InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 1 ****************************** * InTouch 7.11 Release Notes * ****************************** ********************************************************* Installation ********************************************************* ATTENTION This software requires a license to operate Each component of Wonderware FactorySuite 2000 requires a license to operate. If you have already purchased one or more licenses, they should have been delivered on a floppy diskette with this package. If you have not purchased any licenses, or if you have any questions regarding licensing, you should contact your local Wonderware distributor for ordering information. NOTE If your system requires a hardware key, you will receive a hardware key in addition to your license diskette. For proper operation, the hardware key and license files must all be installed. If you have any questions regarding the installation of your licenses, or hardware key, please contact you local Wonderware Distributor. System Requirements Following are the minimum hardware and software requirements for InTouch 7.11. Hardware Minimum: For NT and 2000 Professional Systems: 200 MHz Pentium, 128 MB RAM (note 1), 500 MB free hard disk space (note 2) For Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server systems: 200 MHz Pentium 128 MB RAM (note 1), 500 MB free hard disk space (note 2) Suggested: For NT and 2000 Professional Systems: 700 MHz Pentium 3 or greater, a minimum of 128 MB RAM (note 1), 1000 MB free hard disk space (note 2) For Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server systems: 700 MHz Pentium 3 or greater, a minimum of 256 MB RAM (note 1), 1000 MB free hard disk space (note 2) Note 1: Base requirement. Must be expanded by 16 MB per every 5K tags. Also add 2 MB for each concurrent user expected to connect to the server.
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 2 Note 2: Actual free disk space requirements may be higher depending on your alarm database logging needs. Operating system Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 or greater (Workstation or Server) Windows 2000 SP2 (Professional, Server or Advanced Server) Other software Microsoft SQL 7.0 SP3 or Microsoft SQL2000 (optional - MSDE 2000 can be installed by the 7.11 setup if MS SQL is not detected in the system.) The NTFS system is highly recommended for increased data reliability, compression, and performance. Before you install Windows 2000, verify that your hardware is on the Windows 2000 Hardware Compatibility List. Because Microsoft provides tested drivers for only those devices that are listed on the Windows 2000 HCL, using hardware that is not listed on the HCL may cause problems during and after installation. You can find the most recent version of the HCL on the Internet at http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl. Peripheral Devices that have an impact on performance include hard disks and network adapters. Hard disks Disk speed is critical for Terminal Server performance. Small Computer System Interface. (SCSI) disk drives, especially devices compatible with Fast SCSI and SCSI-2, have significantly better throughput than other types of drives. Network adapter A high-performance network adapter is recommended, especially if users require access to data that is stored on network servers or client/server applications such as Wonderware InTouch. IMPORTANT! This version of InTouch is not supported on Microsoft Windows 3x and Windows 9x operating Systems. Before You Install You must exit all currently running Windows programs before installing any Wonderware FactorySuite 2000 components. IMPORTANT! Due to the changes in alarm system, all computers running InTouch on a network architecture must be upgraded if one component is upgraded. Also, you cannot upgrade to 7.11, uninstall, and then reinstall an older version of the FactorySuite without first returning the computer to a clean state (for example, using a disk drive ghosting program). Please call your Wonderware Certified Support Center for details and more options. InTouch 7.11 is compatible with both FactorySuite 7.1
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 3 components and FactorySuite 7.11 components except as noted above. If you are running the Windows NT operating system, Service Pack 6a or higher must be installed. If you are running the Windows 2000 operating system, Service Pack 2 or higher must be installed. If the required Service Pack is not installed, you cannot complete the installation. 1. Insert the CD labeled InTouch 7.1/7.11 in the CDROM drive. The InTouch Setup program automatically starts. 2. You will see the Welcome screen. This screen provides a warning to exit all other Windows programs before continuing. This is strongly recommended. When you have exited all other Windows programs, click Next to continue. 3. The FactorySuite 2000 License Agreement displays. Please carefully read the License Agreement. Click Yes to accept the License Agreement and continue with Setup. Click No if you do not accept the License Agreement. NOTE: Clicking No will exit Setup. 4. You will see the User Information dialog box. Enter your name and your company name and click Next to continue. Note: you will see this step only if you are installing InTouch for the first time. 5. You will see the Registration Confirmation message box. If information is correct, click Yes to continue. Note: you will see this step only if you are installing InTouch for the first time. 6. You will see a dialog box asking if you want to view the FactorySuite release notes. Click yes to exit Setup and open the FSRelNotes.txt file in Notepad. Click No to continue with Setup. 7. You will see the main install screen, which lists the FactorySuite components. Click on InTouch to install it. NOTE: If you are installing InTouch as well as one or more other FactorySuite components, install InTouch first. The Install Info button provides additional information on the various FactorySuite bundles. 8. You will see a dialog box asking you which version of InTouch you want installed. Select InTouch 7.11 and click Next to continue with the installation. Note: When you select InTouch 7.11, a message box will be displayed informing you that if you use this PC to generate and display Alarms, and if you are connected to other InTouch nodes that use Alarms, those nodes need to be upgraded to the latest InTouch version. Click Yes to continue with the installation. 9. Once you have selected InTouch 7.11, Setup will verify that your system meets the requirements for InTouch. This may take several minutes, depending on the speed of your system. 10. Next, Setup will check to see if necessary system files
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 4 are already installed on your system. If not, Setup will begin installing them. 11. Setup will now begin the FactorySuite Common Components installation. If you are upgrading an existing FactorySuite component, setup will install the Common Components over the existing Common Components. If you are installing FactorySuite for the first time, Setup will prompt you for the destination folder for the Common Components. Click Browse to select a different folder. Click Next to continue with Setup. NOTE: If you are installing InTouch 7.11 on a clean Windows NT 4.0 system, you ll be prompted to reboot your system after the common component files are installed. After you reboot the system, setup will display Welcome and FactorySuite 2000 License Agreement dialogs. 12. Setup will now prompt you for the User Name, Domain and Password for FactorySuite services to log on Windows NT. Type in the correct information, including password. Click Next to continue. Setup will install the Common Components. 13. If Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.x/4.x is already installed on your system, this step will be skipped, otherwise, Setup will launch the Setup program for Adobe Acrobat 4.05. Click Continue to install Acrobat Reader 4.05. NOTE: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or greater, installed on your system, to be able to view and print the FactorySuite online documentation. 14. You will be prompted for the destination directory for Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.05. Click Browse to select a different destination, or click Next to continue. 15. You will now be prompted to reboot your system. Click OK to reboot your system. When your system has been rebooted and you have logged back on, Setup will automatically continue. You will see the Welcome screen. Click next to resume Setup. Note: you will see this step only if you are installing InTouch for the first time or installing it on a Windows 2000 system. 16. The FactorySuite 2000 License Agreement displays. Please carefully read the License Agreement. Click Yes to accept the License Agreement and continue with Setup. Click No if you do not accept the License Agreement. NOTE: Clicking No will exit Setup. This step will be skipped if you are installing InTouch 7.11 on a clean Windows NT 4.0 system. 17. Setup will continue by checking system requirements and verifying that necessary system files have been properly installed. This process may take several minutes, depending upon the speed of your system. 18. If you are installing InTouch for the first time, you will be prompted for the destination folder InTouch. Click Browse to select a different directory. Click Next to continue Setup. 19. You will now see the Select Components screen. Select the InTouch components you want. NOTE: It is necessary to
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 5 scroll down to see all components. If you do not select Online Manuals you will not have the online documentation installed on your system. Click Next to continue Setup. 20. You will see the Configuration options dialog box. You have three options: Full Development, which includes all InTouch components necessary to create and run InTouch applications; Run-Time only, which includes all components necessary to run InTouch applications; FactoryFocus includes the components necessary to VIEW InTouch applications only. Select the configuration you want. Click Next to continue setup. 21. You will see the Start Copying Files dialog box. Under current settings you will see the options you have chosen. If the settings are not correct, click Back to make changes. Click Next to continue Setup. 22. Setup will now copy all of the files for the components you have selected. This process may take several minutes, depending upon the speed of your system. 23. When Setup finishes copying files, you will see a message box about reviewing Release Notes. This refers to the ITRelNotes.txt (this file), which contains important InTouch specific information. Click OK. You will see another message box saying that Setup is complete for InTouch. Click OK. 24. Setup will display a message box asking whether you want to install MSDE 2000. Please read the instructions carefully and click Yes if you want to install MSDE 2000 or No to exit setup. If you click Yes, MSDE 2000 installation will start. Follow on screen instructions to complete the MSDE 2000 installation. Note: If you have already installed Microsoft SQL Server, or MSDE on your system, this step will be skipped. Before you install MSDE 2000, you must first install Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 or later on your system. When installing MSDE 2000 for the first time, you may be asked to reboot your system to start the MS SQL Server. ********************************************************* New Features ********************************************************* Wonderware InTouch 7.11 is comprised of several components that perform Visualization design and presentation, Data Access extensibility to external components/systems, history, event handling, alarm logging, and reporting and analysis tools. Wonderware InTouch has long set the standard for ease of development to allow users to create complex and powerful operator interface displays quickly and easily. Some of the new features in this release are: Distributed Alarm Subsystem With easy configuration and profoundly improved alarm handling performance, the new Distributed Alarm Subsystem of InTouch 7.11 greatly improves the quality of your information while reducing the configuration time. InTouch 7.11 has two new alarm acknowledgement models. Also, dialog boxes and an easy-to-use graphical user interface make alarm configuration simple to
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 6 implement. The basic alarm communication protocol has been updated to use Wonderware s TCP/IP-based SuiteLink protocol. This reduces the amount of CPU and network use, while greatly increasing the alarm update time. SuiteLink Timestamping InTouch 7.11 provides up-to-the-millisecond timestamping of your alarms when the alarm occurs, not when the consumer receives the alarm. Alarm Display The Distributed Alarm Object, familiar to users of InTouch 7.1, has been enhanced. Additional functionality can be provided to an application user to enable preconfigured (by the system designer) views to be selected at runtime, either by a simple right-click command menu or via scripting. The old Standard Alarm Display has been discontinued. Applications that were developed using the old display are automatically upgraded the first time they are opened in WindowMaker. Alarm Flexibility Alarms can now be enabled or disabled directly or indirectly under full control of the application. Alarm suppression can be applied to single alarm classes, tags, or groups to prohibit the display of alarm information on a specific view node. System-wide disablement can block alarm activity at the source. New Alarm Fields A separate alarm comment field allows you to provide more feedback about the alarm. Expanded dot field support allows you greater control over alarms. New Alarm Database and Alarm DB Logger Manager The new InTouch Distributed Alarm Subsystem supports logging alarms and events to a Microsoft SQL Server or MDSE database. This provides the power of a relational database, regardless of the size of your application - and your budget. New visualization tools allow easy and open access to these data tables via the Alarm DB View Control. The new Alarm DB Logger can be manually started on demand or can be configured to run as a Windows service. Alarm logging uses UTC (GMT) timestamping and provides compatibility with DST and across time zones. Alarm Database Maintenance Ensuring your alarm log database is always optimized is straightforward using the standard Purge/Archive utility. Restoration of archived alarm data can be achieved using the Alarm Database Restore utility. AlarmSuite Database Migration Support for AlarmSuite users is still available. However, to enable maximum flexibility, InTouch 7.11 also provides migration tools from legacy Alarm Loggers to the new system. Easy-to-Configure Hot Backup and Resynchronization The new Distributed Alarm System allows you to configure a secondary backup alarm provider, thus establishing a fail-safe system. Alarm provider pairs are configured using a supplied utility. Should a primary alarm provider fail,
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 7 the Distributed Alarm Subsystem seamlessly acquires alarm information from the backup system. On reconnection of the primary node, the Distributed Alarm Subsystem ensures that alarm acknowledgements are resynchronized prior to the returning primary system becoming live. ********************************************************* Known Issues ********************************************************* Warning! Installation may fail on some systems with a built in Intel 81x graphics controller chip at certain resolutions and color settings. To prevent installation failure, change your color settings to 256 colors prior to installation. After installation, you may set the color settings to any value. 1. Indirect tags are not supported as alarm inhibitor tags. 2. AlarmSuite does not support Microsoft SQL Server 2000. 3. The maximum length of the AlarmComment dot field is the same as the maximum for all InTouch strings: 131 characters. 4. InTouch 7.11 and FactorySuite WebServer are not compatible If you want to use InTouch 7.11, you must use SuiteVoyager. 5. The Alarm DB Logger Utility does not support the Windows security model for the authentication mode. Only SQL Server authentication mode is supported. If Microsoft SQL Server uses the Windows security model, you will receive the following error message: "Connection to server not available." 6. If InSQL 7.1 is to be installed with InTouch 7.11 on the same node, MSDE 2000 should not be installed. 7. Any service program logged on using local system account attempting to connect to remote machine through Named Pipes protocol will fail due to Windows security implementation since the IPC share utilized by the Named Pipes protocol will require administrative privileges. It is highly recommended to use TCP/IP protocol in such application / configuration. Following are INCORRECT configurations: (1) If you configure Alarm DB Logger as service logged on using local system account and use Names Pipes protocol to connect to remote Microsoft SQL Server. (2) Running InTouch View as service logged on using local system account and the Alarm DB View ActiveX contained inside the View trying to access the remote Microsoft SQL server using Named Pipes protocol. CRI0014307 - For multi-line alarm queries appearing in the Distributed Alarm Display, line separations display as "garbage" characters. This will not affect the function. CRI0014949 - NetDDE crashes when attempting to set a topic via DRA. Wonderware has reported this NetDDE issue to Microsoft for resolution. Microsoft has a hotfix for the NetDDE problem. Please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article : q304870. CRI0015242 - A memory leak occurs while closing and opening windows that include a Distributed Alarm Display Object continuously using a script.
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 8 CRI0015537 - In previous versions of InTouch, four system tags were available for monitoring the alarm printing activity: $AlarmPrinterError $AlarmPrinterNoPaper $AlarmPrinterOffline $AlarmPrinterOverflow These system tags are not supported in InTouch 7.11. A future patch will be required to support these four system tags. CRI0015807 - InTouch 7.11 ships with the Sentinel hardware key driver, version 5.33. This version does not work with Windows 2000. Rainbow Technologies has released version 5.39, which works with Windows NT and Windows 2000. If you use version 5.39, you will experience a 15 to 20 second delay when you start up or switch between WindowMaker and WindowViewer. CRI0015824 - If the Acrobat Reader is installed with the InTouch product and is not launched, it is not possible to open any of the PDF documentation via the Books menu. This is because the Reader needs the user to accept the license agreement in order to be able to access the program. CRI0016771 - In order to install MSDE 2000 on Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, you must first install Internet Explorer 5.5. CRI0016783 - If you install MSDE2000 through InTouch install procedure and decide to uninstall and install it again, please go directly to \msde2000 folder to do the installation. After installation if MSDE2000 setup does not ask you to reboot the system, you need to go to Start --> Program --> Startup --> Service Manager to start services for the first time. Or you can reboot the system. CRI0016854 - For users of the Microsoft Intellimouse with the IntelliPoint mouse driver, the WWLogger may report a warning regarding a reduction of shared memory allocation. This is due to a conflict between the address space allocated for the mouse driver, and the address space desired for the InTouch alarm subsystem. This will be reported in the Wonderware Logger. If you experience difficulties in running the Alarm subsystem with intellipoint, then turn off the IntelliPoint mouse driver before starting WindowViewer. CRI0016890 - WM.exe will have application error if WM tries to convert old version of InTouch application and the application has windows with instances of ActiveX controls not registered or the application makes calls to script functions for which no dll file is available in the InTouch directory. To overcome this problem, that specific ActiveX control or script.dll file should be installed properly and registered. CRI0017068 - When trying to acknowledge an already acknowledged alarm using the right-click menu, no changes will be made to the database. CRI0017072 - In Alarm Hot Backup, when the primary provider comes back up, the first line in the consumer Distributed Alarm Object is blank. A click on the object or a new alarm will display the record. The non-displayed record is properly written to te Alarm history database. ********************************************************* Updates to Documentation
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 9 ********************************************************* CRI0014918 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-139, Item 9 Note: You cannot have a secondary alarm provider and a hot backup client in the same node. Should be changed to: Note: A Hot Backup client cannot be configured as a provider in the Hot Backup configuration CRI0015146 - InTouch User s Guide, Chapter 4 and Chapter 7 InTouch Reference Guide There are three new Distributed Alarm Display dot fields that have not been documented completely. They are:.listchanged Indicates whether there are any new alarms or updates for the Distributed Alarm Object. Usage [ErrorNumber=]GetPropertyD("ObjectName.ListChanged", Tagname); Parameter Description ObjectName Name of the Distributed alarm object. For example, AlmObj_1. Tagname A Discrete type tagname that holds the property value when the function is processed. Remarks This read-only dotfield contains the information about whether there is any change that needs to be updated in the distributed alarm display object. This property is automatically reset on reading the property. Data Type Valid Values Example(s) See Also Discrete (read only) 0 = No new alarms or updates for the display object 1 = New updates for the display object The following statement returns if there are any new alarms or updates for the Distribute alarm object "AlmObj_1" to the Discrete tagname AlmDispStat: GetPropertyD("AlmObj_1.ListChanged", AlmDispStat); Get PropertyD().PendingUpdates Indicates if there are any updates pending for any Distributed Alarm Display. Usage [ErrorNumber=]GetPropertyI("ObjectName.PendingUpdates", Tagname); Data Type Integer.Freeze Reads/writes the freeze status of the Distributed Alarm Display object. Usage [ErrorNumber=]GetPropertyD("ObjectName.Freeze", Tagname) [ErrorNumber=]SetPropertyD("ObjectName.Freeze", Tagname)
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 10 Data Type Discrete (read-write) Valid Values: 0 = Freeze OFF 1 = Freeze ON CRI0015570 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-144, "Mapping Alarm Records" There are different terms used in the Alarm Hot Backup Manager Utility "Selected Key Fields" dialog box and for the header names in the.csv (comma separated variable) file. (The.csv is used to create alarm mappings between primary and secondary alarm providers.) The following table outlines the relationship: "Select Key Field" dialog box.csv header names ------------------------------------------------------ Alarm Group Group Alarm Name Name Alarm Class Class Alarm Type Type Priority Priority Value at Alarm Value Limit Limit Comment Comment The terms shown on the right should be used as header names when creating the.csv file for importing alarm mapping. CRI0015914 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-144, "Mapping Alarm Records" should not be used in the.csv file for alarm mapping. CRI0015917 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-144, "Mapping Alarm Records" When creating a.csv file using Excel, do not include, inside the cell, since Excel will generate it automatically when the.csv file is being created. CRI0015918 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-138, "To add a new Hot Backup pair" and page 7-140, "To edit an existing Hot Backup pair" Regarding the valid characters for the node name, provider, and group: For the node name: 1. It must start with an alphabetical letter. 2. You can use any alphanumeric character. 3. The underscore (_) is the only special character allowed. 4. No other special characters are allowed at any other place of the node name. For the provider name: InTouch is the constant provider name. You cannot change this. For the group name: 1. It accepts all valid characters (A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9,!, @, -,?, #, $, %, _, \, &.) 2. It starts with A to Z or a to z. 3. $ can be the only other first character and if it is, then the group name can only be $System. 4. You cannot use a backslash (\) at the end.
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 11 5. Consecutive backslashes (\\) are not allowed. CRI0015928 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-85, "Alarm DB Logger Configuration" When the Alarm DB Logger Manager is used to create databases, tables, and stored procedures, there are three user accounts with different authentication/security levels created at the same time. The Manager has the same authentication/security levels as IndustrialSQL Server. These levels are: Account Password --------------------------------- wwadmin wwadmin wwpower wwpower wwuser wwuser CRI0016027 - almselectioncount() script is not been documented almselectioncount() is a new script function. It takes DAO object name as parameter and returns the count of selected rows to an integer tag Syntax [Result=]almSelectionCount(ObjectName); Example Tag1 = almselectioncount("almobj_1"); CRI0016205 - InTouch User s Guide, page 7-93, "Context Sensitive Menu Options" The following statements: "True" and type = integer To Set: assign a value not equal 0 or "True" To Get: you will receive the integer value -1 "False" and type = integer To Set: assign 0 or "False" To Get: you will receive the integer value 0 Should be changed to: When an integer (Boolean) type property is assigned a value "True" and is read into (or gotten from) an integer type tagname To Set: assign a value not equal 0 or "True" To Get: you will receive the integer value -1 When an integer (Boolean) type property is assigned a value "False" and is read into (or gotten) from an integer type tagname To Set: assign 0 or "False" To Get: you will receive the integer value 0 CRI0016547 - InTouch Reference Guide InfoResources() system script function has not been documented: InfoResources() system Returns various system resource values. Syntax IntegerResult=InfoResources(ResourceType,Trigger); Parameter Description ResourceType Integer representing resources to monitor: Type Description
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 12 1 Returns the percentage of free space for GDI resources. 2 Returns the percentage of free space for USER resources. 3 Returns the number of free bytes of paging file 4 Returns the number of tasks currently running. Trigger Executes the InfoResources() function every time the value of Trigger changes. Trigger can be any tagname (not limited to system variables). This parameter is used for expression fields in animation links only; any value can be used as a place holder when InfoResources() is used in a QuickScript, because this parameter has no effect in a QuickScript. Remarks The particular system resource specified by the integer ResourceType is stored in IntegerResult. Example(s) The following statement executes every minute and returns the current value: InfoResources(1, $Minute) will return 54 {% free} InfoResources(2, $Minute) will return 36 {% free} InfoResources(3, $Minute) will return 11524093 {bytes} InfoResources(4, $Minute) will return 14 {tasks} System resource values: Case 1&Case 2 GDI and USER are hard-coded to return 50% on Windows NT and Windows 2000. Case 3 On Windows NT and Windows 2000, returns "free bytes of paging file." Case 4 On Windows NT and Windows 2000, returns the result of searching of all the top-level windows. It only counts the windows that are visible and do not have any owners. This is not the actual "number of tasks currently running" in the system. Its closest approximation would be the count of items on the Applications tab when you run the Task Manager in Windows NT, or the Close Program window that appears when you press CTRL+ALT+D in Windows 2000. CRI0016577 - InTouch User s Guide, Chapter 7, "Alarm Comment Update" In the past, InTouch allowed you to set a configuration so that when an alarm was generated, the tagname comment was attached to the alarm. For tagnames with alarms, the tagname comment had to serve several functions: documentation of the tagname, explanation of the alarm, and capturing the operator s comment when the alarm was acknowledged. A new dot field, the AlarmComment, has been added to provide a comment specifically for alarms, which is longer (131) and completely separate from the tag comment. When an alarm becomes active, the Distributed Alarm System creates an Alarm Record to track that instance of the alarm, and InTouch attaches the AlarmComment as explanatory text. If the operator provides a comment when ACKing an alarm, InTouch adds this to the Alarm Record as the ACK Comment for that instance of the alarm. The comments for the onset of the alarm and for the acknowledgment are both kept in the Distributed Alarm and both are logged in the alarm database. The Distributed Alarm Object and the Alarm Printer show the Alarm Comment or the ACK Comment, according to whether the instance of the alarm has been ACKed. The next time an alarm occurs on the same tag, the Alarm Comment is again used for the onset of new alarm instance, and the operator can enter
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 13 a different ACK Comment when acknowledging the new instance. You can also configure InTouch to "Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comment," which enables you to use the ACK Comment to update the Alarm Comment in the tagname database. This features used to update the tagname comment, but now updates the AlarmComment. If you enable this feature, the AlarmComment dot fields will be overwritten during runtime -- including the AlarmComment entries in the Tagname Data Dictionary. InTouch User s Guide, page 7-34 mentions the "Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comments" option. The documentation should be updated as follows: 6. Select Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comment if you want comments entered with alarm acknowledgments to be kept as updates to the tagnames AlarmComment dot field. When an operator ACKs an alarm, there is an option to provide a comment regarding the alarm. An ACK comment can also be provided via a script function. If the box is checked for Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comment, the ACK comment will be retained as the Alarm Comment for the corresponding tagname. InTouch will even update the Alarm Comment in the tagname dictionary. InTouch User s Guide, page 7-45 mentions the "Use Default Ack Comment." This documentation refers to a property of the Distributed Alarm Object: Use Default Ack Comment Controls whether a default comment will be used when an operator ACKs an alarm. If this box is checked and a string is entered, the string will be used during runtime as the default ACK comment. If this box is not checked, when the operator ACKs an alarm, a dialog box appears to let the operator enter a comment, which can be filled in or left blank. InTouch User s Guide, page 7-53, "Attaching Comments to an Alarm Ack Function" The current version of this section does not include one important point: In reporting the alarm status, InTouch now keeps track of both the original Alarm Comment and the ACK comment. Therefore, you do not need to overwrite the Alarm Comment to get the ACK comment into displays, printouts, and so on. The section should be reworded as follows: Each alarm acknowledgment can have a comment attached to it -- whether the ACK is done via the Distributed Alarm Object, a script function, or any other means. The operator acknowledging the alarm can use this comment to add information about the alarm. When an alarm becomes active, the Distributed Alarm System creates an Alarm Record to track that instance of the alarm. For the comment relating to the onset of the alarm, InTouch uses the Alarm Comment box of the tagname s alarm definition in the database. If the operator provides a comment when ACKing an alarm, InTouch adds this to the Alarm Record as the ACK Comment for that instance of the alarm. The comments for the Distributed Alarm System, and both are logged in the alarm database. The Distributed Alarm Object and the Alarm Printer show the Alarm Comment or the ACK Comment, according to whether
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 14 the instance of the alarm has been ACKed. The next time an alarm occurs on the same tag, the Alarm Comment is again used for the onset of new alarm instance, and the operator can enter a different ACK Comment when acknowledging the new instance. You can also choose to use the ACK Comment to update the Alarm Comment in the tagname database. If you enable this feature, the AlarmComment dot fields will be overwritten during runtime -- including the AlarmComment entries in the Tagname Data Dictionary. > To use alarm acknowledge comments to update the AlarmComment field 1. On the Special menu, point to Configure and select on Alarms. The Alarm Properties dialog box appears with the General properties sheet active: TIP If you right-click a text box in any alarm configuration dialog box, a menu will appear displaying the commands that you can apply to the selected text. 2. Select Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comment if you want comments entered with alarm acknowledgments to be kept as updates to the corresponding tagname s AlarmComment dot field, and to be copied to the Tagname Dictionary. If this is not checked, the ACK Comment will be displayed with the ACKed alarm (in the database, printouts, and displays), but the Alarm Comment will remain unchanged. For more information on alarm comments, see "Tagname Alarm Comments" in Chapter 4. 3. Click OK. InTouch User s Guide, Chapter 4, page 4-33, "Tagname Alarm Comments" Add one paragraph before the final paragraph of "To write runtime changes to the Alarm comment field..." ------------------------------------------------------------- Each alarm acknowledgment can have a comment attached to it -- whether the ACK is done via the Distributed Alarm Object, a script function, or any other means. The operator acknowledging the alarm can use this comment to add information about the alarm. When an alarm becomes active, the Distributed Alarm System creates an Alarm Record to track that instance of the alarm. For the comment relating to the onset of the alarm, InTouch uses the Alarm Comment, which is entered in the Tagname Dictionary. If the operator provides a comment when ACKing an alarm, InTouch adds this to the Alarm Record as the ACK Comment for that instance of the alarm. The comments for the onset of the alarm and for the acknowledgment are both kept in the Distributed Alarm System, and both are logged in the alarm database. The Distributed Alarm Object and the Alarm Printer show the Alarm Comment or the ACK Comment, according to whether the instance of the alarm has been ACKed. The next time an alarm occurs on the same tag, the Alarm Comment is again used for the onset of new alarm instance, and the operator can enter a different ACK Comment when acknowledging the new instance.
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 15 You can also choose to use the ACK Comment to update the Alarm Comment in the tagname database. If you enable this feature, the AlarmComment dot fields will be overwritten during runtime -- including the Alarm Comment entries in the Tagname Data Dictionary. ------------------------------------------------------------- Add the following to the end of this page: You may also configure this feature in the WindowMaker GUI as follows: 1. On the Special menu, point to Configure and select on Alarms. The Alarm Properties dialog box appears with the General properties sheet active: TIP If you right-click a text box in any alarm configuration dialog box, a menu will appear displaying the commands that you can apply to the selected text. 2. Select Retain ACK Comment as Alarm Comment if you want comments entered with alarm acknowledgments to be kept as updates to the corresponding tagname s AlarmComment dot field, and to be copied to the Tagname Dictionary. If this is not checked, the ACK Comment will be displayed with the ACKed alarm (in the database, printouts, and displays), but the Alarm Comment will remain unchanged. 3. Click OK. CRI0016589 - InTouch Reference Guide, page 2-110 The example for MinRaw is incorrect. The example should be changed to: IF ((Temp01.RawValue > Temp01.MaxRaw) OR (Temp01.RawValue < Temp01.MinRaw)) THEN Show "Instrument Failure Window"; ENDIF; CRI0016913 - InTouch Reference Guide, page 2-14,.AlarmAccess.AlarmAccess alarms Returns the tagname associated with a selected alarm. The alarm has to be selected by clicking on the Summary Distributed Alarm Display. Usage GetPropertyM("Objectname.AlarmAccess",Tagname); Parameter Description Objectname Name of the Distributed Alarm Object. Tagname Any memory message tagname. Data Type Memory Message (read-only) Example(s) The following statement returns the name of the tagname for a selected alarm: GetPropertyM("AlmObj_1.AlarmAccess", almaccess); Where, AlmObj_1 is the name of the distributed alarm object and almaccess is a memory message tagname that will contain the tagname associated with
InTouch 7.11 Release Notes.txt Fri Sep 07 03:39:17 2001 16 See Also the selected alarm. If utilized in a Touch Pushbuton QuickScript, this statement returns the value to almaccess when the operator presses the button which can then be used for further processing or display. almaccess would then contain the tagname associated with the selected alarm. GetPropertyM(),.AlarmClass,.AlarmComment,.AlarmDate,.AlarmLimit,.AlarmName,.AlarmOprName,.AlarmOprNode,.AlarmPri,.AlarmProv,.AlarmState,.AlarmTime,.AlarmType CRI0017019 - InTouch Reference Guide, page 2-7, Tagname Type vs. Dotfield Usage Matrix Addressing Bit Dot field (.00 through 0.31) is missing in the matrix. (See InTouch User Guide 4-121 for more detail on the usage) Addressing Bit Dot field is applicable for Memory / Integer, I/O / Integer and Indirect / Analog(only Integer) only. CRI0017087 - In the InTouch Users Guide, page 7-25, Expanded Summary Alarms, the Note reads "When you define a tagname with the Expanded Summary ACK mode, the RTN implies Ack option in the Alarm Properties dialog box must does not apply to the tagname." It should read: When you define a tagname with the Expanded Summary ACK mode, the RTN implies Ack option in the Alarm Properties dialog box does not apply to the tagname.