[Andrey Zhuk]

Whether it is possible to add a variable in alarm message? Analogue - point in the alarm message in CX-Supervisor

[Berti Baker]

Andrey Zhuk, on Jul 19 2006, 05:03 AM, said:

Whether it is possible to add a variable in alarm message? Analogue - point in the alarm message in CX-Supervisor

Hi,

Yes this is possible in CX-Supervisor. Check out the phrase "Point Substitution" in the latest User Manual for this example:

Quote

The can be used in various fields, for example:
• In Alarm Raised and Cleared Messages e.g.
Alarm Raised: “Boiler Temperature too high. Current value is
((“%.1d”, BoilerTemp))”

Hope that helps,
Bertie

[tashinz]

1. they should allow rotate, mirror etc for objects from library. this way nothing can be done with them. library is quite impressed but they should allow changing the pics from library, their copies at least so the original shape of library is not changed.

2. allow customizable MS-Windows like menu i.e. File, Edit etc, so i can put links to project's pages into that menu. this way i have to create menus.

3. Recipe editor, both in developer and in runtime, is really, really catastrophic. i allways create my tables and this is time consuming.

4. working with tables doesn't exist. CX-Designer has it all, it would be good CX-Supervisor had it. also when copying object i can't allocate automaticaly adresses i.e. symbols. e.g. symbol_1, symbol_2. this is helpful at creating tables.

5. Excel compatibility. in time, they were widening support for Excel. first they allowed creating points in Excel, bulk edit and then copy it to CX-S. then they made for Alarms. in general, they shoud do it everywhere, especially in creating Data Log and Database connection. all the groups and fields and items should be editable in Excel. Not to mention objects properties.

6. Name of the point can't have more than 20 characters. except when you create it Excel. is this bug?

7. there is a problem with real points. when in plc is integer, and use Apply conversion factor for real point i've notice strange rounding when write to database. i solved it with not using real point but integer and when writing a integer iTest (e.g. D100) to database i use rDBtest=iTest*0.1. you can see this bug in Point Maintenance window in runtime, some real points have value e.g. 2.9999998 altough the scale factor was e.g. 0.1 and value in plc is 299. generaly, they should quit that Apply conversion factor and use Unit and scale table like in CX-Designer.

8. Point Maintenance window should be improved. it's small, lots of scrolling etc. and it's used often.

9. Alarms window and Alarm history window should have more than 2000 entries. generaly, alarm management can be better.

10. Data log viewer application is great. only: they should allow more than 10 analog values to be displayed. this new version 1.8 has bug, since the colors of everything is changed every time you open data log view window and session file cannot be saved and used. it can, but no effect. this wasn't the case in 1.7. also, i most often use 1 day datalog file. it never starts and ends in 0000 hours. it starts and ends in 0100 or 0200 hours depending on daylight time save. so i have files like dataset1[2006052102], dataset1[2006052202].


this is for now. since this is the best scada on the market regarding price/performance, we should make it even more better. but not more expensive.

regards to all

This post has been edited by tashinz: 26 July 2006 - 09:52 AM

[Sleepy Wombat]

Quote

they should allow rotate, mirror etc for objects from library. this way nothing can be done with them. library is quite impressed but they should allow changing the pics from library, their copies at least so the original shape of library is not changed.

Since they appear to be using the richard symbol set they sould also make it like the C-View panel software from automation direct screens, that way u can simple colurt them etc the way you want...

[BobB]

PUT IN SOME DECENT TREND SCREENS!!! I am used to Citect and the trend screens are "WOW"!!. I do not really expect that sort of functionality at the price but considerably better than is in Supervisor at the moment.

[Sleepy Wombat]

Improve the sorting of alarms...ie why does Alarm[22] come before Alarm[3] when you sort...

A pain because the only way to get it to sort prrperly is to add leading 0's to the ref ie Alarm[03]...

Attached image(s)

• 

[BobB]

Quote

Improve the sorting of alarms...ie why does Alarm[22] come before Alarm[3] when you sort...

Ask Microsoft - Excel does the same. May even be a Windows function (feature?).

[tashinz]

I solve that by naming the alarms in a way Alarm_W00_00, Alarm_W00_01 for alarms that references bit W0.0, W0.1 etc. there is no need that the name of the alarm has a meaning since it can not be larger than 20 chars. then I put in the comment of the alarm real description, the one operator sees so in the alarm window (which shows comment but not actual alarm message) I can see which alarm is Alarm_W00_00 etc. Sorting of this kind of names works.

maybe this can help, altough this sorting feature is real pain even with the points.

regards.

[Berti Baker]

BobB, on Aug 30 2006, 02:59 AM, said:

Quote

Improve the sorting of alarms...ie why does Alarm[22] come before Alarm[3] when you sort...

Ask Microsoft - Excel does the same. May even be a Windows function (feature?).

I think this is just doing a standard Alphabetic sort isn't it? Alphabetically "Alarm22" does come before "Alarm3"?

As for choice of alarm names - I never include the physical address so that Auto Generated addresses can be remapped without having to rename all my alarms

[Sleepy Wombat]

Quote

I think this is just doing a standard Alphabetic sort isn't it? Alphabetically "Alarm22" does come before "Alarm3"?

Thanks Sherlock....

My point was that when using an array and you sort it by Expression it still does this Alphabetically rather then using the array pointer which is clearly defined with the [ ] characters....For the moment i need to sort them as ArrayElement[000], ArrayElement[001],ArrayElement[002],ArrayElement[010] This workrs....

Secondly i agree with you about putting the address in the alarm desrciption is really not a good idea...

A better one would be to simple include the Alarm Expression on the Alarm Editor Page after description, that way you can easily see what address was allocated to it without having to drill down into the actual alarm. In fact why can;t i simply choose the info to display in the columns would be a better way...

[TWControls]

Sleepy Wombat, on Aug 30 2006, 06:33 PM, said:

Quote

I think this is just doing a standard Alphabetic sort isn't it? Alphabetically "Alarm22" does come before "Alarm3"?

Thanks Sherlock....

LOL
I know this is the answer too but this is something that all software makers need to address somehow. It is a real pain

[tashinz]

This find feature in CX-Supervisor (Edit->Find) is poor. They should implement search and replace feature so I can bulk edit object's properties. In the current way, I can only e.g. find all occurencies of the point and then I should conduct one by one editing. It is very time consuming.
Currently I'm building SCADA application that communicates with six CJ1G-CPU44H through ethernet, but only with one at a time. The user can select which PLC to connect. The program and addresses in PLC's are the same. Customer wants one SCADA. So, every PLC point has a prefix M1, M2, ..., M6 for the corresponding PLC and since the application is done for PLC 1 I have to multiply this. I choose to multiply pages. I've made six groups of points in Excel and this is great, very fast. now I have to copy every page and by using find feature to replace every M1 into M2 etc. This is time consuming.
The replace feature would be great here.

regards.

This post has been edited by tashinz: 08 November 2006 - 11:28 AM

[PdL]

tashinz, on Nov 8 2006, 05:26 PM, said:

This find feature in CX-Supervisor (Edit->Find) is poor. They should implement search and replace feature so I can bulk edit object's properties. In the current way, I can only e.g. find all occurencies of the point and then I should conduct one by one editing. It is very time consuming.
Currently I'm building SCADA application that communicates with six CJ1G-CPU44H through ethernet, but only with one at a time. The user can select which PLC to connect. The program and addresses in PLC's are the same. Customer wants one SCADA. So, every PLC point has a prefix M1, M2, ..., M6 for the corresponding PLC and since the application is done for PLC 1 I have to multiply this. I choose to multiply pages. I've made six groups of points in Excel and this is great, very fast. now I have to copy every page and by using find feature to replace every M1 into M2 etc. This is time consuming.
The replace feature would be great here.

regards.

I second that and have requested this also at Omron.
I believe it is being worked on but I don't promise!

I have exactly the same problem and also use the find function to list all references to a point prefix in a page. I would almost get RSI from clicking the mouse so frequently

[ECSI]

tashinz, on Nov 8 2006, 12:26 PM, said:

This find feature in CX-Supervisor (Edit->Find) is poor. They should implement search and replace feature so I can bulk edit object's properties. In the current way, I can only e.g. find all occurencies of the point and then I should conduct one by one editing. It is very time consuming.
Currently I'm building SCADA application that communicates with six CJ1G-CPU44H through ethernet, but only with one at a time. The user can select which PLC to connect. The program and addresses in PLC's are the same. Customer wants one SCADA. So, every PLC point has a prefix M1, M2, ..., M6 for the corresponding PLC and since the application is done for PLC 1 I have to multiply this. I choose to multiply pages. I've made six groups of points in Excel and this is great, very fast. now I have to copy every page and by using find feature to replace every M1 into M2 etc. This is time consuming.
The replace feature would be great here.

regards.

Hey Tashinz, in CX-Supervisor instead of creating a group of pages for each PLC, why not set up one group of pages using memory points and then depending on which PLC is selected you could map the memory points to the actual PLC points using a project script. This plus using array points should save you a lot of time with page development, plus the find/replace feature works pretty good in the script development feature

A sample of the script could be:

OpenedPLC1 = IsPLCOpen("PLC1")
OpenedPLC2 = IsPLCOpen("PLC2")
OpenedPLC3 = IsPLCOpen("PLC3")
OpenedPLC4 = IsPLCOpen("PLC4")
OpenedPLC5 = IsPLCOpen("PLC5")
OpenedPLC6 = IsPLCOpen("PLC6")



IF OpenedPLC1 THEN
MappedPoint1 = PLC1Point1
ENDIF

IF OpenedPLC2 THEN
MappedPoint1 = PLC2Point1
ENDIF

etc etc......

For/Next loops may also help but I'm not that familiar with using them.

This post has been edited by ECSI: 08 November 2006 - 12:34 PM

[tashinz]

Thanks ECSI for the advice,
I've been also thinking about that, but since I have a lot of input/output points it is hard to implement in the scripts when to output point. it can be done, sure. also, i have a large tables of data that already has memory points mapped to the I/O points depending on the selection of the reciepe. it then should be mapped further to the current PLC etc. It is very complicated. therefore i've chosen this way, to make six SCADAs i.e. six group of pages in one SCADA with points of the currently open PLC.

thanks for the advice though.

regards.

[tashinz]

CX-Supervisor 2.0 released finaly

[PdL]

tashinz, on May 22 2007, 11:28 AM, said:

CX-Supervisor 2.0 released finaly

Great!

Say Tashinz do you already have a copy ? Do you have the release notes with changes etc ? I am curious.

[Berti Baker]

Hi,

I got an an advance copy of the Trial version but please don't ask me for a copy - ask your sales centre. Ther Readme says:

Quote

What's new in this version?
The following has been added:

Modernised Look and Feel with updated toolbars with CX-One style buttons, docking views , compatible with XP Themes, new HTML help system and 'Tip of the Day'. New 'Full Screen' mode and Workbook mode for easier editing
Colour coded VBScript Editor, with Design time syntax checking
New Project Analyser in Developer to highlight application designs that could cause problems
Customisable ActiveX toolbar for Microsoft Forms and common controls
New Performance Monitor in Runtime to analyse runtime performance
New integrated and standalone Translation Tool for translating user text.
Minor object improvements:
Alarm Object now has scroll bars
Button Object can now have pictures
Picture Object can reload pictures
Thumbwheel object now appears on ActiveX toolbar
New 'Target Settings' to build for 'Machine Edition' or 'PLUS' runtimes.

The Application Analyser and Performance Monitor seem to be the major features and actually look quite good...

Bertie

[tashinz]

yes, I had a chance to test it. also, the machine edition is sold now for the price as CX-S 1.32, and full version called plus about 50% more. I've noticed that now VBScript is default script (not CX-Supervisor Script), the obscure find feature is still the same (there is no replace function, too bad). I am very happy that translation tool can be used with excel for copy/paste. no parallel hardlock anymore.
Generally, good work, can't wait to implement it somewhere.

regards

[PdL]

With V2, the user can dock windows like point editor, alarm editor etc. Very nice, but it seems once docked, the pulldown menu for group selection is gone... the only way to select a group view seems to be right mouse button menu > View Options > Filter Items in View... ?
Anyone knows a quicker/easier method ?

[tashinz]

Quote

Anyone knows a quicker/easier method ?

Nope, I have just encountered this problem. first i tought it's a bug and started to get nervous. i think this is the only way by right click. not so bad i think.

[PdL]

tashinz, on Sep 19 2007, 02:41 PM, said:

Quote

Anyone knows a quicker/easier method ?

Nope, I have just encountered this problem. first i tought it's a bug and started to get nervous. i think this is the only way by right click. not so bad i think.

Well, I still think it's a bug

[PdL]

It seems the system flag $DemoMode does not work anymore in V2 ?

It used to change to ON state if no license was found, now it remains OFF allthough the message "Software protection not found" appears on startup.
I know when using USB dongles most licence issues belong to the past, but still I always use this flag to indicate a user that there is a license problem in runtime...

[tashinz]

Quote

It seems the system flag $DemoMode does not work anymore in V2 ?

yep, the same is here. wouldn't know why. also, when I pull out the usb hardlock during runtime, communications still work. it stops after restart runtime. is this ok?
two suggestions:
1. it would be great if the external communication can be enabled without hardlock for simulator. no? simulator is used for testing only, don't see the reason why cx-supervisor couldn't be connected to simulator plc during development without hardlock.
2. copying points from cx-p into cx-s is great but after that i need to bulk edit all copied points from I/O to just input. that option does not exist in multiple edit dialoge. they should put all point attributes to be bulk edited. this way i have to copy first to excel, edit, then copy it back to cx-s. this way copying from cx-p does not have any sense.

This post has been edited by tashinz: 24 September 2007 - 07:15 AM

[PdL]

tashinz, on Sep 24 2007, 01:49 PM, said:

Quote

It seems the system flag $DemoMode does not work anymore in V2 ?

yep, the same is here. wouldn't know why. also, when I pull out the usb hardlock during runtime, communications still work. it stops after restart runtime. is this ok?

That's not a bug, I can live with that

[tashinz]

another suggestion:
toggle button object does not have a lamp function. i use this object as a momentary button (toggle while pressed option selected) for turning off/on devices. pulse is sent to plc where the KEEP instruction turns on/off physical output. normally in NS panel i would use lamp function of the push button to see the state of physical output. in CX-S I can not do that. they should put this feature.
or someone has an existing solution ?

This post has been edited by tashinz: 26 September 2007 - 06:46 AM

[PdL]

tashinz, on Sep 26 2007, 01:44 PM, said:

another suggestion:
toggle button object does not have a lamp function. i use this object as a momentary button (toggle while pressed option selected) for turning off/on devices. pulse is sent to plc where the KEEP instruction turns on/off physical output. normally in NS panel i would use lamp function of the push button to see the state of physical output. in CX-S I can not do that. they should put this feature.
or someone has an existing solution ?

Perhaps you can use a blank toggle button which toggles the control bit momentary (toggle while pressed), and use "Colour change (Digital)" animation which refers to the boolean point of the physical output. Off coulour would be default button colour, ON colour any other.
The user will see the button press animation when the button is pressed (it lowers), but only when the physical output turns ON the button lights up the set colour, so the user can monitor the ON time of the output.

[tashinz]

Quote

Perhaps you can use a blank toggle button which toggles the control bit momentary (toggle while pressed), and use "Colour change (Digital)" animation which refers to the boolean point of the physical output. Off coulour would be default button colour, ON colour any other.

i tried that and only the text on the button is changed not the button color. let me check again.

...

yes, there is no impact on the button color. cx-s programmers put this feature please!

This post has been edited by tashinz: 26 September 2007 - 08:23 AM

[tashinz]

some find and replace feature should be put in immediately. feeling very useless while correcting hundreds of entries from find window.

This post has been edited by tashinz: 08 October 2007 - 08:28 AM

[PdL]

tashinz, on Oct 8 2007, 03:28 PM, said:

some find and replace feature should be put in immediately. feeling very useless while correcting hundreds of entries from find window.

I feel your pain
Be sure to give your mouse some time off before it gets a burn-out
It helps to repeat the find function after a while, so it re-indexes the search with the changes you made which narrows down the result list. But no excuse for a modern software to NOT have a search/replace function...