I’ve just tried using audio alerts in FactorySQL - previously I sounded an alarm when there were any unacknowledged alarms using a global event script in each client.
It would appear that the audio alerts ‘Continue until Acknowledged’ setting doesn’t work - the alert sounds when a point goes into alarm and repeats at the correct interval, but stops sounding when the point goes out of alarm even though it hasn’t been acknowledged.
Al
Hi Al,
It works to some degree- unfortunately, the problem lies more in the specification of what the behavior should be and in us not being clear what it is.
As it’s currently defined, the correct description would be “Continue until acknowledged or cleared”. That is, the underlying principal is that if the alert is clear, the sound shouldn’t play- so the question is, does it play til clear, or until someone acknowledges it (before it’s clear).
I can definitely understand your expectation though. We’ll have to think a bit as to whether we should change it… in the mean time, the floor’s open for persuasive arguments…
Regards,
Hi Colby,
To be honest, the ‘continue until cleared’ setting doesn’t make much sense to me. The point of an alert sound is to draw your attention to the alarm - once you’ve seen it, there’s no value in continuing to sound an alarm until its clear - an alarm could be up for a long time!
Also, by using the logic of “Continue until acknowledged or cleared”, what can happen is a point goes into alarm briefly then back out of alarm. The alert will sound once and then stop. The operator may miss this and not realise that things are starting to go wrong.
Of course, this problem of brief, spurious alarms could be solved by implementing alarm delays - see your own reply at the end of this post 
Al