Overview: The interfaces and their use

This topic gives you an overview of the individual interfaces supported by IGSS. Read the list to understand the differences between the interfaces. This will also enable you to choose the right interface for a given task.

For further details, click the link in the More Info ? column.

This interface …	is used to …	More info ?
ActiveX	bind IGSS object values to ActiveX controls. This is an alternative to using the other descriptor types offered by IGSS. You can, for example, bind the current process value of a process component to an indicator embedded in the ActiveX control. There are numerous controls available on the Internet and you can, of course, also develop your own controls. As opposed to all other descriptor types, you can bind an ActiveX control to multiple IGSS objects.	Binding IGSS objects to ActiveX controls
Automation/ DDE	access online data (while the configuration is running). Using this interface you can, for example: subscribe to current process values and active alarms subscribe to object events (for example, digital state changes) create, acknowledge and end alarms start and stop the configuration DDE can be used from, for example, MS Excel. Automation can be used from, for example, Visual Basic.	Basic DDE concepts file. "Getting Started with Automation"
IGSS Portal	monitor and control the process from PDAs, wireless devices, cellular phones, etc. that are HTML browser compatible.	What is the IGSS Portal?
Jet	access the native, relational databases (*.mdb) that are created for each configuration you create in IGSS	Jet: Key features and benefits
ODBC	access offline configuration data with an SQL-enabled database. The IGSS ODBC Driver allows you to view and edit configuration data and to view historical process data (ALM, LOG and BCL data). You can thus create new IGSS objects and edit their properties directly in a database.	ODBC: Key features and benefits
OLE	link or embed OLE objects on process diagrams. An OLE object could be an MS Excel file, an MS Word file, a custom OLE application. Your imagination is the limit. You can embed multiple OLE objects on one process diagram or one object as a whole diagram. In the latter case, no other objects can exist on the diagram. When the object is linked or embedded, you can activate it either in-place (within IGSS) or in the source application.	OLE objects
IGSS RTD in MS Excel	subscribe to IGSS real time data in a standard Microsoft Excel file.	IGSS Real Time Data in Microsoft Excel
SQL	databases can be set up for use with IGSS where there are large amounts of process data.	When to use SQL
WAP	connect your cellular phone to the IGSS server via the Internet. The WAP interface allows you to: View current process values Acknowledge alarms and change object properties Manually enter or edit report values View standard reports	Overview - WAP service in IGSS