HOW TO USE ARCHESTRA WIZARDS PART 2 In the last tutorial we created a simple valve symbol that contained a vertical and horizontal orientation selection using the layering wizard. We didn;t have any scripts and the single value custom property was associated with both so layering wasn’t required for that element. In this tutorial we will add 2 new public custom properties two private custom properties and a few scripts to control the valve status color. The new complex valve will support a four color status using two inputs one for open and one for close with a status integer set in a scrip ..read more

How To Use Archestra Graphic Wizards A very powerful and useful feature added in later versions of Archestra is the layering wizard. The layering wizard feature allows you to make versatile graphic symbols fitting multiple scenarios. Some ways I have seen wizards used is to represent several types of motors in a single symbol, or analog displays with options to change display format when the symbol is dropped on a screen or into another symbol. The layers can be combined to create some very complex configurations although I would caution you to keep it as simple as possible. I have also wit ..read more

How To Use Archestra Template Toolbox The Template Toolbox allows you to manage template structures with ease.  The goal of System Platform is to allow modeling of object structure after the process, machine or device. In this example I’m going to keep it simple so let’s take a look at how we can model a valve as a template structure. A typical motorized valve like the one pictured here can be commanded to open or close with switch feedback to tell you if the valve has completed its travel to either limit. One possibility for object structure in the Archestra galaxy to accommodate t ..read more

Using Alarm Client Filters One of my subscribers asked me to take a look at an issue he was having with the Alarm Client object in Archestra. He wanted to have multiple queries for narrowing down the alarms visible in the alarm history based on the area structure in the alarm model view. He mentioned that he had read the Alarm Client guide and believed he was following it correctly yet he was unable to filter that alarms like he wanted to. I know the alarm guide uses examples with the radio button component to switch queries at run time, but please allow me to show you another method which ..read more

Simple? Maybe not. Last week I received the following email from a subscriber asking what seemed like a very simple question. “I am new to Wonderware but have 20 years experience with other platforms. I can’t find anywhere to get good information on symbol creation. I want a direct action button, with text that changes color based on a tag different from the action tag. It seems that something so simple is not a standard selection from the toolbox.” At first glance I thought yes, this is a simple thing but as I examined it and thought about how I might implement such a thing I came to ..read more

Supercharge Archestra Using C# and .Net Client Controls. Simple Data Grid Batch Scheduler Tutorial: Part 1 The SBS (Simple Batch Scheduler) allows the user to connect with a predefined database storing a record of scheduled batches including Batch ID, Batch Name, Equipment Name, Batch Start Time and Batch End Time. Later tutorials in this series will build on the idea and provide a means for accessing other data grids representing other data sets such as IO tags associated with the named batch equipment and other details about the batch and how it performed.  A feature of  Archestra ..read more

What To Do When the Archestra Intouch® Alarm Banner Stops Working If you or your users have ever experienced a situation where the alarm banner is totally empty of ANY alarms and you KNOW there are alarms active, your system may experiencing an unintended consequence of session zero isolation.  You can reboot the HMI and sometimes that might work but usually the only way to fix this issue is to re-deploy the view app but eventually the HMI seems to do it again at random times. What is going on? Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft implemented Session zero isolation, meaning Windows ser ..read more

HOW TO USE ARCHESTRA WIZARDS PART 2 In the last tutorial we created a simple valve symbol that contained a vertical and horizontal orientation selection using the layering wizard. We didn;t have any scripts and the single value custom property was associated with both so layering wasn’t required for that element. In this tutorial we will add 2 new public custom properties two private custom properties and a few scripts to control the valve status color. The new complex valve will support a four color status using two inputs one for open and one for close with a status integer set in a script ..read more

How To Use Archestra Graphic Wizards A very powerful and useful feature added in later versions of Archestra is the layering wizard. The layering wizard feature allows you to make versatile graphic symbols fitting multiple scenarios. Some ways I have seen wizards used is to represent several types of motors in a single symbol, or analog displays with options to change display format when the symbol is dropped on a screen or into another symbol. The layers can be combined to create some very complex configurations although I would caution you to keep it as simple as possible. I have also witne ..read more

How To Use Archestra Template Toolbox The Template Toolbox allows you to manage template structures with ease.  The goal of System Platform is to allow modeling of object structure after the process, machine or device. In this example I’m going to keep it simple so let’s take a look at how we can model a valve as a template structure. A typical motorized valve like the one pictured here can be commanded to open or close with switch feedback to tell you if the valve has completed its travel to either limit. One possibility for object structure in the Archestra galaxy to accommodate this mo ..read more