Problem Statement

How do I plot data from a text file into Process Explorer?

Solution

Create an ADSA Data Source with Aspen Process Data (File) service.

You can do this from within PE by going to Tools => Options and click on the ADSA tab. Or you can do it from Start => Programs => AspenTech => Common Utilities => ADSA Client Config Tool => User Data Source or Public Data Source

Double click on Aspen Process Data (File) service to get to the Aspen Process Data (File) Properties => in the File Name field, browse to the location of the text file on your hard drive and then check the Run Endless Loop option => click OK all the way out to save the ADSA Data Source.

In Process Explorer => enter a tagname which exists in the text file's Name column and select the ADSA Data Source that you just created with Aspen Process Data (File) service.

NOTES:

1) The database file must consist of a header line followed by one or more lines of time-stamped tag data.

The header line must contain tab-separated column names. See the example below:

DATE<tab>TIME<tab>TAGNAME1<tab> TAGNAME2<tab> TAGNAME3<tab>...

The remaining lines in the database file must contain tab-separated date, time, and data values for the specified tags. The format required is shown below:

MM/DD/YY<tab>HH:MM:SS<tab>NNN.NNN<tab>NNN.NNN<tab>NNN.NNN<tab>...

2) Ensure that the Process Explorer client is pointing at the correct timespan, and eliminate excess spaces, tabs, or carriage returns from the end of the text file.

3) Timestamps passed to and from all data servers (File included) are assumed to be in UTC time. Thus timestamps are "converted" to UTC time before sending a history request and "converted" back to local time when plotted in APEx.

If data (value and timestamps) plotted in Process Explorer does not match that in the file, see the patch below.

4) The Aspen Process Data (File) option may be removed from future versions of Aspen Manufacturing software. The recommended choice, instead of the Aspen Process Data (File), is Aspen Process Data (RDBMS). However the component is still included in the V7.2 release, due in 2010, and there are no active plans to retire it at this time.

KeyWords

text file
process data
csv
ADSA