HMI release...

Today a new version of the HMI was released. The release has several new features in preparation for a new feature to allow the attachment of files to Emails sent from the HMI.

Several new script commands have been added.

ExportAlarmLog, ExportEventLog

These new commands provide the ability to convert a log file, at runtime, from the internal format to a ‘CSV’ (comma separated values) file. The current log file (today), yesterday’s log file or a log file selected by day/month/year can be converted. The first two options provide an easy method to run a task at for example, 3:00 AM and email or FTP yesterday’s log file without user interaction.

CaptureScreen, CaptureWindow, TrendSavePlotPictureToFile

These new commands provide the ability to capture the complete monitor(s) image, a specified user window, the foreground window or a trend plot picture to a specified file. The file can be sent via email or FTP without user interaction at a specified time or via a triggered event. The print screen features remain without change.

An Email generated via notifications has been available in the HMI for some time. The new Email feature will be under script control and allow the attachment of files, along with the normal message and subject fields. A user generated Email will also be available. It will be much like the SMS user generated message entry.

If you have any requirements, wants or needs for the forthcoming Email feature, contact support for more data.

Unicode and RTSP...

The HMI now supports Unicode. Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems.

Two additions for video camera support have been added.

The first addition is generic MJPEG decoding that should work with all cameras, that support MJPEG via HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), regardless of ‘manufacture’ embedded data in the header.

The second addition is support for RTSP (Real time streaming protocol). The main reason for adding RTSP support was to add H.264 decoding. The list of supported protocols is too large to list in this blog. Testing of RTSP was performed using H.264 and MJPEG decoding using 4 different video cameras/encoders.

(H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC (Advanced Video Coding) is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video.)