FT View SE Network Distributted - how to monitor connections to clients?

Switek

Member
S
Join Date
Nov 2008
Location
Cork/Ireland
Posts
25
Hello everyone,
I am lookign for some ideas as to how could I monitor FT View SE client connections to the server and display them on the diagnostic page.
Years ago, in the RSView32 times I used the Ping command (TechSupport #27819), but this is not that easy in the FTView.

Rockwell TechSupport does not really help me much in it.
Would you have any ideas as to how this connection could be monitored or someone has developed something similar in the FTView?

Thanks and regards,
 
You can make a hidden (off screen) window that is cached and always updating, put something on it, bit, integer, whatever, then use the VBA On Change event to set it to zero any time it becomes non-zero.
The PLC would then set the value to non-zero periodically, and check that it gets reset.
 
rdrast said:
You can make a hidden (off screen) window that is cached and always updating, put something on it, bit, integer, whatever, then use the VBA On Change event to set it to zero any time it becomes non-zero.
The PLC would then set the value to non-zero periodically, and check that it gets reset.
Click to expand...

Yes, and what's different about FTView SE (compared to RSV32) is that the VBA code runs on the client.
So this will run on each client, and it will be a unique VBA instance for each client.

The VBA code will also need to detect something unique about the client PC, and read/write to a different tag in the PLC. Otherwise all of your clients will point to the same tag.

An easy way is to create the rdrast "hidden screen" for each client. The numeric display and VBA code will need to read/write a unique tag for each one. Then load up the correct "hidden screen" at client startup, in the client configuration file.


You could write VBA to read a MAC address, or something, to make it automatic. But simpler is always better with FTView.
 
Thanks lads.

In that case I will need to do a bit of coding to bind the client name into the tag. So far I have 2 clients that I need to monitor, but there will be more in the future, so robust approach is needed.

Thansk for your help guys!
 
For finding out which client you are running on, I used to go through the hassle of using my global always on script to determine the computer name... Of course, that is an issue with having to edit the application if you reload it on another computer in an emergency.

Instead, now, I just use some code like the following:
Code: 
Public Config1 As Boolean
Public Config2 As Boolean

Private Sub Display_Load()

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

Dim fs As Object

    LogDiagnosticsMessage "*****INITIALIZING QC SCRIPT WINDOW
    LogDiagnosticsMessage "***** Logging SubSystem Version XX.Y.Z"
    
    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    
    If fs.FileExists("C:\Config\Config1.txt") Then
        Config1 = True
        LogDiagnosticsMessage "Config1 is True"
    Else: Config1 = False

        LogDiagnosticsMessage "Config1 is False"
    End If


    If fs.FileExists("C:\Config\Config2.txt") Then
        Config2 = True
        LogDiagnosticsMessage "Config2 is True"
    Else: Config1 = False
        LogDiagnosticsMessage "Config2 is False"
    End If


Exit Sub
ErrHandler:
LogDiagnosticsMessage Err.Number & " " & Err.Description & " Sub: Display_Load() ", ftDiagSeverityInfo                

'Some Error Happenned
End Sub


Using that method, you can turn on or off individual client options just by creating blank "ConfigX.txt" files in some directory (I use C:\Config), and just add the appropriate handler code in the VBA for each option.
 
Yeah, this solution requires the extra configuration files to be created for each clients.

From the other hand I was wondering why the status of which client is connected to the server is not available on the HMI Server. I am pretty sure this information exist in the FTD server, so why this can not be available as a System table to display? Similar to which user is logged in?
Just wondering....o_O
 

Similar Topics

C
Adding PanelView Plus 7 to the network
Hi Everyone, Currently we have three plants running with Controllogix PLCs (L72, L73, L74). In each of these plants we have 2 FTView SE...
Replies
0
Views
34
celso3093
C
R
Panelview Plus 7 Network Shares
Hi people, I am trying to send an audit trail and other logs from the Panelview plus 7 to a network share. Its one of the older CE embedded...
Replies
2
Views
181
Robt800
R
Lovell
FactoryTalk View SE Network Distributed
Alarm Server Connection Status I am trying to tie a color animation to a rectangle that changes color when connected or disconnected from the...
Replies
10
Views
475
ASF
A
B
FactoryView Network to server
Hi, i am new to this form and this might be a silly question. but i wanted to clarify this sentence i found in FactoryTalk Documentation. >>> •...
Replies
2
Views
308
Bert
B
S
PanelView Plus 7 disabling network adapter after FW change
PanelView +7 Series B ME station disables network adapter on panel when I downgrade to Rev. 9 or 10. Used to work before with the Series B panels...
Replies
1
Views
478
BachPhi
BachPhi
Back
Top Bottom