Media Templates

When configuring a multimedia agent in AlarmWorX Multimedia, you must select a media template to apply to that agent. Templates allow you to configure design elements, including what and how much information to display when presenting an alarm. A default template is available for each type of agent. You can use or modify any one of the default templates provided for you, or you can create a new template as follows:

Right-click the Templates folder on the tree control of the Multimedia Configurator screen and select Multimedia Template. The Media Templates folder is located in the Configurations folder.
The new media template appears along with the configuration dialog box. In the Template Name field, enter a name for the template you are creating.
Select which Template Type you wish to create. You can choose from e-mail, sound/text-to-speech, marquee, pager, phone, fax, instant messaging, PA, popup window, or video.
Click the Template Text tab of the template configuration dialog box. If you are configuring a template with an option to enter a subject field, you may do so by clicking the Insert Body Field button. This opens the Template Definition Wizard dialog box, which contains a list of available field types to add. For a list of field types, please see Template Field Types, below. Choose a field type and select from the additional options under Field Properties.
Click the Insert button.

Note: The Template Text tab displays all of the fields in an editable format. If you need to manually edit a field, you can do so here. Template configuration is for advanced users. It is recommended that you use the default templates that are provided with the Configurator. Do not modify any fields here unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing.

Template Field Types

The following is a list of all template field types in AlarmWorX Multimedia. When configuring a media template, click the Insert Body Field button on the Template Text tab of the template configuration dialog box to display which field types are available for that particular template type.

Alarm Field: Represents the components of OPC alarms; allows you to choose from a drop-down list of fields; allows you to enter a field width limit (enter zero for no limit); can be used as a text field with pager, e-mail, fax, popup, and instant messaging templates, or in sound, phone, and pager templates via text-to-speech conversion.
E-mail Attachment: Represents any file that can be sent as an e-mail attachment; used with e-mail templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Email Agents.
Sound File: Represents a sound file; allows you to choose from the included Sound Library or to add your own sound file (.wav, .mid) to the Sound Library. Can be used with sound, phone, and pager templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Sound/Text to Speech Agents, Multimedia Telephone Agents, and Multimedia Video Agents.
Delay: Enters a value representing a time delay in milliseconds before the next template item will be activated; can be used with sound, phone, pager, and video templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Sound/Text to Speech Agents, Multimedia Telephone Agents, and Multimedia Video Agents.
File: Represents a file for the Popup Agent to process; used with popup templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Popup Agents.
URL: Represents a URL for the Popup Agent to display; used with popup templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Popup Agents.
SnapShot Capture: Enter a value representing the amount of time the Video Agent will take to capture a video snapshot; used with video templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Video Agents.
Picture File: Represents an image file (.gif, .jpg); used with video templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Video Agents.
Video File: Represents a video file (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg, .mov); used with video templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Video Agents.
Text: Allows you to enter plain text; used by all media templates.
HTML Text: Text embedded in HTML tags; used by marquee, popup, and video templates. For more information, refer to Multimedia Marquee Agents, Multimedia Popup Agents, and Multimedia Video Agents.
Fax Cover Page: This template field is a cover page design that will be used for all fax messages sent using the Fax Agent. The following fax cover page file formats are supported: .pg, .cpe, and .fmf. For more information, refer to Multimedia Fax Agents.

Note: The location of the fax cover page field in the fax template does not matter because the cover page is, by default, the first item to be sent in a fax message. However, if several cover pages are selected for a single template, the Fax Agent will use only the first cover page listed.