The Hach WIMS Indirect GE iFIX Interface does not communicate directly with the GE iFIX HMI. Instead, the interface reads in OPSDATAXML files that have been generated by a Collector utility. The Collector reads in data from the iFIX HMI and writes the data to a new OPSDATAXML file every hour. Each file contains 60 data point for each iFIX tag that you are monitoring (1 data point every minute for each tag). Once OPSDATAXML files are being generated the Interface can start reading the data into Hach WIMS.

In the default installation, the Interface, Collector and GE iFIX HMI reside on the same machine. You may also configure the Collector and iFIX HMI to be on the same machine but have the Interface on another machine. If you do this, you'll want to make sure that the Collector is saving the OPSDATAXML files to a location that the machine the Interface is installed on has access to (i.e. a shared network drive). The iFIX HMI and the Collector must be installed on the same machine.

To start the Collector from the Interface click on Configuration/Collector Configuration.

From here you can either configure the Collector or start it.

If you choose to start the Collector before it has been configured, you will be presented with a warning message indicating that it has not been configured yet. You can dismiss the message and proceed to configure the Collector.

The Collector will not start collecting data until it has been configured. In the configuration screen you have two tabs of configuration settings. The "General Settings" tab contains information on how you want the Collector to run.

In the "iFIX Settings/Tag Picker" tab you configure the connection to the iFIX data and select all the tags that you want to collect data for.

When you launch the Collector it will either start as a Windows Tray Application (default) or in NT Service View and Control mode. The standard screen is below.

If the status bar shows "RUNNING" then the Collector is scheduled to run and collect data from the GE iFIX HMI. If the status is "PAUSED" you need to configure the connection to the iFIX HMI data and click the Start button. If no Tags have been defined yet, then the Collector will not run. If you start the Collector and it does not appear on the screen then you can find it in the Windows System Tray (by default the Collector is hidden when it is started unless errors occur during startup). You can double click on it's icon in the System Tray to make it visible.

If you click on the Configure button when the Collector is running as a Windows Tray Application you are presented with a Proxy Setting screen before being able to configure the Collector's settings.

The proxy screen contains needed information on how you plan to run the Collector. For a standard installation just leave the settings the way that they are

When the Collector is installed to run as a service you are presented with the following screen when starting the application.

From here you can see if the Service is running, configure it, stop it, start it, and view the activity log files.