Main Page Overview
The Explorer page includes a Resource Browser pane on the left side of the window and project details information cards on the right side of window. The Explorer page has several functions built into it: the Calculator tool, the ability to create a Groups folder to organize sensors, the ability to add Connections and Devices to the asset, and the ability to quickly visualize sensor data within the Explorer page. This article will explain how to access and use each of these functions.
Navigating to the Explorer Page
You can navigate to the Explorer Page via two quick clicks through Module navigation.
Click "Sensors" and then click "Explorer"
The Explorer page will look like this once you've navigated to it.
Navigating the Resource Browser Bar
We will begin this article by showing you some of the navigation options available on the Resource Browser, as these tools may be useful while navigating and completing some of the workflows in later sections.
1. View Settings- The View Settings control how the data is displayed and what data is displayed on the Resource Browser. Click the "View Settings" button at the top of the Resource Browser to open the dropdown shown below.
a. Display hierarchy- The Display hierarchy is a radio toggle between "Groups" and "Connections and devices". This setting sets how your sensors show up on the Resource Browser.
The "Groups" setting will sort the data with the Group folders and their sensors at the top of the Resource Browser with all ungrouped sensors being displayed below the Groups. The image below shows an example of this setting. Connections and Devices will not be displayed on this setting.
The "Connections and devices" display setting will organize the Connections, Devices, and Sensors into their respective Connections. This is an absolute list of how your sensors are connected to your asset. This setting will be similar to the sorting on the Connectivity page, but Connections, Devices, and Sensors will cascade down in that order as dropdowns. The example image below shows some Connections collapsed with other open into the Devices and Sensors levels. Group folders will not be displayed on this setting.
b. View Options- The "View Options" button has a toggle below called "Show Resource Details". This toggle turns the connection, device, and sensor information displayed below the name on or off. The image examples in the section above show the resource details turned on, while the image example below shows the resource details turned off.
2. Search, Filter, and Sort- There are three tools at the top of the Resource Browser that can help you find your sensors.
a. Search Bar- The Search bar allows you to search sensors by Connection, Device, Sensor, or Group folder name and filters the list based on your input.
b. Filter- Clicking the Filter button will reveal a Filter selection bar.
- The Filter options for the "Connections and Devices" selection includes the options in the screenshot below.
- The Filter options for the "Groups" selection includes the options in the screenshot below.
c. Sort- Clicking the "Sort" button opens five sorting options that you can select. The arrows to the left of the sorting description change the sorting between ascending/descending, and the blue box to right of the sorting description highlight the current sorting selection.
Calculator Tool
For more details on the Calculator tool, please read this help article
Using Groups to Organize Sensors
The Groups function allows you to organize your Sensors into a folder system to navigate through and search for sensors more easily. This section will show you how to create a Group and move your sensors into the Group folder.
- Add Group button- The "Add Group" button can be found in the upper-right corner of the Explorer page (if the View Settings are set to Groups), or you can find the "Add Group" button by clicking the "+ Add New" button in the lower-left section of the page in the Resource Browser. Click either of these buttons to create a Group. A pop-out window will appear.
2. Group Name- Type the name of the group you are creating in the input box.
3. Create Group- Once finished naming the group, click the blue "Create" button.
4. Group Folder- The Group folder you just created will show up in the Resource Browser pane on the left side of the Explorer page. If you are unable to see the groups, you may need to check the view settings toggle and check to ensure that "Groups" is checked under Display Hierarchy. You are now ready to move sensors into your new Group.
5. Moving a Sensor into a Group Folder- Hovering over a sensor will create a hand icon. Click and drag the sensor, as shown in the image below, up to the Group folder then drop it into the folder.
A confirm move notification will need to be approved by clicking "Move".
Once approved, the sensor will now show up in the Group folder.
Adding Connections and Devices
You can add Connection and Devices, such as Threads, loggers, and Thread-connected devices, can be added in the Explorer page.
The "Add New" dropdown at the bottom of the Resource Browser has buttons for adding Connections and Devices. For information about connecting a specific Connection or Device, please visit the Connection, Devices, and Sensors section of articles for specific instructions for your device.
Quickly Viewing Sensor Data (Graphs and Tables)
You can quickly visualize sensor data in the Explorer page by selecting one or multiple sensors and opening a pop-out window of graphs or tables.
1a. Single Sensor Selection- If you just need to evaluate one sensor, you can simply right-click anywhere in the sensor box, then proceed to step 2 below.
1b. Multiple Sensor Selection- If you would like to select multiple sensors at once, you can use the checkboxes to the left of the sensor. Once sensors are selected, you can right-click on a selected sensor and then proceed to step 2 below.
2. Graph and Data Table Selection- Once you've right-clicked, you will see a small window appear with options to "Show graph" and "Show Data". The example below is for multiple selected sensors, but it will look similar for a single sensor.
If you select "Show graph", a pop-out window will appear with a time-series graph that you can configure. An example is shown below.
If you select "Show Data", a pop-out window will appear with a table that you can configure. An example is shown below.
View Settings Overview
View settings is an option which gives users the ability to alter the display of the tree. There are 2 modes the tree can be in – groups mode or connectivity mode and there is also an option to show additional information on each resource.
The view settings button is located above the tree next to the “Resource Browser” label.
When clicked users are presented with the following options
Groups
This is the default display for the tree.
The tree will display groups, sensors and calculations, there will be no concept of Connections and Devices. Properties can be used in this mode only.
The filtering and creation/modification actions are also affected here – they will only give users the options to modify or add groups and properties, any connection or device management must be done in the alternative mode.
The order of tree entities and their display is as follows
- Groups
- Sensors
- Calculations
This order is also maintained when filtering or sorting. Calculations will always appear below sensors inside a group or at project level.
The default group display will look something like this
Connections and devices
Connections and devices – or “Connectivity mode” will allow users to modify the display of their tree by Connections, Devices and Sensors – a display similar to that previously adopted in the Connectivity feature of iTwin IoT which some users may be familiar with.
Groups and associated features of groups cannot be used in this mode and will not appear when adding/modifying items or sorting/filtering.
All calculations will display within a virtual group in this mode – “Calculations” given they do not have associated connections or devices.
The connection and devices display will look something like this
Connection, Device & Sensor Details
Clicking on any node in the tree, whether that is a connection, device or a sensor/calculation will open the associated information on the right hand side of the page.
Add Connection
When in this mode users can add a new connection in the following ways..
Migrate Connection
When a connection has been chosen in the Explorer while in Device view, you can migrate that connection to another asset.
Add Device
Add Calculation
Calculations can also be added in this mode – to do this a user must right click on the “Calculations” virtual group…
Show resource details
Clicking on the slider will hide or show the additional informative details below a tree entity. Some examples are shown below…
Resource details enabled in group mode
Resource details disabled in groups mode
Resource details enabled in connections and devices mode
Show resource details disabled in connections and devices mode…
The resource browser tree gives users the ability to filter and sort itself using tools located above the tree itself. These changes will alter the display of the tree contents.
Detailed information on exactly what fields/properties of the application can be searched and how the search dropdown is used can be found within the Entity Picker documentation located here (see section on "Search & Filter")...
https://bentleysystems.service-now.com/community?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0048588
Filtering
Depending upon the mode users are in will differ in what is displayed.
Groups mode gives the user to introduce filters on Type, Status, Alerts and Tags…
Connections and devices mode introduces filters for connections and devices but removes the ability to filter on tags given their association to groups which are not shown in this mode.
To apply a filter users should click on a drop down of their choice and then select an item from the list…
Users can also select multiple filters at once by clicking additional items in the drop down list…
The results are displayed using OR filter logic. Using the above example, any group with a tag of “NORTHREGION” OR “Asset 2” would be returned as valid results…
Each filter will be applied to different entities, tags for instance will filter groups, alerts will apply filters to sensors.
The results of each filter will ALWAYS show the chain of groups back to the top level to maintain hierarchy visibility – groups may not be used as part of the filter but will be shown to identify the route to the matched sensor(s).
Sorting
Sorting is accessed using the button highlighted below…
This will give the user 5 options – Name, Type, Status, Observation and Last.
Name will sort the tree alphabetically from A-Z or Z-A as selected. This includes groups, sensors and calculations. It is important to note that the order of entities in the tree will always remain the same – groups, followed by sensors, followed by calculations – this order will not change during a sort action.
Type will sort sensors int their own sensor types and display them accordingly.
Status will sort sensors into their criticality (Lowest to Highest or Highest to Lowest as selected) and display them accordingly.
Observation will sort sensors and calculations into a sort order based on the count of observations stored within each.
Last will sort sensors and calculations into a sort order based on the last time tag of an observation stored within each.
Groups Overview
Groups are essentially folders or containers used to house child groups, sensors and calculations. Groups allow users to build up an organized structure to store and monitor their assets.
Add Group
Groups can be added to a Project or to another group. This can be done in several ways from a few different buttons/menu options…
Right clicking on a Project (when not in Connectivity Mode)…
Right clicking on a group…
From the Project Details page…
From the Group Details page…
From the “Add new” option beneath the sensor management tree…
All options will trigger a dialog to appear…
Entering a name and clicking “Create” will place this group into the tree at the location specified.
Group Details
To browse to the group details page users can simply click on any group in the resource browser tree, this will present them with a detailed summary of that group including counts of child groups, sensors, calculations and observations – all in a graphical dashboard form.
From here users can create subgroups, add calculations, associate sensors into the group, rename or delete itself.
Delete Group
Deleting a group is possible in 2 ways – users can right click on a group in the tree and select “Delete”…
This will trigger a confirmation dialog…
If Delete is clicked the group will be removed from the tree along with all sub-groups and calculations it contains. Any sensors will have their group association removed and appear under the project group in the tree. This action cannot be reversed.
Deleting a group is also possible using the “Delete” button on the group details page…
The confirmation dialog and associated actions remain the same regardless of which delete action is chosen.
Rename Group
Renaming a group is possible in 2 ways – users can right click on a group in the tree and select “Rename”…
This will trigger a rename dialog as show below…
Clicking “Save” will rename the group with displays updated in both the tree and the group details page.
Renaming is also possible directly in the Group Details page…
Clicking “Save” will rename the group with displays updated in both the tree and the group details page.
Associate Sensor
This feature will give users the ability to associate or disassociate a sensor to and from a group.
A sensor can only be associated to one group at a time – a 1:1 relationship. If a sensor or calculation is not associated to a group it will appear beneath the Project in the tree.
To begin this process there are 2 possible routes – drag and drop or using the right click context menu.
Drag and Drop
To associate a sensor with a group simply select the sensor in the tree and begin to drag that sensor to the group of your choice. You will see a blue highlight appear similar to below…
Upon dropping you will be presented with a confirmation dialog detailing the move…
Clicking “Move” will confirm the move and update the tree, “Cancel” will undo the move and no changes will be made.
Context Menu
The alternative to drag and drop is to right click on any group and choose “Associate sensor”…
This will then open a dialog which may look familiar – the “Entity Picker” as shown below. This dialog is used in several features throughout iTwin IoT to select/identify sensors. Simply select the sensors you would like to associate or disassociate with your group – all associated sensors will display on the right hand in the “Selected Sensors” list. Clicking “Done” will confirm the sensor association.
Group and Project Properties Overview
Properties is a feature which allows users to store meta data associated with groups and the project itself. There are 2 forms of property – constants and tags.
Properties can be accessed by right clicking on any group in the tree or the project at the top level…
Sensors and calculations cannot have properties – this type of information is stored in the Sensor Details/Configuration feature.
When ”Properties” is clicked, the following modal will appear…
The default tab selection in this modal is constants…
Constants
Constants consist of 2 fields – a name and a numeric value.
Constants can be used as a means to share a common value in a number of calculations (examples might include costs of various items at different areas, call out charges, seeded values, sizes etc) in a tree structure. Constants can either be created in a calculation itself (see Local Constants) , or in this case – as a group constant.
To create a group constant click “+ Group constant”, this will present you with a modal dialog…
Constant names cannot contain spaces or special characters, value must be numeric. Once you have entered a name and a value, clicking “Save” will result in the constant appearing in your grid…
The “In use” column highlights any constants which are in use in a calculation.
Tags
Tags allow users to “tag up” groups in the hierarchy with various useful information about the group itself.
These tags can then be used to quickly filter the tree and apply different perspectives on their data.
Tags are accessed from the 2nd tab in the modal…
When selected users will be shown a list of the tags current associated to this group…
To delete a tag from a group simply click on the “X” within the tag itself – this will remove the tag immediately.
To add a tag, click on the “+Group Tag” button and you will be presented with a modal popup…
Entering a name – in this case “NORTHREGION”- and clicking “Save” will result in the tag being added to the list of group tags…
See the help section on “Filtering / Sorting” to understand how tags can help you organize and navigate your tree.
Project Details Overview
The project details page is presented upon initial load of the Explorer but can also be accessed by clicking on the project in the Resource Browser tree, the top node…
Once clicked users will be presented with a detailed summary of their project in a quick dashboard form utilizing cards which are also available in the dashboards feature of iTwin IoT…
Using this dashboard users can quickly understand whether they have alerts they need to look into and also obtain various counts of alerts, sensors , observations and offline statuses.
Users can also add new groups and calculations from this page using the two buttons to the top right of the page…