Proficy Real-Time Information Portal 2.6 server is supported on
the following operating systems only:
Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack
3 or higher
Windows 2000 Advanced Server with
Service Pack 3 or higher
Windows Server 2003
NOTE: For more information, refer to
System Requirements in the Getting Started with Proficy
Portal printed manual.
The ability to establish a secure connection between the server
and the client is available in Proficy Portal. This secure
connection uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol to encrypt
messages in travel across the network. The SSL protocol is
supported on Internet Information Services(IIS) 6.0.
Before using the iFIX picture export utility, you must ensure
that the following are installed (as a minimum requirement):
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX version
3.5
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX35_SP1
SIM
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX35_117410305
SIM
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX35_149769164
SIM
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX35_292319B
SIM
NOTE: Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX 4.0 includes
all aforementioned SIMs.
Proficy Real-Time Information Portal (herein referred to as
Proficy Portal) requires the Java 5.0 plug-in.
Proficy Historian users - Before you install Proficy
Portal:
Proficy Portal communicates with
Historian to receive data. IMPORTANT: if the Historian SDK
Client Tools are installed on your Proficy Portal server, then you
must install the latest Historian SIM on your Proficy Portal
server. To access Historian SIMs from the GE Fanuc web site, visit:
http://globalcare.gefanuc.com/downloads/sims/.
Please exit from all running
applications.
NOTE: CIMPLICITY 6.1 Service Pack 1a
installs the Historian SDK Client tools. When it does this it
installs an older version of the ihapi20.dll and, therefore, you
must install the latest Historian SIM on the Proficy Portal server
after installing CIMPLICITY 6.1 Service Pack 1a.
Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX users - If you encounter problems
trending values from the G_DATA field in an ETR block:
Make sure you are communicating with
an iFIX 3.0 SCADA server.
Verify that the iFIX30_259524 SIM is
installed.
NOTE: The iFix26_265407 SIM should be
installed for iFix 2.6. No SIM is needed if running iFIX 3.5 or
greater.
Using Access databases remotely is supported only for SELECT
statements (table and query). You will not be prevented from using
INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, however, they are not
supported. For information on how to configure, see Connecting
to Remote Access Databases in the online documentation. For
additional Microsoft Access database information, refer to:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=300216,
specifically, the Additional Best Practices for Network
Environments and Opportunistic Locking (oplocks) on the Network
File Server sections.
If a user is given permission for the Administration
application and/or the Statement Builder, but not given permission
for the client application, that user will be unable to log in and
access the Administration application and/or the Statement Builder
from the Proficy Portal client. However, the user can access the
Administration application and/or the Statement Builder from a URL
line parameter. For example, to access the Administration
application, the user would enter the following URL:
http://localhost/ProficyPortal.htm?APP=Admin.
If you are using a pop-up blocker with your web browser, and it
is set to block all incoming pop-up windows, you may encounter
problems accessing the online help. Most pop-up blockers come
equipped with options that will allow you to turn the blocker off
for specific web addresses.
Notes on Integrated Windows Authentication, if in workgroup
mode:
If the root URL is not the user's
Internet Explorer "intranet zone", the user will be prompted with a
Windows challenge when trying to access the Proficy Portal web
site.
The authentication will fail unless
the "Default Domain" is configured. In IIS, access the Default Web
Site Properties for Proficy Portal. On the Directory Security tab,
edit Anonymous access and authentication control. On the
Authentication Methods dialog box, make sure the "Default Domain"
check box in the Authenticated access section is selected (by
default, it is cleared). To do this, select Digest authentication
or .NET Passport authentication. Clear this check box after setting
the default domain if you are not using these methods of
authentication.
If the Proficy Common License Viewer does not open, check that
the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 is installed. If .NET is not
installed, run the following: [InstallDir]\GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\webapps\infoAgentSrv\dotnet (where InstallDir is the
location that Proficy Portal is installed).
IMPORTANT: It is strongly recommended that
you back up (make a copy of) your existing configuration before
installing a new version.
The following upgrade paths are now supported:
Upgrade from infoAgent 2.1 or 2.5 to
Proficy Portal 2.6. Run the Proficy Portal 2.6 setup and follow the
instructions in the installation program.
Notes on upgrading from 2.1:
Do not uninstall version 2.1. The
Proficy Portal 2.6 setup program will detect version 2.1 and prompt
you to run the upgrade. All version 2.1 files will be upgraded
automatically.
If you uninstall version 2.1 prior to
installing version 2.6, then all displays, pen groups, event
groups, symbols, etc. will not be upgraded to version 2.6.
If you have uninstalled version 2.1,
and installed version 2.6 to the folder 2.1 was previously
installed to, you can upgrade the 2.1 files by running the
following command:
GE Fanuc/Proficy
Portal/webapps/infoAgentSrv/Upgrade2/UpgradeRerun.cmd
If you have uninstalled version 2.1,
and installed version 2.6 to a folder other than the one 2.1 was
previously installed to, you can upgrade the 2.1 files by running
the following command:
GE Fanuc/Proficy
Portal/webapps/infoAgentSrv/Upgrade2/UpgradeApp.cmd
If you are currently running version 1.1 or 2.0, and wish to
upgrade to 2.6, it is recommended that you first upgrade to version
2.1 or 2.5.
NOTE: It is recommended that rather than
manually uninstalling version 2.1 or 2.5, simply run the 2.6
installation. This will automatically install over your current
location and all user files are maintained.
If you are upgrading, it is recommended that you reduce the
security privileges of the SampleSystem role to prevent unwanted
system changes. When Proficy Portal 2.6 is installed on a new
system (that is, not upgraded from a previous version), the
security settings of the SampleSystem role are pre-set. When
upgrading, however, the following changes should be made in the
Administration application's Roles & Users settings:
Select the SampleSystem role.
On the Applications tab, select
Administration from the drop-down list and clear the Run and All
check boxes.
Select the Proficy Real-Time
Information Portal Client item from the drop-down list and clear
all check boxes except Run, Save Run-time Configuration, Save Pen
Groups, Save Event Groups, and Allow Export of Data.
Select the Statement Builder item from
the drop-down list and clear the All check box (Run should be
selected).
Apply the changes.
When you upgrade from a previous version (prior to version
2.1), the virtual directory name will be changed from
infoAgent2 to ProficyPortal. Consequently, any
Favorites (that is, browser bookmarks) and/or desktop shortcuts
that contain the virtual directory name must be changed.
After upgrading, it is recommended that you clear all caches;
that is, clear the Internet cache, Java cache, and the local
machine cache (c:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\cache\Localhost). This will ensure that
objects in displays appear as they should in the new version of
Proficy Portal.
If you are having server connection difficulties (with Windows
Server 2003), ensure IIS has been configured correctly:
Install IIS 6.0.
From the Windows Control Panel, select
Administrative Tools\Internet Information Services Manager.
Right-click the Web Service Extensions
folder and select Add a new Web Service extension.
In the New Web Service Extension
window, enter a name for the extension (this can be anything).
Click the Add button and browse to the
isapi_redirect.dll file (e.g., c:\Program Files\GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\bin\isapi_redirect.dll). Select the file and click OK.
You can run Proficy Real-Time Information Portal on either an
IIS web server, or an Apache web server. If you are using Apache,
you must complete the following steps after Proficy Portal has been
installed.
The minimum required version of Apache is 2.0.52. For additional
system requirements, access the System Requirements tab.
Proficy Portal installs the following files to support
Apache:
mod_jk.conf
mod_jk_1.2.6_2.0.50.dll
NOTE: The following instructions assume that
Proficy Portal has been installed to the default location:
C:\Program Files\GE Fanuc\Proficy Portal. It is also assumed that
Apache has been installed to the location: C:\Program Files\Apache
Group\Apache. If these installation locations are different, you
must modify this procedure accordingly.
If IIS is running on the server machine, ensure that it is
either disabled or moved to another port (e.g., port 90). See
Resolving Port Conflicts for more information.
Stop the Proficy Portal server.
Stop the Apache server.
Locate the httpd.conf file in the following location:
C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf
Open the Apache httpd.conf file in Notepad, scroll to the end
of the file, and insert the following at the end on a blank
line:
Include "C:/Program Files/GE Fanuc/Proficy
Portal/conf/mod_jk.conf"
Also, in the httpd.conf file, add the following:
#
# DirectoryIndex: [Name of the file or files to use as a
pre-written HTML]
# directory index. [Separate multiple entries with
spaces]
#
<IfModule mod_dir.c>
DirectoryIndex index.html Default.htm
</IfModule>
Save and close the httpd.conf file.
Locate the mod_jk_1.2.6_2.0.50.dll file in:
C:\Program Files\GE Fanuc\Proficy Portal\conf
and copy it to the Apache modules directory as specified:
C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\modules
IMPORTANT: If Apache is installed to a
location other than C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2, you must
edit the path in the mod_jk.conf file.
Start the Apache server.
Start the Proficy Portal server.
Open the following URL in your browser:
http://hostname/ProficyPortal/Default.htm
NOTE: Apache is case sensitive; IIS is not
case sensitive. http://hostname/proficyportal/default.htm will load
on IIS, but not on Apache.
To use the Historian Edition sample displays, the
Samplesystem_Historian data source in the Administration
application should be changed to have a valid server name, user
name, and password. In addition, the Historian archive should have
at least one hour of data and should include Simulation tags 00001
through 00010 and Simulation string tags 00001 though 00005. These
tag names should not be prefaced with the Historian Server
name.
If Proficy Portal security is disabled, log in with any
user name and on the Overview display, click the 'Redirect and
logon to the sample system' link. On the SampleSystem display,
click the 'Logon to the sample system' link.
If Proficy Portal security is enabled, a number of
options are available for logging onto the Sample System. You must
first add the 'SampleUser' user in Windows security. For more
information on setting up Windows users, refer to your Windows
online help. After the user has been set up, you can access the
sample system in the following ways:
Log into Proficy Portal as SampleUser
(with the set password).
Add the user to the SampleSystem role,
and then log in as that user.
Use the links on the Overview and/or
SampleSystem displays. However, if you want a user to be able to
click one of these links to access the Sample System, you must
modify the Login command of the link and add the password you have
set for the SampleUser user. For example, in the SampleSystem
display, in Configure mode, right-click the 'Logon to the sample
system' link and select Commands from the context menu. On the
Configure Actions and Commands dialog box, double-click 'Login
Command' (in Current Configured Commands). On the Login Command
dialog box, enter the password and click OK.
If you want to access the Sample System Help or the Proficy
Portal Tour from a machine that does not have Proficy Portal
installed (for example, remotely accessing a Proficy Portal
server), you must change the URL in hyperlinks and web links for
all Sample System Help and Proficy Portal Tour links, as well as a
few others. For detailed information, refer to the Getting
Started with Proficy Portal manual. The links must also be
changed when the virtual directory name is changed.
Session timeout, and other server/security configuration
preferences in version 1.x are not included in the upgrade. Session
timeout is configured with a default of 20 minutes in Proficy
Portal 2.x. To change the system timeout, access the Administration
application, and in the Settings and Diagnostics area, click the
Sessions folder. Select a new Proposed session timeout and restart
the server. For more information, refer to the Proficy Portal
online documentation.
When upgrading from version 1.1 to 2.x, converted displays
containing charts may update at a slower rate than they did in
version 1.1. You may also see the error message "Memory Low: Unable
to Plot Data". In infoAgent 1.1, the Maximum Points setting (used
when configuring the Historian data source for charts) was an
artificial way to limit the amount of Historian data sent across
the network. Because using the Max Points setting can cause trend
distortion, it has been removed in version 2.x. It is extremely
important that you examine the amount of data your charts are
set up to retrieve. If they are retrieving too much data, this may
give an initial impression that 2.x performs slower than 1.1.
However, you have full control over how much data is retrieved, and
experimenting with the following settings will ensure the best
possible performance:
Use an alternative retrieval mode
(Retrieve Mode on the General tab of the Historian Edit Source
dialog box).
Time range parameters (Time tab of the
Historian Edit Source dialog box). For more information on
retrieval modes and time intervals, see Historian Data
Sources in the online documentation (tip: locate this topic in
the online help table of contents Connectors and Data
Sources/Data Sources).
Pen settings on the chart's
configuration dialog box (e.g., limiting the number of pens).
Additionally, you can limit the data
by setting the Max query tag in the config.xml file associated with
the data source. The config.xml file can be found in the
datasources directory (InstallDir\GE Fanuc\Proficy Portal\webapps\
infoAgentSrv\config\datasources\iHistorian). Locate the particular
Historian data source config.xml file. Open the file in a text
editor such as Notepad, and change the value of the MAXQUERY tag.
The default value is 100000. If the data request exceeds this
amount, you will receive an error message.
When upgrading a display (from version 1.1 to 2.6) grid lines
in charts in version 2.6 may not appear as they did in version 1.1.
This is because there are additional options in version 2.6 - to
draw the lines at major or minor tick marks. The default setting in
version 2.6 is to draw grid lines at major ticks (which may be
different than your original version 1.1 chart).
In infoAgent 1.1, when event groups are saved from a
'synchronize' event chart, only the event that has focus is saved.
Therefore, if the master event has focus and the Save Event Group
button is used, then only the master event is saved (if the current
event has focus, then only the current event is saved). If the
current event that is synchronized with a master event is loaded
into a 2.6 event chart, the Event Chart Configuration dialog box
will not close and an exception is generated. To work around this,
load the event group into the event chart, and before you close the
Configuration dialog box, clear the 'Synchronize with event' check
box. Using this method, no exceptions are generated and the event
chart can be used. This work-around, however, does not work for
buttons that load this type of event group.
During the Proficy Portal install, if you receive an error,
your system freezes, the install fails to start or complete, or you
experience unexplained system lockups that require a reboot of the
machine, the problem may be caused by Data Execution Prevention
(DEP). DEP affects all products that use HASP drivers. The HASP
driver is included with Proficy Common Licensing, and is part of
all GE Fanuc software products. At this time, GE Fanuc products do
not support running with hardware-based DEP turned on. For more
information, refer to the following article on the GE Fanuc
GlobalCare web site: http://globalcare.gefanuc.com/kc/kb/glbCarekbinfo.asp?
objid=1553203&id=268450132
Installing Proficy Portal on a drive other than C, where the C
drive is not formatted, will cause the installation to fail. To
work around this, make sure drive C is formatted before proceeding
with the installation.
Java plug-in issues:
When Proficy Portal is run for the
first time from the web browser, the user is requested to install
Java 5.0 plug-in. Installation of this plug-in requires
Administrator rights on the Windows operating system.
Proficy Portal supports only Java
5.0.
Do not uninstall and then re-install
the Java plug-in while Proficy Portal is running. Always log out of
Proficy Portal and quit your web browser before uninstalling or
re-installing the Java plug-in.
Other software that runs on the same
machine as the Proficy Portal client may run a different version of
the Java Run-time plug-in. Multiple versions of the Java Run-time
plug-in can be run in different browser sessions. However, if you
attempt to run multiple versions in the same browser session, the
attempt will fail.
If you install IIS after installing a Windows 2000 Service
Pack, you must re-install the Service Pack before you install
Proficy Portal.
Installing Proficy Portal on a machine running CIMPLICITY HMI,
Proficy Machine Edition, or a third party web server may cause
conflicts on port 80, 8005, and/or port 8009. The conflict on port
80 occurs because IIS runs the default Proficy Portal web site on
port 80. CIMPLICITY HMI and Proficy Machine Edition also install
and use a web server that runs on port 80 by default. The conflicts
on ports 8005 and 8009 occur because these are ports used by the
Proficy Portal server. To work around this issue:
Change the web server port used by
CIMPLICITY HMI and Proficy Machine Edition to something other than
80. If you change the port, users will need to add the port to
their URLs (e.g. http://servername ###, where ### is the assigned
port).
To change the CIMPLICITY HMI web server port: Configure the
built-in web server to use an alternate unused port. This is
configured in the Advanced dialog box. For more information, refer
to the CIMPLICITY HMI help topic 'Troubleshoot Webview' or
'Advanced WebVew Options for User Sessions'.
To change the Proficy Machine Edition web server port: From the
Windows Control Panel, choose 'CME Web Server'. In the Proficy
Machine Edition Web Server dialog box, enter a new port
number.
Change the port used by the IIS
default web site from port 80 to some other unused port. Warning:
changing this port may cause connectivity issues on networks that
use routers and firewalls. The URL http://servername/ProficyPortal
will no longer work. Use the following URL instead:
http://servername:##/ProficyPortal (where ## is the assigned
port).
After installing Proficy Portal, you are prompted to restart
the web server. As the computer shuts down, you may see the
following message:
"End Program - you should not see
me"
This is a Windows message that is
unrelated to Proficy Portal. If you see this message, it can be
ignored. When the computer restarts, you can start using Proficy
Portal.
You may receive one of the following errors during
installation:
"InstallShield Error 1608: Unable to
create InstallDriver instance." or,
"Error - 1603: Fatal error during
installation." or,
"Error - 1607: Unable to install
InstallShield Scripting Runtime."
For assistance with these problems, please refer to the following
knowledge base articles:
During installation, if you receive the error message "Failed
to create Proficy Portal Service. Please run RegIAService with
Proficy Portal directory as commandline parameter manually to
create the service", run the RegisterIAService command in a DOS
window, as follows:
In a DOS window, navigate to the
following directory: c:\YourInstallDir\GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\webapps\infoAgentsrv\web-inf (where YourInstallDir is
the name of the directory Proficy Portal is installed to).
Enter the following command:
RegisterIAService c:\YourInstallDir\GE Fanuc\Proficy Portal\
Note: make sure to include the back slash '\' at the end of
the command.
iFIX users: it is recommended that you run your SCADA server on
a separate machine than your Proficy Portal server. Running both a
SCADA server and a Proficy Portal server on the same machine is
supported only for iFIX 4.0 or greater.
iFIX users: if you are running Proficy Portal and iFIX version
3.0 or below on the same machine, and you uninstall iFIX, the
Proficy Portal licensing software must be reinstalled. Run the
Proficy Portal setup and select the Repair option (then follow the
remaining installation instructions).
iFIX and OPC users: if you configure an OPC connector to
Intellution.opceda or Intellution.OpciFix (either locally or
remotely through RIF), you may be unable to start iFIX (you will
receive an iFIX internal error). To work around this:
If the OPC connector is local, stop
the Proficy Portal server, start iFIX, and start the Proficy Portal
server.
If the OPC connector is remote, open
the RIF Configurator and connect to the machine that is hosting the
OPC connector. Next, click the Advanced button to see the running
RIF servers, and stop the server that is hosting the OPC connector
that is connected to iFIX. Start iFIX, and then in the RIF
Configurator, start the server again. NOTE: Any Proficy
Portal servers that are using this connector will experience
communication loss during the shutdown period; therefore, if the
connector is shared, due caution must be taken.
iFIX users: if you are running Proficy Portal and iFIX on the
same machine, and the iFIX version is older than 4.0, Tomcat.exe
may crash while resetting the cache of a FIX data source when the
local node has been shut down. As is stated in a previous note,
running both a SCADA server and a Proficy Portal server on the same
machine is supported only for iFIX 4.0 or greater. If you are
running an older version of iFIX, it is recommended that you run
your SCADA server remotely.
If you are using a scheduled task with Natural Printing, if a
shortcut has its run option set to 'Minimized' (on the shortcut's
Properties dialog box), the startup applet may not initialize. If
this happens, the report will not run until the window is restored.
To work around this, do not use the 'Minimized' run option.
You cannot drag and drop a URL from the address bar in Internet
Explorer if the URL is longer than 259 characters. Only the first
259 characters will be retrieved. To work around this, add the URL
to Favorites and drag from the Favorites list into the display, or
copy the address and paste it into the Web Control, Hyperlink, or
WebSource Editor dialog box (depending on the type of URL and what
type of object you're using it in). More information on this issue
is available in the Microsoft knowledge base article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;898571.
Discrepancies may exist between the results of calculations
performed via the Expression Builder and with the Windows
Calculator. The Windows Calculator evaluates expressions to a
higher precision, while the Expression Builder uses Java Double
precision.
When configuring data source aliases in expressions, do not
skip data source IDs. For example, if you have two data sources to
create aliases for, use DS0 and DS1. Creating aliases for DS0 and
DS2 (skipping DS1) may return unexpected results.
When data is exported as a .csv (comma-separated value) file,
viewing the data in Microsoft Excel may result in data
inaccuracies.
When using a grid for real-time array data, when there is more
than one data source, the 'Group Columns By Data Sources' option is
selected. This means that the data is grouped in the grid such that
rather than returning multiple rows, only one row is returned. To
correct this, open the Configuration panel for the grid, and on the
Columns tab, clear the 'Group Columns By Data Sources' check
box.
The Tree object supports a limit of 500 data items. Having more
that 500 data items may result in compilation errors.
The use of spaces in user names is not supported.
Users do not automatically appear in the Users folder in the
Administration application (Roles & Users). If you want a user
to appear in the list, you must manually add the user (right-click
the Users folder and select Create User).
If you experience difficulty with the right-click menu in the
Administration application (e.g., the menu remains on the screen
after clicking the menu item), log out of Proficy Portal and log in
again.
If you are using the Matrox Millennium G450 Dual Head display
driver, verify that you have version 5.72.21.0 or greater
installed. If you have an earlier version, Proficy Portal menus
will not display properly when the mouse passes over them.
If your screen color setting is set at 24 bit or below when you
start Proficy Portal, the resolution will remain at 24 bit,
regardless of changes made to the color setting. If the color
setting is set at 24 bit when you start Proficy Portal, and you
change to a lower setting, the display becomes distorted. If this
happens, you must restart Internet Explorer to return to
normal.
The use of multiple Proficy Portal client sessions on the same
machine, that access the same server, is not supported.
You can close any Proficy Portal dialog box with erroneous
entries. No error appears to warn you. Your only indication of
errors is red text.
When the system time is changed on the Proficy Portal server,
the time display on components in Run mode does not update. To work
around this, switch to Configure mode and then back to Run mode
(the time is then updated according to the system time of the
server).
If your version of Internet Explorer is earlier than 6.0, you
may receive the error "Member not found" in the following
instances:
When you open the Administration
application, if you click first on the URL (Address bar).
When you switch to Configure mode in
the Proficy Portal client and click first on the Proficy Portal
File menu.
Click OK on the error message to resume normal operation.
Templates, pen/event groups, thresholds, alarm filters, and
symbols cannot be deleted from the Proficy Portal application. To
work around this, access the file you want to delete from the
Proficy Portal directory, and remove it. For example, to delete a
template for an event chart, you may remove it from
InstallDirectory\webapps\
infoAgentSrv\maps\templates\eventchart.
When changes are made to global objects, for example, a named
time is added or removed, the change will not take effect in an
open display until it is closed and reopened, or saved.
Some shortcut keys, such as Ctrl+D (duplicate object), Ctrl+O
(open display) will not work in all situations. Also, you may
encounter problems using the arrow and Delete keys in System Tree
and/or Data Source Browser.
When duplicating objects in a display, commands associated with
objects are not completely duplicated; that is, the command is
duplicated, but not the action associated with the command. For
example, if you duplicate a chart and a button that has a Load Pens
command, the duplicate button will load the pens to the original
chart (it is not remapped to the duplicate chart). Objects that use
the Link Property to function, however, are duplicated with the
Link Property to information intact. For example if you duplicate a
grid and a combo box that uses the Link Property to function to
supply a parameter to the grid, the duplicated combo box will
automatically link with the duplicated grid.
In an Alarm Analysis object, when using the Time In/Last or
Date In/Last fields for filtering, the format of the time or date
is not validated; therefore, if you enter an incorrect format you
will receive no error message. It is recommended that you use the
Native Date/Time In or Native Date/Time Last fields for filtering,
as the time/date formats are validated.
When editing symbol values, some types of symbols allow changes
to the substitution value via a custom editor that is accessed from
an ellipsis button on the Value column. Although this ellipsis
button appears for all symbol values, if the type of symbol value
does not require a custom editor (e.g., a property that uses text
substitution), you will receive a message stating that the custom
editor is not available when you click the ellipsis button.
Manually entered data items in list/combo boxes are sorted
based on the ASCII numeric value of the characters. This causes all
uppercase letters to appear before all lowercase letters.
Do not use a back slash character '\' when manually entering
data items for list or combo boxes. You will not be able to save
your display if the back slash is used.
When using a Quick Analysis object with a datalink, values
displayed from real-time data sources may not be synchronized. For
example, a datalink and a Quick Analysis grid object may not
display the same values at the same time.
If an historical tag with item time set to something other than
'Fixed Time' (e.g., Duration Before Now is set to 10 minutes), is
run in a Time chart Thumbnail object, and display or component
update is enabled, the start time of the historical pen will
increment by twice the update rate on the first update (it should
increment by the update rate).
If an Historian grid Thumbnail object's data source item time
is set to something other than 'Fixed Time' (e.g., Duration Before
Now is set to 10 minutes), and either display or component update
is enabled, the grid updates twice on initial update.
You may have problems saving a display when the display
contains a Thumbnail object set as an Historian grid that is
configured with a large number of data sources (e.g., 100 or more
tags). To work around this, decrease the number of data sources, or
do not use the Thumbnail object to display the grid.
When an object that uses Quick Time (e.g., Time charts,
Historian grids) is inserted into a display in Run mode, and the
object's Quick Time option 'Synchronize with display time' is
selected, a time change made on the Run-time toolbar does not
update the object's time duration (as it should). To work around
this, insert the object in Configure mode, select the 'Synchronize
with display time' option, and then switch to Run mode.
Including a page break in a grouping of objects will disable
the functionality of the page break.
Auto Update of a display does not show new insertions or
updates to relational databases. For example, a grid that is
configured with a SELECT statement to a relational table does not
refresh with the latest insertion/update when the display's Auto
Update setting is enabled.
If you configure a list box/combo box with manually entered
time values, and link the control to a grid by the "Selected
Value", when you run this configuration, you will receive an error
message stating the string cannot be converted to a number. To work
around this, use the time component object to pass time values to a
grid object.
When setting security credentials for a data source in the
Administration application, valid credentials must exist before a
connection can be made to the data source with any other
credentials. The credentials for a data source are set on the data
source configuration panel (Administration application | Connectors
& Data Sources).
When the Proficy Portal server initially accesses a data
source, it caches the contents of the data source's namespace.
Consequently, if you modify the items in a data source while the
Proficy Portal client is running, you may not see the changes
reflected in the data source browser. You can update the server's
cache and display data source changes by selecting the Refresh
Selected Data Source button on the data source browser. If the data
source has the ability to detect changes in its namespace, using
the Refresh button in the data source browser may also bring in
changes.
The Proficy Portal web server is optimized for run-time
performance, since startup or restart of the server should be rare
in a production environment. Startup performance can be compromised
if connectors that represent a sizeable namespace are started (this
does not only occur during a server startup, but rather whenever a
connector is started). This can be especially true if connectors
must retrieve information from other processes (such as an OPC
server) and those processes themselves are CPU intensive. In this
type of situation, if you try to start a client session (on the
server machine), you may experience a performance lag. For example,
if you were to add an OPC connector (local) that accesses an RSLinx
OPC server, the server may have one or more topics with sizeable
namespaces. Because of this, you may notice that the RSLinx.exe
uses a substantial amount of the CPU and, if you start a local
client session at the same time, the client window will be slow to
load.
When you drag and drop a data source from the Data Sources tree
onto a display (also known as Natural Presentation), the available
objects will differ depending on the type of data source. If you
want to insert an object that is not available, you must use the
alternative method of inserting an object (select the object from
the Insert menu). For a list of the objects available for each type
of data source (for Natural Presentation), see the Proficy Portal
e-book topic Natural Presentation Supported Objects by Data
Source (Connectors and Data Sources book).
When you are adding data sources in the Administration
application, all data sources that use the Remote Interface Service
must use unique port numbers. If two different data sources use the
same port number, problems will occur.
If you have the Remote Interface (RIF) server configured for
the iFIX Workspace OPC Server, you will not be able to shut down
iFIX until you manually stop the RIF server. If you do not stop the
RIF server before shutting down iFIX, the next time you start iFIX
you will receive an error "Cannot start iFIX. Please identify the
program which is still accessing iFIX system resources and shut it
down before restarting...".
Proficy Portal 2.6 connects to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 using
the jTDS driver, but does not work correctly with the GE Fanuc SQL
Server driver.
If you encounter a timeout when running a lengthy SQL query,
complete the following steps:
Locate the Config.xml file
from the Proficy Portal directory (GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\webapps\config\datasources\Alarms\ or GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\webapps\config\datasources\SQL\).
Find the tag and change the
-1 to a value between 60 and 3600 seconds (e.g. -60). Any value
outside of 60 to 3600 will not be accepted and the SQL timeout will
still occur.
If you have trouble connecting to an SQL server, refer the
online help topic Verifying Relational Database Connections
for tips on resolving this issue. To find this topic, type
"relational database connections" in the Help Search.
When security is set on specific tables in an SQL database and
access is granted only to specific users, these tables can be added
to schemas and statements; however, when an attempt is made to run
the statement, access will be denied. Proficy Portal does not
support this level of security.
After installing Proficy Portal, the web-based Historian
Administrator help may not open. To work around this problem, add
the Historian web server in the Trusted Sites of your web browser
as follows:
Select Internet Options from
the Tools menu of your web browser. The Internet Options dialog box
appears.
Click the Security tab.
Click the Trusted Sites
icon.
Click the Sites button. The
Trusted Sites dialog box appears.
Enter the URL of the
Historian web server to the Add this Web site to the zone field and
click the Add button. This web site is added to the list of trusted
sites.
Click OK to accept your
changes in the Trusted Sites dialog box.
Click OK to close the
Internet Options dialog box.
Historian and PI data sources 'Quality item' is displayed as a
number in all objects except the grid. For example, in a datalink
object, you will see 192 (for good), 64 (for uncertain), and 0 (for
bad). The grid object translates these numbers to Good, Uncertain,
and Bad.
When 21CRF11 is enabled on the Historian server, the Electronic
Signatures dialog box appears when annotations are entered;
however, no Electronic Signatures dialog box will appear when data
is written to an Historian archive (e.g., a user inserts or updates
values).
The Historian retrieval mode Raw By Number (Backwards) is not
supported.
The Engineering Unit Range that is set for tags in Historian
does not have an effect on data that is written to an Historian
archive from Proficy Portal. For example, if the EGU range is set
at 0 - 100, and a value of 500 is written from an Proficy Portal
grid, the value is accepted by Historian.
When configuring an Historian data source for an object, you
are restricted from entering an interval that is 24 hours or
greater.
Care should be exercised when selecting time duration in raw
data queries from an Historian server. If a time duration
containing too much data is selected the server may stop responding
or act unpredictably. This problem will occur with any object that
is used to retrieve Historian data for a specified time duration
(e.g., Time chart, Event chart). The appropriate time duration to
select for a query will depend on the collection interval and/or
compression setting on the Historian server (that is, how much data
is actually collected).
The Trend retrieval mode is not supported for iHistorian
version 1.0.
OPC tags do not display field identifiers. For example, when
you configure a grid to display several different OPC values, the
rows in the grid do not appear with field identifiers (VALUE is
displayed for each type).
The use of OPC Write Only tags is not currently supported. If
you use a Write Only tag as a data source for an object (for
example, a command button that performs a write value command),
when the display is run you will receive an error message.
Not all OPC hints will work with the Proficy Portal OPC
connector. When you select a hint from the browse list, some
servers will return the first valid data item in the hint range,
while others will return the hint range itself.
When the server returns the first
valid data item, you can edit the Fully Qualified name to be any
data item in the range. For example, a GE9 OPC server has a
datablock that is polling 4 registers: R1, R2, R3, and R4. When you
browse the GE9 you will receive the following hint: R1 - R4(*hint
StartAddr - EndAddr). When you select it from the browse list you
will see Device0:R1, that you can change to Device0:R3 (or any data
item in the range).
If the server does not resolve hints
passed as item names to valid items, an error will be
returned.
When editing the Fully Qualified Item Name on the Edit Source
(or Configure New Object) dialog box, if you enter invalid syntax
it will result in the dialog box not closing. Be sure to enter
valid syntax when editing the Fully Qualified Item Name.
Intellution 7x OPC server issue: use of the pipe (|) character
in Channel, Device, and Datablock names is not supported for use
with Proficy Portal. If any 7x driver configurations use the pipe
characters in their names, the characters must be removed before
the driver configuration can be used with Proficy Portal.
Write fail notifications are dependent on the OPC server that
is being used. For example, if you attempt to write a value to an
OPC item via a Datalink object, some OPC servers will inform you
whether the write succeeded or failed, while others may not.
When a FIX tag configured in a Time chart goes off scan, the
plot stops. When the tag is back on scan, the two good points
reconnect and the plot continues.
When using Proficy Portal to write a value to an item that is
in a group with a fast update rate, you may encounter unexpected
behavior, such as the value reverts to the previously entered
value, or you receive multiple prompts while entering the value. To
work around this, lower the update rate of the group that is being
written to. This can be done in the Administration application -
FIX connector configuration settings (Maximum Age).
The CIMPLICITY HMI data source does not support Proficy Portal
role and user credentials. The CIMPLICITY HMI user specified in the
Proficy Portal data source in 'Roles and Users' will have no effect
in establishing a connection or reading/writing to an HMI Point. It
operates with the user credentials specified on the data source
configuration panel (Administration application | Connectors &
Data Sources).
When the CIMPLICITY HMI data source connector is used, changes
to the user name and password information in the data source
configuration panel will not be used by the connector until all
usage of the connector in Proficy Portal has ceased. Also, if a
CIMPLICITY HMI Project is started for a specific user and a
connection is established to Proficy Portal, if the user is
changed, the connection with Proficy Portal will be problematic. To
manage this, stop and restart the Proficy Portal server after
changing and applying the new user information, or stop and restart
the Remote Interface Server on the remote system where the
connector is running.
When configuring a CIMPLICITY HMI connector, be sure to use a
valid user name. Using an invalid or blank user name can cause the
Proficy Portal client to be unresponsive. If this occurs you will
be required to restart the Proficy Portal server.
Three or more Web Controls connected to complex web sites may
not work correctly. Multiple instances of Web Controls in a display
connected to simple web sites, such as google.com, have been found
to work correctly.
Web sites that run on older versions of Java may not work
correctly. For example, if a Web Control is connected to a web site
that launches an applet, and the applet uses a different version of
Java than the Java plug-in used by Proficy Portal, the Web Control
and Proficy Portal may behave unpredictably.
While attempting to access the iFIX picture exporter, if you
receive the error "Cannot Create ActiveX Object", you must register
the SCRRUN.dll. To do this, type the following into a command
line:
The Importer utility generates a warning message "cannot find
parser..." for descriptions and hints applied to Groups. This
occurs because the Group parser treats all of its children nodes as
shapes to be parsed (when in fact the nodes apply to the
Group).
If a text object in an iFIX picture is imported into Proficy
Portal, and the specified font size of the text does not exist in
Proficy Portal, the text will appear as the correct size; however,
the Text Configuration dialog box will show the size as 12. This
occurs because the default text size in Proficy Portal is 12, and
when a match is not found, the default is shown.
NSD tags and ALARM counter tags can be imported into Proficy
Portal, and will function correctly after they are imported;
however, these tags cannot be edited in Proficy Portal.
When a picture is imported from iFIX that contains objects
drawn partially or completely off-screen, it is possible that one
or more shapes will have coordinates that translate into negative
numbers or coordinates that are positive and off-display. This may
result in those shapes not being visible in the Proficy Portal
screen. If this occurs, use the autosize display feature in Proficy
Portal to resize the display (while in Configure mode, right-click
in an empty area of the display and select AutoFit Display. The
display will be resized so that all shapes are visible. You may
still need to rearrange the objects after resizing the
display.
When an iFIX picture is exported, single quotation marks in
iFIX tags are removed. This must be manually corrected after
importing in Proficy Portal.
When a group, in an iFIX picture, that consists exclusively of
unconvertible ActiveX controls is exported as an .svg file, and
then subsequently imported in Proficy Portal, an exception will be
generated. If, however, the group contains at least one convertible
object, such as a rectangle or text box, the .svg file will be
imported with no exceptions.
Objects are not updated when data source time zone changes are
made in Run mode.
The Java run-time environment does not properly initialize
certain time-related Windows features. This failure results in the
Client time zone reporting time inaccurately. For example, setting
Greenland as the time zone in the Date/Time Control Panel applet
causes the Java run-time environment to display Brazil time in a
datalink or chart.
This issue can cause problems if you live in a time zone that does
not observe daylight saving time because the Client time zone
always adjusts for daylight saving time. To work around this issue,
do one of the following:
Select a time zone that does not
observe daylight saving time when configuring data links and
charts.
Set the display's time criteria to a
time zone that does not observe daylight saving time and then set
the time zone of your data links and charts to the Display Time
Criteria time zone.
Likewise, when the Client time zone is Eniwetok, Kwajalein time
(GMT-12:00), the Java run-time environment treats the time zone as
Marshall Islands Time (GMT+12:00). To resolve this issue, configure
your data links and charts as Eniwetok, Kwajalein time (GMT-12:00).
NOTE:The run-time environment does not have
a short or long display name for the Eniwetok, Kwajalein time zone
(GMT-12:00). Consequently, when displaying this information in a
data link, the text "GMT-12:00" appears.
The names of time zones listed in Proficy Portal do not always
match the names listed in the Date/Time Control Panel applet. In
addition, the GMT offset displayed in a datalink changes depending
on the time of the year (if you select a time zone that observes
daylight saving time). For example, suppose you select Eastern time
(GMT-5:00) in the Date/Time applet and configure a datalink with
Eastern time (GMT-5:00) as the time zone. In the spring and summer,
the GMT offset for this data link shows GMT-4:00 because Proficy
Portal is adjusting for daylight saving time. The remainder of the
year the offset is GMT-5:00.
Objects configured to use the Data Server time zone do not
adjust for daylight saving time.
A time zone that is in the same offset and region as another
time zone may not display the correct long and short description in
the chart's legend. For example, the time zone 'Eastern Indiana'
will appear on the chart as 'Eastern Standard Time' (short
description appears as 'EST'). This is an internal Java (JDK) issue
and does not affect the data plotted on the chart - it is strictly
a problem with the displayed time zone description.
Do not overlay one chart on top of another chart. If you do,
Proficy Portal may become unresponsive in Auto Update mode or may
exhibit refresh problems. If this occurs, press Ctrl+M to switch to
the configuration environment.
Exporting data after zooming a chart always includes the end
time of the original time span. If you want to omit this time, edit
the export file with a text editor.
In configuration mode, the labels on the X and Y axes may not
be accurate. When the display is switched to run mode the correct
labels will appear.
Charts do not retrieve limits at run-time (i.e., high and low
limits of the data are retrieved during Configuration mode
only).
Relative time zone options (i.e., Client, Display, Data Server,
Tag) are not read and applied to the legend in a chart when the
display is opened. For example, if you create/save a display in one
time zone, and the display is opened in another time zone, the
chart's legend displays pens with values from the time zone the
display was saved in (not the time zone the display is opened in).
The time axis on the chart shows the relative time setting
correctly - this problem occurs only in the chart's legend.
When a chart is run and copied to the clipboard, the date/time
format that is set in the chart's configuration is not maintained
when the data is pasted into Excel. The date/time format in Excel
will always appear as DayOfWeek MMM dd hh:mm:ss Timezone yyyy.
When an SQL statement is used to filter data from an object
such as a combo box to a grid object, the statement cannot contain
multiple parameters that have the same name. Each parameter should
have a unique name. The result of linking to a grid with multiple
parameters with the same name is that only one of the parameters
can be used.
Symbol files may not load data sources into XY charts when the
XY chart is part of an existing display and is already configured
with a data source (other than the symbol file data sources).
When the EGU limits on an iFIX tag are changed, the change is
not apparent in the chart (i.e., in Configuration mode), even
though the Fetch Limits pen option is enabled.
Historian users only - when you are running an Event chart, and
the Proficy Portal client/Historian server time clocks vary by more
than the length of the batch you are running, the chart does not
reset for each phase (that is, it plots the phases as though they
were phase overruns).
The Event chart is not available for use with a Thumbnail
object.
In the C chart (Attribute SPC chart), the Bold and Bold Italic
font styles (as selected on the Font tab of the chart's
configuration dialog box) have no effect on the font style of the
chart's title, as well as the x and y axis labels.
When a 'Last N Subgroups' parameter is used to supply a Quality
chart with a value (for example, a combo box can be linked to an
XBar chart with the 'Last N Subgroups' parameter), the chart should
display an error message if the supplied value is a 0 or 1.
Currently, rather than displaying the error message, the chart
shows all available subgroups.
Category charts will show 2 decimal places regardless of being
configured to show 1 or no decimal places.
When changes are made to the default settings of a Quality
chart's control limits (on the Chart tab of the chart's
configuration dialog box), if you run the chart as a Thumbnail, the
control limit changes are not retained.
Setting the Background Mode as 'Transparent' (this option can
be found on the General tab of the configuration dialog box) is
problematic for XBar-R and XBar-S charts.
When an Event chart is configured without the Plot Transparent
background option on (set on the configuration dialog box General
tab), multiple data sources that are stacked (while in Run mode)
may appear in the color that is set as the overflow color. To work
around this, either select the Plot Transparent option, or make the
Overflow percent background color (set on the configuration dialog
box Chart tab) the same color as the chart's background color (set
on the configuration dialog box General tab).
The Time chart does not properly graph the PI connector 'State'
variable. For example, when you set a PI digital state tag as a
data source for a Time chart, and in the Advanced tab of the Edit
Source dialog box, you select 'State' rather than 'Value' as the
selected field, the x-axis of the Time chart does not display the
valid date/time format. To work around this, use the Historian grid
to see the state data item.
When animating shapes, a color property (e.g., Foreground
Color) cannot be animated with 'Range' or 'Format' Data Conversion
types (you will receive an error message).
In a case where an animation is applied to an inner and outer
group of objects, the animation applied to the outer group will not
take effect. For example, a group of rectangles has a rotation
animation applied to it. A second group of rectangles is added with
a horizontal position animation applied to it. When the two groups
are then grouped, the inner (rotation) animation is the only
animation to take effect.
When the size of a display changes, and shape objects are
scaled accordingly, the center of rotation does not scale in
proportion to the object.
If two or more users are modifying the same display, changes to
the display are updated every 30 minutes. To force an update to a
display, close the display, clear the Internet Explorer cache and
the Java cache, and reopen the display. To clear the Internet
Explorer cache, remove temporary Internet files (in Internet
Explorer options). To clear the Java cache, access the Java plug-in
Control Panel.
You cannot print an analysis display using the Print button or
Print command in your web browser. Also, you cannot use the Print
Preview command in the browser. Consequently, you should always use
the Proficy Portal print commands to print a display or chart.
When printing an analysis display, the background color and
image do not appear in the printout.
When you access a web link from the Displays tree, the web page
opens in the display window. If the web link's target web page has
hyperlinks that use a "target=_top" function, then clicking on a
link in the web page will completely remove the Proficy Portal
environment (i.e., you will not see the toolbar, menus, or system
tree). The "target=_top" function removes any existing frameset,
and there is currently no way to resolve this issue (as it is a
browser limitation). To work around this problem, use the Back
button on your browser's toolbar to return to the Proficy Portal
environment.
Weblinks cannot be set as the default display. If you attempt
to set a weblink as the default display, after logging in you will
receive an error message and the web page does not appear.
When an Administrator removes another user's folder from the
System tree, active sessions are not updated with this change, and
even though the user's Displays folder does not appear in Windows
Explorer, the removed user's folder does appear in the system tree
in the next session. In addition, there is no error message to
indicate that a save operation has failed when a user attempts to
save a display that has been removed.
In some instances, the autofit/autoscale features do not
function as expected. For example, when Auto Scale options are
enabled (in the Edit Application Preferences dialog box), and the
display sizing is set to Auto Fit for width and height (in the Edit
Current Display settings dialog box), text in components may not
scale properly when the browser window is resized.
Changing your operating system's display settings (for example,
color depth) while running the Java run-time applet can cause
problems with the display colors and/or size. It is recommended
that you do not change display settings while running Proficy
Portal. This is a known Java run-time applet issue.
Problems may occur when a display containing a Time Component
object uses a named time that no longer exists.
When you create a new display and assign a custom icon before
saving, the custom icon that you have assigned will not appear in
the Save As dialog box, and unless you assign the custom icon in
the Save As dialog box, the display will use the default icon. To
work around this, assign the custom icon while saving the new
display (in the Save As dialog box), or assign the custom icon
after the new display has been saved.
When you have a custom icon assigned to a display, and you use
the Save As feature to save the display, the display will be saved
with the custom icon unless a different display name is provided.
If the display is saved (using Save As) and the same name for the
display is given, even though the 'Enable Custom Icon
Configuration' check box is cleared, the custom icon will still be
used for the display.
Statements/schemas can only be renamed by performing a Save As
and deleting the original; however, this is not recommended. If the
statement or schema is referred to from elsewhere in Proficy
Portal, renaming will result in errors.
The following issues exist for a user set up with read-only
permissions on the Schemas and Statements folders:
When a user right-clicks a schema or
statement and selects Delete, the delete confirmation message is
displayed. This message is non-functional, as a user with read-only
permissions cannot delete a schema or statement.
The user can right-click a schema and
select the Cut command. The schema disappears from the navigator.
The user is not, however, permitted to use the Paste command (this
is as it should be).
Statements that are saved in folders that contain apostrophes
or spaces in the folder name will not appear in the Data Source
Browser or Data Sources tree. To work around this, in the Statement
Builder, copy the statements into a new folder that does not
contain apostrophes or spaces in the folder name.
The attributes of text objects using Asian fonts must all be
the same on any one analysis display. If you change an attribute of
one text object, all text objects on the display also acquire the
change. For example, if you apply italics to one object, all text
is italicized.
You can work around this issue by changing the font size of the
object you want to modify. For example, if you want to apply
italics to a text object, change the object's point size as well.
This is a Java 1.3 run-time issue.
The Java run-time plug-in defines the following regional
settings for the following languages:
Language
Decimal Separator
Group Separator
Minus Sign
Zero Digit
Group Symbol is…
English
period (.)
comma (,)
hyphen (-)
0
Used
German
comma (,)
period (.)
hyphen (-)
0
Used
French
comma (,)
Space ( )
hyphen (-)
0
Used
Spanish
comma (,)
period (.)
hyphen (-)
0
Used
Japanese
period (.)
comma (,)
hyphen (-)
0
Used
Chinese
period (.)
comma (,)
hyphen (-)
0
Used
These Java run-time plug-in settings override the settings in
the Control Panel applet Regional Options(Windows 2000/Windows XP)
or Regional Settings (WindowsNT/Windows 98). You can change among
the different settings by selecting a new locale from the Regional
Options/Regional Settings applet.
If you install a localized version of Proficy Portal 2.6 on the
local operating system and you select a different locale, the text
displayed by the program appears in English, the default language.
For example, if you install a German version on a German operating
system, but then select French as the locale, the text in the
menus, charts, text objects, dialog boxes, and error messages
appears in English. This is expected behavior since Java reads the
locales but defaults to English when no translation for the target
language is available.
You may also experience a problem if you change the locale from
Chinese to English. In this situation, the Chinese characters do
not appear in display titles or descriptions; you cannot enter
Chinese text in annotations, and you cannot save Chinese text.
Windows XP only - Switching from a double-byte language (e.g.,
Japanese, Chinese) to a single-byte language (e.g. German, English)
when Supplemental Language Files have been installed can cause
Internet Explorer to be unresponsive. To work around this issue,
remove the Supplemental Language Files that were installed for the
double-byte language. These files can be removed in the Regional
Settings Windows Control Panel.
You can locate error and debug logs in several places if you
suspect something is not operating correctly. The IIS web server
may log messages in the directory c:\winnt\system32
\logfiles\w3svc1 (assuming you installed to c:\winnt). Debug or
error messages reported on the client side can be found in the Java
console window. If this window does not automatically appear when
you run the Proficy Portal client, specify "Show Java Console" in
the Java Plug-in Control Panel applet. Messages from the server
side are logged to YourInstallDir\GE Fanuc\Proficy
Portal\webapps\infoAgentSrv\WEB-INF\logs\ infoAgentServer0.log. The
Java servlet engine may also log messages in the
YourInstallDir\logs directory.
For more information on logging the Java Console output to a
file, use the -Djavaplugin.trace=true Java RunTime Parameter. For
details on this and other trace and logging options, open the Java
Plug-in Control Panel, click on Help, and review the "Tracing and
logging support" topic.