# Trying to Understand Alarm Journal Gateway Filters **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** perspective\ **Created:** [September 16, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674 "2025-09-16T18:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jacob\_N](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@Jacob\_N](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jacob_N)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/1 "2025-09-16T18:30:04Z")
Hello, I have two tag providers, [default] and [TestPanel]. I’m trying to use two Alarm Journals that filter which alarms it records based on which tag provider I give it. I figured I could do this by changing the filtering settings on the Gateway → Config → Alarming → (My Alarm Journal) → Data Filtering → **Source Data filter**. I set mine to [TestPanel]\* in this case (see pic). I can’t seem to get this to work. system.alarm.queryJournal() does not show any events at all, once I revert the change it shows all alarms again. I’m not sure if I’m missing something from the documentation but their doesn’t seem to be much info on it or examples [Alarm Journal | Ignition User Manual](https://www.docs.inductiveautomation.com/docs/8.1/platform/alarming/alarm-journal#data-filters) . I don’t know if I should be using wildcards either. Does anyone have any info on this? I attached a screenshot showing which specific settings I’m talking about. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/4/7/478cb9d9f588e5e564153ba80a5c243d8f7e93eb.png) This all came about due to change of scope and I figured this would be the fastest way to keep alarms separate while still using system.alarm.queryJournal() due to time left on project. I have some pretty unique constraints for both historian/alarm data retention which is the main reasoning between the split in the alarms (and historian, but unrelated). Preferably I’d find a solution that involves simple filtering like this but I may have to take a step back and redesign some things. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Edit: Script used `results = system.alarm.queryJournal(journalName="TestPanel_AlarmJournal", startDate = start, endDate = end, state = ['ActiveUnacked', 'ClearUnacked'], includeData=True, includeSystem=False)` ---
**Author:** ![calimero100582](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/calimero100582/32/18630_2.png) [@calimero100582](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/calimero100582)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/2 "2025-09-16T19:25:48Z")
I think the right format would be: > prov:TestPanel:\* ---
**Author:** ![robertm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea5d25/32.png) [@robertm](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/robertm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/3 "2025-09-16T19:50:30Z")
Why wouldn’t you use the source filter in the journal itself? Or are you trying to segregate the alarms to different storage dbs? ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_N](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@Jacob\_N](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jacob_N)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/4 "2025-09-16T19:55:33Z")
Exactly, one has to be redundant and stored for 1 year, while the other does not need to be redundant and needs to be stored for whatever I choose (2 weeks). @calimero100582 Thank you, I believe this is working. I will test more tomorrow and mark as solution if so. Does that format come from somewhere, any readings on that in the documentation I can look at? ---
**Author:** ![calimero100582](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/calimero100582/32/18630_2.png) [@calimero100582](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/calimero100582)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/5 "2025-09-16T19:58:24Z")
> [@Jacob\_N](#): > > Does that format come from somewhere Just what is displayed in the alarm itself, in the tag browser ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/2/2246b5574ae9b98176f6881f7a6a611fe2687982.png) ---
**Author:** ![robertm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea5d25/32.png) [@robertm](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/robertm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/6 "2025-09-16T20:08:31Z")
It’s part of a qualified path syntax. More info here: > **[WellKnownPathTypes](https://files.inductiveautomation.com/sdk/javadoc/ignition81/8.1.25/com/inductiveautomation/ignition/common/WellKnownPathTypes.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_N](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@Jacob\_N](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jacob_N)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-understand-alarm-journal-gateway-filters/110674/7 "2025-09-16T20:40:31Z")
Thanks everyone, this worked and helped me understand it. 🙂