Tapewise

HIS - Historical data plugin for LCDC

The HIS plugin for LCDC allows you to create historical vertical bargraphs for any values within LCDC. The update period for the charts can also be between 1 and 60 seconds which will show the average over that period

  • Variables
    • For each variable set to create historical data on, you can show a graph of 1/2/3/4 lines in height.
  • Events
    • None availble
  • Actions
    • None available.
  • Configuration
    • Yes, allows you to select which variables to monitor and how frequently to update the graph.

     

Configuration

When you configure the HIS plugin, you will see a small form like so:-

Form here you can "Add" [+] a new variable to watch, "Delete" [-] a variable being watched and edit the parameters for any of the variables being monitored. Once you have made any changes you will need to "Save" [Tick/Check] or "Cancel" [X] them. The paramters are as follows :-

  • ID: The unique identifier for this variable.
  • Name: A freindly name so that you know what it is for
  • Update interval: How often to refresh the variable
  • Variable: Which LCDC varaible to watch. Click on the diamond at the end to select a varaible, only the first will be monitored.
  • Min: The minimum value to show on the graph, this is set into two parts the integer part and the decimal part. So for example 12.5 would be 12 in the first box and 05 in the second box
  • Max: The maximum value to show on the graph, again set as two parts like the min.
  • Direction: The way in which the histogram should scroll.

FAQ

None as of yet

How to produce the example screens

The example screens above both show total data being downloaded over the network. In order to produce this kind of screen you first need to go into the HIS configuration. The easiest way to do this is by clicking on the configuration button in the screen builder, then selecting the HIS plugin (of course you will need to enable it first in the LCDC configuration). Once you are in teh HIS plugin configuration screen shown above :-

  1. Click the [+] button to add a new variable to monitor.
  2. Set the "ID" to "NTD". Hint: LCDC uses 3 characters to identify variables, this follows through to plugin variables as well.
  3. Set the "Name" to "NET DOWNLOADS". Hint: This text makes it easier to understand what a varaible is in the LCDC - Text definition screen.
  4. Set the interval to a period you would like to average out the graph by. I'm using 5 seconds in this example so move the slider so that the "Interval" reads as 5 seconds. Hint: The HIS plugin always gets the variables 1 per second so this allows you to average the values out over a period of up to 60 seconds. E.G. If the period was 60 seconds then we could see the average transfers per second over the last 12 minutes.
  5. We need to select a "Variable" now from all the variables LCDC can supply, click the diamond at the end on this line to pop up the "LCDC - Text Definition" screen. The text in this screen should show as blank at the moment (as we have not set anything up), expand the tree to show "System -> Network -> Currently -> RAD - Raw downloading -> IF0 - Total" then drag and drop it to the text area (or double click it). Notice we are using the RAW figure here, rather than once that LCDC has converted to MB/Gb etc. Now click the "Ok" button to accept this and to return us to the HIS configuration screen.
  6. The "Min" value is going to be left a "0.0" (2 boxes) for this example, but we will set the "Max" to our fastest availble throughput. In my case this 80000 (80kb for a 600kb modem), for a 56kb modem this would be about 8000
  7. Set the "Direction" you would like graph to scroll (I'm using latest on the left, so the chart data will scroll to the right)
  8. Set the width of this graph, my screen is 20 characters wide, but I'm using some extra space for text etc. so we'll use 12.
  9. Click the tick/check at the top of the screen to save this
  10. Exit, answering yes to save your changes.

To create this 4 Line example:

This screen is showing us the current transfer rate at the top of the screen along with the last minute of transfers, with each section showing the average for 5 secs.

  1. From the LCDC screen builder, click [+] to add a new screen, and select the "Configuration" tab of it
  2. Set the "Name" to "HIS downloading", set the "Duration" to "10" (or your own preferance) and set the "Custom chrs" to "VerticalBars". Hint: You can use any name you want, although for the purposes of this example we suggest you follow what we say.
  3. Select the "Lines" page and select the 1st line on the screen.
  4. In the "Text" box type "Downloading @ " then click the diamond at the end of the line to enter the "Text definition" screen. Expand the following "System -> Network -> Currently -> Downloading -> IF0 - Total" and double click it to add to the text, or drag and drop it to the end of the line, then click the tick/check to accept these changes. Hint: turn the preview on and you should see it on the top line of the LCD/Virtual screen)
  5. Now select the second line and in the text type " ||80K" and hit the diamond at the end of the line to enter the text definition screen. This time expand the "HIS-Historical data -> NTD - Downloads -> 301" and drag it inbetween the two || lines, the "Text" should look like so " |[#$HISNTD301]|80K" and the converted length should be 20 characters (3 spaces at the start). Click the tick/check to accept this and to return to the screen builder. Hint: This graph is three lines high, but we can only define one line at a time, in most cases you will see that the last 3 letters of the code show you the line/size selected. In this case we have selected 301=line 1 of a 3 line high variable, line two will be 302 on the end etc.
  6. We are going to cheat for the next two lines, so select all the text we have enetered and use [CTRL-C] to copy it, or select it all and use the right mouse button to popup the standard cut/copy menu selecting copy. Now switch to line 3 and paste it in, and also to line 4. Now switch back to line 3.
  7. From line 3 remove the "80K" at the end of the line, and change the special variable from ending in 301 to 302.
  8. From line 4 remove the "80K" at the end of the line, and add "0K " at the beginingm now change the special variable from ending in 301 to 303. You might need to add/remove spaces to line it all up.
  9. If all is well you should now be showing a graph similar to above (of course you data will be differnt!!). Hint: Load the example screen file "4lLineHISDownloading" to see this screen, although you will still need to configure the HIS plugin. To load this screen just [+] a new screen then use the "Import screen file" button towards the bottom right of the screen builder.

To create this 2 line example:

  1. ddd