CitectSCADA

Release Notification

(Updated 3 August 2007)

Version 7.00 Release

This is a detailed listing of resolved problems and minor enhancements in this release. (See What's New in the CitectSCADA Online Help for details of new features for this version.)

See the Readme for information about restrictions and limitations with this release.

Fixed problems

16937 Packet sequencing errors may cause Client/Server disconnection requiring a restart
When the error message "wrong sequence of packets" is encountered on the client, the connection to the corresponding server is closed and not re-established until a restart. This problem has now been resolved so that the client correctly handles such an error and reconnects to the server.

26108 Insert Function Wizard has an Invalid entry of WinTrend
The Insert Function Wizard contains an entry of WinTrend where no such function exists. This listing should instead be TrendWin. This problem has been resolved.

26545 A folder is created on the web client desktop when loading CSV based projects
After deploying a CSV based project for the web client and loading it up on the clients machine, a folder with the name of the project is created on the clients desktop, containing the variable.dbf and varibale.ndx. This behaviour has now been corrected.

26999 Tag Import/Export Dialog User Interface Enhancements.
The "I/O Device" option has been moved to the top of the dialog. When changing an "I/O Device" the parameters on the dialog will not be overwritten if there is no information for the selected device in profile (citect.ini). So if the device has been previously exported or imported all the parameters will be loaded from the INI file, otherwise everything remains intact. When changing the "Database type" the "External database" and "Connection string" fields will be overwritten only if the selected driver supports these parameters, otherwise they remain intact.

27834 Right-clicking an a summary alarm to view its properties may display incorrect alarm instance.
When multiple instances of an alarm are visible on the alarms summary page, right click an instance of the alarm and select the alarm name from the popup menu. Regardless of which instance is selected, the on/off times will be that of the current alarm instance, which may not the one the user right clicked. This problem has now been resolved.

28122 Fastlinx incorrectly imports some tags using unsupported modnet device addresses from Unity projects.
The Modnet protocol does not support network/remote rack addressing. CitectSCADA has been modified to ensure tags in Unity that use this are not imported.

28659 Tags in actions in Active X objects were truncated at 32 characters
Tag names in actions in Active X objects can now be up to 79 characters. This is the same as other objects. Where the dialog box displaying the tag name is shorter than this as much of the name as possible will be displayed, followed by "...".

28686 [DisableIO] parameter not working with Citect.ini in the Windows folder
The [DisableIO] section of the Citect.ini did not have any affect if the Citect.ini was located in the \Windows folder. This problem has now been rectified.

28691 Base/Nested Genie substitution problems
When modifying base genies there are occasions when any genies in which the base genie is nested, have difficulties correctly organising parent\child relationships. This results in some genie substitutions not being propagated correctly. This issue can be corrected by setting the INI parameter [CTDRAW.Library] ExtendedPack=n where n = 0 means don't open and save each library object n = 1 means do open and save each library object (ensure correct propagation of properties if a base genie has been modified). Afterwards run Pack Libraries from the tools menu in Graphics Builder.

28731 The Cicode function TimeToOLEDate may lack precision.
Due to a calculation error, the TimeToOLEDate cicode function may lack the precision required to be used correctly by OLE and COM objects. This problem has now been resolved.

29167 CitectSCADA can get stuck in a non-dialable state if a connection is dropped abnormally
When using dialup I/O, if an abnormal disconnection occurs, it is possible that no further dial out connections can be made until after a restart of the runtime. This problem has now been resolved.

29402 Cache persistence cannot be disabled for remote I/O devices
The requirement to have remote (scheduled) I/O devices CACHED property set to TRUE means that the cache for such devices are always persisted (saved) to disk. This in turn means that when CitectSCADA is restarted, previous tag values may be displayed even though they could be out-of-date. This behaviour can now be disabled by setting the [Dial]PersistCache property to 0.

29596 TrnEventSetTable doesn't clear events anymore when passed a zero timestamp
Clearing event trend data by passing TrnEventSetTable a zero timestamp was no longer supported. This functionality has been added back in, but needs to be enabled by setting the Citect.ini parameter [Trend]EnableEventClearing = 1.

29720 Dialup system hangs if attempting an outgoing connection while an incoming call is being established
When the dialup system tries to establish a permanent connection whilst the RTU is dialling in with an unsolicited message, then the whole SCADA system stops and the only way out of the problem is to restart CitectSCADA. The Dialup system now detects the failed call attempt which resolves this issue.

30033 Permanent dial out connections not being handled when there is an existing connection to the device
When there is an existing modem connection to a device, the Cicode call IODeviceControl(...,7,...) (i.e. mode 7) should disconnect any current connection and dial out to the device specified. This was operating incorrectly and instead the call attempt was queued. This has been corrected to behave as documented.

30046 Dialup connection stays connected until [DIAL]MaxConnectionTime even though all requested data was processed to the remote IO device
When a Dialup connection attaches to a remote device to process requests, it should disconnect once all requests are complete. Instead, the connection remained until it timed out due to the Maximum Connect Time parameter. This behaviour has been corrected.

30066 DialCallUnits error 8200 caused by starting the next dial request in queue before previous connection has completed
When requests for multiple devices are queued using the same modem (for example using IODeviceControl()) and the first request disconnects, the second request should not attempt to dial until the first has completed the disconnection sequence. The 8200 error occurred when the 2nd connection was attempted to early. This has been corrected.

30390 Hardware alarm caused by incorrect alarm property parsing
The compiler was incorrectly parsing some alarm properties. This would result in a hardware alarm at runtime. This problem has now been resolved.

30495 CitectSCADA Web Server shortcut is installed in wrong location
In certain scenarios upgrading the CitectSCADA Web Server causes the "Start Shortcut" to be installed into the wrong location. The Web Server Shortcut now always gets installed into Start -> All Program -> Citect -> CitectSCADA Web Server.

30641 "drivertrace dump" kernel command added
The “drivertrace dump” command has been added. When used in the IOServer kernel it will show information on the various DCB queues.

30704 Dialog I/O crash when using IODEVICECONTROL call
A call to LineParamDebugMsg from IODEVICECONTROL was using an uninitialised char array used. This caused a stack corruption and a crash. This issue has been resolved.

30758 Main Group tooltip is displaying when mouse is outside bounds of group
When subgroup elements were hidden, an incorrect rectangle bounding the group was calculated. The end affect was a tooltip displayed for a group even when outside the bounds of the group. The tooltip now correctly displays only when the mouse pointer is within the bounds.

30851 Using the Cicode function LanguageFileTranslate on large strings could cause CitectSCADA to crash
Using this function to translate a file that is larger than 32KB in size would cause CitectSCADA runtime to crash. This problem has now been resolved.

30874 Graphics Builder crashes when modifying a symbol where the project name contains a period (.)
A period in the project name can cause the Graphics Builder to crash when modifying a symbol. This occurs if the symbol is part of a library owned by a project with a period in the name. Periods are no longer allowed to be used in project names.

30890 Cicode call to CSV_MM_StoreLastPage() did not handle the current monitor (-1) number
CSV_MM_StoreLastPage() did not handle the -1 Monitor number. This is used to refer to current monitor. This could result in a termination of the calling Cicode thread. This value is now correctly handled.

30915 TrnSetTable() does not write to correct sample period
When backfilling a trend, if the data period did not match the trend period, data was not always written to the expected sample period. This has now been rectified.

31007 Cicode Editor syntax formatting inconsistencies occur for large files
It is possible that syntax formatting inconsistencies will be seen in the Cicode Editor for large files (approximately 1500 characters or more). A new Citect.ini parameter [CtCicode]FastFormat has been added which will (by default) bypass the optimised FastFormat mode that can cause these inconsistencies in favour of the standard formatting mode.

31069 Cicode call CSV_MM_PageLast() does not display the last pages correctly
When pages had non-unique names CSV_MM_pageLast would find an incorrect page in CitectSCADA’s page navigation stack. CSV_MultiMonitors.ci has been modified to ensure that the navigation is performed correctly and the last page is returned to.

31107 The message “The system cannot open the device or file specified” may appear when opening pages from the Citect Webclient
The folder with the name of the project is created on the desktop. Sometimes a popup is produced when deploying a new project. This was caused when an invalid path name was used to store the downloaded HTTP files. This resulted in the directories being created in inappropriate places, or not being created at all. When the files could not be created, the pop-up was produced. This problem has been fixed by two things: (1) checking the validity of directory after creation (2) skipping the database name entry in the include path list.

31136 Values assigned to [Page]DynamicComBreakDensity were not recognised
Changing the value of Citect.ini parameter [Page]DynamicComBreakDensity had no effect on the #COM dither density. This parameter is now correctly used to set the dither density.

31381 Unity Fastlink Static Import/Export enhancement
The requirement for a Unity STU file was included because there was no PLC type information in an XML Static Import/Export file. An enhancement has been done for this requirement. Rather than the Citect Fastlink driver automatically extract the PLC Family Type from the STU file, the user is required to manually select the PLC Type from the PLC Family field in the Unity Link Configuration dialog if the Modbus, Modnet and MBPlus protocol is in use.

31383 Zooming in on a trend page may not work
This can occur if you are currently viewing a trend page in real-time mode (i.e. the trend graph is updating in real-time). What can happen is that if you zoom in on an area of the trend graph, the display will remain in real-time mode (instead of switching to historical mode) and thus the display will move to the current value (RHS edge). This problem has been resolved.

31473 The ini file parameter [IOServer]DCBBufsize has been removed
The [IOServer]DCBBufsize ini file parameter has been removed as it was able to be set as low as 256 bytes which would interfere with many drivers as they expect to have at least 512 bytes available.

31481 Deployments were not displayed in the CitectSCADA Web Client
When used with the Apache Tomcat Web Server v5.5.13 and above, deployments were not displayed on the Web Client home page. Deployments are now correctly displayed when used in conjunction with these versions of Apache Tomcat.

31944 Genies with disable style “hidden” may be displayed in an incorrect position
Object visibility information was not saved in its entirety. The “disabled mode” information for an object was not being stored correctly which affected the visibility of an object. This has been corrected.

32076 The TimeUTCOffset Cicode function returned the incorrect offset
This problem has been resolved by returning the offset currently in place rather than always returning the current UTC offset.

32096 CSV Projects momentarily report an "Invalid Window" error prompt
An "Invalid Window" prompt is momentarily observed 5 secs after start up when a start up page is used with the CSV Project. This problem has now been rectified.

32165 Embedded Cicode function calls in reports may cause a crash when run
If a Cicode function was embedded inline inside a report format file and the Cicode function did not return a result, the report engine caused CitectSCADA to crash. This problem has now been resolved.

32177 CitectSCADA Webclient popup takes a long time to open with a large number of ASS calls
The Web Client could take a long time to open if some include paths were higher than the project directory. The search for these include paths has been optimised and so the problem has been resolved.

32191 Long Cicode error messages could cause Citect to crash
When a Cicode debugger error message is too long there is a chance that it would crash the Cicode debugger. This issue has been resolved.

32422 System beeps when closing the DspEdit pop up text input dialog.
The system beeps when a DspEdit pop up box has been displayed and the user either clicks the mouse outside the box or presses the return key to close it . This issue has been resolved.

32451 Plot functions cannot plot a symbol to the printer
Using the PlotSetMarker Cicode function, followed by the PlotMarker function would silently fail if the destination plot was a printer rather than the screen. A hardware alarm now occurs if this is attempted.

32460 CitectSCADA Web Client fails to launch correctly on some versions of Windows
Various errors such as "Error in Server Error" and "Error in Not Found" may be displayed when launching the CitectSCADA Web Client on Windows 2000 or 2003. This problem has been resolved.

32577 SQL Queries on long column names could cause Citect to crash
CitectSCADA can crash when executing an SQL query on a column name that is greater than 30 characters in length. The issue has been resolved and column names can now be up too 128 characters in length.

32662 Suppressing the project upgrade prompt
The ini parameter [CEDIT]AUTOMATIONUPGRADE has been added so that the upgrade prompt can be suppressed to aid automation.

32665 Graphics builder Automation function "projectpackDatabase" fails and returns error 0x80010105
Calls to the Graphics Builder automation function "ProjectPackDatabase" were failing and returning an error of 0x80010105 ("The server threw an exception"). This issue has been resolved.

32671 When tags are imported via the import tags wizard, long lines cause Citect to hang.
Imported tags that had lines over 2048 or that had comments with the '"' character contained in them would hang Citect. Tag comments that used multi-byte characters could also fail to import as expected as the regular expression was incorrectly applied. These problems has been resolved.

32736 Incorrect handling of custom Fonts in Spanish version of CitectSCADA
When editing custom Fonts in the CitectSCADA Project Editor, Foreground and Background Colour settings were saved with those values entered for the Foreground and Background Flash colours. These fields are now correctly loaded and saved to reflect what has been entered.

32738 Calling ComOpen and shutting down CitectSCADA can cause Citect to crash
If ComOpen is called and CitectSCADA is shutdown without ComClose also being called, then CitectSCADA could crash. This has been resolved.

32754 CPU Functions do not work as expected
The CSV_WinUtl_GetTotalCpuUsage(), CSV_WinUtl_GetCpuUsage("") and CSV_WinUtl_UpdateTotalCpuUsage() functions could cause long pauses of unresponsiveness and have CPU usage reporting as 100%. These issues have been resolved.

32772 Error connecting to the CitectSCADA Web Server when Internet proxy settings are enabled
When attempting to connect to the CitectSCADA Web Server with the Citect Web Client and system level proxy settings are required for internet connection, the following error could be displayed "Starting Citect Web Client Failed: Cannot Initialise CitectSCADA system". The Web Client now correctly uses proxy settings to connect to the CitectSCADA Web Server.

32798 Excess of Citect.ini entries for Kernel window position parameters
When Citect Kernel windows are viewed which display the contents of a file, Citect.ini can fill up with unnecessary entries under [Kernel.WindowPositions]. This problem has been resolved so that no such entries are inserted.

33413 Trend Scale Values display as zero for values less than 1e-7
Very small values for Trend Scales display as zero for values less than 1e-7 so that some or all axis labels appear as 0.00+000. This problem has now been resolved.

33426 Dynamic descriptions in Advanced Alarms causes a crash when the compiler is run
When using Dynamic Descriptions in the Advanced Alarms form, a crash may occur when compiling the project. This problem has been resolved.

33489 The Search Parameter tool in Computer Setup Editor displays message "An error has occurred in the script on this page"
When searching for a parameter via "Search parameter reference" in the Computer Setup Editor, this error message may be seen. This problem has been resolved.

33578 PageSave of graphics builder automation interface produces pages with errors.
PageSave function calls through the graphics builder automation interface were failing. Three symptoms would occur:

1. Saved pages would generate a hardware alarm when run.(Page CTG/RDB record mismatch)
2. Dynamic objects would fail to display correctly on the page.
3. Subsequent PageSave attempts using the same instance of the graphics builder application would fail.

This issue has been resolved.

33697 Delayed alarms are still acknowledged when re-enabled
This problem occurs when an alarm with a delay had been acknowledged before it was disabled. When it is enabled again the delayed alarm stays in the acknowledged state instead of defaulting back to an unacknowledged state. This has been resolved.

35377 Trend Backfilling does not always fill gaps for slow period trends.
Sometimes, when you restart a trend server gaps remain in slow sample period trends even through the other redundant trend server contained all the data required to fill the gap. This problem has been resolved.