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Version 6.0 Release (updated 23-11-2004) What's in this Document? 1. What’s New 2. Requirements 3. Installation Notes 4. Operational Notes 5. Known Issues with this Release 1. What's New? The following list is a summary of new features for the CitectSCADA 6.0 release. 1.1 Web Client The CitectSCADA Web Client allows you to view a live CitectSCADA project within a Web browser. It provides easy access to CitectSCADA Runtime for LAN-connected users requiring read/write access to current production information. For example, a senior manager could monitor a facility and access current production information from a computer on the LAN. This is achieved without requiring extensive downloads or software installation. 1.2 True Color Support True Color support allows CitectSCADA users to create graphically rich display pages more easily by supporting a far greater number of colors than the 256-colors available in previous releases. True Color is supported for all animation objects and static objects, including page backgrounds, imported images, symbols, metafiles, and bitmaps (with the exception of color floods). The flash rate of flashing colors defaults to 1 second, and is user-configurable via an ini parameter. 1.3 Process Analyst The CitectSCADA Process Analyst Control is an ActiveX control designed to allow Operators to view trend data from a CitectSCADA trend server and alarm tag data from a CitectSCADA alarm server. The Process Analyst provides a visual means to analyse and compare trend data—both real-time and historical—in a more intuitive manner than Citect’s previous trend viewer. The Process Analyst allows a user to load and save views, jump backwards and forwards in time, select commonly used timespans, select a start time and end time, identify daylight savings transition periods, and autoscroll to view trend data in real-time. The Process Analyst allows you to save the state (that is, the “look and feel”) of the Process Analyst as a view. You can also load other views created by other Users and Operators. The Object View tool enables extensive control over pens, as well as providing at-a-glance information about pens, such as pen color, name, tag properties, current cursor value, and so on. The Process Analyst can display all trend and alarm data in local time taking into account daylight savings periods. The Process Analyst control indicates daylight savings transitions on its axis and date/time pickers, and allows Operators to seamlessly navigate and view their data through daylight savings transitions. The Process Analyst allows you to create reports of alarm and trend views by providing a comprehensive set of printable information. The Process Analyst's powerful programming model gives engineers and technicians extensive control over the look and behaviour of the Process Analyst through Cicode. 1.4 Enhanced Symbol Library CitectSCADA Version 6.0 includes an enhanced symbol library, containing hundreds of symbols that are ready for you to use on your CitectSCADA project’s graphics pages. In addition, more symbols will be made available on the Complimentary Software CD distributed with v6.0. 1.5 Updated Example Projects The Example and CSV_Example Projects in v6.0 have been enhanced to demonstrate True Color, Process Analyst, and the expanded Symbol Library. To see these new Example Projects, please delete your existing Example Projects prior to upgrading to v6.0. 1.6 Updated Help The CitectSCADA Help has been extensively revised for the v6.0 release. These revisions include updating the WinHelp-based Help (.hlp) to Microsoft HTML Help (.chm), as well as documenting the new features in v6.0. Updating the Help to standard Microsoft HTML Help provides the following benefits:
1.7 Tag Validation In previous versions of CitectSCADA, it was possible for renumbering of Object Identifiers to occur when a CitectSCADA project was restored onto a different CitectSCADA installation from that on which the project was backed up. It was also possible to generate different Object Identifiers from one CitectSCADA machine to another. To address these issues, several enhancements have been made in CitectSCADA v6.0 to provide automated tag validation for systems using tag-based drivers. These new features make it easier to ensure that a project configuration that uses tag-based drives is valid; these changes only apply to projects that use tag-based drivers. The following enhancements have been made:
1.8 Display Event Trends by Time CitectHMI/SCADA now provides the option to display event trends as periodic data on a trend graph. As an alternative to viewing event trend data by event number, it is now possible to see event trends across a timeline. When event trends are shown by time, the trend graph includes a start and end time and enables operators to see both the time of a triggered event, and the elapsed period between events. This data can also be displayed on the same graph as a periodic trend. 1.9 Time Stamped Digital and Time Stamped Analog Alarms Two new alarm types, Time Stamped Digital and Time Stamped Analog have been added to CitectHMI/SCADA. These alarms combine the features of existing Digital and Analog alarms with a timestamp that records, with millisecond precision, the Alarm On time and Alarm Off time from a field device. These alarms are configured in exactly the same way as the existing Digital and Analog alarms. 1.10 Custom Alarm Filters Custom alarm filters provide a new means for filtering and displaying active alarms. Up to eight custom filter strings can be assigned to a configured alarm. In conjunction with a user-defined query function, the custom filters enable operators to identify and display active alarms of interest. 1.11 Long Variable and Trend Tag Names Variable and Trend tag names can now be up to 79 characters in length. 1.12 Long Alarm Fields The Tag and Name fields for all configured alarms have been extended and can now be a maximum of 79 characters in length. The Description field has also been extended to allow a maximum of 127 characters. 1.13 Queue-based Backfill Trend redundancy backfilling has been enhanced. It is now faster, more reliable, and configurable for backfill speed. 1.14 Drivers New drivers in this release are:
Updated drivers in this release include:
Note: The new ABCLX driver supersedes ABLogix. Please upgrade to ABCLX if you are experiencing problems with ABLogix. Note: The new MelsecQ driver supersedes MelsecQnA. Please upgrade to MelsecQ if you are experiencing problems with MelsecQnA. Note: The S7WIN and S7WINSP drivers have been removed from the v6.0 release because CitectSCADA no longer supports Windows 98. 2. Requirements 2.1 Licensing You must update your CitectSCADA Software Protection Key to run Version 6.0. 2.2 Software Version 6.0 runs on Windows XP
Service Pack 1, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows NT 4.0 Service
Pack 6, and Windows NT Server (Enterprise Edition Service Pack 5
and Terminal Server Service Pack 6). Windows 2003 Server support is
expected to work but is not yet fully tested. Note: You must use Internet Explorer version 6.0 or above if using the Process Analyst, CitectSCADA Web Client or CitectSCADA Web Server. Note: Please refer to KB article Q3943 for information on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and recommended configuration settings for running CitectSCADA in this environment. 2.3 Minimum hardware: Windows NT 4.0 SP6 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 96MB of RAM. Windows NT Server Enterprise SP5 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 96MB of RAM. Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server SP6 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 96MB of RAM. Windows 2000 Server SP3 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 128MB of RAM. Windows 2000 SP3 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 128MB of RAM. Windows XP - Pentium 500MHz processor with 128MB of RAM. Windows Server 2003 – Pentium 500MHz with 256MB of RAM. 2.4 Preferred hardware: Windows NT 4.0 SP6 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 192MB of RAM. Windows NT Server Enterprise SP5 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 256MB of RAM. Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server SP6 - Pentium 500MHz processor with 256MB of RAM. Windows 2000 Server SP3 - Pentium 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM. Windows 2000 SP3 - Pentium 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM. Windows XP - Pentium 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM. Windows Server 2003 – Pentium 1GHz with 512MB of RAM. Note: If you are using the Process Analyst, we recommend that you use a graphics card with at least 64MB of VRAM and do not share VRAM with main memory. Note: For a Web Server, the hardware requirements are as follows: Minimum: Pentium 500MHz, 256MB RAM, 256MB HD (free) Preferred: Pentium 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 1GB HD (free) The memory requirements are dependent upon how many simultaneous web client connections are expected. Note: CitectSCADA does not fully support multiprocessor systems. For more information on how to use multiprocessor systems with CitectSCADA, please see the FAQ section of the Help. 3. Installation Notes Note: You must use the automatic CD Setup utility to install CitectSCADA v6.0. Please do not attempt to install by running setup.exe from the individual folders on the CDs. 3.1 Upgrading to True Color support CitectSCADA Version 6.0
automatically upgrades all existing projects to ensure
compatibility with the new True Color functionality. However, you
need to consider the following issues, as user intervention may be
required. Note: Please ensure that Project Editor has completed its upgrade before editing or upgrading your graphics pages. 3.1.1 Citect Color format The Citect color format is now a 32-bit RGB format. In hex, the bits for each part of the color are 0xRRGGBB. A new function called MakeCitectColour has been created to make Citect color values from component parts. 3.1.2 Flashing Color changes Flashing color is now implemented as two linked colors to provide on and off states. Graphics Builder will no longer display animated flashing colors, they will appear as diagonally divided cells with the two color states represented. 3.1.3 Color Flood objects not supported True Color cannot effectively support Color Flood objects. Graphics Builder will still display the objects, however, they will be ignored at runtime and will not be functional. In order to assist with the removal of all Color Flood objects, a log file called "graphicsupgrade.log" is created in the CitectSCADA Data directory. This file logs all occurrences of Color Flood objects found during the upgrade process, allowing them to be easily located and addressed. 3.1.4 Color Palette replaced by Color Favorites With Version 6, the concept of a color palette has been replaced with a set of "Color Favorites" that offer much greater flexibility in the management and implementation of colors. During upgrade, the CITECT.PAL file defined for a project is used to calculate the initial color entries for the Color Favourites. If no palette file has been defined, the Include Project palette is used. 3.1.5 Predefined color label changes The old color label definitions referred to palette index entries. These have been changed to RGB color values to enable the use of existing labels. TRANSPARENT has also been added as a color label. The following flashing color labels have been deleted: FLASH_BLUE FLASH_GREEN FLASH_CYAN FLASH_RED FLASH_MAGENTA FLASH_YELLOW FLASH_WHITE The NO_CHANGE label (used for older animated symbols) still exists as a label with a value of -1, however it is no longer valid. You can replace it with TRANSPARENT. 3.1.6 Fonts Database The fonts database is the main area where you will be required to check values. If the predefined labels (e.g. RED, GREEN, etc.) have been used, there will be no problem. However, some fonts will require reconfiguration to get the desired results if the entries contain palette indexes or the deleted flash labels (e.g. FLASH_RED). 3.1.7 Obsolete Cicode functions As color floods are no longer supported, calls to the function DspCol are ignored. 3.1.8 Cicode functions with changed arguments There are many Cicode functions that took palette index values as color arguments. These will need to be changed to use RGB parameters. Some functions require the color arguments to be expanded to two colors to allow for on and off states of a flashing color. DspFont(FontType, PixelSize, FgndColr, BgndColr) will become: DspFont(FontType, PixelSize, ForeOnColor, BackOnColor, ForeOffColor, BackOffColor); in order to support flashing colors when defining a new font. DspMarkerNew(AN, Mode, Color) will not support flashing colors. Color becomes an RGB parameter. DspTrendInfo() returns the primary pen color for types 11-18, and the secondary (flash) color for types 19-26. PlotDraw(), PlotGrid(), PlotLine(), PlotMarker(), PlotScaleMarker(), PlotXYLine() will not support flashing colors. The color arguments become RGB parameters. Additionally, there are several Cicode functions that take screenshots and do not work under anything but 256 color mode. These use a palette file to remap colors from the current CitectSCADA palette to an arbitrary palette, the most common usage of which is to swap black and white for pages that contain mainly black to minimise the amount of ink used when printing. While this cannot be done any more, black and white can be manually swapped when printing. Therefore, the "sPalette" argument becomes "bSwapBlackWhite" for: WinCopy(), WinFile(), WinPrint() and WinPrintFile() CitectColourToPackedRGB and PackedRGBToCitectColour were created to make it easy to map colors to CitectSCADA's fixed palette. Now that Citect has no concept of a palette these functions convert from RGB values to Citect color format and back. 3.1.9 Changed parameters Several parameters have been changed to specify raw Citect colors instead of palette index values. The affected parameters now take an RGB value and do not support flashing colors. They are: [Page]BackgroundColour, [Page]DynamicComBreakColour, [AnmCursor]Colour, [Trend]Cursor Colour, and in the CSV_Include project: [Navigation]MenuBackColour [Navigation]MenuForeColour 3.2 Web Client The Web Client operates in a similar way to the Internet Display Client (IDC). For information on Web Client issues, you can search the Knowledge Base for articles on IDC. Note that the Web Server does not act as a proxy server for client requests. These types of file operations are processed in CiCode on the client machine, just as they are on a CitectSCADA Display Client. The Web Client may fail when interacting with project created files on the client machine. 3.3 Upgrading Projects To see the new Example Projects, please delete your existing Example Projects prior to upgrading to v6.0. Screen Notes functionality is only available in CitectFacilities v5.42 and is not supported in CitectSCADA. As a result the csv_screennotes.ci has been removed. This may result in warnings or errors when you upgrade your projects to v6.0. If your project’s pages are based on the CSV_Include template, you can simply use the Update Pages command under the Tools menu in Graphics Builder. If your project includes direct references to screen notes pages (!CSV_PlaceNote, !CSV_ScreenNote, CSV_NoteSummary), CiCode functions (all functions in csv_screennotes.ci, such as CSV_Notes_Show, CSV_Notes_PopupMenu) or genies (csv_notes – clear_notes, enable_notes, list_notes, and viewall_notes), you will need to manually remove these references. The menu bar is now an integral part of the CSV_Include "normal" template. If you have made your own copy of the original template, you will need to copy the CiMenubar ActiveX control from the CSV_Include "normal" template to your custom template to ensure the menu will display. 3.4 Updated Driver Help As part of the changes that have been made to the CitectSCADA Help with the move to the HTML platform, the information relating to CitectSCADA drivers has been separated out of the main Help. Subsequently, you will now need to launch the CitectSCADA Driver Help as a separate entity. To do this, go to the Citect Explorer or Project Editor Help menu and select Driver Help. The new Driver Help will appear, providing an explanation of how to navigate successfully through the information. 3.5 Installing CitectSCADA Batch The CitectSCADA Batch installer is configured to default to option “Batch Server.” Do not select the option named “Any Client”, as this will result in a crash when accessing the Batch Summary Report within CitectSCADA. 3.6 Installing FastLinx for Mitsubishi Installation of FastLinx for Mitsubishi is a 2-step process: 1) Install CitectSCADA v6.0, and ensure Citect Explorer has been started at least once. 2) Install FastLinx for Mitsubishi (available on v6.0 CD2). 4. Operational Notes 4.1 Citect Explorer If you restore Citect projects that are prior to CitectSCADA version 5.41, your restored project may have an incorrect project ID. This is because old Citect projects are not saved with project ID information. To resolve this situation, back up the project after it has been restored, and then restore the project onto the machine you want to use. This will allow the restored project to retain the newly generated project ID. 4.2 CitectSCADA Web Server and Web Client If you have a beta version of the Web Server, please uninstall it before installing Version 6.0. Your existing deployments will still be available for use after uninstalling and reinstalling. Old page files in the Web Client cache may be incompatible with updated project deployments on the server. To resolve this, clear the cache by closing all Internet Explorer windows and deleting the Citect temp folder on the client machine (eg. on Windows 2000, “C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Local Settings\Temp\Citect”). Then restart the Web Client. Note that you can easily replicate an existing deployment by editing its name. When you edit a deployment in this way, the original deployment is not overwritten - a new deployment is created instead. When using the [WebServer]DeployRoot ini parameter, it must contain "deploy" as the last subfolder name, otherwise the deployment will fail. Typically you would deploy to the "deploy" subdirectory of a CitectSCADA webserver install, which might look like: "c:\program files\citect\citectSCADA\webserver\deploy". If you are using the CitectSCADA Web Server with Windows 2003 Server/IIS 6.0, you may find that the CitectSCADA Web Server does not operate. This is because when IIS 6.0 is installed, it defaults to a secure "locked" mode, meaning it can serve only static content. ASP, ASP.NET, and FrontPage Server Extensions are all disabled and must be intentionally and separately enabled. To enable ASP for IIS6 on Windows 2003 Server, do the following:
Please see the FAQ section of the Web Client Help for more information. 4.3 FastLinx for Mitsubishi The Mitsubishi MXChange Tag Import and Browse drivers have been replaced by Mitsubishi Fastlinx Tag Import/Export and Browse drivers. To be able to use the FastLinx functionality, users must have a key with an appropriate CitectSCADA license. Without the correct licensing, import/export and linking operations will fail with an explanatory error message. 4.4 CiConfig Utility The citect.ini configuration pop-up menu available in previous versions of the Online Help has been replaced by a new utility called CiConfig. This application will be available on the Complimentary Software CD distributed with the final CitectSCADA v6.0 release. 5. Known Issues with this Release The following issues are still being investigated: 26009 – Citect may stop responding on the primary IO server if there are access problems to the network location of a Disk PLC. 26042 – On a redundant IO server and Disk PLC configuration, when the primary and standby IO Servers are isolated, a write on the Disk PLC value may #COM the whole device. 26047 – Graphics Builder may crash when opening a nested template after changing the base template. 26077 – Citect Web Client may freeze while swapping between two language buttons, if the project or deployment name is in Korean or Chinese and the operating system is a localised version. 26083 - Displaying a trend template on a trend server may cause Citect to crash. 26089 – Memory growth may occur in a standby machine when Cicode is running and the standby machine is disconnected and then reconnected to the network. 26182 – If all tags are deleted from an external database, Citect tags may not get updated on synchronisation using Mitsubishi FastLinx. The following known major issues are planned to be resolved post-v6: 25206 – "Data Not Yet Valid" alarms are not generated as hardware alarms. 25545 – CSV_Example project doesn’t fully support DBCS. 25849 – Mitsubishi FastLinx - records are being deleted from Citect if they are invalid. 25850 – Mitsubishi FastLinx - framework giving corrupt information to driver if pack not done before synchronisation. 25992 – Instant trend - Trend Pen Selection list does not pop up for at least 5 minutes of the start. 25994 – Memory growth in the display client machine when using Instant trends. 26016 – Project with double-byte character data can not be printed properly. |
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