VERY IMPORTANT: The Cortex menus and screens are dynamic user-dependent, meaning they will show more or less information based on a user’s access level, and whether a user is in control of the unit or not. If you notice that certain buttons or control/command settings seem to be missing or are greyed-out, first check if you are (still) in control, or make sure you have proper access level / access rights.
Generic Input Menus
The Cortex inputs have 3 very similar-looking menu screens which recur frequently. This section provides information on these 3 generic screens. They are explained here to avoid repetition, but particularities will be mentioned when applicable.
Most screens initially appear empty and will fill-up as entries are added, while some others come with items already listed.
Main Screen
The first generic input menu screen is the Main screen. At any time, to add an entry, click on the + button. If the screen already contains entries, right-click on any one in order to access its configuration menu.
Description Screen
The second generic input menu screen is the Description screen.
1 – ID: A label to indicate that Field 2 is the I/O Identifier. Selection from the drop-down menu in 2
2 – DESCRIPTION RETRIEVAL: Click to retrieve and display the current normal description of that ID. Normally hidden to minimize data transfers on low speed or high fee data connections.
3 – DEFAULT ACTIVE DESCRIPTION: Description of the input when it is active (alarm condition). Up to 68 characters are allowed. Examples: High indoor temperature, Low fuel level, Door is open, Smoke!, High water level, etc.
4 – ALTERNATE ACTIVE DESCRIPTION: 18-character non-unicode text description of the input when it is active. Used for FAX and SMS only.
5 – VOCAL DESCRIPTION: Access the vocal description menu.
6 – ENABLE: Enable / disable the input. Useful to deactivate an input, without losing all its settings, when the input is causing intermittent problems or nuisance alarms
7 – DEFAULT NORMAL DESCRIPTION: Description of the input when it is normal. Up to 68 characters are allowed. Examples: Indoor temperature OK, Fuel level OK, Door is closed, No smoke, Water level OK, etc.
8 – ALTERNATE NORMAL DESCRIPTION: 18-character non-unicode text description of the input when it is normal. Used for FAX and SMS only.
9 – REFRESH / READ: Refresh / read the screen content.
Copying settings from one input into another input
When configuring many inputs with identical or closely-matching settings, it is possible to “copy” the settings from an input and “paste it” into another input, saving configuration time and minimizing possible typing errors. First, select the source input ID from the menu, then click the Refresh / Read button (#9), then go select the destination input ID from the menu, and click the Save / Write button (#10).
10 – SAVE / WRITE: Save the screen content.
11 – EXIT: Exit menu.
Vocal Description Screen
The third generic input menu screen is the Vocal Description screen. It allows you to build sequences of words in order to create phrases, which will then be sent by the Cortex when it calls with vocal alarms. A phrase can be built for both Normal and Active input states. See below for descriptions of the fields in the vocal description screen.
1 – OPEN / CLOSE: Open / close the Vocal description menu.
2 – POSITION: Position number – used for reference only, one for each word. Allows to quickly go back to any specific word without having to search through the whole list.
3 – WORD: Selection of available words from which the phrase is built.
4 – SELECT / ADD: Select words to add to build the phrase. Up to 16 words are allowed per phrase. A phrase begins with the word at position 1 and goes on through the last word, up to the 16th position.
5 – UP: Move word up in the phrase.
6 – DOWN: Move word down in the phrase.
7 – DELETE: Delete selected word from the phrase.
8 – REFRESH / READ: Refresh / read the screen content.
9 – SAVE / WRITE: Save the screen content.
10 – EXIT: Exit menu.
Once an entry has been added, the main screen will reappear (actual content will differ from what is shown here). In this screen, inputs can be added, deleted, or edited. All inputs that have been added will appear in the list. To edit an input, right-click anywhere on the desired input line. To exit this menu, click on the exit button (#11).
1 – SELECT ALL: Select / unselect all boxes at once (for bulk editing).
2 – STATE: Current state of the inputs (normal, active, minor, major).
3 – ID: ID of the input.
4 – DESCRIPTION: Description of the inputs, based on their current status (normal or active).
5 – VALUE: Show current value of the inputs.
6 – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION: Select / unselect one or many inputs.
7 – CONFIGURATION: Access the configuration menu of the selected inputs. Bulk edition is allowed. It is also possible to quickly access any input menu by right-clicking anywhere on an item’s line This will bring-up a small popup window, from which you can directly configure, enable or disable an input.
Bulk edition feature.
Multiple inputs can be edited at the same time. This feature can save considerable configuration time and help minimize typing errors. Select all desired inputs, then click on the CONFIGURATION button. All settings that are common to the selected inputs and that can be bulk-edited will be available, while the other fields will be grayed-out.
8 – DELETE: Delete selected inputs.
9 – REFRESH / READ: Refresh / read the screen content.
10 – ADD: Add an input.
11 – EXIT: Exit menu.
