The Saved Points section of the BACnet explorer allows the user to create lists of BACnet points which can be saved/exported. Lists exported in CSV format aid in batch room mapping with the Importer/Exporter, while saving selected point lists to XML facilitates manual room mapping as well as providing a way of grouping node “favorites” together when copying and pasting points into actions manually.
When the Explorer window first pops up, the Saved Points pane is collapsed at the bottom of the window. To expand or collapse the pane, simply click the tab.
There are two ways to add a point to the list: saving a point from the tree view on the left, and saving a property from the list pane on the right. To save a point from the tree view, right-click the desired point object, and select ‘Save Object’. This adds the point to the list with the Present_Value property selected.
If the list of saved points is minimized, this will automatically expand it.
To save a point via the property list pane on the right, first select a point in the tree view pane on the left as before, then select the desired property in the property list pane, right-click, and select ‘Save property’.
Note: Only point objects can be added to the list of saved points; no higher level folders—e.g. device and object type folders—can be added.
With points saved in the list, it may be modified, saved or exported using the buttons at the bottom of the pane, as well as through the context menu available by right-clicking within the pane, as shown.
CSV Export
To export point list items to a CSV file, select the entries you would like to export, and then click the Export CSV button, or in the context menu, select ‘Export Selected’.
After saving the file, you will be prompted to open the file, if desired.
CSV files by default are opened by Microsoft Excel, if installed, and can also be opened by any text editor, such as Notepad.
The row entries in this file are designed to aid in the Events2HVAC setup process, pre-formatting device data to be copied into files for equipment item import. For more information on using CSV files for room mapping, see also Importing Actions.
Note: Only selected items from the list will be exported. To export all points, right-click the list, select ‘Select All’, then export the list as above.
XML Save/Load
If not explicitly saved, the list of points will be lost after the explorer window is closed. Loading lists previously saved to an XML document allows the user to more easily view important point objects and copy this data to the clipboard, without first having to locate the point in the tree view of the network. Users may also find it convenient to create groups of related points in separate XML files.
To save all of the current entries in the list, click the “Save XML” button or select “Save List” in the context menu, then save your file in the desired location using the file browser.
To load a previously saved list, select the “Load XML” button.
Choose whether or not to remove the current points in the list, and then select and open the file from the pop-up browser.
Note: when loading a list or adding a point from the tree, if any duplicate entries are present, they will be ignored.