Every process has an associated set of machines. By using the VPE manager, you can add and remove machines, as well as view and modify the attributes of a process’s machines (see the VPE Administration Guide). Every process also has an associated machine type, which specifies machine metadata. It specifies what type of information is stored about the associated machines, including the names and default values of machine attributes. You manage machine metadata with the CMWB.

CSL modules can access machine attributes with the CSL standard input machine. This input has one field for each machine attribute. Here is an example from the Tube Laser process in the Bar & Tube Fab process group. It accesses the tubeAxialBarFeedRate attribute of the current machine:

See CSL Language Overview for more information on CSL.

CSL field names, such as tubeAxialBarFeedRate, are specified in the Field Name field of the Machine Type table (see Viewing and Modifying Machine Types). The corresponding attribute name displayed in the VPE Manager and aPriori’s Edit Machine Selection dialog is controlled by the CMWB column properties dialog. This dialog also controls the formatting, column grouping, and column properties displayed to the end user—see Working with Column Groups and Column Properties.

This section covers the following tasks: