We would like to export a points list in CSV format, apply Haystack tags in Excel and then import the CSV file back into N4 with all the associated tags.
There are a few reasons for wanting to utilise Excel but to keep this concise, can anyone please advise as to the best course of action? We’ve hit a bit of a wall!
If what we would like to do is not possible, we would welcome any alternate suggestions. Especially if they closely resemble what we’re trying to do – which is ultimately edit points and tags in Excel.
Thank you in advance and appreciate all the hard work!
Paul QuinnWed 24 Jun 2020
You may want to consider creating point (or equip) templates in SkySpark and putting a reference on the live point to the template. You can modify the point template and then write a function to periodically sync your point tags with the template.
I use a technique similar to this when initially importing equipment and points from a BMS.
Ben MorrallWed 24 Jun 2020
Thanks Paul!
Our client isn't using SkySpark, so any solution needs to encompass software they are familiar with, really.
The benefits of utilising Haystack are plain to see. We would like to deploy it on every project and encourage clients to adopt tagging as a constituent part of writing BMS software. The obvious barrier though, seems to be ease of use, i.e. how straightforward/time-consuming is it to tag an entire site?
System integrators are generally competent Excel and N4 users. If there is a way of simply exporting BMS points in CSV format, using fairly routine Excel methods to accelerate the tagging process, then importing that tagged BMS data back into N4, many more companies could harness the serviceability of Haystack.
I guess we just want to know if it's possible to tag BMS points in Excel? If not, we think it would be a really useful supplementary feature that could greatly extend the observance of Haystack standards.
As an aside, whilst touching on extending the observance of Haystack standards another obstacle (especially in BMS/BAS use cases) is the absence of fault and alarm tags.
Brian FrankWed 24 Jun 2020
The Java toolkit used by nhaystack does support exporting to CSV. You can check the output formats with the formats op:
http://yourhost/haystack/formats
If CSV is supported (which is should be), then you just need to make an HTTP get to read the points with the HTTP header Accept:"text/csv".
I would imagine there is a nice way to do this from the UI too, but not sure.
Or you can use curl or something like it. Or another alternative is to export to Zinc, JSON, etc and then use one of the many Haystack libraries to convert it to CSV.
Tavis KerrThu 25 Jun 2020
Hey Ben,
We have a way to simplify the deployment of tags within Niagara, if interested you can reach me at Tavis at KodeLabs. com
Ben Morrall Tue 23 Jun 2020
Hi there,
Niagara 4 user here - hoping I can get some help.
We would like to export a points list in CSV format, apply Haystack tags in Excel and then import the CSV file back into N4 with all the associated tags.
There are a few reasons for wanting to utilise Excel but to keep this concise, can anyone please advise as to the best course of action? We’ve hit a bit of a wall!
If what we would like to do is not possible, we would welcome any alternate suggestions. Especially if they closely resemble what we’re trying to do – which is ultimately edit points and tags in Excel.
Thank you in advance and appreciate all the hard work!
Paul Quinn Wed 24 Jun 2020
You may want to consider creating point (or equip) templates in SkySpark and putting a reference on the live point to the template. You can modify the point template and then write a function to periodically sync your point tags with the template.
I use a technique similar to this when initially importing equipment and points from a BMS.
Ben Morrall Wed 24 Jun 2020
Thanks Paul!
Our client isn't using SkySpark, so any solution needs to encompass software they are familiar with, really.
The benefits of utilising Haystack are plain to see. We would like to deploy it on every project and encourage clients to adopt tagging as a constituent part of writing BMS software. The obvious barrier though, seems to be ease of use, i.e. how straightforward/time-consuming is it to tag an entire site?
System integrators are generally competent Excel and N4 users. If there is a way of simply exporting BMS points in CSV format, using fairly routine Excel methods to accelerate the tagging process, then importing that tagged BMS data back into N4, many more companies could harness the serviceability of Haystack.
I guess we just want to know if it's possible to tag BMS points in Excel? If not, we think it would be a really useful supplementary feature that could greatly extend the observance of Haystack standards.
As an aside, whilst touching on extending the
observance of Haystack standardsanother obstacle (especially in BMS/BAS use cases) is the absence offaultandalarmtags.Brian Frank Wed 24 Jun 2020
The Java toolkit used by nhaystack does support exporting to CSV. You can check the output formats with the
formatsop:If CSV is supported (which is should be), then you just need to make an HTTP get to read the points with the HTTP header Accept:"text/csv".
I would imagine there is a nice way to do this from the UI too, but not sure.
Or you can use curl or something like it. Or another alternative is to export to Zinc, JSON, etc and then use one of the many Haystack libraries to convert it to CSV.
Tavis Kerr Thu 25 Jun 2020
Hey Ben,
We have a way to simplify the deployment of tags within Niagara, if interested you can reach me at Tavis at KodeLabs. com