6. Color Rules

Color rules vary from system to system. They modify an object's color, that is, turn it from one color to another when a specified condition exists. Color rules may be configured in your system to indicate abnormal operating conditions, dangerous operating conditions, or anything that requires an operator's closer attention. There may also be different color rules to indicate different degrees of urgency. For example, there may be a color rule that calls attention to slightly abnormal operating conditions by turning objects green or some other color. There are three important things to understand about color rules:

: 1. Only individual objects can be modified by a color rule and only specified objects. Don't expect a display, for instance, to turn red if the condition for that color rule is met. Though all the objects within a display may be modified by a color rule, the display itself cannot be.
: 2. Since color rules may vary, you must know the colors that apply to the displays you are using--what the colors in the color rule or rules are and what they mean and what are the conditions that they indicate.
: 3. Although color rules are configured to turn an object a certain color when certain conditions exist, there is a default foreground and background capability with color rules that turn the objects a certain color when none of the conditions are met. It is important to know what these colors are, if they are used.

Even though color rules are unique, there is a default color rule that comes with the latest version of EDD/DM. Your system may or may not use this color rule. It is called the alarm color rule and is configured to monitor the SEVR field of a channel that the object is connected to. When the SEVR field of the channel is MAJOR, the objects modified by this color rule turn red; when the SEVR field is MINOR, the objects modified by the color rule turn yellow; and when the SEVR field is INFO, the objects modified by the color rule turn blue.

When there is a problem with a color rule--when the object does not specify the correct arguments for instance--the background color of the object will turn black and the foreground color, white. This is not wholly true for monitors, as only the dynamic part of the monitor will turn white, the dynamic part of the monitor being the part that actually changes according to the value of the channel, such as the pointer of an indicator or the needle of a meter.

See Chapter 3, Working With Templates And Color Rules, for more on color rules and Chapter 4, Creating and Manipulating Objects, for more on changing the color properties of objects.

EDD/DM User's Manual, 2.4 - 27 MARCH 1997

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6. Color Rules

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