Adding Control Drawings directly into Metasys MUI

Every technician can tell you the importance of having control drawings available when trying to make repairs to a system. Adding control drawings directly into Metasys can make the much easier to access when they’re needed and reduce the amount of time for repairs.

Control drawings make it much easier to make repairs by outlining how the system was originally constructed and intended to operate. Wiring details within those drawings are very valuable when trying to troubleshoot components within the system.

I recently spent some time working with one of the Johnson Controls Techs who regularly works with us as well as someone from our network security department to explore the possibility of adding the files directly into Metasys. We discovered how to make this process work on our system but each system might be slightly different. It would have been impossible to have gotten this process started without their help.

Adding drawings to the ADX server

The first step in the process is to create a folder that will contain the files you want to use. IMPORTANT NOTE: The name of the folder as well as the names of each of the files should only contain lower case letters and no spaces. At least that was the recommendation from our networking folks to make the process work better.

Create the folder within the wwwroot folder located on your server in the inetpub folder of the system. This will give your files the correct permissions that anyone who has access into your system will be able to access the files.

After you have added the files to your server, you will need to use the IIs tool to create a virtual directory within the system. Link the directory as the folder containing your files. You may need to reboot your server once you create a virtual directory to be able to regain access into Metasys.

Creating Links to your files

After you have added your files into the correct folder and created the virtual directory within Metasys, you’re ready to start creating your links to those files. You may need to consult with your IT department for help with this part of the process. You will need to create hyperlinks to each of your files and place those hyperlinks into your graphics or wherever you want them to appear within your system.

Your IT department will need to be involved to assist you with this part of the process to ensure that you aren’t being blocked by firewalls or other types of security they may have in place. Different organizations have different levels of security and processes that must be followed to allow file access into a server on the network.

Adding the control drawings into Metasys is something that is an easy process once you get the access and links established within your system. You will find this kind of access to your documents very useful.