Rockwell FactoryTalk Historical Data Files extraction

Hi All,

I'm using Factory Talk View Site Edition running on a PC, and have set up saving Historical Data files using MS SQL Server as supplied. This is all working fine. They are being saved on a periodical basis.

Could anyone help me to extract these Historical Fils in a CSV file format, or any other format which could be imported into Excel.

Many thanks in advance.

This might be a silly question but why don't you just set up a query to open the tables directly from Excel.

Hi Robert,

Many thanks for the quick reply! The installation is on site and not one which I am expected to have regular access. The Client wants to be able to take files for remote manipulation as they are familiar with Excel but not MS SQL Server.

Previously when I had used RSView32 this was a doddle, but not so with Factory Talk.

What version of SQL Server are you using? If it is a full version and not an Express Edition then there are some tools available on the machine where you can program and schedule automatic data exports into any format you like. It will be listed as SQL Server Business Intelligent Development Studio. You will want to create a SQL Server Integration Services Project.

Darren

Hi Darren,

It's just the 'free' express version as provided with the original Rockwell Factory Talk CD. Is there no way to export the data log?

Thanks.

Not that I am aware of, but that may not mean much. If you are running SQL Server Express 2008 or 2008R2 there is a basic import/export tool, but you have to run it interactively and there is not a way to run it from a script. If you are not timid you could write a stored proceure in T-SQL to do an export using the Bulk Copy utility that is built in to all versions of sql server. There should be some examples you can find by using Google. I'll look in a little bit and see if I can find an easy to follow example to post.

Darren

See this as a general starting point. Then there will be other questions about how to let T-SQL stored procedure execute a command line shell.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162802.aspx

Here is an article that goes into detail and examples. It is for SQL Server 2000, but it should still apply in general.

http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/SQL-Server/An-Introduction-To-The-Bulk-Copy-Utility/

From a visible trend display, you can create a "Snapshot", which is a CSV dump of the data contained in the trend display.

That sort of works, but as is typical, is only 85% implemented by Rockwell, and will leave a zillion data points with 0 as the value that can either be ignored, or must be manually filtered out.

Either set up the trend manually with the information you want, or load a template.

Create a button, and on the "Released" event, use the following VBA Code:

Trend.CreateSnapshot "DataFileName"