced and held open events that activate an output (local sounder). I am able to bulk import events to initially create them, but I am having difficulty also importing associated Action Items or Triggers and currently must go into every object to assign them.

2

@Yousef_Askoul,

Yes, you should be able to import action items. The key is to not import the action item until both the trigger and event exist. You can view how they look by creating a custom query to look at your existing action items and export them to XML. Import works the same way, allowing you to set your trigger and target names and types (object IDs will get looked up by the import process). It’s important to realize you can really mess up your triggers if you import multiple times (creates multiple triggers), so be careful.

Kind Regards,

Chris Vanderbles, Master Certified Technician
XSiV Technologies, LLC

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3

Yes. This is possible, but tricky. As @Chris.Vanderbles mentioned, you have to be very careful not to create a bigger problem.

I’ve been able to script this out, so we no longer have to program hardware, events, and event associations inside the application. We do the core work in excel, then we use PowerShell scripts to convert that into importable XML files, which we import directly into the app.

If you’re interested in going down this path, and have scripting experience, I can help you get where you need to be for this task.

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4

@Joe.King That sounds like a great way to standardize the program build going in. I’d love to see the excel on that

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@Joe.King,

That sounds a lot like a solution I developed, but it’s for a whole-panel programming. Creates the Cluster, Panel, Inputs, Outputs, Doors, Events, I/8 and R/8 expansion boards/points, as well as event actions and linkages. I bypassed powershell and run it directly in VBA against the sheet. Lets me enforce naming conventions / standards, etc.

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You can do this via CSV. Its very simple.

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Hi Chris, could you share this ? I would love to standarise the build process

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@Peter_Lynch,

No sir, it’s entirely proprietary. We spent a lot of time, money, and effort into developing the tool, so it’s not something we “share”. We utilize tools like this as differentiators for our company when managing large, complex systems for our end users.

Kind Regards,

Chris Vanderbles

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Hi Chris, thats completly understandable. Thank you for responding. Im looking for a way to automate certain sections of the build process , your comment was the only help ive gotten so far.

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Hi Joe, I’d appreciate a point in the right direction for this.

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@Peter_Lynch,

The XML structures of the devices are well formatted. It would not be difficult for you to export some hadware to take a look at the XML examples and then build your own and test import them. A couple of quick items for you:

  1. Don’t worry about object IDs or any status fields if you’re simply importing new hardware (like a complete panel / cluster config).
  2. Parent items don’t have to be referenced, as they are already nested in the XML when importing hardware.
  3. Tinker around with stripping out as much detail as you can from an XML config (excluding headers, you need all of those!) to see what you can get by with populating, and what will auto-populate in CCURE with defaults (if desired).

Kind Regards,

Chris Vanderbles, Master Certified Technician
XSiV Technologies, LLC.

12

Thank you chris. Im looking at that as we speak.