New version and new program...

Today we released a new version of PeakHMI and a new program.

We added MODBUS Master ASCII serial (RS 232/485) support and released a new MODBUS Slave ASCII serial simulator.

The PeakHMI MODBUS Master ASCII driver has all the same features and supports all the same function codes as the MODBUS Master RTU driver.

The MODBUS Slave ASCII simulator has all the features and supports all the same function codes as the MODBUS Slave RTU slave simulator. All the simulators are free.

We also corrected a few help file document errors and typos in the script prototype examples.

Version 4.1...

Today we released version 4.1 of PeakHMI. The graphic engine has always had the ability to change the color, pattern, pen, etc. of graphic elements based on the state of a digital tag. And to choose attributes based on the value of an analog tag.

One frequent usage of color was not covered as smoothly as it could be accomplished. We now have a new animation we named 'Digital Compare'.

For example, a valve has several exclusive states - closed, opened, purge and travel. The desire is to have one graphic element to change color based on the state of the valve. Closed, opened and purge each have a digital tag. Travel is the condition when none of the other conditions are true. In the past an analog tag could be created and its value based on the value of the digital tags. Or several graphic elements could be created and placed one above the other and using a combination of color changes and hide/show achieve the goal.

Now with the new animation one graphic element can be used. In the above configuration we created the valve graphic element and made it yellow to signify travel - the state when another state is not present. Closed will be green, opened will be red and purge will flash between a light red and grey. The animation starts at row one and process rows until it finds a true condition and then applies the attributes configured. If a 'true' row is not found the design time attributes are applied. The new animation should make animating valves, light trees, motors, etc. much faster and easier in the future.

Testing of the USB digital board is complete and we hope to have a production run by the end of next week. A couple of photos and more specification details will follow very soon.

Version 4.0...

Today we released version 4.0 of PeakHMI. Support for the Keyence protocol as defined in Keyence User Manual Chapter 7 was added. PeakHMI supports all the memory types for reading and writing as defined in the user manual.

New release...

We had a new release yesterday. By request we added some configurable features to the analog slider. It now displays a numeric scale next to the tick marks and the current value, as text, next to the thumb. Both can be enabled/disabled. We also changed the operation of the 'frequency' property. It is now more of a 'tick count' property. If you have an existing slider, when you install the new version you will need to adjust the 'frequency' property.

Work on addition of the Keyence protocol is proceeding. Configuration support is complete and runtime support is nearing completion.

The USB digital board is nearing completion. It is in testing. We were using a surface mount transistor for the outputs. We had a resettable fuse for short circuit protection but found in testing it was not fast enough and the transistor would become damaged when a direct short was applied. We changed the design to use a large thorough hole transistor and the transistor is not damaged due to a direct short.  

Task scheduler...

The addition of the task scheduler is complete and the new installer has been released, version 3.9.4.2.

Work on support for the Keyence protocol is progressing. Another protocol we are considering is for the Beckoff Twincat product line.

PeakHMI has a powerful scripting engine but we are considering adding a specific code library for batch processing. If you have any suggestions or a certain implementation you prefer, please let us know your thoughts.

Since PeakHMI has an FTP client we are also considering adding an FTP server. It would restrict access to files/directories by configuration settings.

We received an email inquiring about support for DDE. Is it still needed? PeakHMI supports ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) and OPC (OLE for Process Control). Are either suitable solutions for DDE support?

New versions...

We released three new versions today.

We had a customer ask for MODBUS function code 22 (Mask write 4X register) to be added to the MODOPC product. We also corrected a broken help file link, addressed a RS-232 driver timing anomaly and added some data to the help file.

Since we added the support to MODOPC we decided to also add support for function code 22 to PeakHMI.

And while we were testing we noticed that one of the headers in the PeakHMI slave simulator program was not correct.

All the new versions are on the web site in the normal locations.

Progress on the task scheduler continues.

On the USB 15 I/O digital board we decided to replace the output transistors with transistors with a higher current rating. The new transistors should be in tomorrow and testing will continue.

Update...

PeakHMI has always had a powerful scripting engine. Most projects do not require any scripting because the needed operations are included and configurable via selection dialogs. When we consider that a new feature or desired operation can be implemented with scripting or we have a customer that is using scripting to perform some task not native to PeakHMI, we look to see if the task is a candidate for inclusion in PeakHMI as a configurable option. That is what occurred with a task scheduler. PeakHMI has global timers that can fire scripts. The scripts can contain the code to trigger a task/action. A perfect example of a feature that should be part of the native actions of PeakHMI, a task scheduler.

Work on the task scheduler is progressing. It functions much like the OS scheduler with settings for daily, weekly, monthly, when a window opens, etc.. More than one action can occur per trigger/task. The action selection list is the same list, 50+ actions, used for the graphic mouse commands. The number of task is unlimited and as well as a task calling a script, task can be enabled and disabled from scripting.

The USB 15 I/O digital board is making progress. The second revision of the board arrived today and will begin hardware testing soon.

Another protocol we are looking at adding is the for Keyence PLC line. If you would like us to look at support for a protocol, please contact support@hmisys.com