Expanded database controls

The HMI has supported database access, via ODBC, for many years.
Today database access expanded by adding:

·        Ten (10) new graphic controls which connect directly to the database

·        Editable SQL query execution

·        Scripting commands to control connections and queries

·        Diagnostic logging for troubleshooting

Here is the new database graphic element selection dialog.

 

General purpose drivers

The HMI has two new drivers.

The first driver is a general purpose serial port driver.

The second driver is a general purpose TCP/IP driver.

A general purpose driver does not implement a protocol. For example: MODBUS RTU or MODBUS TCP/IP. The driver provides direct access to the “port” and the raw data received/transmitted.

To utilize the driver, scripting is used. Both drivers provide two methods to control the “port”.

Method one: Callback

This method provides a script executed by the driver, is self-contained and provides “callbacks” to handle the port. For example a callback would occur when a byte(s) is received (OnRxChar), the port is opened (OnOpen), etc..

Method two: Polling

This method is executed in a normal script and controls the port via script commands. Callbacks do not occur and port control can be in one or more regular scripts.

Included with the release are four example projects. All example projects read one word of data from a MODBUS slave/server. The examples include a “callback” and “polling” method example for both the serial and TCP/IP port types.

HMI update 07/01/2015

The feature to draw and animate graphics in the graphics editor and have the created graphic pages viewable via a web browser has been released. Let us know if you have any needed additions to this feature.

Also, support for Ethernet access to Siemen S7-200 devices, via a CP 243-1 Ethernet module, has been added to the HMI.

HMI update 06/20/2015...

It has been five months since the last update and the long duration between updates is not due to inactivity.

Support for strings in a PLC5 via DF1 was added. Via PCCC has existed for some time.

An Enron RTU over TCP driver was added. We added Enron serial (RTU) and Enron TCP/IP about five months ago. Enron RTU over TCP is the Enron RTU (same as serial) protocol using TCP/IP as the transport protocol. This allows devices that are only Enron RTU serial to be accessed with a hardware serial to Ethernet/TCP device or a virtual serial to TCP driver.

The big feature in the works; coding has been under way to allow a user to draw and animate graphics in the HMI graphic editor and the runtime graphic engine generate output that can be accessed via a web browser.

The HMI has been able to display dynamic data in web browsers for a few years. The first method used; the HMI created, on demand, HTML web pages that were list of tags and data values, as well as screen captures of the graphic windows. Next addition was the ability to parse HTML files seeking markers to replace with data values from tag data, allowing custom HTML pages to be used.

Now, with the adoption of HTML5, by many browsers, the HMI can convert graphic elements into HTML5/JavaScript/CSS (three languages web browsers understand) and update the graphic elements with data from the HMI, via HTTP, continuously.

This new addition provides a draw it, animate it, and use it in a web browser feature. Any web browser that supports HTML5 is the design target.

In the current HMI release the new “Website” feature is supported and marked as beta. So anyone can try it. This new feature will soon be released and more additions are planned.

The older method, on demand dynamic web pages, will be deprecated.

First HMI update of 2015

The HMI has supported the Enron MODBUS protocol for some time via the Omni flow computer driver. The Omni driver was focused around the Omni flow computer and the address/data type mapping the flow computer required.

A new generic Enron, RS-232 and TCP/IP driver has been released that provides setting the register data type for the register address.

All the Enron data types are supported.

• Booleans
• 8 character strings
• 16 character strings
• 16 bit short integers
• 32 bit long integers
• 32 bit floats

HMI update 11/29/2014

A couple of minor additions and a major addition in HMI release today.

·       A new graphic element for easier data entry for operator/users was added.

·       An issue with rotating imported WMF files causing the transparent flag to be ignored was handled.

·       At runtime, if the web server is enabled and another program is using the same port number, the web server would be prevented from listening on the port number and the program using the port number would be unknown. Now if the port number is used, an entry will be placed in the event log with the name of the program using the port number.

·       User mouse actions are point and click configurable for most actions. For the unusual requirements a script could be created and the mouse action linked to the script. Now the script (OnMouseDown and OnMouseUp) can be embedded in the graphic element, eliminating the linking step, linking is still supported.

·      When an ODBC connection attempts to connect to a database and it fails, the error message generated is now more informative about the cause of the error, i.e. invalid credentials, table not found, etc.

·       Analog host tags can now have an initial value set on runtime start.

·      The “Drop list” graphic element can now be loaded from an XLS file at runtime.

·      The recipe unit was based on using XLS files to hold/access the recipe and was read only. Now, the XLS file can be modified in the HMI, at runtime, and saved to disk. (Excel, does not need to be installed.)

·      Also, the recipe unit now supports ODBC. So, connecting to any database that supports ODBC is now supported. And as with XLS recipes, the recipe can be changed at runtime and changes are written to the database when the change occurs.

 

HMI update 11/06/2014...

Today we release a new graphic element in the HMI. Since the initial release the HMI has had a horizontal scrolling trend graphic element.

Now the HMI has a 24 hour circular trend graphic element. The mechanical circular trend was used for decades before strip chart recorders. Round circular trends can be very useful to see data points over an entire 24 hour period on one chart, without any data compression to format the data for display on one horizontal trend.