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Choose Unit of Temperature. If you click the first radio button 'ºF to ºC', the first textbox shows value in ºF and the second textbox shows value in ºC; the left scale of the thermometer graphic is in ºF and the right scale in ºC; the vertical Chart axis is in ºF. All are reversed if you click the second radio button 'ºC to ºF'. You can change the Unit at any time. | |||||||||||
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Select Decimal Places: 1 to 4. This changes the Resolution but NOT the Accuracy of the readings. It affects the values displayed in the textboxes; values on the vertical Chart axis; and values in the Log Files. | |||||||||||
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Connection Status indicator. Shows eg. 'Reading' when application is operating as either a local monitor or Server, or 'Connected' when operating as a Client. | |||||||||||
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'Temperature Plot' button opens the Chart Panel. | |||||||||||
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'Mode' button opens the Monitoring Panel. If the application is already performing monitoring, opening this Panel halts live monitoring. The monitoring does not begin again until this Panel is closed. | |||||||||||
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Enter Thermometer Label (of up to 7 characters in length). This Label appears on Main Panel; in caption of pop-up Alert Box; in caption of Chart; in Chart File Name when plot is saved; in Log File Name; and in Subject line of email if email notification is enabled. Defaults are used for all of these if no Label is entered. | |||||||||||
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Choose which Com Port the WinThermO Sensor is connected to. If the 'Enable' checkbox is ticked without your having chosen a Com Port, Com1 is selected by default. | |||||||||||
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Choose the frequency with which temperature is polled. This Refresh Rate is applicable to both the local monitoring and Server modes of operation. In Client mode, the temperature is Refreshed at the same Rate as the Server which the Client is connected to. | |||||||||||
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Press the 'Alarm Menu' button to open the Alarm Panel. If no alert settings have been made and enabled in the Alarm Panel, the statement 'Alarm Not Set' appears, otherwise the statement 'Alarm Set' appears. | |||||||||||
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Advises you of the Name and IP Address of the PC you are running the application on. If you enable the application as a Server, you will need to enter this PC Name or IP Address in any Client instance of the application, in order to connect to the Server. | |||||||||||
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To enable the application as a Client, click the 'Client - attach to Server:' radio button, enter the PC Name/IP Address of the Server in the textbox, and tick the 'Enable' checkbox. | |||||||||||
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To enable the application as a Server, click the Server radio button and tick the 'Enable' checkbox. | |||||||||||
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Choose whether you wish to Log to File all monitored events and user responses to alarms. The Text File is saved in the Application Directory. If you select the 'Create New File Each Time' option and tick the 'Enable' checkbox, the monitored results are saved in a File with the format: [WinThermOLog_Thermometer Label_Date]. If you have not labeled the thermometer, the File format is: [WinThermOLog_Date]. Every time you stop and start monitoring, a new File in the above format is created, but with an incremented digit suffixed to the Date eg. [WinThermOLog_HomeBru_26-10-04_1], [WinThermOLog_HomeBru_26-10-04_2] etc. Also, a new File automatically gets created at the start of each day eg. at midnight of 26-10-04, logging to: [WinThermOLog_HomeBru_26-10-04_X] ceases, and begins in: [WinThermOlog_HomeBru_27-10-04]. If you select the 'Append to Master File' option and tick the 'Enable' checkbox, then regardless of how many times you stop and start monitoring, and regardless of day change, all monitored results are saved in one File with the format: [Master_Thermometer Label_WinThermOLog]. If you have not labeled the thermometer, the File format is: [Master_WinThermOLog]. | |||||||||||
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Enter the Temperature below and/or above which you wish to be alerted. Tick the 'Enable' checkbox to activate alerting. | |||||||||||
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Select the Unit of your Min/Max Temperature. By default, ºC is chosen. | |||||||||||
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Enter the number of seconds that should elapse before the pop-up Alert Box appears on your screen (and before email notification is sent if you have enabled email alert), when your Min/Max Temperature threshold is exceeded. By default, 0 Sec is selected (ie. alert as soon as a threshold is exceeded), but you can enter up to a 999 Sec delay. | |||||||||||
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Choose the alarm sound from a drop-down list of 9 available sounds, that the pop-up Alert Box will play in a loop when it appears on your screen. You can audition each sound by selecting it and pressing the 'Test' button. If you are running multiple Client instances of the application on the one PC (each Client monitoring a different Server), you can assign a different alarm sound for each thermometer, so you know which thermometer 'has gone off' without needing to look at the screen. | |||||||||||
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If you would like email notification when your Min/Max Temperature thresholds are exceeded, and again when the temperature returns to the 'normal' range, enter the 'From' and 'To' email addresses. Both are necessary for notification to work. You can enter up to 10 'To' email addresses, each separated by a comma. Then tick the 'Enable' checkbox. Note that the application uses its own email engine, and does not require you to be running any particular email client software. The email is sent with High Priority, and is entitled 'WinThermO Alert for: Thermometer Label'. When a Temperature threshold is exceeded, the message Body reads: 'This is an auto-generated notification from WinThermO. Temperature has risen above/dropped below X ºF/ºC'. When the temperature again returns to the 'normal' range, the message Body reads: 'This is an auto-generated notification from WinThermO. Temperature no longer exceeds threshold - has returned to below/above X ºF/ºC'. | |||||||||||
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In most cases you needn't enter anything in this textbox. The application attempts to determine your SMTP Host Name itself (through DNS Lookup - MX Query) and then automatically enters it in the SMTP Host Name textbox. If however you know the SMTP Host Name, you can enter it directly in this textbox yourself. | |||||||||||
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It is rare these days for SMTP Servers to require authentication, but if this is so in your case, enter the SMTP Host Name, tick the 'Requires' checkbox, and then enter the Username and Password in the corresponding textboxes. | |||||||||||
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The Temperature Unit of the plot and number of Decimal Places displayed are as per what you have chosen in the Main Panel. You can alter these at any time, and the vertical axis of the plot adjusts accordingly. | |||||||||||
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Tick the 'Activate' checkbox to enable plotting of the monitored temperatures. Note that if while the application is plotting, you untick the 'Activate' checkbox, the Chart 'freezes' where it is, but if you tick 'Activate' again, the whole Chart resets and plotting begins anew. | |||||||||||
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The actual time range for 'Short Period' and 'Long Period' in the plot depends on the Refresh Rate you have chosen in the Monitoring Panel. Choosing a Refresh Rate of 1 Sec and clicking the 'Short Period' radio button results in a plot time range of a few minutes (as shown in the Chart Panel screenshot). Choosing a Refresh Rate of 30 Sec and clicking the 'Long Period' radio button results in a plot time range of many hours. By default, 'Short Period' is selected. | |||||||||||
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Tick this checkbox to view a green line plot against white axes and white labeling on a black background (as shown in the Chart Panel screenshot). If the checkbox is unticked, the default of red line plot against black axes and black labeling on a white background, is presented. | |||||||||||
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Pressing the 'Save Chart' button results in a picture of the Temperature Plot being saved in BMP format, into the 'Charts' directory under the Application Directory. If the 'Charts' directory doesn't already exist, it automatically gets created. If you have labeled the thermometer, the Chart is saved with File Name: [Thermometer Label_Date_Time]. If you have not labeled the thermometer, the Chart is saved with File Name: [WinThermOChart_Date_Time]. | |||||||||||
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The Alert Box pops on top of all other open windows. The main screen of the Box flashes blue-red to get your attention, and plays your chosen alarm sound in a loop. The main screen of the Box advises you of the Temperature threshold that has been exceeded. | |||||||||||
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Shows the Date and Time of the alert, so that you know exactly when the alert was triggered, in case you were not at the PC when the Alert Box first appeared on the screen. | |||||||||||
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The caption of the Alert Box contains the Thermometer Label, so that you know which thermometer the alert pertains to. The Alert Box remains on the screen as long as the temperature continues to exceed the threshold, and disappears once the temperature returns to the 'normal' range. If however you close the Alert Box while it is still on the screen, you will not be alerted again until the temperature returns to the 'normal range', and exceeds a threshold once more. | |||||||||||
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The Log File comprehensively captures all monitored data, as well as application and user responses. The columns are Date; Time; Temperature (ºC); Temperature (ºF); Temperature Against Threshold (blank means temperature is in 'normal' range, otherwise shows 'Above/Below X ºC/ºF'); and Alert Status. In the example, it is seen that the alert event did not occur until 30 Sec after the temperature had dropped below the threshold of 21.65 ºC, as this was the delay set by the user in the Alarm Panel. If the user closes the pop-up Alert Box while it is still on the screen, the Alert Status in the Log File would show 'Alarm_Closed by User' from the moment the Alert Box is closed. |
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