Historical archives in ASCII format are CSV text files (organized in columns delimited by a separator). These files are directly visible with a standard text editor such as Windows Notepad or spreadsheets such as MS Excel.
The ability to directly open the history file from MS Excel makes this format the most suitable for performing statistical calculations, reports or graphs that can be customized by the operator.


Note: the column separator can be configured by the operator using the Separator field on the Archive tab.


The ASCII files consist of a header and the list of samples.


The header of the file contains the titles of the columns, i.e. the description of the sampling date / time column, the names, the fields and the descriptions of the items sampled for the group.
The following is an example of a file header:


Timestamp; ITEM1.FLD_VALUE; ITEM2.FLD_VALUE; ITEM3.FLD_VALUE;

; Description 1; Description 2; Description 3;


In the first line the system shows in the order:


    1. the title of the sampling date / time column
    2. the list of the items and the sampled fields in the format <item name>. <field code>


In the second line the system shows the descriptions of the sampled Items.


Note: writing the header to the file can be disabled by unchecking the header field in the Archive tab of the group


The sample list includes the date / time and the values of the sampled fields for the group.

The following is an example of a file header:


08/06/2000 12:13:04; 12; 15; 7;

08/06/2000 12:13:05; 12; 16; 8;


For each line, the system displays:


    1. the date and time of sampling in the local format, as set in the Control Panel.
    2. the values of the fields of the items sampled for the group



Note: the system keeps track of the sampler restarts in the file by inserting an empty line in the sampling.