# Connection State Diagnostic Tag True/False Evaluation for Alarm

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/connection-state-diagnostic-tag-true-false-evaluation-for-alarm/15094>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [August 17, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/connection-state-diagnostic-tag-true-false-evaluation-for-alarm/15094 "2017-08-17T07:43:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ionuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ionuck](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/ionuck)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/connection-state-diagnostic-tag-true-false-evaluation-for-alarm/15094/1 "2017-08-17T07:43:52Z")

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Hello,  
I’m trying to evaluate whether a location in the field is connected or not with Connection Status diagnostic tag and then prompt an alarm if it’s disconnected.

The alarm is set to start for true.  
I tried the following to configure the alarm but it’s not working:

conn = system.tag.read(“PumpingStation/Connection State.Value”)  
if (conn = “Disconnected”, true, false)

If I test print this line in the script console, it returns ok the state connected or disconnected: system.tag.read(“PumpingStation/Connection State.Value”)

Any advice please?  
Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/connection-state-diagnostic-tag-true-false-evaluation-for-alarm/15094/2 "2017-08-17T15:15:35Z")

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You’re mixing up expressions and scripting.  
If you’re inside of an alarm, you’re almost certainly using expressions - so the expression would be:

```auto
if({PumpingStation/Connection State} = "Disconnected", True, False)

```

The equivalent script would be:

```auto
conn = system.tag.read("PumpingStation/Connection State").value
if conn == "Disconnected":
	return True
else:
	return False

```