• SQL Access Manager

  • SQL Access Manager is an optional component that can be installed with InTouch HMI. You can use SQL Access Manager to transfer data, such as batch recipes from a SQL database to an InTouch application.
  • SQL Access Manager can also be used to transfer run-time data, alarm status, or historical data from an InTouch application to a database.
  • SQL Access Manager consists of a program and a set of SQL functions. The SQL Access Manager program creates and associates database columns with InTouch tags.
  • Binding is the process of associating database columns to InTouch tags. Binding allows you to use SQL Access Manager to directly manage InTouch data stored in a database.

• Key Points
  • SQL Access Manager functions can be used in scripts that automatically run based on operator input, a tag value changing, or when a particular set of conditions exist. These functions allow you to select, modify, insert, or delete records in the tables you choose to access.
  • SQL Access Manager saves the database field names and their associations in a comma-separated variable file named SQL.DEF.
  • SQL Access Manager also creates Table Templates that define the structure and format of the database used with the InTouch HMI.

• Writing New Records to a Table

  • You can insert new records to a database using the SQLInsert() function. The SQLInsert() function uses the current value of an InTouch tag to insert one record into a table.
  • The SQLInsert() function is a one step operation that prepares, inserts, and ends the statement.
  • If the string associated with an InTouch message tag is longer than the defined size of the corresponding text field of the table, the number of characters used from the message tag will be the defined size of the field.

Note: InTouch tags cannot be NULL. It is impossible to update or insert NULL values into the database using these functions if the Bind List includes the field. You can insert NULL values into a field using SQLExecute on an INSERT statement that does not include the field, which should have been defined to allow NULL values.

• Retrieving Data from a Table

  • You can use a set of SQL functions in scripts to retrieve data from a database and write the values to InTouch tags.
  • The SQLSelect() function retrieves information from a table and places this information in the form of records into a temporary Results Table created in memory.
  • The SQLGetRecord() function retrieves the record specified by RecordNumber from the current selection buffer.
  • The SQLNumRows() function returns the number of table rows that met the criteria specified in a previous SQLSelect() function.
  • The SQLFirst() function retrieves the first record of the Results Table created by the last SQLSelect() function.
  • The SQLNext() function retrieves the next record of the Results Table created by the last SQLSelect() function.
  • The SQLPrev() function retrieves data from the previous row of the logical table and fetch values from that row into InTouch tags.
  • The SQLLast() function retrieves the last row of the logical table and fetch values from that row into InTouch tags.
  • The SQLEnd() function frees memory that stores the contents of the Results Table associated with ConnectionId.
• The SQLFirst(), SQLPrev(), SQLNext(), SQLLast(), and SQLGetRecord() functions retrieve data from specified rows of the logical table and save it as InTouch tag values. If a field is NULL, the value of the associated InTouch tag is set to zero or a zero-length string depending on whether the tag is of analog or message type.
• If a string in the database is greater than 131 characters, only the first 131 characters are copied from the database to the associated InTouch message tag.