Introduction

 This View menu button appears only for instruments which support
graphical wiring.

The Graphical wiring editor is used to view and/or edit instrument block wiring (not physical
signal cabling etc.).  Comments may be added and monitor windows can be linked to inputs
and outputs, to show instantaneous values.  The remainder of this introduction takes the form
of a glossary, describing the terminology used in the topic as a whole.

Function block type

The wiring editor groups parameters into one or more function blocks.  A 'function block
type'  defines the parameters needed to make up a unit of instrument functionality.  Control
loops and mathematical calculations are examples of function block types.  In most cases, a
function block type is all the parameters in an iTools parameter list (and its sublists).

Function blocks have inputs and outputs.  Any parameter may be used as an output, but there
are restrictions on which parameters may be used as inputs.

The function block type definition does not refer to a specific set of parameters:  it defines a
pattern of parameters (which may appear in more than one parameter list).

Example

A simple block type may be called 'Add', and may contain three parameters, 'In1', 'In2' and
'Out'.  The purpose of the block is to add 'In1' to 'In2', and place the result in 'Out'.  Thus,
although the block type definition includes the name of the block and the names of the
parameters, it does not know where the parameters reside within the device's address space.

Note:  The Function block types available to the Graphical Wiring Editor vary from device to
device.

Block execution order

For Mini8 controllers,  model 350x and EPower, the order in which blocks are executed by
the device depends on the way in which they are wired.  If there are no loops, they will be
ordered such that each block output has been set by the block execution before its value is
transferred to another block.  Block execution order appears in the bottom left corner of each
block.

For EPower controllers, each 'Task' (Network Block) has its own execution order.  These are
shown in the bottom left-hand corner of each block.  Task one execution orders appear with a
red background (as for Mini8 Controllers and Model 350x).  Execution orders for tasks two,
three and four appear against green, black and blue backgrounds respectively.

The execution order for models 2400 and 2704 is fixed, and not shown on the diagram