Citect for Windows Version 2.01
This document contains important information that is not included in the Citect for Windows Documentation or the on-line Help.
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Contents
1.0 Upgrade Information
1.1 Version 1.xx to 2.0
1.2 Display Drivers
1.3 Version 2.01
1.4 Citect BBS
2.0 User's Guide
2.1 Bitmap Editor
2.2 File New dialog box
2.3 Display options
2.4 Importing Bitmaps
2.5 Formatting Alarm Displays (page180)
2.6 SYSLOG.DAT file
3.0 Drawing Editor
3.1 Known Problems
3.2 New Menu Options
3.3 Creating Your Own Templates
3.4 Getting the Best Performance from Your Graphics Pages
4.0 Dos 6.00
4.1 Known Problems
1 Upgrade Information
1.1 Version 1.xx to 2.0
If you are upgrading from Version 1.xx, read the document marked IMPORTANT before using Version 2.0.
1.2 Display Drivers
If you are using a Compaq computer, you should install the latest Compaq drivers (Version 7.3). They are available from your Compaq supplier, or from the Bulletin board.
The ATI Graphics Ultra Pro Display driver has some bugs which make in incomptable with Citect Draw. We are investigating these problems and currently do not recommend this graphics card. This card will cause CtDraw version 2.00 to crash, when you display the Zoom Window. Also the thumbnail image of the page will be saved incorrectly into the file and when you try to open the file (and so display the thumbnail), CtDraw will crash. CtDraw version 2.01 bypasses the driver to save the thumbnail, so this problem can be worked around. However the zoom may still crash. There may also be some other unknown incompatible problems with this card. You can run this card in 8514/a compatible mode, in this mode it works OK., however it will not support the highest 1280x1024 resolution.
The Compaq XE series display driver. The initial release of the Compaq XE computers Windows Driver has a bug which caused the bitmap editor in CtDraw to crash. This bug is now fixed in the latest version of the Compaq Driver. The driver still has a bug that when you try to scroll a trend at runtime it will not display correctly. Check with your Compaq supplier if a later driver is available.
Compaq AVGA Early drivers for this card will cause the bitmap editor to crash in CtDraw. Make sure your driver is after 5th October 1992. Drivers before this version will cause problems. The latest drivers are available on the Citect Support BBS.
TRIDENT If you run this card in 800x600x256 or 1024x768 modes, CtDraw will crash when you display the zoom window. The 800x600x16 colour modes works OK.
STEALTH PRO . Most operations with bitmaps will fail with this card, including Zoom, Bitmap Editor and Citect runtime. Version 1.1 was tested and this board is not recommended.
Solution:
If you have any problems with draw you should test if it is associated with the display driver. Try running at different resolutions and with the standard VGA driver. If the card will emulate a 8514/a card use that mode with the windows standard 8514/a driver. If your problems go away then it could be a problem in the display driver. Make sure you have the latest driver.
Citect has been developed using Compaq Computers running AVGA, QVision and 8514/a display cards. Because of this we know that these hardware configurations are reliable. All graphic display cards and drivers should be compatible under the Windows environment, however there is always some bugs in the drivers, which may cause applications to crash. So you may experience problems with some cards. If you find problems with some particular graphic cards then please report the problem to Citect Support so we may contact the card developers to try to resolve the problem.
1.3 Version 2.01
This version contains some bug fixes, some minor enhancements and some new protocol drivers.
A problem with the size of text fonts at runtime has been fixed where the size of the font was shown correctly in Draw but a smaller font was shown at runtime. Now that the correct font size is shown, some of your fonts may be too big. To correct this problem, reduce the font size in the fonts database.
The following functions have changed, see online help for full details:
Function Changes
FormComboBox mode added to control sorting
FormListBox mode added to control sorting
FileFind new documentation
FileSplitPath new documentation
FileMakePath new documentation
The alarm category database now supports a Alarm OFF Action field. When an alarm goes off in the specified category this command will execute.
New Mouse command keys have been defined. These key commands only operate when the mouse is clicked over the top of the command cursor. So if you configure the keyboard command 'KEY_LBTN_CMD_DN" on a symbol, that command will only execute if the left button is clicked on the symbol. If you use these commands you should not use the KEY_LBUTTON_UP keys and you should set the parameter [ANIMATOR] EatMouseClick=1. This parameter will cause the KEY_nBUTTON _nn type keys to be eaten when one of the KEY_nBTN_CMD_nn is being executed. The new commands may interfere with existing mouse keys, so you can disable this feature with [ANIMATOR] ConfigureMouseCommand=0. The following keys have been defined:
KEY_LBTN_CMD_UP
KEY_LBTN_CMD_DN
KEY_RBTN_CMD_UP
KEY_RBTN_CMD_DN
The following new drivers have been included:
TICIM Texas Instrumentas 550 CIM port
TAYLOR ABB Kent-Taylor
IZUMI IDEC IZUM FA Series
TELMAP Telemecanique MAPWAY
COMLI SattCon 05-30
MELSECF Mitsubishi Melsec FX
SIDIRECT Siemens Programming Port
SYENET Square D Ethernet
You can now change the system topic field Citect uses for DDE with the new parameter [DDE] SystemTopic=<topic name>. This is only required if the other DDE application does not allow the default of 'system'.
Drawing Editor now has two Keyboard menu items.
i) Keyboard For Animation : It activates the keyboard animation button on the tool box.
ii) Keyboard For Page: Opens a special form with scroll bars so that pagewide keyboard commands may be entered.
Advanced Animation menu item now activates the advanced animation button on the tool box.
1.4 Citect Bulletin Board (BBS)
Citect support has changed the BBS software. The new BBS is much simpler to use, is Windows based and requires you to run a special Client side Windows application. You can upload this client side application by calling into the BBS with your existing terminal application. The Client side BBS is also included on the DEMO installation disk. You must copy the files:
EXCALTRM.EXE
README.BBS
from the DEMO disk to the C:\CITECT\BIN directory using the file manager. The README.BBS contains details on how to setup the BBS.
Also note the Support Phone Numbers have changed:
Citect Support 855 1010
Citect FAX 488 9164
Citect Sales 855 1000
Citect BBS PEP 488 7994
Citect BBS (1440 baud) 855 1097
2 User's Guide
2.1 Bitmap Editor (page 107)
The bitmap editor now has additional features. You can select a menu item by clicking on the Control Menu Box at the top left of the window, or a button in the button bar. The button bar now has the following buttons:
Exit the bitmap editor and save the bitmap image.
Exit the bitmap editor and discard changes to the bitmap image.
Zoom in (magnify the image)
Zoom out
Select a colour from the image. To select a colour from the image (to set as the current colour), select this button, then click on a colour in the image. The colour you select will become the current colour. This button is functionally similar to SHIFT + P. Note that you can also select the current colour from the colour swatch.
Change the size of the bitmap. Selecting this button displays a dialog box. You can enter new values for the height and width of the bitmap (in pixels).
NOTE: The backgroung colour in the bitmap editor is always transparent. Transparent colour is indicated as a white pixel with a black dot at the centre. To draw with the backgroung (transparent) colour, click (and hold ) the RIGHT mouse button.
2.2 File New dialog box (page109)
The file new dialog box now has a drop box for you to select the screen resolution of the target computer.
2.3 Display options (page134)
The display options dialog box has an additional function - Transparent Paste. When you paste a bitmap image, you can set a colour in the image to be transparent. When the image is pasted, the colour you selected is transparent (see through).
2.4 Importing Graphics (page111)
You should not import bitmap images produced by Windows 'Paintbrush'. The Paintbrush pallette does not support all colours correctly and serious colour shift will occur. Use a higher quality bitmap editor (such as Corel PHOTO-PAINT).
2.5 Formatting Alarm Displays (page180)
There are two new fields available when formatting Hardware alarms. These are:
{ERRPAGE} The page or function that the error occurred on.
{ERRDESC} A description of the error.
These are especially useful in tracking down hardware alarms of the INVALID ANIMATION NUMBER or TREND PEN NOT FOUND nature.
Not every hardware error will be able to supply page and error description information. In these cases Citect will try to specify the Function that the error occurred in (in the {ERRPAGE} field).
2.6 SYSLOG.DAT file
The SYSLOG.DAT file is a low level logging file used by Citect. This file is in the Windows directory, normally C:\WINDOWS. Citect will log system type errors into this file and other debugging information. You should occasionally check this file to see if Citect has found any system errors.
Citect will write to this file until it reaches about 300k in size. Then Citect will rename it to SYSLOG.BAK and create a new file. This limits the maximum logging information to 600k and will stop you hard disk from filling up. You can adjust the size of the SYSLOG.DAT file with the CITECT.INI option [DEBUG]SysLogSize=n, where n is the size in kilobytes.
You may also log information to this file by using the Cicode function ErrLog(). This is a useful function for putting error tracing into your own Cicode functions. See online help for details on ErrLog() function.
3 Drawing Editor
3.1 Known Problems
3.1.1 Some older screen drivers may cause Citect Draw to crash when zoom is invoked. If this occurs, update your screen drivers to the latest release (See above).
3.1.2 In some instances, the undo command will restore an object into a state that makes selection impossible. (It is shown with an anchor point only - no selection markers will be displayed.) If this occurs, save the drawing and re-open it. The object will then be selectable.
3.1.3 If you run the Citect Drawing Editor and the Citect run-time system concurrently, and then shut down the run-time system, the display of some colours may be inaccurate. To redisplay the correct colours, iconise the drawing editor and then restore it.
3.1.4 If you switch from the drawing editor to the database editor, and open a different database, then return to the drawing editor, the drawing editor will still reference data from the original database. You should only open a new database when the drawing editor is not running.
3.1.5 The Ctrl key does not constrain polylines to the vertical or horizontal. Use snap to grid (or guidelines) instead.
3.1.6 Flashing colour floods do not display in the drawing editor. When displaying colour floods in the drawing editor, you should iconise draw and then restore it to display the floods correctly. Use the display colour floods option to test only.
3.1.7 If you compile the database and have some compile errors on a page which the drawing editor has open, and then try to fix the compiler errors in CtEdit, CtEdit will not warn you that when you save the page in Draw it will over write you changes. So don't fix compiler errors in Edit if Draw has that page open.
3.1.8 If you change a template or library object, you must update the template or library object on all pages that use the template or library object. Use the Update Links command from the Tools menu.
3.1.9 If you use a drop down combo box and the 'Loading Records' dialog box displays, the editor will occasionally lock up when the combo box finally displays. To unfreeze the editor, click on the combo box arrow again.
3.2 New Menu Options
3.2.1 The Animation menu has two new options:
Animation Keyboard - Allows you to configure keyboard commands attached to an existing animation object. This menu option is functionally similar to the keyboard icon (on the toolbar) An operator must position the cursor over the animation object before the command can be issued.
Pagewide Keyboard - Allows you to configure keyboard commands that apply to the entire page (irrespective of where the operator's cursor is located).
3.3 Creating Your Own Templates
Templates provide a method of standardising your graphics pages. You can add standard objects, text and animation to a template, and all graphics pages that are based on that template will display the objects, text and animation at the same location.
Citect is supplied with several templates and for most applications, your graphics pages can be drawn using one of these standard templates. In some cases, you may want to create your own templates. Refer to the User's Guide pages 112 and 113 for information on creating a new template and copying and modifying a standard template.
Adding Animation to a Template
If you add an animation object to a template, the form associated with that animation object is displayed. You can enter a value for some of the fields for the animation record. When you create a page based on that template, the fields you entered for the animation record (in the template) are 'locked'—they are greyed out and cannot be edited. All other fields (the fields you did not enter on the template) can be used for the record on the page. Use the keyword _BLANK_ to lock a field but still leave it empty. The fields are locked as the values in the template will take preference over values on the page. If you later change the fields in the template and then use the update links command then the new field data from the template will be copied to all the pages. This allows you to update animation on all pages which are using that template. If you want the data entered on the page to take preference then you must leave the fields blank on the templates.
You can chain animation records on a template and the chain will be reflected in any pages based on that template.
If you create a page based on a template, you cannot associate a page keyboard command with an animation object that is on the template. You cannot chain a record to an animation object that is on the template.
Updating Pages Based on a Template
If you change a template, you must update all pages that are based on that template. To update all pages, use the Update Links command from the Tools menu.
If you remove an animation object or animation point from a template, it will be removed from all pages that use that template.
3.4 Getting the Best Performance from Your Graphics Pages
Graphics Pages are made up of a series of objects. The lines, circles, arcs, etc that you draw are individual objects. When Citect displays a graphics page at run-time, each object must be drawn on the screen individually. If your pages contain many hundreds of objects, the time required to display your runtime pages could be excessive. There are several methods you can use to reduce the display time:
Convert Groups of Objects to a Bitmap
If you have an image on your page that is comprised of a group of objects (for example a pump or a valve), then when Citect displays the graphics page, each object in the image must be drawn on the screen individually. If you have several copies of the image, this may result in a reduction in performance. Convert the group of objects to a bitmap. A bitmap image is stored as a single object and consequently it will display faster than a group of objects.
Use the Library
If you have more than one identical image on your page, convert the image to a bitmap and export it to the library. You can then link from the library at each location of the image.
4 DOS 6.0
6.1 Known Problems
6.1.1 If you are using DOS 6.00, you must switch off Write Cache. Use the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRIVE C
where:
C is the drive.
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