Schematics

Control hardware using schematics.

A schematic diagrams your physical or simulated system. It displays live sensor data and lets you exercise manual control by writing to channels tied to actuators.

Download the example schematic to try it out yourself.

Creating a Schematic

Create a schematic with the Create a schematic command in the Command Palette, or by adding a new tab and selecting the schematic visualization.

Make sure that you are working in an active project. A schematic created outside one is not saved.

Modes

Schematics have three modes: view, edit, and control. To change modes, use the controls in the top-right corner of the schematic.

Mode	Description
View	Live data from the Core is displayed on the schematic. Symbols are not editable and the user cannot change the system state.
Edit	Symbols can be added and moved, and their properties can be edited.
Control	The user can click on symbols such as valves and buttons to control them.

Control Mode

In control mode, click an actionable symbol, such as a valve, switch, or button, to write to its command channel. The indicator next to the symbol displays the control status.

A blue circle indicates the current user has control.

A green circle indicates the current user has absolute control.

A red square indicates another user or process holds control.

The color of the bar and legend indicate what has control over the channel.

Configuring the Schematic

Click the schematic button in the bottom-left corner to open the Component Toolbar and configure the schematic. Select a symbol to show its properties in the toolbar; the tabs fine-tune its look and behavior.

Symbols Library

Schematics are assembled by dragging symbols from the library onto the canvas. Symbols represent sensors, actuators, and other components of your hardware system. Synnax has a collection of built-in symbols including valves, live sensor values, buttons, and tanks.

Style Tab

The style tab edits the symbol’s label, size, orientation, color, and other visual properties.

Property	Description
Label	The text that appears by the symbol.
Label size	The size of the label.
Color	The color of the symbol.
Normally Open	Inverts the visual state of the valve.
Units	The units a value symbol displays.
Orientation	Determines the orientation of the symbol and the relative placement of the label.

Telemetry Tab

The telemetry tab is available on symbols that receive data, such as the value, gauge, string display, light, switch, valve, and state indicator symbols. Select a channel to stream and display its live data.

Property	Description
Channel	The channel to stream data from.
Precision	The number of decimal places to display.
Averaging window	Display a rolling average for the channel. This does not change the underlying value written to the Synnax Core.
Stale timeout	The time in seconds without data from the channel before the symbol registers as stale.
Stale color	The color the symbol changes to when its channel is stale. An unset color uses the warning color of the current theme.

A channel that writes on change can pass its stale timeout while it is healthy. Give such a channel a timeout longer than the longest gap you expect between changes. A symbol registers as stale only after data arrives and then stops.

Control Tab

The control tab is available on symbols that can be actuated.

Property	Description
State Channel	The display state of the symbol. The symbol displays as activated when the channel has a value of `1`.
Command Channel	The channel commands are written to. Clicking a deactivated symbol writes`1`; clicking an activated symbol writes `0`.

Styling the Schematic

Connection Lines

Attachment points appear when you hover over a symbol. To draw a connection line, click an attachment point and drag to another symbol:

Aligning Elements

Select elements by dragging a box on the canvas, then use the vertical or horizontal alignment buttons:

Changing Colors

You can also change the color of multiple symbols together in the same manner:

Snapshotting a Schematic

Snapshot a schematic to a range to preserve exactly how it looked at that point in time. Right-click the schematic in the Projects Toolbar and snapshot it to a range.

Creating Custom Symbols

Create your own symbols with the built-in symbol editor. They can display data and actuate channels like the built-in symbols.

Creating a Symbol Group

Create a new symbol group in the schematic symbols browser.

Opening the Editing Dialog

Once you’ve created a group, open the create symbol dialog and import an SVG file.

Static Symbols vs. Actuators

Static symbols are used for background images and other non-interactive elements. They have a single color palette and are not connected to any telemetry sources.

Actuators are interactive elements that command outputs to 1 or 0, like the built-in valves and switches. They have two states: base, shown when the connected channel is 0, and active, shown when it is 1.

Choosing Color Palettes

Each actuator state has its own color palette.

Synnax identifies regions of the imported SVG by color. Click a region’s color swatch to change it.

To edit how an actuator looks when clicked, select the active tab under the states section and edit the region’s colors.

Scaling the Symbol

The imported SVG’s dimensions set the symbol’s default size on a schematic. Drag the slider or enter a value in the properties field to change the scale.

Select Copy link from the Projects or Component Toolbar. Anyone on the Core can open it from a browser.

Select Export to save the schematic as a JSON file. Drag the file back into the Console to import it.

Logs

Tables