Wonderware® Application Server

User’s Guide

Invensys Systems, Inc.

Revision A
Last Revision: 7/25/07
Copyright
© 2007 Invensys Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this documentation shall be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
Invensys Systems, Inc. No copyright or patent liability is assumed with respect to
the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been
taken in the preparation of this documentation, the publisher and the author
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed
for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
The information in this documentation is subject to change without notice and does
not represent a commitment on the part of Invensys Systems, Inc. The software
described in this documentation is furnished under a license or nondisclosure
agreement. This software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms
of these agreements.

Invensys Systems, Inc.

26561 Rancho Parkway South
Lake Forest, CA 92630 U.S.A.
(949) 727-3200
http://www.wonderware.com
For comments or suggestions about the product documentation, send an e-mail
message to [email protected].

Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this documentation that are known to be trademarks or
service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Invensys Systems, Inc. cannot
attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this documentation
should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Alarm Logger, ActiveFactory, ArchestrA, Avantis, DBDump, DBLoad, DT Analyst,
FactoryFocus, FactoryOffice, FactorySuite, FactorySuite A2, InBatch, InControl,
IndustrialRAD, IndustrialSQL Server, InTouch, MaintenanceSuite, MuniSuite, QI
Analyst, SCADAlarm, SCADASuite, SuiteLink, SuiteVoyager, WindowMaker,
WindowViewer, Wonderware, and Wonderware Logger are trademarks of Invensys
plc, its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other brands may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
 3

Contents

Welcome.......................................... 11
Documentation Conventions.............................................11
Technical Support .............................................................12

Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE ....................... 13

What’s a Galaxy? ...............................................................13
Creating a New Galaxy .....................................................15
Connecting to an Existing Galaxy ....................................17
Getting Around the IDE....................................................18
Using the Template Toolbox ..........................................20
Using the Graphics Toolbox...........................................20
Using the Application Views..........................................21
Model View .................................................................21
Deployment View........................................................24
Derivation View ..........................................................27
Operations View .........................................................28
Customizing Your Workspace...........................................29
Docking Views ................................................................29
Floating Views ................................................................29
Hiding Views...................................................................30
Resetting the Workspace ...............................................30
Synchronizing the Views................................................30
Configuring User Information .......................................31
Logging on and Logging off ............................................33
Changing Users ..............................................................34

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Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects ..................35

About Templates and Instances .......................................37
Instances.........................................................................37
Templates .......................................................................37
Propagation.....................................................................38
About Base Templates ...................................................39
Application Templates ............................................... 39
Device Integration Templates ................................... 39
System Templates ...................................................... 40
About Derived Templates ..............................................42
Viewing Object Properties ................................................43

Chapter 3 Working with Objects ...........................45

Managing Toolsets ............................................................45
Creating Toolsets............................................................46
Creating Child Toolsets .................................................47
Deleting Toolsets ............................................................47
Creating Derived Templates.............................................48
Deriving Templates from Another Derived Template..49
Creating Contained Templates.........................................50
ApplicationObject Containment ....................................53
Using Contained Names ................................................57
Containment Examples..................................................58
Viewing Containment Relationships.............................60
Renaming Contained Objects ........................................60
Editing Objects ..................................................................61
Getting Help ...................................................................63
Help File Structure ........................................................63
About the General Editor Layout..................................64
Locking and Unlocking Template Attributes ........... 65
Setting Object Security .............................................. 68
Group Locking/Security ............................................. 69
About the Object Information Page...............................70
Customizing Help ....................................................... 71
Finding the Help Folders ........................................... 71
About the Scripts Page...................................................72
About the UDAs Page ....................................................74
About the Extensions Page ............................................76
Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy Browser...........78
Browsing for Attributes .................................................78
Viewing Attribute Details in the Galaxy Browser ... 80
Browsing for Graphics ...................................................83

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Browsing for Element Properties ..................................85

Creating a Filter for the Galaxy Browser .....................86
Changing How Information is Shown in the Galaxy
Browser.......................................................................88

Chapter 4 Managing Objects................................ 89

Checking Objects Out........................................................89
Checking Objects In ..........................................................90
Validating Objects .............................................................90
Validating Scripts and Other External Components ...91
Validating Manually ......................................................92
Creating Instances ............................................................93
Renaming Objects..............................................................94
Deleting Objects ................................................................96
Exporting Objects ..............................................................96
Exporting Script Function Libraries .............................97
Importing Objects..............................................................98
Importing Scripts Function Libraries .........................100
After You Import ..........................................................100

Chapter 5 Enhancing Objects ............................. 101

Creating and Working with UDAs .................................102
UDAs and Scripting .....................................................103
UDA Naming Conventions...........................................104
Writing and Editing Scripts............................................105
About Scripts ................................................................106
Script Execution ...........................................................106
Locking Scripts .............................................................111
Creating and Working with Extensions.........................113
About Extension Inheritance .......................................113
Using the InputOutput Extension...............................116
When Objects Are On Scan ......................................117
Using InputOutput Extensions in Scripts ..............118
Using the Input Extension...........................................119
Using the Output Extension ........................................120
Working with Outputs .............................................121
Quality of Input, InputOutput and Output
Extensions ................................................................123
Using the Alarm Extension .........................................124
Using the History Extension .......................................125
Using the Boolean Label Extension ............................126

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Creating and Working with Graphics ............................ 128

Adding Graphics........................................................... 129
Modifying Graphics ...................................................... 129
Renaming Graphics...................................................... 129
Deleting Graphics.........................................................130

Chapter 6 Deploying your Galaxy ........................ 131

Planning for Deployment ................................................ 131
Determining Galaxy Status ............................................ 133
Deploying Objects............................................................ 134
Deployment Error Messages........................................ 138
Redeploying Objects ........................................................ 139
Undeploying Objects ....................................................... 139
Uploading Run-time Configuration................................ 140
Undeployment Situations ............................................ 142

Chapter 7 Working with History .......................... 143

Configuring History ........................................................ 144
About the Wonderware Historian ............................... 146
About Manual Data Acquisition Service (MDAS) .. 146
Configuring Objects to Store History ............................. 147
During Run Time .........................................................148
Deploying and Undeploying..................................... 149
Store Forward Mode................................................. 149
Configuring WinPlatforms and AppEngines for
History .......................................................................... 150

Chapter 8 Working with Alarms and Events............ 153

About Events and Alarms............................................... 153
Event Examples............................................................ 154
Alarm Examples ........................................................... 154
Items That Are Not Events or Alarms ........................ 154
Configuring Alarms.........................................................155
Setting Alarms on the Extension Page ....................... 157
About Alarm Event Distribution ................................. 158
Area AutomationObject ............................................... 159
Alarm and Event Subscription ....................................159

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 Contents 7

Enabling and Disabling Alarms ..................................160

Enabling Alarms.......................................................160
Disabling Alarms......................................................161
During Run Time..........................................................161
Using the InTouch HMI as the Alarm and Event
Client ........................................................................162
Alarms and Events in the InTouch HMI and in
Application Server........................................................164

Chapter 9 Working with References ..................... 167

Using Message Exchange and Attributes ......................168
Reference Strings ............................................................168
Relative References ......................................................169
Property References .....................................................170
Arrays............................................................................170
Formatting Reference Strings .....................................171
Using Literals ...........................................................171
Viewing Attributes in Objects.........................................174
Viewing References and Cross References..................175
Finding Objects.............................................................177
Using Galaxy References in InTouch .............................178

Chapter 10 Working with Security ....................... 183

About Security .................................................................184
About Authentication Modes .......................................186
Multiple Accounts Per User .....................................187
Changing Security Settings .....................................187
About Security Groups .................................................188
About Roles ...................................................................189
About Users ..................................................................190
Configuring Security .......................................................190
Assigning Users to Roles..............................................195
Deleting Security Groups.............................................197
Deleting Roles...............................................................197
Deleting Users ..............................................................197
About OS Group-based Security.....................................198
Connecting to a Remote Node for the First Time .......198
Cached Data at Log In .................................................198
Mixed or Native Domains ............................................199
Using InTouch Access Levels Security........................199

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Chapter 11 Managing Galaxies ............................ 201

Backing Up and Restoring Galaxies .............................. 201
Changing Galaxies .......................................................... 203
Deleting a Galaxy............................................................ 204
Exporting a Galaxy Dump File....................................... 204
Looking at the Galaxy Text Dump File Structure...... 206
Host Attributes.........................................................207
About Quotation Marks and Carriage Returns ...... 207
Time Formats in Excel ............................................. 208
Importing a Galaxy Load File......................................... 208
Synchronizing Time across a Galaxy ............................. 210
Using Time Synchronization in Windows Domains ... 210
Synchronization Schedule............................................ 210
Required Software........................................................ 211
Hosting Multiple Galaxies in One Galaxy Repository .. 212
Managing Licensing Issues............................................. 212
Viewing License and End-User License Agreement
Information .............................................................. 212
Updating a License....................................................... 217
Disk Space Requirements ............................................... 218
Managing Communication between Galaxy Nodes....... 218
About ArchestrA User Accounts..................................... 219
Using Multiple Network Interface Cards ...................... 220
Defining the Order of the NIC..................................... 220
Configuring the IP Address and DNS Settings .......... 221

Chapter 12 Working with Redundancy .................. 223

About Redundancy .......................................................... 223
Configuring AppEngine Redundancy.......................... 224
Redundancy during Run Time..................................... 225
Working with AppEngine Redundancy.......................... 226
Configuring the Redundancy Message Channel......... 227
Configuring Redundancy ............................................. 228
Configuring Redundancy in Templates................... 229
Deleting Redundant AppEngines ............................ 230
Deploying AppEngine Objects ..................................... 230
Configuration Requirements ................................... 231
Undeploying AppEngine Objects............................. 232
During Deployment...................................................... 233
AutomationObjects at Run Time ............................. 233
During Run Time .........................................................233
AppEngine Redundancy States ............................... 234

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Troubleshooting ...............................................................236
Generating Alarms .......................................................238
Generating History ......................................................239
Working with Data Acquisition Redundancy ................240
Configuring Data Acquisition Redundancy ................240
Deploying Redundant DIObjects .................................241
What Happens in Run Time ........................................241
RedundantDIObject and PLC Connectivity............241

Index ............................................. 253

Application Server User’s Guide

10 Contents

Application Server User’s Guide

 11

Welcome

This documentation describes how to use the ArchestrA

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to develop and
customize your applications.
You can view this document online or you can print it, in part
or whole, by using the print feature in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
This documentation assumes you know how to use Microsoft
Windows, including navigating menus, moving from
application to application, and moving objects on the screen.
If you need help with these tasks, see the Microsoft online
help.

In some areas of theWonderware® Application Server, you

can also right-click to open a menu. The items listed on this
menu change, depending on where you are in the product. All
items listed on this menu are available as items on the main
menus.

Documentation Conventions
This documentation uses the following conventions:

Convention Used for

Initial Capitals Paths and file names.

Bold Menus, commands, dialog box names,
and dialog box options.
Monospace Code samples and display text.

Application Server User’s Guide

12 Welcome

Technical Support
Wonderware Technical Support offers a variety of support
options to answer any questions on Wonderware products
and their implementation.
Before you contact Technical Support, refer to the relevant
section(s) in this documentation for a possible solution to the
problem. If you need to contact technical support for help,
have the following information ready:
• The type and version of the operating system you are
using.

• Details of how to recreate the problem.

• The exact wording of the error messages you saw.

• Any relevant output listing from the Log Viewer or any

other diagnostic applications.

• Details of what you did to try to solve the problem(s) and

your results.

• If known, the Wonderware Technical Support case

number assigned to your problem, if this is an ongoing
problem.

Application Server User’s Guide

 13

Chapter 1

Getting Started with IDE

This section shows you how to create or open a Galaxy. It also

briefly describes the IDE and how to navigate your Galaxy in
the workspace.

What’s a Galaxy?
A Galaxy is your specific production environment, including
all computers and components. It is a collection of platforms,
engines, templates, instances, and attributes you define as
the parts of your specific application. This collection is stored
in a Galaxy database.

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14 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

A Galaxy database resides on a single network computer.

You cannot store parts of a Galaxy database on several
computers. A Galaxy Repository (GR) is the name of the
single computer where the Galaxy database is located.
A Galaxy database can reside on any computer on your
network with the SQL server, Bootstrap, and Galaxy
Repository software installed.
You can deploy Galaxy components, such as platforms and
engines, to multiple computers to share the working load
during run time. For more information, see Deploying your
Galaxy on page 131.
A galaxy's namespace is the set of unique object and
attribute identifiers. The namespace and the values of each
of its identifiers define a Wonderware® Application Server
application, and can be accessed by clients of the
configuration system as well as the Application Server
Message Exchange in a deployed system.
A key benefit of the Application Server namespace is that It
allows Application Server objects and process data to be
referenced by scripts, animation links, etc, from any machine
in the system without the reference needing to specify the
object's location.
Galaxies also include security, which is turned off by default.
Using security allows you to limit what users can do. You can
add more users, security roles, and security groups later if
you want. For more information, see Working with Security
on page 183.
When you start the IDE, you must select an existing Galaxy
or create a new Galaxy. You cannot open the IDE without
opening a Galaxy.
Before you can open the IDE, you must also have a valid
license. For more information about licensing issues, see
Managing Licensing Issues on page 212.

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 Creating a New Galaxy 15

Creating a New Galaxy

Creating a new Galaxy requires you to specify a Galaxy
Repository (GR) node name and the name of the Galaxy. The
Galaxy database is created and is ready for you to connect to
and use.
You can only create a new Galaxy on a computer with the
Bootstrap and the Galaxy Repository software installed.
New Galaxies are created without any security restrictions.
To learn more about security restrictions, see Working with
Security on page 183.

To create a new Galaxy

1 On the Start menu, point to Programs, Wonderware and
click ArchestrA IDE. The Connect to Galaxy dialog box
appears.

2 Click New Galaxy.

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16 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

3 Do the following:
• In the GR Node Name list, type, or select the name of a
computer that has the Galaxy Repository software
installed. Click the Browse button to browse the
available domains and nodes on your network.
• In the Galaxy Name box, type the name of the Galaxy
you want to create within that Galaxy Repository.
Galaxy names can be up to 32 alphanumeric
characters, including _ (underscore), $, and #. The
first character must be a letter. Galaxy names cannot
contain spaces.
• In the Galaxy Type list, select the name of the already
created backup galaxy files which are located at
BackupGalaxies folder. The selected file will be used
as template to create new galaxy. System will restore
the selected backup galaxy and rename to the galaxy
name which user has provided in Galaxy Name box.

Note You cannot use the following reserved names as Galaxy

names: Me, MyContainer, MyArea, MyHost, MyPlatform, MyEngine
and System.

• Click Create. The Create Galaxy dialog box opens,

showing the Galaxy database being created.
4 When the Galaxy database is created, click Close. You are
ready to open the Galaxy and start working with it. For
more information about opening an existing Galaxy, see
Connecting to an Existing Galaxy on page 17.

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 Connecting to an Existing Galaxy 17

Connecting to an Existing Galaxy

Selecting an existing Galaxy lets you open a previously
created Galaxy so you can work in it.
If security is enabled for an existing Galaxy, you cannot open
it without logging in. If you do not have log on rights to a
Galaxy, you cannot log in to that Galaxy. For more
information about security, see Working with Security on
page 183.

To connect to an existing Galaxy

1 On the Start menu, point to Programs, Wonderware and
click ArchestrA IDE. The Connect to Galaxy dialog box
appears.

2 Do the following:
• In the GR node name list, select the name of a
computer you previously connected to. Click the
Browse button to browse and select from the available
domains and nodes on your network.
• In the Galaxy name list, select the name of the Galaxy
on that GR node.
• Click Connect.
If the selected Galaxy has security enabled, the Login
dialog box appears. Type your user name and password
and click OK.
The Galaxy opens in the IDE. You are ready to start
working with your Galaxy.

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 18 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

Getting Around the IDE

After you open a Galaxy, the IDE opens and shows you
different views of your Galaxy.

Template
Toolbox

Toolboxes

Application
views

Tabs
Status
bar
User name, if Galaxy name License
Messages security is enabled and node name icon

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 Getting Around the IDE 19

For a complete discussion of items like templates and

instances, see About Templates and Instances on page 37.
Views in the IDE include:
Template Toolbox Expand the top level folders to see the
different templates in the toolboxes.
Graphic Toolbox Contains the global ArchestrA graphics
that can be used in the Galaxy. For
information, see the Creating and
Managing ArchestrA Graphic’s User
Guide.
Application views Click the tabs at the bottom to open:
• Model view - the object
relationship to the automation
scheme layout. The objects are
organized into Areas that typically
represent the physical plant layout.

• Deployment view - the object

relationship to the computers that
comprise the deployed system that
the objects run on.

• Derivation view - the derivation

path from base template to the
instances. This View allows a user
to see all object instances that were
based on a given template. All
templates and instances appear in
this view.
Status bar Shows messages, user name, Galaxy
name and node, and license
information. Turn off the Status bar by
clicking Status bar on the View menu.

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20 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

Using the Template Toolbox

The Template Toolbox lists template toolsets, which contain
object templates. The Template Toolbox shows a tree view of
template categories in the Galaxy. Double-click a category to
open that toolset and see the templates it contains.
A new Galaxy is automatically populated with base
templates.

Template Toolbox

Using the Graphics Toolbox

The Graphic Toolbox shows a treeview of toolsets which
contains ArchestrA symbols and Clients Controls.
Double-click the toolsets to open them and reveal the
graphics they contain. A new Galaxy is automatically
populated with a library of Graphics organized in toolsets.

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 Getting Around the IDE 21

Using the Application Views

Base templates and non-base templates are included with
Application Server. Non-base templates include: $Boolean,
$Double, $Float, $Integer, and $String. They are derived
from $FieldReference. The templates are automatically
imported into the IDE when you first create a Galaxy.
Base templates appear in the Template Toolbox and in the
Derivation view with a $ as the first character in their name.
You cannot directly modify base templates but you can use
them to create your own objects or derived templates.
When you move from one view to another, the selected object
in the first view is selected in the second view, if the object
exists in that view. For example, templates are not shown in
the Deployment view and Model view.

Model View
The Model view shows objects and their containment
relationships, organized in a folder structure. For more
information about containment, see Creating Derived
Templates on page 48.
This view most accurately represents an application
perspective of your processes. For example, specific process
areas, tanks, valves, pumps and their relationships are listed
based on containment.

Note You must undeploy an object that is currently deployed

before reassigning it from one object to another.

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22 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

The tree structure acts like a standard Microsoft Windows

Explorer tree. Initially, it shows a simple hierarchy: <Galaxy
name> and the Unassigned Area folder.

In the Model view, all objects are grouped by areas and by

containment relationship. The Model view shows these
relationships in the following ways:
• The top of the tree is the Galaxy.

• Top-level Areas are shown under the Galaxy.

• Within each Area, contained Areas are listed. Areas
support hierarchical composition; that is, they support
sub-Area construction. Areas can only be nested 10 levels
(after the sub-area is 10-levels deep, you cannot add
another sub-level).

• Objects that belong to an Area are listed under the Area.

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 Getting Around the IDE 23

• Objects contained by other objects are listed under their

respective containers. Multiple levels are allowed. For
more information about containment, see Creating
Derived Templates on page 48.

Note Objects belong to the same Area as the object that contains
them.

Some object’s hierarchical, or contained, names are

truncated if you have multiple levels shown. To view the
entire hierarchical name, select the object and click
Properties on the Galaxy menu. The entire hierarchical
name is shown in the Properties dialog box. For more
information about hierarchical names, see Using
Contained Names on page 57.
• Objects that currently do not belong to an Area are listed
under Unassigned Area. Containment relationships
between parent and child objects are shown there.

In each branch of the tree, objects are listed in alphabetical

order. Default objects are shown in bold.
To assign an object to another, drag it onto the host object. If
that object is an inappropriate assignment match, the
international Not symbol appears. To unassign an object,
drag it to the Unassigned Host folder.

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Deployment View
The Deployment view shows instances only in terms of their
assignment relationships. This view allows you to organize
those objects through a folder structure.
This view shows which objects instances reside on which
computers. In the ArchestrA environment, the physical
location of object instances is not required to approximate the
real-world environment it models. The Deployment view does
not need to reflect your physical plant environment.
The tree structure acts like a standard Windows Explorer
tree. It is initially divided into two hierarchical levels:
<Galaxy Name> and the Unassigned Host folder.

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 Getting Around the IDE 25

In the Deployment view, objects appear in a tree according to

their distribution relationships in a multi-node system in the
following ways:
• The top of the tree is the Galaxy.

• WinPlatforms are shown under the Galaxy.

• Under each WinPlatform, assigned AppEngines are

listed.

• Under each AppEngine, assigned Areas and DI Objects,

such as DINetwork Objects, are listed.

• Under each Area, assigned ApplicationObjects are listed.

• Under each ApplicationObject, contained

ApplicationObjects are listed. Multiple levels are allowed.
• Under each DINetwork Object, assigned DIDevice
Objects are listed.

• Unassigned objects are grouped together in the

Unassigned Host folder. Area and containment
relationships are maintained in this view.

Important DINetwork objects have specific configuration limits

such as whether more than one object can be deployed to a single
WinPlatform. The IDE does not check for these limits. For more
information about configuration limits, see the online help for the
DINetwork object.

Under each branch of the tree, objects are listed in

alphabetical order. Default objects are shown in bold.

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26 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

For objects shown in any view, you see the following symbol
in the corner of the object's icon:
Not deployed

[No Deployed
icon]
Deployed, but pending configuration changes
exist that have not been deployed.

Deployed, but software modifications exist that

have not been deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is undeployed, but its redundant pair
is deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, but its redundant pair is
not deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, its redundant pair is not
deployed, and pending configuration changes
exist that have not been deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, its redundant pair is not
deployed, and software modifications exist that
have not been deployed.
[No Good
icon]
Warning

Error. The object in an Error state and cannot be

deployed.
InTouchViewApp application files are being
asynchronously transferred to the target node.
This icon is normally visible for only a few
moments at the end of an InTouchViewApp
deployment operation, unless the object is
deployed on a slow network. This icon completely
replaces the original while it is shown.

To assign an object to another, drag it onto the host object. If

that object is an inappropriate assignment match, the
international Not symbol appears. To unassign an object,
drag it to the Unassigned Host folder.

Note You must undeploy an object that is currently deployed

before reassigning it from one object to another.

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 Getting Around the IDE 27

Derivation View
The Derivation view shows objects and templates in terms of
their parent/child relationship. An object derived from
another object appears in a hierarchy level under it.
The tree structure acts like a standard Windows Explorer
tree, and initially is divided into three hierarchical levels:
<Galaxy Name>, <Used Base Templates>, and the Unused
Base Templates folder.

In the Derivation view, objects appear according to their

parent-child relationship in the following ways:
• The top of the tree is the Galaxy.

• Base templates with associated child objects, either

derived templates or instances, are shown under the
Galaxy.

• Under each base template, derived templates and

instances created from the base template are listed.
Multiple levels are allowed. Instances created from
derived templates are listed under their parents.

• Templates with no associated derived templates or

instances are grouped together in the Unused Base
Templates folder.

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Objects with names that start with a “$” are templates,

either base or derived. Under each branch of the tree, child
objects are listed in alphabetical order.
As in other views, dragging one object onto another in the
Derivation view associates the two objects based on the
predefined rules of the object types. For example, you can
drag ApplicationObjects onto other ApplicationObjects but
you cannot drag ApplicationObjects to an Engine.

Operations View
The Operations view shows the results of validating the
configuration of objects. You may need to open it before you
see it. On the View menu, click Operations.

During the validation of an object, its icon and name appear

with the status of the operation.

Important You can validate both templates and instances if they

are checked in.

The status of the object (Status column) is shown with an

icon and a descriptive word or phrase.
When validation is complete, the Command Result column
shows a “Succeeded” or “Failed” message and additional
information about the validation results. For more
information about validating objects, see Validating Objects
on page 90.

Note You can validate all objects in the Galaxy by running the
Validate operation on the Galaxy object. In that case, Command
Result messages are shown after all objects in the Galaxy are
validated.

The Operations view, like the Template Toolbox and

Applications views, is also updated as the status and
conditions of objects in the Galaxy change.

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 Customizing Your Workspace 29

Customizing Your Workspace

You can customize your workspace by docking and floating
the IDE’s views. You can also hide some of the views.

Docking Views
To dock a view, drag the view to the location you want it. For
example, drag the title bar of the Template Toolbox and dock
it under the Application views. You can also undock it by
dropping it anywhere on your desktop. Drag it back to dock it
again.

Floating Views
You can also float a view. With your cursor over the view you
want to float, click the arrow. On the menu that appears,
click Floating.
You can also float just one view. To float the Derivation view,
click the arrow. On the menu that appears, click Floating.
The view floats on your desktop. You can move it to another
location or dock it.

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30 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

Hiding Views
To hide a view, click the Pin icon. The views “hide” as tabs on
the side of the window. The Operations view hides at the
bottom of the window.

When you move the mouse over the tab, the view expands
into the workspace.

Resetting the Workspace

You can easily reset the workspace. This moves everything
back to the default locations.

To return the views to the default docking

‹ On the View menu, click Reset Layout.

Synchronizing the Views

You can specify that a selected object stay selected as you
move through the views. In any of the views, select the object
you want to synchronize. On the View menu, click
Synchronize Views. Now as you move from one view to
another, that object stays selected.

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 Customizing Your Workspace 31

Configuring User Information

You can configure options for a Galaxy including prompting
for check-in comments and specifying user defaults. These
options are for the currently open Galaxy and do not change
any options for other Galaxies you use.
If you specify a security group, that security group must
already exist. For more information about security and
security groups, see Configuring Security on page 190.

To configure user information

1 On the Edit menu, click User Information. The Configure
User Information dialog box appears.

2 In the Prompts area, do one or more of the following:

• To be prompted to type comments when checking in
templates and objects, select the Ask for ‘Check In’
Comments check box. This lets you provide text about
the changes you made.
• To see a prompt that tells you if you are opening an
instance or template as read-only, select the Warn
before launching an editor for a read-only object check
box. This lets you know if you open an instance or
template while someone else is working on it. If
someone else is working in the instance or template,
you cannot make changes.

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32 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

• To see a prompt that tells you if you have permission

to create or modify InTouchView Applications, select
the Warn for insufficient permissions check box. These
permissions authorize or prevent you from creating
and modifying InTouch View Applications.
• To see a prompt each time you attempt to edit an
InTouchView application instance, select the Warn
before launching an InTouchViewApp editor check box.
You can edit the associated template or cancel the
operation. If you don’t select this check box, the
request to edit the InTouchViewApp instance is
automatically redirected to the associated template.
3 Select the Initial scan state for deployed objects. You can
select On Scan or Off Scan. You can change this setting on
an individual basis in the Deploy dialog box when you
deploy. For more information, see Deploying your Galaxy
on page 131.
4 Select the Scan state defaults when undeploying or
redeploying instances. Force Off Scan will attempt to take
the target object offscan when an already deployed object
is redeployed. Don’t Force Off Scan does not force the
target to go off scan when you deploy.

Note Redeployment of objects that are currently deployed

on-scan will be cancelled unless this option is selected.

5 Make your Auto context selection.

6 In the User defaults area, provide the following object
names of Framework objects you select to be defaults
with respect to assignment relationships.
• Type the Platform name.
• Type the Application Engine name.
• Type the Area name.
• Type the View Engine name.
• Type your Security Group name, if any.
7 When you are done, click OK.

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 Customizing Your Workspace 33

Logging on and Logging off

Some Galaxies have security associated with them. If you try
to open a Galaxy with security, you need to log on to the
Galaxy to open it.

Note If you do not have logon rights, you cannot open a Galaxy.

For information about setting up security in the ArchestrA

environment, see Working with Security on page 183.

To log on to a Galaxy
1 When you open a security enabled Galaxy, the Change
User dialog box appears.

2 Type your user name and password. If OS authentication

security is enabled for the Galaxy, you must select the
Domain on which your user account is located. If the list is
unavailable, the selected Galaxy is on your local machine.
You can change your password after you type your user
name and password. Click Change Password. Type the
new password and then retype it.
3 Click OK. Your logon data is validated by the Galaxy
Repository being accessed. Depending on operating
system security, the IDE opens. If the GR does not
recognize your user name or password, you are prompted
to enter them.

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34 Chapter 1 Getting Started with IDE

Changing Users
You can change users in a Galaxy at any time. Any security
restrictions associated with a user change when the user logs
on or logs off from the Galaxy. For more information about
users and security, see Configuring Security on page 190.
If the Galaxy has not be configured to enable security, you
see a message. All users in an open security environment are
treated as the DefaultUser by the Galaxy. This means all
users have full access to everything.

To change users
1 On the Galaxy menu, click Change User.
If security is enabled on the Galaxy, the Change User
dialog box appears.

2 Enter your logon information and click OK.

• If needed, click Change Password to change the
password for the new user.
• Type the new password and then retype it.
3 Click OK.

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 35

Chapter 2

Getting Started with Objects

Before you start modeling your application using the

Application Server, you must understand templates and
object instances.
Templates are elements in Application Server that contains
common configuration parameters for objects instances that
you use multiple times in your application.
For example, you might create a template for valves. You
configure the template with all the unique attributes for
valves. You use that template to make object instances of
valves. You can further configure and customize each object
instance to represent a specific valve.
Object instances are the specific devices in your environment,
such as diaphragm valves or very complex devices, like a
reactor. You create an instance from a template and then
customize the specific instance as needed.
Instances are deployed to the run-time environment.
Templates exist in the development environment and cannot
be deployed.
Creating templates and instances is very similar to
object-oriented programming. For example, templates and
instances have a parent/child relationship that involves
inheriting attributes. There are differences, however,
between object-oriented programming and creating
templates and instances in Application Server.

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36 Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects

Collectively, templates and instances are called objects. The

following graphic shows the different kinds of objects and
how they are organized.

Galaxy Objects

AutomationObjects

System Objects Domain Objects

Device Integration
EngineObjects PlatformObjects AreaObjects Application Objects
Objects (DIObjects)

AppEngine WinPlatform Area AnalogDevice FS Gateway

DiscreteDevice AB TCP Network

Field Reference AB PLC5

Switch and so on

User-Defined

If you are new to this kind of programming, the next section

explains the basic concepts you need to know before you
start. If you are familiar with object-oriented programming,
the concepts in the next section may be familiar to you, but
notice the important differences between object-oriented
programming and Application Server.

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 About Templates and Instances 37

About Templates and Instances

Understanding templates and instances is critical to working
with Application Server.

Instances
Instances are the run-time objects created from templates in
Application Server. Instances are the specific things in your
environment like processes, valves, conveyer belts, holding
tanks, and sensors. Instances can get information from
sensors on the real-world device or from application logic in
Application Server. Instances exist during run time.
In your environment, you may have a few instances or
several thousand. Many of these instances may be similar or
identical, such as valves or holding tanks. Creating a new
valve object from scratch when you have several thousand
identical valves is time-consuming. That’s where templates
come in.

Templates
Templates are high-level definitions of the devices in your
environment. Templates are like a cookie cutter from which
you can make many identical cookies.
You define a template for an object, like a valve, one time and
then use that template when you need to define another
instance of that item. Template names have a dollar sign ($)
as the first character of their name.
A template can specify application logic, alarms, security,
and historical data for an object.
A template can also define an area of your environment. You
can extend and customize a template by adding User Defined
Attributes (UDAs), scripts, or extensions to meet the specific
needs of your environment. Objects inherit attributes from
their parents.
Application Server comes with predefined templates, called
base templates. You cannot change these templates. All
templates you create are derived from base templates.
You can also nest templates, or contain them. Contained
templates consist of nested object templates that represent
complex devices consisting of smaller, simpler devices,
including valves. A reactor is a good candidate for
containment.
Templates only exist in the development environment.

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38 Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects

Using the Diaphragm valve template, you can quickly create

an Diaphragm valve instance when you need another
Diaphragm valve in your application.

Tem plates Child Instances

Parent Template

Derived Tem plate

Derived Tem plate

Each tem plate inherits Each object instance

attributes inherits attributes
from the one above it from its tem plate

Propagation
If you need to change something about all diaphragm valves,
you can change the template for the Diaphragm valve and all
diaphragm valves in your application inherit the changes,
assuming the attributes are locked in the parent template.
This makes it easy to maintain and update your application.

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 About Templates and Instances 39

About Base Templates

When you first open the IDE, you see the base templates in
the Template ToolBox area. The base templates are provided
to build your own derived templates from. You cannot change
the base templates. You create and modify your own derived
templates and objects from the derived templates you create.
The template classes are as follows:
• Application Use these templates to create devices in
Templates your Galaxy. These devices represent real
objects in your environment. For example,
use the DiscreteDevice base template to
create a derived template for valves.
• Device Use these templates to create instances
Integration that communicate with external devices.
Templates For example, use the DIObject base
template to create a derived template for a
PLC device.
• System Use these templates to define system
Templates instances, like other computers.

Application Templates
These base templates let you easily create devices in your
Galaxy. They contain the properties you need to set for each
kind of device. For example, a DiscreteDevice device contains
all the settings you need to specify for an on/off device. Of
course, using UDAs, scripts, and extension, you can extend
and customize any device you select.

Device Integration Templates

These base templates represent the communication with
external devices. External devices run on the application
engine.
For example,
• DINetwork object – Refers to the object that represents
the network interface port to the device through the Data
Access Server. The object provides diagnostics, and
configuration for that specific card.

• DIDevice object – Refers to the object that represents the

actual external device (such as a PLC or RTU), which is
associated to the DINetwork Object.

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40 Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects

System Templates
These objects represent the parts of an IAS system that
represent the system itself and not the domain they are
monitoring/controlling. These base templates let you create
more system level grouping and computers, such as areas
you add objects to or another host AppEngine.

WinPlatform Object
The WinPlatform platform object is a key base object because
you need a platform to host the objects you are modeling.
This object:
• Calculates various statistics for the node it is deployed to.
These statistics are published in attributes.

• Monitors various statistics related to the node it is

deployed to. These monitored attributes can be alarmed
and historized.

• Start and stop engines, based on the engines startup type

which are deployed to it.

• Monitor the running state of engines deployed to it. If the

platform detects an engine failed, it can, optionally based
on the value of the engine’s restart attribute, restart the
engine.

AppEngine Object
The AppEngine object must have a Platform on which to run.
This object:
• Hosts ApplicationObjects, device integration objects and
areas.

• Contains the logic to set up and initialize objects when

they are deployed.

• Contains the logic to remove objects from the engine

when they are undeployed.

• Determines the scan time which all objects within that

particular engine execute.

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 About Templates and Instances 41

Area Object
All ApplicationObjects belong to an area. Areas can contain
sub-Areas. Areas provide a key organizational role in
grouping alarm information and providing that information
to those who use alarm/event clients to monitor their areas of
responsibility.
This object allows the value of three attributes to be
historized:
• Active alarm counter

• Unacknowledged alarm counter

• Disabled (or silenced) alarm counter

ViewEngine Object
The ViewEngine object must have a Platform on which to
run. This object:
• Hosts InTouchViewApp objects.

• Contains the logic to set up and initialize objects when

they are deployed.

• Contains the logic to remove objects when they are

undeployed.

• Determines the scan time which all objects within that

particular engine execute.

InTouchViewApp Object
The InTouchViewApp object must have a ViewEngine on
which to run. This object:
• Manages the synchronization and delivery of files
required by the associated InTouch application.
• Provides run-time access to tags on the associated
InTouch application.

• Starts WindowMaker for the associated InTouch

application when edited.

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42 Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects

About Derived Templates

All templates you create within the IDE are derived
templates.
When creating your Galaxy application, plan ahead and
create derived templates for devices of a certain type so you
can use the templates to create instances from.
A new derived template is an exact copy of its parent
template with the possible exceptions of locking and security
and modified attribute values. You can lock attributes so
they cannot be changed in the child template.
After you create a new derived template, you can customize
it. For more information about customizing and extending
templates, see Creating Derived Templates on page 48.
Every template has a set of attributes and default values.
When you create an instance, attributes are inherited by the
instance. In the instance, you can reconfigure many of the
attributes inherited from the parent template if they are not
locked on the parent template.
For more information about customizing instances, see
Working with Objects on page 45.

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 Viewing Object Properties 43

Viewing Object Properties

You can view the properties of an object by right-clicking and
clicking Properties. Object properties vary, depending on the
type of selected object and whether it is a base template, a
derived template, or an instance.

For more information about specifying the properties of

objects, see Working with Objects on page 45.

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44 Chapter 2 Getting Started with Objects

Application Server User’s Guide

 45

Chapter 3

Working with Objects

You can with objects using the Application Server

development environment.
Both templates and instances are collectively referred to as
objects. For more information about what templates and
instances are, see About Templates and Instances on
page 37.

Managing Toolsets
Toolsets are the high-level folders shown in the Application
Toolbox. Toolsets can be created for templates and graphics
for the purpose of organizing each. You can also create
toolsets within toolsets.
Use the Template Toolbox to view and organize object
templates.

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46 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

Use the Graphic Toolbox to view and organize ArchestrA

Symbols.

You can move content between their respective toolsets. You

can also show or hide toolsets to make the workspace less
cluttered.

Creating Toolsets
When you create your own toolset, it must have a unique
name. Toolset names are not case sensitive, so Valves is the
same name as valves. You can use up to 64 alphanumerics
and special characters, including spaces and punctuation,
except $.

To create a new toolset in the Toolbox

1 On the Galaxy menu, point to New and click either
Template Toolset or Graphic Toolset.
2 Type a name for the new toolset.
A new toolset appears and is in focus. Now, you can drag
templates into the new Template toolset, or you can drag
graphics into the Graphics toolset.

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 Managing Toolsets 47

Creating Child Toolsets

Toolsets can be created within existing toolsets. Nested
toolsets help in further organizing templates and graphics.
You can create a maximum of ten levels.

To create a child toolset

1 Select the parent toolset.
2 On the Galaxy menu, point to New and click either
Template Toolset or Graphic Toolset.
3 Type a name for the new toolset.
A new toolset appears and is in focus. Now, you can drag
templates into the new Template toolset, or you can drag
graphics into the Graphics toolset.

Deleting Toolsets
You can delete toolsets you no longer want or need. Before
you start, make sure you move or delete all content from the
toolset.
The toolset you want to delete must be empty, or it cannot
deleted.

To delete a toolset
1 Select the toolset you want to delete.
2 On the Edit menu, click Delete.
3 Click Yes to delete the toolset.

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48 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

Creating Derived Templates

All templates you create are derived templates. A derived
template inherits attributes and behaviors from the parent
template. You cannot change the attributes in a base
template.
After you create the derived template, you can customize and
modify the attributes in the template you created. If you
change locked attributes in the parent template, the changes
propagate to the derived template.

Templates Object Instances

Base Template

Derived Template

After you create derived templates, you can create instances

of the templates. You can change and modify unlocked
attributes in the instances, making adjustments to meet the
needs of the specific object you are modeling.
For example, your plant processes can use several models of
a pump made by a single vendor. Each model has unique
characteristics that map to different attribute values of the
DiscreteDevice base template.
After you create a derived template, you can customize it.

To derive a template from another template

1 Select the base template to use as the parent template in
the Template Toolbox or Derivation views pane.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click New and click Derived
Template. A derived template is created in the same
toolset as its parent and placed in name edit mode. The
default name is the same as the parent template followed
by a numeric sequence.

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 Creating Derived Templates 49

3 Rename the derived template, if needed. Template names

can be up to 32 alphanumeric or special characters,
including the required $ as the first character. The
second character cannot be $ and the name must include
at least one letter. Template names cannot contain
spaces.

Note You cannot use the following reserved names as template

names: Me, MyContainer, MyArea, MyHost, MyPlatform, MyEngine
and System.

4 You are ready to customize your new template. For more

information, see Editing Objects on page 61.

Deriving Templates from Another Derived

Template
You can create derived templates from other derived
templates. The child template inherits attributes from all
parent templates. Any changed attributes in the immediate
parent overrides attributes changes in grandparent levels.
If you change locked attributes in the parent template, the
locked attributes propagate to the derived template.
Templates Object Instances

Derived Template

Derived Template

A derived template is an exact copy of its parent with the

exceptions of locking, security, and the unlocked attributes
that have been edited. If you create a new derived template
from an existing container template, the new derived
template has the same contained templates.

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50 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

A good practice is to create a hierarchy of derived templates

until you reach logical endpoints. Then create instances from
each unique derived template.

To create a derived template from a derived template

1 In the Template Toolbox or Derivation view, select the
derived template you want to use as the parent template.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click New and click Derived
Template. A derived template is created in the same
toolset as its parent. You can edit the name of the new
derived template. The default name is the same as the
parent template followed by a numeric sequence.
Template names can be up to 32 alphanumeric or special
characters, including the required $ as the first
character. The second character cannot be $ and the
name must include at least one letter. Template names
cannot contain spaces.

Note You cannot use the following reserved names as template

names: Me, MyContainer, MyArea, MyHost, MyPlatform, MyEngine
and System.

3 You can create another derived template by repeating the

steps above, or you can customize your new derived
template. For more information about customizing your
template, see Editing Objects on page 61.

Creating Contained Templates

Containment is the relationship in which one object includes
another. Containment relationships organize objects in a
hierarchy. You can build objects that represent complex
devices consisting of smaller, simpler devices.
In scripts, these objects can be referred to by the name that
derives from the containment relationship. This name is
called a hierarchical name.

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 Creating Contained Templates 51

An object can have three kinds of names, depending on if it is

contained by another object. The three names include:

Name Description

Tagname The unique name of the individual object.

For example, Valve1.
Contained The name of the object within the context
name of its container object. For example, the
object whose Tagname is Valve1 may also
be referred to as Tank1.Outlet, if Tank1
contains it and it has the contained name
"Outlet".
Hierarchical Hierarchical names that are fully-qualified
Name names of a contained object include the
name of the objects that contain it.
Since the object that contains it may also
be contained, there are potentially multiple
hierarchical names that refer to the same
object.
For example, if:
"Reactor1" contains Tank1 (also known
within Reactor1 by its contained name
"SurgeTank").
"Tank1" contains Valve1 (also known
within Tank1 by its contained name
"Outlet").
Valve1 could be referred to as:
"Valve1"
"Tank1.Outlet"
"Reactor1.SurgeTank.Outlet".

Note Base templates cannot be contained by another template,

either as the container or as the template being contained. You
can only use containment with derived templates.

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52 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

Higher level objects contain lower level objects. This allows

you to more closely model complex plant equipment, like
tank systems. You can nest templates to 10 levels.

180

Inlet V alve

180

O utlet V alve

Level

A g itator

Note Objects can only contain objects like themselves. For

example, ApplicationObjects can only be contained by other
ApplicationObjects. Areas can only contain other Areas.

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 Creating Contained Templates 53

ApplicationObject Containment
ApplicationObjects can be contained by other
ApplicationObjects. This provides context for the contained
object and a naming hierarchy that provides a powerful tool
for referencing objects.

Note Base templates cannot be contained by another template,

either as the container or as the template being contained. You
can only use containment with derived templates.

An example of a containment hierarchy is a tank that

contains the following objects:
• Inlet Valve
• Agitator

• Outlet Valve

• Level
Tank Template

Tank

180

InletValve

Agitator

180

OutletValve

Level

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54 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

To enable referencing and flexibility within scripting, these

objects can be referenced in several different ways. Each
object has a unique Tagname, such as:
• Inlet Valve = InletValve01

• Agitator = Agitator01

• Outlet Valve = OutletValve01

• Level = Level01

Tank = Tank01

180

InletValve = InletValve01

Agitator = Agitator01

180

OutletValve = OutletValve01

Level = Level01

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 Creating Contained Templates 55

Within the context of each hierarchy, the contained names

are unique, in that the names only refer to this tank system
and the contained objects.
So if the tank is named Tank01, the contained names are:
• Tank01.Inlet

• Tank01.Agitator

• Tank01.Outlet

• Tank01.Level

Tank = Tank01

180

Inlet Valve = Tank01.InletValve

Agitator = Tank01.Agitator01

180

Outlet Valve = Tank01.Outlet01

Level = Tank01.Level01

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56 Chapter 3 Working with Objects

This naming convention adds context to the instances

contained by Tank01.

Additionally, you can use containment references in scripts

such as:
• Me.Outlet: Allows a script running within the parent
object to generically reference its child outlet instance.

• MyContainer.Inlet: Allows a script running in any of

the children instances to reference another child instance
named Inlet that belongs to the same parent.

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 Creating Contained Templates 57

Using Contained Names

The contained name of a contained object only has to be
unique in the context of its container.
An object can have three kinds of names, depending if it is
contained by another object. The three names include:

Name Description

Tagname The unique name of the individual object. For

example, Valve1.
Contained name The name of the object within the context of its
container object. For example, the object whose
Tagname is Valve1 may also be referred to as
Tank1.Outlet, if Tank1 contains it and it has
the contained name "Outlet".
Hierarchical name Hierarchical names that are fully-qualified
names of a contained object include the name of
the objects that contain it.
Since the object that contains it may also be
contained, there are potentially multiple
hierarchical names that refer to the same
object.
For example, if:
"Reactor1" contains Tank1 (also known within
Reactor1 by its contained name "SurgeTank").
"Tank1" contains Valve1 (also known within
Tank1 by its contained name "Outlet").
Valve1 could be referred to as:
"Valve1"
"Tank1.Outlet"
"Reactor1.SurgeTank.Outlet".
For example, an instance of a $Tank is named Tank01. An
instance of $Valve called Valve01 is contained within the
instance of $Tank.
Change the contained name of Valve01 to InletValve. Now
Valve01 can also be referred to by its hierarchical name
Reactor1.InletValve. The name of the contained object can be
changed, though, within the scope of the hierarchy.
Contained names can be up to 32 alphanumeric or special
characters. The second character cannot be $ and the name
must include at least one letter. You cannot use spaces.

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Containment Examples
You can have a Tank object that contains two DiscreteDevice
objects that represent its inlet and outlet valves.

Note Base templates cannot be contained by another template,

either as the container or as the template being contained. You
can only use containment with derived templates.

To implement containment
1 Create the following instances: Tank1 from $UserDefined
and Valve from $DiscreteDevice. Valve has only one
name, Valve.
2 In the Model or Deployment view, drag Valve on to Tank.

Note If Tank1 already contains an object with a contained name

of Valve, the Galaxy generates a unique contained name for the
newly contained object, such as Valve_001.

3 Change the contained name of Valve within Tank1 to

Outlet. Valve can now be referred to by its tagname,
Valve, as well as its hierarchical name, Tank1.Outlet.
4 Create an instance called Reactor1 from $UserDefined.
5 In the Model or Deployment view, drag Tank1 onto
Reactor1.

6 Change the contained name of Tank1 to Holding. Tank1

now has two names, Tank1 and Reactor1.Tank. Also,
Valve1 has a three-part hierarchical name:
Reactor1.Tank.Outlet.

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 Creating Contained Templates 59

For the three objects in this example (Reactor1

containing Tank1 containing Valve1), the following
naming hierarchy exists:

To implement template-level containment

Note Contained Templates do not have tagnames. When an

instance hierarchy is created from a template and its contained
children, unique tagnames will be created for the instances based
on their contained names.

1 Create the following derived templates: $Tank from

$UserDefined and $Valve from $DiscreteDevice.
2 Derive $Inlet from $Valve.
3 In the Template Toolbox, drag $Inlet on to $Tank. If
$Tank already contains a template named Inlet, the
Galaxy generates a unique tagname for the new
contained template, such as Inlet_001.
The contained template now has a hierarchical name
$Tank.Inlet.
4 Create an instance (Tank1) of $Tank.
5 The Model and Deployment views show an instance Tank1
that contains an instance called Inlet.

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Viewing Containment Relationships

Containment relationships appear for templates in the
Template Toolbox. For instances, the relationship appears in
both the Model and Deployment views.
In the Derivation view, if a template contains other
templates, you can expand it to show the containment under
that template.

The Derivation view shows templates and instances with

regard to containment in the following ways:
• Non-contained instances show their tagnames.

• Contained instances show their tagnames and

hierarchical names.

• Non-contained templates show their template name.

• Contained templates show their hierarchical name.

Renaming Contained Objects

Before you rename a contained name of an object, make sure
that the object is not checked out to another user or currently
deployed.
The new contained name must comply with naming
restrictions. Template names can be up to 32 alphanumeric
or special characters, including the required $ as the first
character. The second character cannot be $ and the name
must include at least one letter. You cannot use spaces.

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 Editing Objects 61

Contained names also cannot be the same contained name as

an existing contained object within the same level of
hierarchy in the containment relationship.

WARNING! Be careful renaming contained objects. References

from other objects to the object being renamed are not
automatically updated with the new name. You must update
the references. Objects with broken references receive bad
quality data at run-time.

To rename an object’s contained name

1 Select the object in an Application view.
2 On the Edit menu, click Rename Contained Name.
3 Type a new contained name.
All IDEs connected to the Galaxy show the object’s new
contained name.

Editing Objects
Using the Object Editor, you define attributes specific to the
object.
The Object Editor shows object extension pages that are
common to all objects and may also show you pages that are
unique to the object. See Enhancing Objects on page 101 for
more information about the Scripts, UDAs, and Extensions
pages. Click the tab of each page to open that page.
When you open the Object Editor in non-ReadOnly mode, the
object is checked out. No one else can edit an object while you
are working with it. If someone else is already working on it,
you can open it to view but you cannot make changes.
When editing an object, you may see attribute text boxes
showing a --- (dashdashdash). The --- is a placeholder
reference that does not cause the associated object to be
placed in a warning configuration status when it is validated.
You may also see attribute text boxes showing a ---.---
(dashdashdash dot dashdashdash). You need to provide a
valid reference in the text box. The ---.--- placeholder causes
the associated object to be placed in a warning configuration
status when the associated object is validated.

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When you are finished editing an object and save it, the
configuration data for the object is validated. If errors or
warnings are identified during validation, a message
appears. You can cancel the save or save the object
configuration as it is.
• If you cancel, the Object Editor remains open so you can
correct the problems.

• If you save the configuration as it is, the object is placed

into a bad or warning state. The object’s status is marked
in the Galaxy database as Good, Warning or Error. Error
means the object is undeployable.

To edit an object in the Object Editor

1 Select the object.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Open. A red check mark
appears next to the object’s icon indicating it is checked
out and the Object Editor opens.
3 Make your changes. For more information about locking
attributes, see About the UDAs Page on page 74. For
more information about setting security, see Setting
Object Security on page 68.
4 When you are done configuring the object, click Save or
Close on the Galaxy menu.
• Save keeps the editor open and saves all configuration
changes to the Galaxy database.
• Close closes the editor.
• To keep the object checked out, select the Keep
Checked Out check box before closing.

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Getting Help
Tooltips are available in the Object Editor. Point to any
editor option and a tooltip appears, showing the attribute
name. This name is used when referring to the attribute in
scripts, for example.
Each object also includes documentation about usage,
configuration, run-time behavior, and attributes. For help
with configuring the object, click the question mark on the
toolbar to open the help for that object.

Help File Structure

The header part of the Help file contains the following
information:
• Tagname The object’s name.
• Contained Name The object’s contained name. For
more information, see Creating
Contained Templates on page 50.
• Description A short summary of what the object is
for.
• Code Base The code version of the object.
• Derived From The immediate parent template for
the object.
• Object Version The configuration version of the
object.
• Process Order The run-time execution order within
the host engine's scan (none, before,
after) relative to the Relative Object
element.
• Relative Object The object that is executed before or
after in the Process Order.

The rest of the help file shows general information about the
object.

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About the General Editor Layout

When you open the attributes for an instance or a template,
you see the Object Editor. The Object Editor is where you
configure the object's attributes and add scripts or associated
graphics to the object. The Object Editor has several pages
related to the type of object you select. If you are working
with an instance, you see different pages than if you are
working with a template. For example, the screen below
shows you an analog device template.

When you open the Object Editor, the object is automatically

checked out so no other user can work on it. When you close
the Object Editor, the object is checked in to the Galaxy
database, if it was automatically checked out when the editor
was opened.
• To keep the object checked out, click Keep Checked Out
before closing.

• To save configuration changes you made, close the editor,

and check the object back in, click the Close icon.
After the object is checked in, other users can edit it.

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Locking and Unlocking Template Attributes

When you create derived templates, you can lock or unlock
some or all of the attributes. Locking an attribute prevents
the attribute from being changed in derived templates or
instances. You can only lock attributes in templates.
Locking an attribute in a template specifies that its value or
setting is inherited by all derived objects, both templates and
instances. Locking an attribute also makes the attribute act
as a constant during run time.
You can reference the attributes:
• Attributes that are locked in a parent template are
referred to as “locked in parent.” This parent can be at
any parent level above the selected object.

• Attributes that are locked in a template are referred to as

“locked in me.”

If an attribute is locked in the template, you can change the

value in that template, but not in the derived children. If you
change the value in the parent template, the change
propagates to all child objects.
Lock controls and status are shown with an icon. If the option
is enabled, click the lock control to switch it between locked
and unlocked. These icons mean:

Icon Name Description

Locked The associated attribute is locked

(in me) (in me) and enabled. Only
templates can have this kind of
lock. The attribute value is
read/write.
Derived templates and instances
do not have a unique copy of this
attribute. Child objects share the
locked attribute of the parent.
Changing the value of a locked
attribute in the parent template
updates the value of that attribute
in all derived templates and
instances.

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Icon Name Description

Locked The associated attribute is locked

(in parent) in the parent object and cannot be
unlocked or modified by the child
object. Both templates and
instances can have these. The
attribute is read-only.
The templates and objects do not
have a unique copy of this
attribute, but instead use the
attribute value in the parent where
the attribute is locked.
Unlocked The associated attribute is
unlocked and enabled. Both
templates and instances can have
this kind of lock. The attribute is
read/write.
The object has its own copy of the
attribute value and the value is not
shared by derived objects.
Indeterminat Refers to a specified group of
e options. An indeterminate state
indicates different lock states for
individual options in the group.
Undefined The associated attribute doesn't
exist. This indicates that another
attribute be enabled before the
associated attribute is created and
before its lock status can be
determined.

Note Locking a UDA during configuration makes its value a

constant. You cannot write to locked UDAs during run time.

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To lock an attribute example

1 Create a derived template from the $Discrete Device base
template. Name the derived template $Valve.
2 Edit the $Valve template and set an attribute value.
Lock the attribute by clicking the Lock icon for the
attribute.
3 Save $Valve.
4 Create a derived template from $Valve. Name it
$BigValve.
5 Create an instance from $Valve named Valve1.
In the editor of $Valve, the attribute lock icon shows the
attribute is locked in me.
You cannot change the attribute value in $BigValve and
Valve1. The editor options for the attribute are disabled
and the lock icon, if shown, indicates a lock in the parent.
Also, the attribute lock icon in children derived from
$Valve is now locked and disabled.
If you change the attribute value in $Valve, the change
propagates to $BigValve and Valve1 after you save the
changes.

To unlock an attribute example

1 Using the objects from the previous example, in the
$Valve template’s editor, unlock the locked attribute.
2 Save $Valve.
In the editor for $Valve, the attribute lock icon shows it
is unlocked.
The lock type for this attribute of $BigValve now
indicates locked in me. The lock type for this attribute of
the Valve1 instance shows unlocked but the locking icon
is unavailable.

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Setting Object Security

Operators interact with objects through the individual
attributes of those objects. Each attribute on the Object
Editor that can be modified by operator's at runtime and can
have an associated security control, which is used to modify
its run-time security classification.
If an attribute's security classification is configurable, click
the security control to select one of seven possible states:

Security Icon Description

Lets you change this value without

restriction even if you have no defined
permissions on the object. Anyone can
write to these attributes to perform
safety or time critical tasks that can be
hampered by an untimely logon request.
For example, halting a failing process.
Lets you work with Operate permissions
to do certain normal day-to-day tasks.
These include writing to attributes like
Setpoint or Command for a Discrete
Device object. This level of security
requires you to have Operate permission
for the security group for the object.
Requires you to authenticate using your
user name and password each time you
want to write to the attribute. You also
need to have Operate permissions for the
object.
Requires you to have Operate
permissions to log on again and a second,
different user to also log on before writing
to the attribute. You also need to have
Operate permissions for the object.
Allows end users with Tune Operational
permissions to tune the attribute in the
run-time environment. Examples of
tuning are attributes that adjust alarm
setpoints and PID sensitivity.

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Security Icon Description

Allows end users with Configure

Operational permissions to configure the
attribute’s value. Requires that the user
first put the object off scan. Writing to
these attributes is considered a
significant configuration change. For
example, a PLC register that defines a
Discrete Device input.
Only allows users to read this attribute’s
value in the run-time environment. This
attribute is never written to at run time,
regardless of the user's permissions.
If an attribute’s security is shown in gray, its security
classification is locked in its parent object and cannot be
changed or it requires the enabling of a group attribute.

Group Locking/Security
The lock and security controls associated with option groups
quickly set those conditions for all options in the group.
The group control typically reflects the setting for all options
in the group. But, if at least one option in the group has a
lock or security control that is different from the other
options, the group control shows an indeterminate icon.
In addition to the undefined controls, the group controls for
locking and security are the same as those for individual
options.

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About the Object Information Page

The Object Information page is common to all object
configuration editors.

This page includes the following fields:

• Description: A short summary of the object’s purpose.

• Hierarchical Name: The fully qualified name of a

contained object, including the container object’s
TagName.

• Container: The name of the other object that contains this

object, if applicable.

• Code Base: The code version of the object.

• Derived From: The immediate parent template of the

object, either a base or derived template.

• Host: Another object to which the object is assigned (for

example, a WinPlatform hosts an AppEngine). An object's
host determines where an object will execute when it is
deployed.

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• Area: An object that represents a logical grouping to

which this object belongs. An object's area mostly affects
the way in which its alarms are reported to alarm clients.

• Security Group: The security group the object is associated

with. For more information, see Working with Security
on page 183.

• Execution Order: If you want this object to be executed

before or after another object within its engine's scan,
select from the Process order list. Click the Browse button
to specify the Relative object in the Attribute Browser. For
more information about the Attribute Browser, see
Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy Browser on
page 78.

• Add Object Help: Opens a copy of the HTML help page for
the template this object is derived from. You can edit this
information. This allows you to create Help about the
object you are currently configuring for downstream
users. This Help appears when you select an object in a
view and then click Object Help on the Help menu.

Customizing Help
Do not use Microsoft Word as an editor to create downstream
object HTML help pages. Use an HTML editor like Microsoft
FrontPage.
If clicking Add Object Help opens Word on your computer,
change the program associated with editing HTM files. Open
the Windows Explorer's Folder Options dialog box and go to
the File Types page to make this change. For more
information about associating programs with files, see your
Windows help.

Finding the Help Folders

The path to each object’s Help folder is unique. It depends on
the path you selected when you installed the Galaxy
Repository. The path to an object’s Help is:
\<Installation Path>\Framework\FileRepository\
<YourGalaxyName>\Objects\<TheObjectID>\Help\1033.
The default is:
<Installation Path> is \<Program Files\ArchestrA\.
To add images to the Help file, place the images in the proper
folder on the Galaxy Repository computer and use a relative
path to those images in the HTML file.
For the example above, place images in the \1033 folder or
create an images folder under it.

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About the Scripts Page

The Scripts page has five areas. To learn more about using
scripts, see Writing and Editing Scripts on page 105.

The main areas of the Scripts page include:

• Scripts list: Shows all scripts currently associated with
the object. The columns indicate which kind of trigger the
script uses: Startup, On Scan, Execute, Off Scan and
Shutdown. Click the Add button to add a new script.

• Inherited scripts name list: Shows all scripts associated

with the object’s parent. The columns indicate which kind
of trigger the script uses: Startup, On Scan, Execute, Off
Scan and Shutdown.

• Aliases area: Lets you create and modify aliases that

apply to the script you are working on. Aliases are
logically descriptive names for typically long ArchestrA
reference strings that you can use in the script to make
the script more readable.

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• Declarations area: Provides a place to add variable

declaration statements, such as DIM MyArray[1] as
FLOAT;. These declared variables live from the startup to
the shutdown of the object and can be used to hold values
that persist from one execution of the script to the next.
They apply only to the script in which they are declared.

• Basics area: Provides a location in which you set the

expression, triggering conditions, and other settings that
run the script in the run-time environment. See Writing
and Editing Scripts on page 105 for descriptions of
triggers and when they are executed. This area includes:

Configure Execution Order: Sets the execution order of

multiple scripts (inherited and local) associated with this
object.
Historize Script State: Select to send the state of the script
to the Wonderware historian.
• Script Creation box: Shows the script you are writing.

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About the UDAs Page

The UDAs page has four areas. To learn more about creating
UDAs, see Creating and Working with UDAs on page 102.

The main areas of the UDAs page include:

• UDAs list: Lists all UDAs currently associated with the
object. Click the Add button to add a new UDA.

• Inherited UDAs list: Lists all UDAs associated with the

object’s parent. The object automatically includes these
UDAs. They can only be edited by modifying the parent
template.

• Data type list: Shows the data type options for configuring
the selected UDA.

Select from the data types Boolean, Integer, Float, Double,

String, Time, ElapsedTime or InternationalizedString. For
more information about each data type and category, see
the help file.
• Category list: Shows the category options for configuring
the selected UDA.

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Allowed categories are:

Calculated: Permits only scripts within the same object to
write to the attribute. Calculated attributes are not saved
across restarts.
Calculated retentive: Permits only scripts within the
same object to write to the attribute. Calculated retentive
attributes are saved across restarts.
Object writable: Permits other objects to write to this
attribute in addition to being set by scripts within this
object. Object Writeable attributes are saved across
restarts, and they are Writeable_S. This category is not
user writeable.
User writeable: Permits other users to write to this
attribute in addition to being set by scripts and objects
throughout the system. User writeable attributes are
saved across restarts, and they are
Writeable_USC_Lockable and they can be locked at
configuration time. This category is not user writeable.

Note You can lock writable attributes. If you select Calculated

for an attribute, only scripts running on the same object can write
to the attribute.

Select This is an array and specify the array's length in the

Number of elements box. You can create an array for each
data type except InternationalizedString.
The Value parameter specifies the initial setting for the
attribute when the object is deployed. Enter value data
for each data type. In the case of a non-arrayed Boolean,
select the True/False check box to use a True value. Clear
the check box to use a False value. For an arrayed
Boolean, select the desired element and provide a default
value by typing either true or false.

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About the Extensions Page

The Extensions page consists of seven areas. To learn more
about creating extensions, see Creating and Working with
Extensions on page 113.

The areas include:

• Extendable Attributes list: Lists all attributes currently
associated with the object that can be extended. The list
can include those added through the UDA tab. Select the
Show Extension Attributes check box to include attributes
added on the UDAs page.

• InputOutput extension group: Configure an attribute so

that its value is both read from an external-reference
source and written to an external-reference destination.
The source and destination might not be the same. The
extension reads the Source attribute’s value and quality
and updates the extended attribute’s value and quality
every scan. Changes read from the source are not written
back to the Destination attribute.

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• Input extension group: Configure the attribute to be

readable for an external object. The extended attribute
gets the update value of the Source attribute.

If you have a large I/O count, use InputOutput Extension

instead of using Input Extension and Output Extension
separately. Boolean attributes/UDAs that are extended
as an InputOutput can handle momentary changes such
as false-true-false transitions within a scan.
• Output extension group: Configure an attribute to be
writeable to an external object. When the value or quality
(from Bad or Initializing to Good or Uncertain) of the
extended attribute is modified, the value of the
Destination attribute is updated. The behavior of Boolean
attributes/UDAs that are an extended as InputOutput
can handle momentary changes such as false-true-false
transitions within a scan.

• Alarm extension group: An alarm is triggered depending

on the state defined in the Active alarm state.

When the alarm name contains more than 294 characters

(<object name>, <attribute name>), InTouch will not
raise an alarm even though the pv.limit and description
are minimum length. For more information, see Working
with References on page 167.
In the Alarm message box, you can browse and select an
existing attribute or you can type a text string as an
alarm message. This text string can be seen in the
InTouch HMI.
If you specify custom labels for the False and True
Boolean states in the Boolean label extension area, these
custom strings appear in the Alarm active state list. These
strings can also can be used in the InTouch HMI.
Select the Category for this alarm. Specify a Priority for
this alarm. Valid values are 0 to 999.
• History extension group: Historize the value of an
attribute that does not already have history capabilities.
These values are stored in the Wonderware historian.

• Boolean label extension: Specify custom text strings for

the False state and the True state. These custom text
strings appear in the Active alarm state list in the Alarm
extension area for you to select. If you are using the
InTouch HMI, you can see these custom text strings in
InTouch.

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Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy Browser

Use the Galaxy Browser to browse for:
• Attributes of AutomationObjects. You can quickly find an
object attribute or attribute property and add a reference
to it when you are configuring an object.

• ArchestrA graphics.

• Graphic element properties.

The Galaxy Browser shows attributes, graphics, or attributes

and elements, depending on what you are doing at the time
you access the browser.

Browsing for Attributes

You use the Galaxy Browser to browse for:
• Attributes of AutomationObjects, either instances or own
relative references.

• Attributes of templates.

You can open the Galaxy Browser to browse for attributes

from:
• Within an AutomationObject Editor. For example, from a
script, from an attribute of type MxReference, or from a
custom alarm message attribute field).

• Within an ArchestrA Graphic Editor. For example, to use

in scripts, animation links and references, properties and
custom properties.

• Within InTouch WindowMaker. For example, to use in a

reference expression from an animation link or a script.
The Galaxy Browser shows objects in the left pane and the
attributes associated with the current selection on the right
pane. Only attributes that can be referenced at run time are
shown. You can browse "Me." references for alarm messages
only.
When you open the Galaxy Browser, the last browsed
location for attributes is shown. The Galaxy Browser shows
the object list based on the last used state (Tagname or
Hierarchical name). If the last used state of the browser was
Tagname and the selected editor reference is a Hierarchical
name, the browser opens in Tagname mode.
The status bar displays the attribute property name, and the
it displays the graphic element attribute name and
description.

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To browse for attributes

1 In any area on a page, click the Browse button, if
available. The Galaxy Browser opens.

If you are browsing for attributes to use with an

ArchestrA symbol, such as for an animation or script, the
Galaxy Browser shows the attributes in an Attribute
Browser tab.

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2 By default, the browser shows only those attributes that

are frequently accessed. If you are viewing the attributes
of an object for the first time, the right pane can be blank.
Select the Show all attributes check box to show all of the
object’s attributes.
3 To filter the list of tagnames, click the Filter button. For
information about configuring a filter, see Creating a
Filter for the Galaxy Browser on page 86. To switch the
content of the left pane between a Tagname and
Hierarchical Name list of objects, click the Show Tag name
or Show Hierarchical name buttons.
4 You do not have to explicitly make a selection in the
Property list. If you only select an attribute (leaving
Property set to <none>), the property of the attribute
defaults to Value.
If the option in the Object Editor is already configured
with an object reference, the Attribute Browser shows it or
expands to the nearest matching
object/attribute/property currently configured in the
Galaxy.
If you selected text in the script editor, that text is used
as the initial reference string and the browser finds the
nearest attribute reference to the selected text.
5 When you are done selecting the attribute/property, click
OK to place the reference into the Object Editor and close
the Galaxy Browser.
• The fully-qualified reference string appears in the
editor option.
• If you are working in the script editor, the selected
reference appears in the script at the current cursor
position and replaces text that was selected.

Viewing Attribute Details in the Galaxy Browser

When you view attributes in the Galaxy Browser, you see two
areas. The objects shown in the left area include all of the
logged in user’s checked-out objects plus the checked-in
versions of all other objects.

Important The Galaxy Browser shows only the Primary AppEngine

and its attributes of a redundant pair. Any Backup AppEngine is
not shown. For information about using redundancy, see About
Redundancy on page 223.

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The right area shows the attributes of the object selected in

the left pane. Depending on the attribute selected, you can
see these properties:
<none> Automatically defaults to the Value
property of the selected attribute.
Category Determines when and where the
attribute’s data exists (for example,
configuration or run time), which
users can write to it, and whether
the attribute is lockable or
unlockable.
Dimension1 Returns the dimension of the
(only for arrays) attribute if it is an array.
Locked Determines whether the attribute
is currently locked. Valid values
are
Unlocked
LockedInMe
LockedInParent.
Quality The quality of the attribute as
defined in the OPC Draft 3.0
quality definition. ArchestrA stores
and transports OPC quality as a
16-bit value. OPC quality is stored
for an attribute as a current
quality, and it can be historized
and sent to clients.
SecurityClassification Determines which permissions a
user has with respect to the
attribute when using an ArchestrA
application in the run-time
environment. Relevant only for
attributes that can be written to by
users in the run-time environment.
If an attribute has no security, this
column is blank. For more on
security classifications, see
Working with Security on page 183.

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Data Type The data type of the attribute:

Integer
Boolean
Float
Double
String
Internationalized String
Time
ElapsedTime
ReferenceType
CategorizedStatusType
DataTypeEnum
SecurityClassificationEnum
DataQualityType
CustomEnum
CustomStruct
For information about each of
these, see the help for the object.
Value The primary value of the attribute.
Sometimes, a list of numbers is
included in the Property list.
Those numbers map to single bits
in an integer attribute’s Value
property. Valid bit field specifiers
are:
.00 (least significant bit)
.01 .02 .03 .04 .05 .06 .07 .08
.09 .10 .11 .12 .13 .14 .15 .16
.17 .18 .19 .20 .21 .22 .23 .24
.25 .26 .27 .28 .29 .30
.31 (most significant bit)

Important Bit field specifiers are not allowed for integer arrays.
Although bit field access is only supported in integers, they
appear to be allowed for data types besides integer because they
do not cause a warning during configuration. They cause errors in
the run-time environment.

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Browsing for Graphics

You use the Galaxy Browser to browse for graphics from:
• The ArchestrA Symbol Editor, when editing a graphic
from the Galaxy, being either a graphic from an
AutomationObject (Template or Instance) or a graphic
from the Graphic Toolbox.

• InTouch WindowMaker when editing a managed InTouch

application hosted by the Galaxy.

The graphic currently being edited (or browsed from) does

not appear in the list of graphics.
Within the same user session, the Galaxy Browser
remembers the last browsed location for graphics and
presents it whenever called as the starting location so that
context is kept. Initial default location for graphic browsing
is the Graphic Toolbox with the root selected (Galaxy node).
You can use the Galaxy Browser to browse graphics from:
• The Graphic Toolbox. The browser shows the Graphics
Toolbox toolset organization on the tree in the left pane
and a list of the graphics contained in the currently
selected node (Galaxy node or toolset node) in the right
pane.

• AutomationObject templates. The browser shows the

Template Toolbox in the left pane and the right pane
shows the graphics associated with the currently selected
template in the right pane.

• AutomationObject instances. The browser shows a flat

list of existing instances of AutomationObjects in the left
pane. The right pane shows the graphics associated with
the currently selected instance. You create or apply
filters to reduce the scope of the instances shown in the
left pane.

• Relative references. This is possible only when you edit a

graphic belonging to an AutomationObject and browse for
graphics from that specific object.

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To browse for graphics from the Symbol Editor

1 Click the Embed Graphic button in the Symbol Editor. The
Galaxy Browser opens, showing the location of the
graphics on the left pane and the graphics associated
with the current selection on the right pane.

2 Select a graphic from the list and then click OK.

3 Click in the canvas to place the graphic.

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Browsing for Element Properties

If you are working on a graphic, you can create references to
properties of other graphics. For example, you can reference
another graphic’s properties from an animation link or script.
You can browse the properties of all elements on the canvas
or custom properties.

To browse for element properties

1 In any area on a page, click the Browse button, if
available. The Galaxy Browser opens.
2 Click the Element Browser tab.

3 By default, the browser shows only those properties that

are frequently accessed. If you are viewing the properties
of an element for the first time, the right pane can be
blank. Select the Show all properties check box to show all
of the object’s attributes.
4 Select the property and then click OK.
• The fully-qualified reference string appears in the
option.
• If you are working in the script editor, the selected
reference appears in the script at the current cursor
position and replaces text that was selected.
For more information, see the Creating and Using ArchestrA
Graphics User’s Guide.

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Creating a Filter for the Galaxy Browser

You can create one or more filters that limit the list based on
the object name or common attributes. You can also configure
the columns you want to show for the list.
The Default filter provides an unfiltered list of objects and
attributes. It cannot be edited.

To create a filter
1 Click the Filter icon. The Edit Filter dialog box appears.
2 Click the Plus button and type a name for your new filter.
3 Click the Filter tab.

4 Configure the filter details.

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5 Click the Display tab.

6 Configure the columns to show in the right pane of the

Galaxy Browser. Use the up and down arrows to set the
order for the columns.
7 Click OK. The new filter appears in the Filter list.

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Changing How Information is Shown in the

Galaxy Browser
You can change how information shown in right pane of the
Galaxy Browser. You can view:
• A list of only the attribute or graphic names.

• A list of details for attributes or graphics.

• Named graphic icons.

• Thumbnails for graphics.

The following figure shows graphic thumbnails.

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Chapter 4

Managing Objects

After you create several objects, like templates, you need to

manage them. For example, you need to check objects in and
out, you need to validate objects, and you may need to
rename objects. You can also export and import objects,
allowing you to reuse objects created in one Galaxy in
another Galaxy.

Checking Objects Out

To make changes to an object, you must check out the object.
Then, you can modify the object and save private versions of
it before checking the object in for other users to use. You can
select more than one object for checking out at the same time.
The Galaxy marks the objects as checked out to you and it
updates the object’s Change Log that you can view in the
Properties dialog box. A check mark is shown next to an
object’s icon in the IDE. No one else can check the object out
until you check it back in or until you perform an Undo
Checkout operation. However, others can open the object for
read-only viewing.

To check objects out

1 In the Template Toolbox or Application views, select the
object(s) you want to work with.
2 On the Object menu, click Check Out. Or, open the Object
Editor. An object is automatically checked out to you
when you open its editor.
The Object Editor opens. You are ready to make your
changes.

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Checking Objects In
When you are finished making your changes, you can check
the object back into the Galaxy. When you check the object
back in, a dialog box prompts you to enter comments about
changes you made.
You can turn this dialog box off if you do not want to enter
information about changes. For more information, see
Customizing Your Workspace on page 29.

Note If the object was automatically checked out when the

editor was launched and you close the editor without making any
changes to the object’s configuration, an undo-checkout is
automatically performed.

To check an object in to the Galaxy database

1 In an Application view or the Template Toolbox, select the
object after you are finished working with.
2 On the Object menu, click Check In. The Check In dialog
box appears.
3 Type any comments you want and click OK.

Validating Objects
Objects need to be validated before they can be deployed. An
object validates it’s configuration either when you are
configuring it, typically when you save that configuration to
the Galaxy database.
Validating an object’s configuration includes:
• Checking allowable attribute value ranges.
• Compiling its scripts.

• Verifying its attribute references.

• Validating its extensions.

• Validating other configuration parameters that are

unique to the object.

Important Script validation on a template does not resolve

references used in the script. For example, references to
non-existing UDAs are not discovered.

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Typically, each option on the Object Editor that requires a

string or numeric input has an allowable range of inputs. If
you type an input outside the allowable range and then try to
change the Object Editor page, close the Object Editor or save
the object’s configuration, a message appears about the input
error, showing the allowable range.

To open the Validation area

‹ On the View menu, click Operations. The Validation area
opens.

Validating Scripts and Other External

Components
Some objects depend on external components to execute, such
as script function libraries and references to other objects’
attributes. The status of these external components can
change, perhaps rendering some capability of the object
inoperative.
For example, an object refers to a value of an attribute of
another object, which is subsequently deleted. This will
result in the remaining object going to a Warning status.
Normally, the system will update the validation status of an
object when the missing script function or object/attribute is
later added to the system. But there are a few cases where
the status of an object needs to be manually validated by the
user.
For example:
• When importing scripts and script libraries, there are
cases when the script will import before the associated
library and validate incorrectly, and

• When graphics associated with an object are imported

along with a graphic they embed, the containing graphic
may be imported first and validated incorrectly.

In each of these situations, the object may incorrectly have a

status of either Bad or Warning. In this case, you may want
to manually validate the object to update its status,
especially if the status is preventing the object from being
deployed. For more information, see Validating Manually on
page 92.
Two kinds of indicators are shown in the object icons:
• deployment status for instances only

• configuration status for templates and instances.

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Validating Manually
After you check an object in, you can verify that an object’s
configuration is valid and update its status by manually
validating it. You can use the Template Toolbox, the
Application views or the Find dialog box to find objects that
need to be validated.
To validate all objects in the Galaxy, validate the Galaxy
object.

Note For a large galaxy this is potentially a time consuming

operation, and should be used only when necessary.

You can select more than one object for validation.

If an object is being edited, validation may not be performed.
Also, if validation is in process on an object, other operations
you start on the object will fail.

Note You cannot cancel validation operations.

To manually validate one or more objects

1 In the Template Toolbox, the Application views or the
Find dialog box, select the object(s) you want to
manually validate.
2 On the Object menu, click Validate. The Operations view
in the IDE opens.

3 Continue using the IDE to perform other operations, if

needed, while validation is going on, including work on
other objects in the Galaxy. If you are validating a
Galaxy, then you must leave the Galaxy alone until the
validation process is complete.
4 When the validation process is complete, you see the
results of the validation in the Operations View. If the
validation failed on an object, you see a message. Correct
the problem and validate again.

Note You can also see the errors or warnings that led to an object
having a status that is not Good by looking at the Error/Warnings
tab within the object's Properties.

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 Creating Instances 93

Creating Instances
After you create templates, you can create instances.
Creating instances makes a specific object from a template,
with all the characteristics and attributes of the template.
Once you have created an instance of an object, it can be
deployed.

Template Child Instances

Parent Template

You can also customize an instance, if needed. For example,

you can have a valve template. When you create an instance
of that valve, you can specify the inputs and outputs for that
specific valve on your factory floor.

To create an instance
1 Select the template you want to use for the instance. For
example, to create a valve instance, select a valve
template.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click New and then click Instance.
An instance is created.
3 Rename the instance. Select the instance. On the Edit
menu, click Rename. Type the new name. Instance names
can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use
$ as the first character. The name must include at least
one letter. You cannot use spaces.
4 To move the new instance in the Deployment view or
Model view, drag the instance to the new location.
You are ready to configure the instance, if needed. For
more information, see Editing Objects on page 61.

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Renaming Objects
You can rename an object. Although you can change an
object’s containment relationship with another object, you
cannot directly rename an object’s hierarchical name. You
can rename its tagname and contained name and its
hierarchical name changes automatically. See Renaming
Contained Objects on page 60 for more information about
renaming contained objects.
Object names must be unique within each namespace, not
within the Galaxy.
• Template names can be up to 32 alphanumeric
characters, including the required $ as the first
character. The second character cannot be $ and the
name must include at least one letter. You cannot use
spaces in an object name.

• Instances names can be up to 32 alphanumeric

characters. You cannot use $ as the first character. The
name must include at least one letter. You cannot use
spaces.

Note You cannot use the following reserved names for objects:
Me, MyContainer, MyArea, MyHost, MyPlatform, MyEngine and
System.

An object can have three kinds of names, depending if it is

contained by another object. The three names include:

Name Description

Tagname The unique name of the individual object.

For example, Valve1.
Contained The name of the object within the context of
name its container object. For example, the object
whose Tagname is Valve1 may also be
referred to as Tank1.Outlet, if Tank1
contains it and it has the contained name
"Outlet".

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 Renaming Objects 95

Name Description

Hierarchical Hierarchical names that are fully-qualified

Name names of a contained object include the
name of the objects that contain it.
Since the object that contains it may also be
contained, there are potentially multiple
hierarchical names that refer to the same
object.
For example, if:
"Reactor1" contains Tank1 (also known
within Reactor1 by its contained name
"SurgeTank").
"Tank1" contains Valve1 (also known
within Tank1 by its contained name
"Outlet").
Valve1 could be referred to as:
"Valve1"
"Tank1.Outlet"
"Reactor1.SurgeTank.Outlet".
When you rename an object, references from other objects to
the object being renamed can be broken. Objects deployed
with broken references receive bad quality data during run
time.

Note Some objects may refer to themselves or to parent/host

objects up in the parent/child hierarchy. References that go up or
down the hierarchy to refer to other objects are called relative
references. Objects with relative referencing are updated
automatically if you rename them.

After renaming, all IDEs connected to the Galaxy show the

new object name.

To rename an object’s tagname

1 Select the object you want to rename.
2 On the Edit menu, click Rename.
3 Type the new name for the object.
4 When you are done, press Enter.

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Deleting Objects
You can delete both templates and instances with the
following exceptions. You cannot delete:
• Deployed instances

• Containers for other objects

• Objects checked out by other users

• Templates that have children (derived templates or

instances)

Note Make sure you correctly select the objects you want to
delete. After you delete an object, you cannot undelete it. You
must recreate it.

To delete an object from the Galaxy

1 In the Template Toolbox or Application views area, select
the object to delete. Select multiple objects by using
Shift+click or Ctrl+click.
2 On the Edit menu, click Delete. When the message
appears, confirm you want the object deleted and click
Yes.

Exporting Objects
You can export some or all of your Galaxy objects. When you
export, you are exporting the objects’ associated templates,
configuration state, and containment state of those objects.
The information is saved in an .aaPKG file.
After the Galaxy objects are exported, you can import into
the same or another Galaxy.
If your objects have scripts associated with them, you need to
export the script library separately. For more information
about exporting script libraries, see Exporting Script
Function Libraries on page 97. For more information about
scripts and script libraries, see the Application Server
Scripting Guide.
Before you start, make sure all objects you want to export are
checked in. If an object selected for export is checked out, the
checked in version of that object is exported instead. This can
lead to old versions of objects being exported.
Exporting an entire Galaxy is different than backing up the
database. Unlike with backups, change logs for the objects
are not exported. When you export objects, only the related
security information for the specific object is exported.

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To export an object
1 In the Template Toolbox or Application Views, select one or
more objects to export.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Export and then click
Automation Object(s). The Export Automation Object(s)
dialog box appears.
To export all of the objects in the Galaxy, on the Galaxy
menu, click Export and then click All AutomationObjects.
3 In the Export dialog box, browse to a path and type a
name for the exported file.
4 Click Save. The file is saved with the specified name and
a .aaPKG extension.
5 When the export is complete, click Close. Now you can
import the .aaPKG file into another existing Galaxy.

Exporting Script Function Libraries

If you want to export objects that use scripts, the scripts are
exported with the object.
Some scripts include functions that depend on external files
called script function libraries. In this case, you must export
the script function libraries separately.

To export a script function library

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Export and click Script Function
Library. The Export Script Function Library dialog box
appears.

2 In the Script Function Library list, select the library or

libraries you want to export. If needed, browse to folder
where you keep your script libraries.

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3 Click OK. The selected script library is exported. Each

script is named with the name of the script and a .aaSLIB
extension.
4 When the export is complete, click Close. Now you can
import the .aaSLIB file into another existing Galaxy.

Importing Objects
You can reuse objects from another Galaxy in your Galaxy.
This saves you a lot of time if the objects are already set up in
another Galaxy.
Importing instances previously exported from a Galaxy
retains previous associations, when possible, such as
assignment, containment, derivation, and area.
You can import objects from exported .aaPKG files or from an
.aaPDF file. An .aaPDF file contains the configuration data
and implementation code for one or more base templates. It’s
created by a developer using the ArchestrA Object Toolkit.
Before you start, you cannot have two objects with the same
name or more than one copy of the same version of an object
in the same Galaxy. When you import an object, these
conflicts are identified and you can manage them.

To import objects
1 On the Galaxy menu, click Import and click Automation
Object(s). The Import AutomationObject(s) dialog box
appears.
2 Browse for the file with either a .aaPKG or a .aaPDF
extension. You can select more than one file. Click Open.
The Import Preferences dialog box appears.

3 In the Objects from same toolkit and vendor area, select

one of the following:

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 Importing Objects 99

Skip objects with same conflict or newer codebase

leaves the existing object unchanged.
Overwrite objects with name conflicts if their
configuration version is higher replaces the existing
object with the object being imported if the codebases
are the same and the imported object has been edited
more often than the existing object.
Migrate objects with a newer codebase also overwrites
existing objects if the codebases (versions) are the
same. This option also migrates the state of existing
objects to the newly imported version if the object
supports it.
You should perform an "Upload Runtime Changes"
before importing a new version base template, if
instances of the template are deployed. This saves
changes made at run time to the Galaxy database.
For more information, see Uploading Run-time
Configuration on page 140.
For more information about migrating, see the
Application Server Help.
4 In the Objects from different toolkits and/or vendor but
with same tagname area, select one of the following:
Skip does not import the object when a name match
exists in the Galaxy.
Rename Object in Galaxy renames the existing object
by appending to its current name the string (up to
four characters) you type in the Append to Object
Name box. The default value is _old but you can
change it to any four- character string.
Rename Importing Object renames the object being
imported by appending to its current name the string
(up to four characters) you type in the Append to
Object Name box. The default value is _new, but you
can change it to any four-character string.

Note Object name conflict resolution only applies to templates

and instances derived from different base templates.

5 Click OK. The import process starts.

6 When the import process is complete, you can start using
the objects you imported.

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Importing Scripts Function Libraries

You can enhance an object’s functionality by attaching a
script to it. Some scripts include functions that depend on
external files called script function libraries. Scripts are
included in the object import operation, but you must import
the script function libraries separately.
If you import an object whose script references a script
function library that is not resident in the Galaxy, the
imported object is set to Bad state and cannot be deployed. To
correct this, import the script function library and validate
the object. For more information about scripts, see the
Application Server Scripting Guide. For more information
about validating scripts, see Validating Objects on page 90.

After You Import

Imported templates are listed in the proper toolset in the
Template Toolset as defined in the object. Imported instances
are shown in the Application views.
The following post-import rules apply:
• If a toolset does not exist, it is created.

• If the object belongs to a security group that does not

exist, it is associated with the Default security group.

• If the object belongs to an area that does not exist, it is

associated with the Unassigned Area.

• If the host to which the object is assigned does not exist,

it is assigned to the Unassigned Host.

• If you selected Migrate objects with a newer codebase from

the Import Preferences dialog box, the migrated objects
are marked with “software upgrade required” if they are
deployed. These objects will be upgraded when the
objects are redeployed.

Note If you import a new version of an existing instance, the new

version is marked as requiring deployment if the existing object is
already deployed.

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Chapter 5

Enhancing Objects

After you create an object, you can enhance and extend the
object by using User Defined Attributes (UDAs), scripts, and
graphics extensions.

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Creating and Working with UDAs

You can add UDAs to a template or an instance. When you
add a UDA to a template, the UDA, its data type, and
category are automatically locked in the child instances. For
an overview of the UDAs page, see About the UDAs Page on
page 74.

If UDA parameters such as initial values and security

classifications are locked in the template, they cannot be
changed in child instances. If these parameters are unlocked
in the template, the initial value and security are editable
and lockable in derived templates. When unlocked in either
the base or derived template, the value is editable in
instances.
After you add an attribute to an instance, it appears in the
Attribute Browser list for use with the scripting and attribute
extension functions. For more information about using the
Attribute Browser, see Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy
Browser on page 78.

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 Creating and Working with UDAs 103

In the UDAs page, you can:

• Add a new attribute to an object.

• Configure its data type.

• Specify the attribute category.

• Set initial values and locks on the new attribute.

• Set whether the new attribute is an array and how many

elements are in the array.

UDAs and Scripting

When using UDAs in scripting, keep the following list in
mind.
• If you use Calculated and Calculated retentive UDAs as
counters, they must be manually initialized. For
example, if you use me.UDA=me.UDA+1 as a counter in a
script, you must also initialize the UDA with something
like me.UDA=1 or me.UDA=<some attribute value>.

• Calculated UDAs can be initialized in scripts with

Execution type triggers of On Scan and Execute, but not
initialized in Startup scripts.

• You must initialize Calculated retentive UDAs in Startup

scripts and you can initialize these UDAs in On Scan and
Execute scripts. A Calculated retentive UDA retains the
attribute’s current value after a computer restart,
redundancy-related failover, or similar situation in which
valid checkpoint data is present. Your Startup script
should contain a statement testing the Boolean value of
the StartingFromCheckpoint attribute on the object’s
AppEngine. If the value is TRUE, do not initialize the
UDA. If the value is FALSE, initialize the UDA. For more
information about StartingFromCheckpoint, see the
help for the AppEngine object.

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UDA Naming Conventions

UDA names can have up to 32 alphanumeric characters,
including periods. UDA names must include at least one
letter.
A UDA name that starts with an underscore (_) as the first
character of the name is a hidden attribute. Hidden
attributes do not appear in the Attribute Browser, the
Properties>Attributes dialog box, or the Object Viewer unless
you select to view Include Hidden.

Important After creating a UDA, it is available, like all attributes,

when extending the object further on the Extensions page. If you
extend a user defined attribute and then delete or rename the
user defined attribute, all object extensions added to the object
on the Extensions page are lost.

To create and associate a UDA with an object

1 On the UDAs page of the Object Editor, click the Add
button. A UDA is added to the UDAs list.
2 Type the new UDA name.
3 In the Data type list, select the Data type for the new
attribute. The available options in the Data type list
change depending on your selection in the Data type list.
4 Set the remaining parameters as needed.

Note For detailed information about each item on the UDAs

page, see About the UDAs Page on page 74.

5 Lock the values, if needed. The lock is available only

when you are working with a template. If you are
working with an instance, it shows the lock status for the
value in the parent object.
6 Set any security you need. For more information about
setting security, see Setting Object Security on page 68.
7 Save and close the Object Editor when you are done.

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Writing and Editing Scripts

Scripts let you extend and customize your objects. A script
lets you runs commands and logical operations based on
specified criteria being met. For example, a script starts
when a key is pressed, a window is opened, or the value of an
attribute changes.
Using scripts, you can create a variety of customized and
automated system functions. A script adds behavior that
executes when the object that contains the script is deployed
and the object is either:
• On scan in the run-time environment or

• Changes scan or startup/shutdown state

A script is typically executed based on attributes of the object

that contains it, but it can be executed by another script
based on changing values of attributes of more than one
object.
When the script condition is true, the script will execute at
least one time immediately. The trigger period has a
maximum of 49-days. If the trigger period is set to greater
than 49-days, the script will never execute.
For specific information about writing scripts, including the
scripting language, syntax, commands, and using .NET, see
the Wonderware® Application Server Scripting Guide.

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For more information about the scripts page, see About the
Scripts Page on page 72.

Important You cannot pass UDAs as parameters for system

objects. Instead, use a local variable as an intermediary or
explicitly convert the UDA to a string using an appropriate
function call when calling the system object.

About Scripts
The following characteristics apply to the scripting
environment:
• Script text has no length limitations.
• Selecting a script function from the Script Function
Library dialog box adds it and its syntax to the script text
where you can edit it.

• You can save a script with syntax errors, but the object
cannot be deployed until the errors are resolved.

• Scripts can be validated before you use them. This helps

you avoid syntactically correct but semantically incorrect
combinations such as two statements declaring the same
variable. Variables can be declared only one time in a
single block.

• You can change the name of a script at any time by

renaming it in the Object Editor.

• In the run-time environment, a script execution error

stops the script’s current execution. Script execution is
retried on the next AppEngine scan.

Script Execution
The existence and execution order of scripts associated with
an object are inherently locked at each stage of development
in the template, derived template, and instance.
For example, a set of scripts associated with a template are
treated as an ordered block in the Configure Execution Order
dialog box when configuring execution order in a
next-generation derived template.
New scripts in the derived template can be executed in any
order before and after the template’s block of scripts. The
derived template’s execution order is treated as a block in
any downstream derived templates or instances.

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Scripts cannot trigger any faster than the scan period of the
AppEngine the script is associated with or faster than the
scan period of the AppEngine that hosts the object that the
script is associated with.
Scripts can be executed in one of two ways:
• Synchronous scripting mode is the default for running
scripts in the run-time environment. This mode runs
scripts in order while an object is running on scan.

• Asynchronous scripting mode is a group of scripts

running on the same, lower priority execution thread.
These scripts only support Execute triggering and run
independently from each other. Set the maximum
number of independent threads in the AppEngine
configuration editor.
To use either scripting mode, you must select Execute as the
Execution Type in the Scripts area on the Scripts page.

To create and associate a script with an object

1 Add a script. On the Scripts page of the Object Editor,
click the Add button. A script is added to the Scripts Name
list.
2 Type a name for the script and press Enter. Script names
can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters, including
periods. At least one character must be a letter.

Note For detailed information about each item on the Scripts

page, see About the Scripts Page on page 72.

3 Select a trigger for executing the script in the run-time

environment.
Execution Type triggers include: Startup, On Scan,
Execute, Off Scan and Shutdown.
• If you select Startup, On Scan, Off Scan, or Shutdown,
the Basics group is unavailable. The script is triggered
when the object starts up, goes on scan, goes off scan,
or shuts down.
If you select Execute, the Basics group is available.
• If you selected Execute as the script trigger, select a
Trigger Type. Depending on the type selected, you are
required to enter an Expression and/or Trigger Period
and Deadband values. When the combination of
Expression, Trigger Type, Trigger Period and/or
Deadband is satisfied in the run-time environment,
the script is executed. See the following table for more
information.

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The Trigger Period format is as follows:

Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Milliseconds
For example, 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 10.5 seconds is:
03:05:10.5000000
Expressions are limited to one language statement in
length and calling only synchronous mode script
functions. Avoid using script functions with side
effects in expressions because subtle behaviors can
occur.

Trigger Type Description

Periodic Script is executed based on a time interval

specified in the Trigger Period box. A time
interval of zero (0) executes the script
during every scan. This trigger does not
require an expression.
While True When the object containing the script is
going On Scan, a While True script
evaluates its expression at the next
scheduled scan period of the AppEngine.
The script executes if true and then
periodically thereafter at the trigger
interval.
The script is executed as long as the
Expression value evaluates to true. A
Trigger Period is required. Zero (0)
evaluates the expression at the AppEngine
scan period and non-zero means the
expression is evaluated at the specified
time interval.
On True When the object containing the script is
going On Scan, an On True script evaluates
its expression at the next scheduled scan
period. The script is executed at the
transition between the expression going
from false to true.
On False When the object containing the script is
going On Scan, an On False script
evaluates its expression at the next
scheduled scan period. The script is
executed at the transition between the
expression going from true to false.

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 Writing and Editing Scripts 109

Trigger Type Description

Data Script is executed when the value or quality

Change of the expression changes. The expression
must evaluate to a single, non-arrayed
value of the following types: integer, real,
time, elapsedtime, string, double, Boolean,
custom enumeration and quality. To allow
execution based on quality, select the
Quality changes check box.
Deadband can be specified for all types.
Deadband units for time and elapsedtime
types are milliseconds. Deadband is always
ignored for strings because any change
(even from “ABC” to “abc”) is considered a
change. Only major changes in quality
(from Good/Uncertain to Bad/Initializing or
vice versa) are considered changes.
After the object is put on scan, Data
Change-triggered scripts are executed on
the AppEngine’s next scan period and then
on each subsequent scan period in which
the value or quality changes.
While False When the object containing the script is
going On Scan, a While False script
evaluates its expression at the next
scheduled scan period, executes if false and
then periodically thereafter at the trigger
interval.
The script is executed as long as the
Expression value evaluates to be false. A
Trigger Period is required. Zero (0)
evaluates the expression at the AppEngine
scan period and non-zero means the
expression is evaluated at the specified
time interval.
4 Select one or more of the following:
• Set the Runs Asynchronously and associated Timeout
Limit parameters, as needed.
• Select Report Alarm on Execution Error and set a
Priority for the alarm if you want the alarming
function to alert you if a script execution failure
occurs.
• Select Historize Script State to store the state of the
script in your application’s historian.

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5 In the Declarations area, type variable declarations about

the script you are writing.
6 Set up aliases for the reference strings in the Aliases area.
This can simplify the script code and allows script code to
be created and locked at a template level using alias
names. When an individual instance of that template is
created, you can link external attributes to the alias
names.
In the Aliases area, click the Add button to add a new
alias. An alias is added to the list. The name is shown in
edit mode. Double-click the Reference entry, and enter a
reference string for the alias. You can also click the
Browse button at the end of the Reference block to open
the Attribute Browser for easy selection of an object’s
attributes.
7 Write the script in the Script Creation box. Use the Display
Script Function Browser and Display Attribute Browser
buttons to help you insert script functions and object
attribute references in your script. For help with the
specific commands and syntax, see the Application Server
Scripting Guide.
Click the Validate Script button to validate your script
syntax.
8 Order the scripts. If you have more than one script
associated with a single object, click Configure Execution
Order. Ordering does not apply to asynchronous scripts. If
a script is added to an instance derived from a template
that contains scripts, the new script automatically
defaults to running after the derived scripts.
9 When you are done creating your script and setting its
execution triggering parameters, save and close the
Object Editor.

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Locking Scripts
When you lock a script in a template, the following rules
apply:
• The name of a script and its existence is implicitly always
locked. This means:

• You cannot delete the script in derived objects.

• You cannot change the name of the script in derived
objects.
• If you rename the script in the template, the name
changes in all derived objects.
• You can delete a script in the template after you
create derived objects. The script disappears from the
derived objects.
• You can add a script to the template after you create
derived objects. The script appears in the derived
objects.
• You can add scripts to derived objects. Adding scripts
to derived objects doesn’t impact the parent object
scripts.
• You can lock or unlock the script text in a template.
There is script text for Declarations, Execute, Startup,
Shutdown, On Scan and Off Scan. You cannot separately
lock each script in the script editor. You use a single
group lock to lock or unlock all at once.

After you lock a script, derived templates and instances

cannot modify any of the script text.
• When the script text is locked in a template, the alias
names are automatically locked. The alias references are
never locked. Locking of aliases is not specified
separately.

Locking aliases means that the entire list of alias names

is locked, including the number of items in the list. You
cannot add new alias names in derived templates or
instances when the alias list is locked. The alias
references are always editable in derived templates and
instances even when the entire list of alias names is
locked. This is the primary objective of aliases.
• The script description, runs asynchronous flag,
expression, trigger type, trigger period, deadband and
execution error alarm are individually lockable and can
be locked separately from the script text. A group lock is
provided for this group of attributes.

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• When you add a script to a template, all properties of the

script are editable.

• When you add a script to an instance, all properties of the

script are editable except for the lock properties. A lock is
never editable in an instance.

Important An expression typically uses attribute references. To

lock the expression and the associated script in a template, use
aliases in both the expression and the script. This allows you to
specify the attributes that the aliases point to on a per instance
basis while the script code is locked.

The following rules apply to the derivation behavior of locked

script attributes:
• If an attribute is locked in a template, then all templates
and instances derived from the template share the copy of
the value of the locked attribute. A change to the value is
only allowed in the template that locked it. The change
propagates to all derived templates and instances.

For scripts, locking an attribute of the script, such as its

script text or execution type, in a template means all
derived templates and instances point to that locked
attribute. Future changes to that locked attribute’s value,
such as modifying the script text, propagate and appear
in all derived templates and instances.
If instances are deployed, they are marked pending
update status. After they are redeployed, the change to
the locked attribute in the template exists in the deployed
instance.
• If an attribute is not locked in a template, then all
templates and instances derived from that template
receive their own copy of the value of that locked
attribute. A change to that unlocked value is allowed in
derived templates and instances because they own their
own copy. Any change to the unlocked attribute value in
the template does not propagate to any derived template
or instance.

An unlocked attribute in a script (such as expression or

script order) in a template means that all derived
templates and instances have their own copy and the
value of that unlocked attribute can change. Future
changes to that locked attribute’s value (for example,
modified expression) in the template does not propagate
to any derived template or instance. If instances are
deployed, their status does not change to pending update.
Redeploying them does not cause the value to change in
the deployed instance.

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Creating and Working with Extensions

The Extensions page allows you to configure an existing
attribute for input, output, alarm, and history functionality
not embedded in the original object.

About Extension Inheritance

You can add object extensions to either derived templates or
instances. Base templates cannot be extended. The following
parent-child object characteristics also apply to object
extensions:
• If you add an extension to a derived template that has
objects derived from it, all child objects inherit the
extension.

• You cannot add an extension to derived objects that

duplicate parent object extensions in name and type.

• You cannot add an extension with the same name as an

existing attribute extension.

• Renaming an extension in the template to which it was

originally added renames all other objects derived from
the template. This change happens when the template is
checked in.

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• You can check in a template with a new extension with

the same name as an existing attribute in a derived
object. The template definition of the extension overrides
the extension in the derived object.

• If you remove an extension from a template, that

extension is removed from any child object. You see the
change when you check the template in.

To create and associate an extension with an object

1 On the Extensions page, select an attribute from the
Extendable Attributes List. The extension groups
dynamically change to allowed extension rules for the
selected attribute type.
2 Select the check box for the kind of extension you want to
apply to the selected attribute. The associated
parameters for each kind of extension become available.
For detailed information about each item on the
Extensions page, see About the Extensions Page on
page 76.
3 Select the parameters you want. Do the following:
• For InputOuput extension, enter a Source attribute by
either typing in the reference string or by using the
Attribute Browser to search for the reference string in
an object. For specific information about using this
extension, see Using the InputOutput Extension on
page 116.
If Destination is different from Source, click Output
destination differs from input source. Enter a
Destination attribute by either typing in the reference
string or clicking the Attribute Browser button. An X
appears in the IO column of the selected attribute.

Important If you clear the Output destination differs from input

source check box, the Destination box automatically shows “---”.
In the run-time environment, “---” is the same reference as the
Source value entered during configuration time. During run time,
you can change the Source reference. During configuration, do
not lock the Destination parameter if you clear the Output
destination differs from input source check box.

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• For Input extension, enter a Source attribute by either

typing in the reference string or clicking the attribute
browser button at the right. Use the Attribute Browser
to select an attribute and automatically insert the
correct reference string for that attribute. An X
appears in the I column of the selected attribute. For
more information about using the Attribute Browser,
see Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy Browser on
page 78.
• For Output extension, enter a Destination attribute by
either typing in the reference string or clicking the
attribute browser button at the right. Use the
Attribute Browser to search for a reference string in
an object. For specific information about using this
extension, see Using the Output Extension on
page 120.
Select the Output Every Scan check box if you want the
extended attribute to write to the Destination
attribute every scan period of the object. Otherwise,
the write executes only when the value is modified or
when quality changes from Bad or Initializing to
Good or Uncertain. An X appears in the O column of
the selected attribute.
• For Alarm extension, select a Category from the list:
Discrete, Value LoLo, Value Lo, Value Hi, Value HiHi,
DeviationMinor, DeviationMajor, ROC Lo, ROC Hi, SPC,
Process, System, Batch or Software. For specific
information about using this extension, see Using the
Alarm Extension on page 124.
Type a Priority level for the alarm (default is 500). An
X appears in the A column of the selected attribute.
From the Active alarms state list, select the value that
triggers that alarm. The items in this list can be
customized in the Boolean label extension area.
• For History extension, enter values for the remaining
parameters: Force Storage Period, Engineering Units,
Value Deadband, Trend High and Trend Low, if
available (depends on the data type of the selected
attribute). An X appears in the H column of the
selected attribute. For specific information about
using this extension, see Using the History Extension
on page 125.
• For Boolean label extension, specify different text
strings for the Label for ‘False’ state and the Label for
‘True’ state, if needed. These text strings appear in
the Active Alarm State list for you to select.

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4 Lock the values, if needed. The lock symbol is available

only when you are working with a template. If you are
working with an instance, it shows the lock condition of
the value in the parent object.
5 Set any security for the attribute. For more information
about setting security, see Setting Object Security on
page 68.
6 Save and close the Object Editor to include the new
attribute extensions in the configured object.

Using the InputOutput Extension

InputOutput extensions allow an attribute in a template or
an instance to be configured so that its value is both read
from and written to an external reference. The InputOutput
extension monitors the value/quality of an input and sends
outputs on state change.

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The output destination can be the same or different from the

input source. The references are always to another
acceptable attribute type in the Galaxy.
You can add multiple InputOutput extensions to an
AutomationObject. However, you cannot add an InputOutput
extension to an attribute that already has an input or output
extension.

Note You can extend lockable attributes with an InputOutput

extension, but they only function correctly during run time if the
extended attribute is unlocked.

When Objects Are On Scan

When an object is On Scan, the value and quality of the
InputOutput-extended attribute mirrors the quality of the
externally referenced attribute during a successful read. The
data quality of the extended attribute is set to Bad when
reads fail. Reads can fail because of communication errors or
datatype conversion failures.
While the extended object is On Scan, the data can change
quality. If an external set (for example, from a user) to the
extended attribute changes either the value or quality, then
a write of the extended attribute’s value to the destination
occurs during the next execute phase. The quality must be
Good or Uncertain for a write to occur. For writes to occur
because of a quality change, the quality change must be a
transition from Bad or Initializing to Good or Uncertain.
The attribute called WriteValue is publicly exposed and plays
an important role in driving outputs. When the extended
object is Off Scan, quality is always Bad and user sets are
accepted.

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Using InputOutput Extensions in Scripts

Two common types of scripts can be written on
InputOutput-extended attributes: One can look at the input
side and one can look at the output side.
The input side script uses the current value coming from the
input source location and performs logic or calculations on it.
This script refers directly to the extended attribute in its
expressions. For example, if the extended attribute is
“me.uda1”, the script refers directly to “me.uda1” for data
change conditions and for expressions within the script.
The output side script can manipulate an output or validate a
new requested output value. This script refers to the
“WriteValue” attribute that extends the extended attribute:
“me.uda1.WriteValue”. So, to validate a new requested
value to the uda1, for example, a data change condition
expression is written on “me.uda1.WriteValue”. In addition,
if the script wants to do clamping or validation, it can
manipulate the “me.uda1.WriteValue” directly to clamp the
output value. For example:
If (me.uda1.WriteValue > 100.0 ) then
Me.uda1.WriteValue = 100.0;
Endif;

The data change expression for this script is

“me.uda1.WriteValue” because this value changes when a
new value is about to be written to the field.
The script can intercept this value just before output and
manipulate it. To prevent WriteValue from being written out,
its data quality can be set to Bad with the SetBad() function.
For more information, see Working with Outputs on
page 121.

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Using the Input Extension

You can add multiple Input extensions to an
AutomationObject. However, you cannot add an InputOutput
extension to an attribute that already has either an input or
output extension. Arrays are not supported.

Note Lockable attributes can be extended with an Input

extension, but they only function correctly during run time if the
extended attribute is unlocked.

If the data types of the extended and Source attributes are

the same, they are set to equal values according to the
extended object’s execution rate. If the two attributes are
different data types, coercion rules are applied.
If coercion fails or the input value is out of the extended
attributes range, quality for the extended attribute is set to
Bad. Otherwise, the extended attribute’s quality matches the
Source attribute. When the extended object is Off Scan,
quality is always Bad and user sets are accepted.

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Attributes extended by an input extension are not protected

by their security classification. The only enforced security
specifies if an IDE user can edit, or extend, the object. An
input extension can be added to a template or instance. If
added to a template, the existence of the input extension is
automatically locked in derived objects.

Using the Output Extension

Writeable and Calculated attributes can be extended with an
output extension. Arrays are not supported.

An output extension can be added to a template or an

instance. If added to a template, the existence of the output
extension is automatically locked in derived objects. The
output Destination attribute in the extension is separately
lockable in templates.

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If the data types of the extended and Destination attributes

are the same and only when the quality of the extended
attribute is good, the two attributes are set to equal values
according to the extended object’s execution rate. If the two
attributes are different data types, coercion rules are applied.
If coercion fails, the extended attribute is placed into a
configuration error and type mismatch state.
An attribute that is enhanced with an Output Extension has
the following characteristics:
• A value can be output only when quality is Good or
Uncertain. The quality is not output, only the value is
output, because quality is not output on sets.

• When the quality changes from Bad or Initializing to

Good or Uncertain, the value is output, even if the value
is not modified.
• When the quality changes from Good to Uncertain, with
no value modification, the value is not output.

• When the object goes Off Scan, no output is done.

• When the extended object is Off Scan, quality is always

Good and user sets are accepted.

Working with Outputs

The following information applies to the functionality of
InputOutput and Output extensions as well as the output
function of the Field-Reference, Switch, and Analog-Device
objects.
If a single set request is made to a destination attribute
during a single scan cycle, that value is sent to the
destination. During a single scan cycle, though, more than
one set request to the same destination is possible. In that
case, folding occurs and the last value is sent to the
destination.
During a single scan cycle, only the last value requested
during a scan cycle is sent to its destination when the object
executes. Its status is marked as Pending as it waits for write
confirmation from the destination object. All other set
requests during that scan cycle are marked as successfully
completed.
If one or more new sets are requested during the next scan
cycle, then the second scan cycle's value is determined as
described above. It is then sent to the destination when the
object executes again and the value sent to the destination
during the previous scan cycle is marked with successful
completion status even if write confirmation is not received.

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Within a single scan cycle, data is folded and only the last set
requested is sent to the destination. For example, an
{11,24,35,35,22,36,40} sequence of set requests results in a
value of 40 being sent to the destination object. All other
values result in successful completion status.
Boolean data types are the exception to this rule. Boolean
data types are used in User sets from InTouch or
FactorySuite A2 Gateway. This allows an unknown user
input rate (for example, repeated button pushes) with a
consistent object scan rate for outputs, and creates
reproducible results.
In this case, a combination of folding as described above plus
maintenance of a queue of one element deep better meets the
expectation of users. To begin with, the first value set after
the object is deployed (the default True or False) is always
written to its destination.
Subsequently, the following occurs during a single scan cycle:
A two-tiered caching scheme of a Value to be Sent and a Next
Value to be Sent is implemented. The Value to be Sent is
based on data change as compared to the last value sent to
the destination object. The Next Value to be Sent is based on
data change as compared to the Value to be Sent value.
When the first data change occurs, the new value is cached in
the Value to be Sent queue. Folding occurs if the same value
is requested again. If another value change occurs, this
second value is cached in the Next Value to be Sent queue.
Again, folding occurs if the same value is requested again.
The Value to be Sent value is sent during the next scan cycle,
and the Next Value to be Sent value is sent during the
following scan cycle.

Note In the case of Boolean data types used in Supervisory sets

(sets between ApplicationObjects and ArchestrA) or a mixture of
Supervisory and User sets during a single scan cycle, the behavior
is the same as the other data types.

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For Boolean data types and User sets, the following examples
apply:

Previous
Scan Cycle Scan Cycle Value Next Value
Value Sent Set Requests to be Sent to be Sent

0 1,0,0,1,1 1 none
1 1,0,0,1,1 0 1
0 1,1,0,0 1 0
1 1,1,0,0 0 none

When the same attribute is extended with an Input

extension and an Output extension, writes to the Output
extension’s Destination occur every scan regardless of
whether the extended attribute has changed.
This behavior occurs even when the Output Every Scan check
box is cleared, which may add more network traffic. The
behavior does not apply to an Input extension.

Quality of Input, InputOutput and Output

Extensions
When the object is On Scan, the value and quality of the
Input-extended attribute mirrors the quality of the
externally referenced attribute in the case of successful
reads. The data quality of the extended attribute is set to Bad
when reads fail because of communication errors or datatype
conversion failures.
While the extended object is On Scan, it behaves as follows: If
an external set (for example, from a user) to the extended
attribute causes either the value or quality to change, then a
write of the extended attribute’s value to the destination
occurs during the next execute phase.
The quality must be Good or Uncertain for a write to occur.
For writes to occur because of a quality change, the quality
change must be a transition from Bad or Initializing to Good
or Uncertain. The attribute called WriteValue is publicly
exposed.
When the extended object is Off Scan, quality is always Bad
and user sets are accepted.

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Using the Alarm Extension

An alarm extension can be added to a template or instance
Boolean attribute. If added to a template attribute, the alarm
extension is automatically locked in derived objects.
Attribute arrays cannot be extended.

Select the Category and specify an Priority for this alarm.

Valid values are 0 to 999.
In the Alarm message box, you can browse and select an
existing attribute or you can type a text string as an alarm
message. This text string appears in the InTouch alarm view.
The Active alarms state list can show the customized items
you specified in the Boolean label extension area. It lets you
select the state that triggers the alarm. If you don’t specify a
value in the Boolean label extension area, you see True and
False.
For more information about using Alarms, see Working with
Alarms and Events on page 153.

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Using the History Extension

Any attribute that exists at run time and is not already
historized can be configured with the history extension.

A history extension can be added to a template or an instance

attribute. If added to a template attribute, the existence of
the history extension is automatically locked in derived
objects.
You can extend Writeable and Calculated attributes of the
following data types with a history extension:
• Float, Double (stored as a Float)

• Integer

• Boolean

• String stored as Unicode, 512 character limit

• Custom Enumeration stored as an Integer

• ElapsedTime stored as seconds

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History Extension group parameters include:

• Force Storage Period: Period after which the value must
be historized even if the value has not changed.

• Engineering Units: Engineering units of the attribute to

be historized.

• Value Deadband: The threshold value, measured in

engineering units, that the absolute value of the
difference between the new and last-stored values must
differ before storing the new value to history. A value of
zero (0) is valid and means that any level of change
results in the new value being stored. A change in
Quality always causes a new record to be stored,
regardless of whether the Value has changed.

• Trend High: The default top of a trend scale.

• Trend Low: The default bottom of a trend scale.

For more information about using History, see Working with

History on page 143.

Using the Boolean Label Extension

In the Boolean label extension area, you can specify a explicit
name for the True and False states of Boolean attributes. For
example, if the Boolean attribute is associated with the
operating condition of a motor, you can specify the states as
Stopped and Running.
The labels defined in this area are available in the Active
alarm state box in the Alarm extension area.
These labels are also shown in the Value and Limit columns of
the Alarm and Event database and InTouch AlarmView
control.

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Creating and Working with Graphics

Use the Graphics page to add, modify, rename or delete local
graphics; or to view inherited graphics. You must have the
derived template or object instance checked out in order to
add, modify, or delete local graphics; otherwise, you can only
view local graphics.
You can view graphics inherited from parent templates and
object instances. You cannot add, modify, or delete inherited
graphics. This means that in order to edit an inherited
graphic, you must check out the derived template or object
instance where the graphic is local.
You can only add graphics to derived templates and object
instances. You cannot add graphics to a base template.
On the Graphics page, use the Open button to start the
Symbol Editor for the selected graphic.

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Adding Graphics
You can add graphics to an object.

To add a graphic symbol to the object

1 On the Graphics page of the Object Editor, click the Add
button. A graphic name is added to the Name list.
2 Type the new local graphic symbol name.
3 In the Description box, type a description for the graphic
symbol being added.
4 Click Open. The graphics tool box opens. For instructions
on using the Symbol Editor, see Creating and Managing
ArchestrA Graphics User’s Guide.

Modifying Graphics
All modifications made to graphic symbols referenced by
other objects are visible in the referenced objects.

To modify a graphic symbol

1 On the Graphics page of the Object Editor, click the Name
of the graphic symbol to be modified.
2 Click Open. The graphics tool box opens, showing the
selected graphic symbol.
3 Make changes. For instructions on using the Symbol
Editor, see Creating and Managing ArchestrA Graphics
User’s Guide.

Renaming Graphics
You can rename a graphic symbol.

To rename a graphic symbol

1 On the Graphics page of the Object Editor, click the Name
of the graphic symbol to be renamed.
2 Type the new name, and press Enter. The new name is
saved.

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Deleting Graphics
Caution Deleting a graphic symbol with embedded references
breaks the links to their related objects. “Symbol Not Found”
appears when you open objects whose embedded graphic symbols
have been deleted.

To delete a graphic symbol

1 On the Graphics page of the Object Editor, click the Name
of the graphic symbol to be deleted.
2 Click the Delete button. The Delete dialog box appears.
The left pane lists the graphic symbol selected for
deletion. The right pane shows all embedded references
to the selected graphic.
3 Click Yes.

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Chapter 6

Deploying your Galaxy

You can deploy and test your objects at any time during
development. When you’re ready to test or move the
application into production, it’s time to deploy the Galaxy.
You can see what your application looks like in the
Deployment view or the Model view. Both views show you the
structure of your application. For more information, see
Using the Application Views on page 21.

Planning for Deployment

Deploying your Galaxy copies the objects from the
development environment to the run-time environment. This
makes your objects “live” and functional.
Until you deploy your IDE configuration environment to the
run-time environment, changes you make in the IDE do not
appear in the run-time environment. To see run-time data
associated with your objects, use Object Viewer or InTouch.
For more information about using Object Viewer, see the
Object Viewer User’s Guide.

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Objects deploy from the configuration environment to the

run-time environment as follows:

IDE
Configuration deploys Object Viewer
Environment to Run-time environment

Galaxy database ‡ [Does not exist in

run-time environment]
Templates ‡ [Does not exist in
run-time environment]
Instance objects ‡ Instance objects
[Run-time
configuration and
behavior]
Security: General ‡ [Does not exist in
permissions run-time environment]
Security: Operational ‡ Run-time permissions
permissions to acknowledge alarms
and modify attributes
Scripts configuration ‡ Scripts execution
Alarms configuration ‡ Alarms generate and
acknowledge
History configuration ‡ History Logs
[Wonderware
Historian]

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Determining Galaxy Status

You can see an overview of the condition of your Galaxy
before you deploy. This lets you know if you have objects that
are in warning or error status.

To determine the status of a Galaxy

1 Connect to the Galaxy.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Galaxy Status. The Galaxy
Status dialog box appears.

You see information about total instances, total

templates, deployed instances with changes, undeployed
instances with changes, objects that have an error or
warning state, objects that are checked out, and object
you have checked out.
3 Click OK.

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Deploying Objects
You deploy object instances for three reasons:
• Testing.
• Place the application into production to process field
data.

• Update an existing application with changes you made.

When you are ready to deploy, make sure the following

conditions are met:
• Bootstrap software is installed on the target computer(s).
• The objects being deployed are not in an error state in the
Galaxy database.

• You created, configured, and checked in objects to the

Galaxy.

• Objects are assigned to a host.

• The object's host is already deployed. A cascade deploy

operation, which deploys a hierarchy of objects, deploys
all objects in the correct order. This deploys an object’s
host before the object is deployed.

Note DINetwork objects have specific configuration limits. For

example, whether more than one object can be deployed to a
single WinPlatform. The IDE does not check for these limits. For
more information, see the help file for the DINetwork object for
specifics on configuration limits.

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You can tell if you have objects that need to be deployed by

looking at the icons next to the objects. Deployment status
icons include:
Not deployed

[No Deployed
icon]
Deployed, but pending configuration changes
exist that have not been deployed.

Deployed, but software modifications exist that

have not been deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is undeployed, but its redundant pair
is deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, but its redundant pair is
not deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, its redundant pair is not
deployed, and pending configuration changes
exist that have not been deployed.
Applies only to redundant AppEngines. An
AppEngine is deployed, its redundant pair is not
deployed, and software modifications exist that
have not been deployed.
[No Good
icon]
Warning

Error. The object in an Error state and cannot be

deployed.
InTouchViewApp application files are being
asynchronously transferred to the target node.
This icon is normally be visible for only a few
moments at the end of an InTouchViewApp
deployment operation, unless the object is
deployed on a slow network.

Note This icon is larger than the other icons and

completely replaces the original while it is being
shown.

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To deploy an object
1 Select the object in an Application view.
2 On the Object menu, click Deploy. The Deploy dialog box
appears.

3 Select one or more of the following

• Cascade Deploy: Select this check box to deploy the
object selected for deployment as well as any objects it
hosts. This option is selected by default if the object is
a host. If you are deploying an individual host object,
clear the check box. Objects being deployed across
multiple platforms will be deployed in parallel.
• Include Redundant Partner: Select this check box to
also deploy an AppEngine’s redundancy partner
object. This option is selected and unavailable when
the redundant engine has pending configuration
changes or software updates.
4 In the Currently deployed objects area, select one or more
of the following options. These options are not available if
the selected object has not been deployed before.
• Skip: If one of the objects you are deploying is
currently deployed, selecting Skip makes no changes
to the already-deployed object.
• Deploy Changes: If one of the objects you are deploying
is currently deployed, this option updates the object
in question with new configuration data. The runtime
state from the runtime file is preserved and the state
is modified with any changes.

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• Redeploy Original: If one of the objects you are

deploying is currently deployed, this option deploys
the same version as previously deployed. For
example, use this option to redeploy an object that is
corrupted on the target computer.
• Force Off Scan: If one of the objects you are deploying
is currently deployed, this option sets the target
object to off scan before deployment occurs.
5 In the Currently undeployed objects area, select the
Deploy New Objects check box to start a normal
deployment.
6 In the Deploy Status Mismatch area, select the Mark as
Deployed check box to mark the object as deployed in the
Galaxy. A mismatch happens when the object is
previously deployed to a target node, but the Galaxy
shows the object is undeployed. Clear this option to
redeploy the object to the target node.
7 In the Initial Scan State area, select one of the following:
• On Scan: Sets the initial scan state to on scan for the
object(s) you are deploying. If the host of the object
you are deploying is currently off scan, this setting is
ignored and the object is automatically deployed off
scan. When you deploying multiple objects, the deploy
operation deploys all of the selected objects "off-scan."
After all of the objects are deployed, the system sets
the scan-state to “on-scan.”
Objects can only execute when both the host/engine is
"on scan" and the object is "on scan." If either the
host/engine or the object is "off scan," the object can
not execute.
Always deploy Areas to their host AppEngines on
scan. Because Areas are the primary providers to
alarm clients, deploying Areas off scan results in
alarms and events not being reported until they are
placed on scan.

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• Off Scan: Sets the initial scan state to off scan for the
object(s) you are deploying. If you deploy objects off
scan, you must use the ArchestrA System
Management Console Platform Manager utility to put
those objects on scan and to function properly in the
run-time environment.

Note The System Management Console controls on the state of

the host/engine. The ObjectViewer controls the state of the
objects.

The default scan setting is set in the User Default

settings in the Configure User Information dialog box.
For more information, see Configuring User
Information on page 31.
8 Click OK to deploy the object(s). The Deploy progress box
appears. If you see error messages, see Deployment Error
Messages on page 138. When the deploy is complete, click
Close.

Deployment Error Messages

If the object being deployed has configuration problems that
were not known during configuration, the Deploy progress
box shows messages.
The Progress dialog box also shows the affected instances and
any error and warning messages. The target object can take
any actions necessary to achieve a valid state, including
changing attribute values provided during deployment.
WinPlatforms are the only objects whose configuration
designates its deployment location. Deployment problems
unique to WinPlatforms are the following:
• The target computer could not be found on the network.
Ensure the WinPlatform was configured properly and the
target computer is properly connected to your network.

• Another WinPlatform is deployed already to the target

computer. Resolve this problem by undeploying the
existing WinPlatform before deploying the new one.
• The target platform is running on the old version of the
product. To resolve this problem, the user must upgrade
the remote platform.

• If a WinPlatform object is deployed on a slow network

and it does not respond to the IDE before the 30-second
message timeout, a communication error occurs and the
object is shown as not deployed. You may need to adjust
the message timeout for the WinPlatform object to
accommodate the slow network speed.

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Redeploying Objects
Redeploying is similar to deployment. While you are testing,
you frequently redeploy your application to see changes you
make. The redeploying process undeploys the object and then
deploys it back.
You may have an object whose deployment state is Pending
Update. That means the object changed since it last
deployment. When you deploy those changes, the new object
is marked as the last deployed version in the Galaxy.

To redeploy
1 On the Object menu, click Deploy.
2 Follow the procedure for Deploying Objects on page 134.

Undeploying Objects
You may need to undeploy one of more objects. Undeploying
removes one or more objects from the run-time environment.
Before you start, you need to select the object or objects you
want to undeploy in the IDE.
Before you delete or restore a Galaxy, undeploy all objects in
the Galaxy.
Undeploying can fail if the target object has objects assigned
to it. Make sure you select Cascade Undeploy in the Undeploy
dialog box.

To undeploy
1 On the Object menu, click Undeploy. The Undeploy dialog
box appears.

In the upper right of this dialog box, the Undeploy Object

Count box shows the number of objects being undeployed.
You can select a single object in Application view and, if
you selected Cascade Undeploy and other objects are
assigned to the selected object, the total number of
objects appears in this box.

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2 Select one or more of the following. Some of these options

might not be available, depending on the kinds of object
you select.
• Cascade Undeploy: Select to undeploy the selected
object as well as any objects it hosts.
• Include Redundant Partner: Select to also undeploy an
AppEngine’s redundancy partner object.

Note The AppEngine in a redundant pair that was configured as

the Primary can be undeployed alone because objects hosted by it
run on the deployed Backup AppEngine, which becomes Active.

• Force Off Scan: If one of the objects you are

undeploying is currently on scan, selecting Force Off
Scan sets the target object to off scan before
undeployment. If you do not select Force Off Scan and
the target object is on scan, the undeployment
operation fails.
• On Failure Mark as Undeployed: Marks the object as
undeployed in the Galaxy when the object targeted
for undeployment is not found.

Uploading Run-time Configuration

You can upload run-time configuration changes to the Galaxy
database. This lets you keep any attribute values that
changed during run time.

Note Upload runtime changes will not be permitted from old

runtime node to the galaxy

The values of certain attributes can be set in the

configuration environment, but they can also be changed by
the user at run time. As a result, the values of these
attributes can differ between the run-time and configuration
environments. These attribute types are:
• Writeable_UC • Writeable_UC_Lockable
• Writeable_USC • Writeable_USC_Lockable

For example. you create an object with a UDA myInteger. In

the Object Editor, you specify an initial value of 30.

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Then you deploy the object. At run time, you write a new
value to myInteger of 31. If you redeploy this object, the
original value of 30 overwrites any value assigned during run
time. To avoid losing changes made during run time, upload
changes before redeploying an object.
If you want to upload run-time changes to the Galaxy, make
sure the selected objects are:
• Not edited and checked in since last deployment or
upload

• Not in Pending Update state

• Checked in

Objects whose configuration are successfully uploaded have a

new version number and a change log entry for the upload
operation. The run-time object’s version number also has a
new version number. That version number matches the
version in the configuration database.
If you select an object that is currently checked out to you, a
warning appears during run-time upload. If you continue,
you lose all configuration changes you made to the checked
out object. The Galaxy performs an Undo Check Out
operation on it before the run-time attributes are copied to
the Galaxy database.

Note You cannot upload run-time changes for objects checked

out to other users.

To upload run-time changes to the Galaxy

1 Select one or more objects in the Model view or
Deployment view. For example, you could select an entire
hierarchy from AppEngine down.
2 On the Object menu, click Upload Runtime Changes. The
run-time attributes of the selected objects are copied over
those in the Galaxy database.

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Undeployment Situations
The following situations occur in these specified
undeployment scenarios:
• After undeploying a WinPlatform, only the Bootstrap
software remains on the target computer. All other
WinPlatforms are notified of the undeployment of the
WinPlatform and stop trying to communicate with it over
the network.

• Alarm Clients know immediately that an area is

undeployed and is no longer available. They remove the
area from selection lists. Alarms associated directly with
the area (not as a result of containment) are immediately
removed from current alarm views.

• Undeploying an object that has Pending Updates status

removes that status. It is now marked as undeployed.

• If cascade undeploy fails on one object, then the undeploy

continues to the extent possible on other objects. The
entire operation is not terminated because the undeploy
fails for one object. However, a host might not be
undeployable if one of its assigned objects cannot be
undeployed.

• Assume an ApplicationObject is hosted by the Active

AppEngine in a redundant pair and a number of
subscriptions is configured in that ApplicationObject that
refers to items in a DIObject. If you undeploy the
ApplicationObject in question, the items are not removed
immediately from the item count of the DIObject. How
fast those items are removed depends upon the value of
the Maximum time to maintain good quality after failure
option (Redundancy.StandbyActivateTimeout attribute)
on the Redundancy page in the AppEngine’s editor. This
behavior does not apply to the undeployment of
ApplicationObjects hosted by non-redundant
AppEngines.

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Chapter 7

Working with History

You can configure your objects to store data in the

Wonderware® Historian (formally called IndustrialSQL
Server). Storing data in the historian is useful because it
allows you to analyze stored data.
This section describes how to configure objects to store data
in the historian.

Galaxy

Attribute

Attribute Attribute Historized data

Object
Wonderware Historian

Attribute Attribute Historized data

Historized data

For more information about historizing data, see the

FactorySuite A2 Deployment Guide.

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Configuring History
Some attributes can be historized when values change. Data
quality is also recorded along with attribute values. The
historical records of this data can then be retrieved, trended
and used for other purposes later.
For attribute data to be stored in the historian, a host
AppEngine must be configured to send all history data to a
Wonderware Historian node and deployed in the Galaxy.

Galaxy
Templates
Object instances deployed to an engine
Configure configured for history
attributes for
history here When you deploy, the
instances inherit the
attributes configured
for history

Manual Data
Acquisition
Service (MDAS)

Wonderware
Objects push attribute data
Historian to the historian when state
changes

Important A change in quality always causes a new record to be

stored, regardless of whether the value changed.

For information about configuring specific history attributes

for specific objects, see the online help in each object.

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 Configuring History 145

For each object, you can configure attributes of the following

data types to be historized.
• Float (numerical)
• Double (numerical) maps to a Wonderware Historian
float. If the value of the double exceeds the range of a
float, its value is clamped to the maximum value for the
float and the quality is set to Uncertain.

• Integer (numerical)

• Boolean (non-numerical)

• String – Unicode (non-numerical). Limited to 512

characters, so truncation can occur. If so, quality is set to
Uncertain.

• CustomEnum (non-numerical) maps to a Wonderware

Historian integer

• ElapsedTime (numerical) maps to a Wonderware

Historian float and converted to seconds

• Arrays or parts of arrays are not supported.

• Enum type attributes are historized as integer ordinal

values.

• NaN values for float and double data types are converted
to null values.

• All numerical attributes are sent to the Wonderware

Historian in the engineering units exposed by the
attribute. The Wonderware Historian does not scale the
value.

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About the Wonderware Historian

To historize your process data, you must install the
Wonderware Historian. When you install the Wonderware
Historian, follow these guidelines:
• Install the Wonderware Historian on a computer outside
the Galaxy but on the local network.

• A single the Wonderware Historian installation can

receive historical data from a single Galaxy.

The Wonderware Historian creates additional VTQ records

that modify quality when certain situations happen, such as
network disconnects suggesting down times.
The Wonderware Historian stores two additional data
quality fields: quality and quality detail. These are not OPC
compliant for each record received from Application Server
components.
For more information, see the Wonderware Historian
documentation.

About Manual Data Acquisition Service (MDAS)

Application Server communicates with the Wonderware
Historian node through an interface called Manual Data
Acquisition Service (MDAS). MDAS uses Distributed COM
(DCOM). DCOM requires TCP/UDP port 135 to be available
on the Wonderware Historian node, as well as in any Galaxy
node pushing data to the Wonderware Historian and any
other network device such as firewalls.
If port 135 is not available, Application Server fails to
configure and store history to the Wonderware Historian.
One possible reason that port 135 is not available can be that
a router between Application Server node and the the
Wonderware Historian node is blocking the port. Another
reason might be that DCOM is disabled on either node.
To make sure that the Wonderware Historian and
Application Server work together properly, make sure that
DCOM is enabled and not blocked.

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Configuring Objects to Store History

If you want to historize an attribute in run-time, you must
specify this setting in the object.

To configure an object to store history

1 Check out the object and open the Extensions page in the
Object Editor.
2 For each attribute you want to historize, select the
History check box. Optionally, provide a Force Storage
Period value.

Force Storage Period is the time interval in seconds, which

the attribute value must be stored, regardless of the
value deadband setting. In addition to the Value
Deadband setting, the value is stored continuously at this
interval. A value of zero (0) disables this feature.

Important If further and identical value/quality pairs are

received by the Wonderware Historian, they are not actually
stored to disk.

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3 For non-array, numerical attributes that you want to

historize, such as integer, floats and doubles, configure
the Value Deadband, TrendHi and TrendLo options.
• Value Deadband: the threshold value in engineering
units difference between the new and last-stored
values before storing the new value to history. For
example, a deadband value of 5 means that a new
value is not stored until it changes more then 5 units
from the previous value. Zero (0) is the default. Zero
means that any change stores the changed value.
• Trend Hi specifies the initial maximum trend value for
clients.
• Trend Lo specifies the initial minimum trend value for
clients.
4 Save and close the Object Editor. Check in the object to
the Galaxy.
5 Deploy the object in an On scan state to a host
AppEngine that is configured for History. For more
information, see Configuring WinPlatforms and
AppEngines for History on page 150.

During Run Time

During run time execution, data is historized as follows:
• If no previously-historized value exists, then the first
value is always historized.

• Numerical attributes (double, float or integer): If the

value for the attribute changes and that change is more
than the value deadband or the value's quality changes
(for example, from Good to Bad), the data is historized.

• If the attribute type is qualitative (enumeration, string or

Boolean) and the attribute’s value or quality changes.

• If the current time exceeds the time the last Forced Store
occurred for the attribute by the time period that was set
as the Force Storage Period. If no last Forced Store
occurred since startup, a new store occurs immediately.

Note The Value Deadband mechanism, if enabled, resets itself

based on this new value stored.

• The new attribute value, timestamp and quality are sent

to the Wonderware Historian for storage.
• Wonderware Historian logs the data to disk.

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Deploying and Undeploying

When an AutomationObject configured for history is
redeployed, changes to the attribute configuration of the
object makes the historian reconfigure storage. For example,
if the engineering units string for the tag change from “Deg
F” to “Deg C” when the object is redeployed, the Wonderware
Historian configuration database shows the change.
When an AutomationObject configured for history is
undeployed, all history remains in the Wonderware
Historian historian. The history data can be examined in the
future even if the AutomationObject is no longer deployed.

Store Forward Mode

If the Wonderware Historian node shuts down or the
network connection with the Wonderware Historian node is
lost, data storage continues locally. When the Wonderware
Historian node recovers, the data is forwarded to the node at
a low priority. For more information, see the Wonderware
Historian documentation.
If an AppEngine loses connectivity with the Wonderware
Historian node, the Wonderware Historian reports Bad data
quality to clients. When you undeploy an object with
attributes configured for historization, the Wonderware
Historian stores the final data points with Bad quality.

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Configuring WinPlatforms and AppEngines for

History
If an AppEngine is deployed before Wonderware Historian is
started, history is not stored until the objects successfully
register with the Wonderware Historian.
When an AutomationObject is deployed on scan, some data
points for attributes are not stored until they are registered
and committed to the Wonderware Historian.
See the online help for WinPlatform and AppEngine objects
for specifics about the Object Editor pages of these objects.

To configure WinPlatforms and AppEngines for history

1 Check out the object and open the Object Editor.
2 Do the following:
• To configure a WinPlatform, go to the Engine page.
• To configure an AppEngine, go to the General page.
The History area on each page looks the same.

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3 Do the following:
• To use historization, select Enable storage to historian.
If you want the portion of the model view hierarchy
hosted by the engine to get replicated into the public
group namespace when the historian engine starts up
(either deployment or restart), also select Enable Tag
Hierarchy.
• In the Historian box, type or select the Wonderware
Historian node name.
• Specify the Store forward deletion threshold, in
megabytes.
• Specify the Store forward minimum duration, in
seconds.
• Specify the Forwarding chunk size, in bytes.
• Specify the Forwarding delay, in milliseconds.
4 Save and close the Object Editor. Check in the object to
the Galaxy.
5 Deploy the object to its target computer in an on scan
state.

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Chapter 8

Working with Alarms and Events

By enhancing and extending a template, you can automate

detection, notification, and viewing application (process)
events and alarms or system and software events and alarms
using the Application Server.

About Events and Alarms

Events and alarms are different.
• An event is a condition at a point in time. Application
Server can detect events, store them historically, and
report them to various clients.

• An alarm is a condition that is considered abnormal and

requires immediate attention. Alarms are a special type
of event that have a state and must be acknowledged.
ArchestrA handles the real-time reporting of alarms in a
special way and provides special clients for viewing them.

After an Area object is deployed, alarm clients can

monitor and control alarms generated by Automation
Objects belonging to the Area.
ApplicationObjects include built-in event and alarming
reporting capabilities. You must configure alarms for each
object in the IDE to use the event and alarm functions.

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Event Examples
Examples of events include:
• A plant process starts. For example, a new batch starts.
• The operator changes a plant operator parameter. For
example, a setpoint on a temperature controller.

• The system engineer changes the run-time system

configuration. For example, deployment of a new
AutomationObject.

• A system engineer starts or stops a system component.

For example, stopping an AppEngine.

• A WinPlatform comes back online after a failure or

shutdown.

• A user logs into the system.

• A severe software problem is detected. For example, a

ApplicationObject component fails.

Alarm Examples
Examples of alarms include:
• A process measurement exceeded a predefined limit. For
example, a high temperature alarm.

• A process device is not in the desired state. For example,

a pump that should be running has stopped.

• The system hardware is not operating within desired

limits. For example, the CPU performance on a
WinPlatform exceeds 99% for a specified time.

Items That Are Not Events or Alarms

The following items are not considered events or alarms:
• Configuration actions within the Galaxy Repository. For
example, import or check out of an object.
• Installing Bootstrap on a computer.

• A message sent to the ArchestrA Logger. Sometimes,

certain software events log a message in addition to
generating an event. Logger messages are not events.

• Viewing a window in InTouch.

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Configuring Alarms
Alarming capabilities are a part of object templates, but they
are not implemented until the object is configured in the IDE.
After they are configured, you can view the Application
Server alarms in InTouch.
Configuring an AutomationObject to be an alarm provider
includes:
• Deciding whether alarm notification is needed for each
possible alarm condition in the object. For example, a
command timeout alarm for a valve if the output
command fails to move the valve.

• Editing the object and configuring an attribute that

specifically commands alarm notification.
• Configuring the alarm configuration attributes.
Typically, the fields that require configuration are
Category, Priority and Description.

• Configuring any limit fields for triggering alarm

detection. For example, the feedback timeout time limit.

You can add alarms detection and reporting capabilities to

AutomationObjects that were not originally developed to
detect alarms. You do this by using alarm extensions.
When the alarm name contains more than 294 characters
(<object name>, <attribute name>), InTouch will not raise an
alarm even though the pv.limit and description are minimum
length. For more information, see Working with References
on page 167.

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To configure a WinPlatform to be an InTouch alarm provider

1 Check out the WinPlatform object.
2 Open the Object Editor.

3 Select the InTouch alarm provider check box. Enter

specific Areas in the Alarm Areas box, or leave the box
blank to include all Areas.
4 Save and close the Object Editor.
5 Check the object in to the Galaxy.
6 Deploy the object in an on scan state.

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Setting Alarms on the Extension Page

You set alarms in the Extensions page in the Object Editor.

To specify alarms
1 On the Extensions page of the Object Editor, select an
attribute from the Extendable Attributes List. The four
extension groups dynamically change to allowed
extension rules for the selected attribute type.

2 Select the Alarms check box. For Alarm Extension, select a

Category from the list:
Batch DeviationMajor DeviationMinor
Discrete Process ROC Hi
ROC Lo Software SPC
System Value Hi Value HiHi
Value Lo Value LoLo
• Type a Priority level for the alarm (default is 500).
• Select to use either the Object Description for Alarm
Message or type another alarm message in the
Message box. An X appears in the A column of the
selected attribute.

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3 For Boolean Label Extension, specify text strings for the

False state and the True state, if needed. These text
strings appear in the Active Alarm State list for you to
select.
4 Lock the values, if needed. The lock symbol is available
only when you are extending a template. Otherwise, it
indicates the lock condition of the value in the parent
object.

About Alarm Event Distribution

After you configure AutomationObject instances for alarm
detection, deploy the instances and put them On scan. The
instances begin checking for alarm conditions right away.
When an alarm is detected, or an event occurs, the condition
is reported to its alarm and event distributor, which is
running on the same AppEngine.
These alarm and event distributors include:
• Area All AutomationObjects and Area
AutomationObjects objects report detected alarms
through the Area, which
distributes them to alarm and
event clients.
• WinPlatform Report their own alarms and
AutomationObjects events.
• AppEngine Report their own alarms and
AutomationObjects events.
• Device Report their own alarms and
IntegrationObjects events.

WinPlatforms, AppEngines and Device Integration objects do

not report their alarms and events to Area
AutomationObjects even though they belong to Areas. This
allows alarm clients to receive alarm notifications without
any dependencies on Area AutomationObjects. For example,
a deployed and running WinPlatform can report alarms even
though its Area is not deployed and running.
Alarm-event distributor objects maintain a list of all
currently active alarms and inactive but unacknowledged
alarms. They do not maintain a list of events, which are
routed to clients that are currently subscribed at the time of
the event.

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Area AutomationObject
The Area AutomationObject plays a key role in alarm and
event distribution. All AutomationObjects belong to an Area.
Areas can contain sub-Areas. Alarm and event clients are
configured to subscribe to a set of Areas.
Areas provide a key organizational role in grouping alarm
information and assigning it to users who use alarm and
event clients to monitor their Areas of responsibility.

Alarm and Event Subscription

Clients indicate interest in alarms and events by subscribing
to an Area. When subscribing to an Area, the subscription is
actually to all notification distributors within that Area.
For example, if an Area contains sub-Areas, those sub-Areas
are subscribed to. If WinPlatforms, AppEngines or Device
Integration objects belong to an Area, those objects are also
directly subscribed to.
When a notification distributor receives an alarm and event
subscription from a client, the notification distributor
provides the client with the following:
• A list of all current alarm conditions, including
unacknowledged return-to-normal conditions.

• An alarm condition state change. A state change includes

transitions into or out of alarm (return to normal) and
change in acknowledged flag.

• An event occurrence.

Alarm and event subscription requests do not include filters,

for example, only show alarms greater than a specific priority
value. All alarm and event messages received by the
notification distributor are sent to all subscribed clients.
Filtering is provided as a display option by clients.

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Enabling and Disabling Alarms

Alarms can be enabled or disabled in the run-time
environment. This action can be specified at the Area level,
at a container object level, or at an individual object level.
You cannot selectively enable or disable individual alarms in
a single object.
Run-time alarm actions include:
• Enabled: All alarms for the object are reported to clients
and historized normally.

• Disabled: No alarms for the object are detected. The

alarm is return-to-normal until the alarm is reenabled.

Important Silenced mode is reserved for future use. It currently

functions in the same way as Disabled.

The table below shows the resulting Enable and Disable

state given the state of other objects in a hierarchy. The most
restrictive state controls.

Container Alarm Object

Object’s Area Mode Commanded Resulting State
Alarm Mode (if any) Alarm Mode for Object

Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled

Disabled Any Any Disabled
Any Disabled Any Disabled
Any Any Disabled Disabled

Enabling Alarms
To enable an AutomationObject’s alarms, you must ensure
that the AlarmModeCmd and AlarmInhibit attributes are
enabled for the AutomationObject, its container, and its
Area.
An event, including the user’s name, is generated indicating
the object’s alarms are enabled.

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Disabling Alarms
A user with the correct permissions can disable an
AutomationObject's alarms through an InTouch window.
This is done by requesting that the enable and disable state
of the AlarmModeCmd attribute of any one of the following
objects be disabled:

If you disable alarms in: Alarms are disabled for:

an AutomationObject the AutomationObject

the object’s Area all contained Areas and
AutomationObjects
belonging to those Areas
a container all contained
AutomationObject AutomationObjects

An event, including the user's name, is generated showing

the object's alarms are disabled. Active alarms for the
disabled object are removed from the InTouch Alarm display.

During Run Time

You can configure a WinPlatform to act as an InTouch Alarm
Provider in the run-time environment.
The WinPlatform sends an alarm through the InTouch
Distributed Alarm System to InTouch clients when the
WinPlatform loses communication with an Area that it
subscribes to. This condition typically occurs during a
network outage with computers hosting those Areas.
In a network outage, the WinPlatform InTouch Alarm
Provider sends an alarm for each disconnected Area that it
subscribes to, including all of its alarm distribution
hierarchy. Each of these alarms is a high priority alarm that
contains the name of the Area to which communication is
lost. These communication problem alarms must be
acknowledged.
Although they still appear in the historical record, any
current alarms from the disconnected Area drop from the
InTouch client’s summary list. They can no longer be
acknowledged.
When communication to the disconnected Areas is restored,
any unacknowledged alarms generated in those Areas are
sent to the alarm client.

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Using the InTouch HMI as the Alarm and Event

Client
InTouch run-time clients subscribe to event reports from the
Galaxy. The InTouch operator can view alarms, acknowledge
alarms, disable alarms, and enable alarms from InTouch.
Application Server reports the alarm to the InTouch
Distributed Alarm System, which reports it to InTouch.
In the InTouch alarm client display, the alarm information
for the new, unacknowledged alarm, including all required
fields, appears. The new alarm is in the unacknowledged
state.
To view alarms for objects in an Area, you must point
InTouch to the Area that contains the objects. To view alarms
for a platform, DI Object, or an AppEngine, you can create
either assign these objects to an area and reference the area
in your query, or reference the objects directly in your query.
The syntax for the query is:
\\ITProviderNode\Galaxy!Area or Object name
where ITProviderNode is the name of the node that the
InTouch Alarm Provider platform is deployed to and Area or
ObjectName is the name of the platform, AppEngine, or DI
Object.
For more information, see the Application Server Deployment
Guide.
For Application Server alarming to function, the following
conditions must be met:
In Application Server:
• One or more Area objects are deployed and running.

• The source AutomationObject is on scan.

• The source AutomationObject’s Area is on scan.

• Alarming must be enabled for the target

AutomationObject.

• An InTouch alarm provider on any WinPlatform in the

Galaxy.

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 Configuring Alarms 163

In InTouch:
• The InTouch client (WindowViewer) is running.

• The InTouch alarm client is placed on a window and

configured as an alarm consumer for the Galaxy.

• The user is logged into InTouch, using ArchestrA

security. This user is authorized to acknowledge alarms
for the AutomationObject that is in the alarm state, if the
user should be able to acknowledge alarms.

Application Server validates that the user has sufficient

security privileges to acknowledge the alarm.
If the user does not have privileges to acknowledge alarms,
the user can acknowledge the alarm but the Galaxy rejects
the acknowledgement request. The alarm remains
unacknowledged in the InTouch Alarm display.
The rejected alarm acknowledge event is recorded in InTouch
Event History if the user attempting the acknowledgement
has a valid Galaxy user account. Otherwise, the rejected
acknowledgement is not recorded as an event.

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Alarms and Events in the InTouch HMI and in

Application Server
The InTouch HMI and Application Server both implement
alarms and events. The table below shows the similarities
and differences between the two models.

Item InTouch Application Server

Alarm Within a Tag Within an

configured or AutomationObject
detected by
Alarm Classes Only certain No system-wide
(client column) Classes of alarms distinction for
are supported or classes. Alarms are
detected: DSC, tied to a Boolean
VALUE, DEV, that can be
ROC, SPC. triggered from any
logic.
Alarm Type Discrete, LoLo, Lo, No sub-class. The
(Sub-class) Hi, HiHi, Alarm Primitive
(client column) MinorDev, name is the closest
MajorDev, ROC, concept. For
SPC. Client example,
column. ".PVHiAlarm".
Mapped from
Category.
Priority 1-999 (1 most Priority 0-999. 0
(client column) urgent) most urgent. 0 is
mapped to 1 in
InTouch.
Name Alarm name = Tag Object.attribute
(client column) name.
Comment Comment = short AutomationObject
(client description. short description
comment) or alarm message
where available.
Group Alarm group allows No alarm group.
client-side filtering. But Area provides
Sub-groups must mappable concept.
be on same Sub-Areas can be
InTouch. on different nodes.

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Item InTouch Application Server

State UNACK, ACK, Alarm state

RTN provides
equivalent concept
and can be
mapped.
Value, Only static values Static values and
CheckValue sent with alarm dynamic
message. references are
provided.
Ack All alarms sent to All alarms sent to
client and require client and require
acknowledgement acknowledgement
regardless of regardless of
priority. priority.
History Alarm state Alarm state
changes are logged changes are logged
to event history to event history
and shown on and shown on
historical client. historical client.

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Chapter 9

Working with References

References allow identification and communication between

objects in the ArchestrA environment. Every object, every
attribute, and every property can be uniquely referenced.
Those references are communicated over the messaging
system. The Message Exchange is the object-to-object
communications protocol used by ArchestrA and the
Wonderware® Application Server.

Note ArchestrA is the framework for supervisory control and

manufacturing information systems. It is an open and extensible
technology based on a distributed, object-based design. For
example, if you are using Application Server with InTouch, these
products communicate with each other using the ArchestrA
framework.

This section describes the concept of references and how to

use reference strings in creating your Application Server
application.

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Using Message Exchange and Attributes

All object attributes have properties, such as Value and
Quality. Any data read or written to or from these attributes
over ArchestrA Message Exchange is tracked. If an operation
cannot be performed, the requesting client is notified. For
more information, see the FactorySuite A2 Deployment
Guide.
Message Exchange provides the following features and
information:
• Guaranteed response

• Name signatures

• Status and data quality

• Message order preservation within a priority system

• AppEngine-to-AppEngine buffering

• Publish-subscribe heartbeats

Reference Strings
Reference strings refer to an object or to data within an
object’s attributes. A reference string consists of an object's
reference string plus an attribute's reference string.
AutomationObject Reference + Attribute Reference
A reference string is the object name plus the attribute name:
ObjectName.AttributeName.
In TIC101.PV, TIC101 is the AutomationObject reference
and PV is the attribute reference. The AttributeName can be
omitted in a reference string, PV being assumed in such
cases.

Note Some objects have a PV attribute, while others do not.

Reference strings are concatenated substrings, each no more

than 32 characters separated by periods. A substring cannot
contain a period. Mathematical operator characters are not
allowed. At least one character in each substring must be
non-numeric.

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Avoid giving objects and attributes names such that the

same reference string can refer to two different things. For
example, you have two objects named A1 and B2, and inside
A1 you create a UDA Float named B2. A1.B2 refers to the
UDA Float named B2. If you then assign object B2 so that A1
is a container of object B2, the reference A1.B2 could refer
either to the object B2 or the UDA B2 Float.

Important The Galaxy resolves reference strings. If the GR is not

available, resolution is done on a peer-to-peer level. After initial
resolution, an object is provided an alias that handles references
to its location across your network. If an object is relocated or
renamed, the reference string resolution is repeated and a new
alias provided.

Relative References
References that go up the hierarchy to parent objects are
called relative references.For more information, see
ApplicationObject Containment on page 53.
Relative references, such as Me, are valid reference strings. A
valid reference string must always contain at least a relative
reference or one substring.
The following are valid relative references that refer to the
current object:
• Me • MyContainer • MyArea
• MyPlatform • MyEngine.

Relative references are especially useful in templates

because absolute references typically do not apply or make
sense.
When you use relative references, like MyContainer, you can
refer to contained objects within that container. For example,
a reference to MyContainer.InletValve.PV is equivalent to
Tank1.InletValve.PV in the following hierarchy:
Tank1 Cannot reference at this level because
this is not contained
Inlet Valve Can reference at this level because this
(InletValve) object is contained
Outlet Valve Can reference at this level because this
(OutletValve) object is contained

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Property References
Certain property names are reserved for ArchestrA. If a
string has a reserved property name in the ArchestrA
environment, you can still use it. The PROPERTY keyword
must be part of the string, for example,
PROPERTY(propertyName). In all other cases, the case
insensitive PROPERTY keyword is not required.
The Value property is assumed if no property reference is
specified.
The following are property references:
• .Name • .Value • .Type • .Quality.

Example:
obj.int.PROPERTY(quality)
where:
obj = object specifier
int = attribute
PROPERTY = keyword
(quality) = property specifier

Note If you have an object named “obj” with two UDAs named
“int” and “int.quality,” the reference string obj.int.quality is
ambiguous. Using the reference string obj.int.PROPERTY(quality)
states that you want a reference to the quality property of "int."

Arrays
A reference string can also refer to the Value property of an
array attribute with an optional Array Element Reference
that includes up to one dimension:
• [i] – individual element

• [] – entire array

The letter i represents an integer constant.

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Formatting Reference Strings

These symbols apply to the reference strings that follow:

This... means...

::= can be replaced by

| or
[] contents optional
{} contents can be left out, used one time or
repeated

Quotation marks are not allowed in tag names, primitive

names, or attribute names.

Using Literals
Items outside of angle brackets “<>” are literals. For
example:
• reference_string ::=
<Automation_object_reference><attribute_refere
nce> | <tag_name>

• Automation_object_reference ::=
<absolute_reference>|<relative_reference>

• absolute_reference ::=
<tag_name>{.<contained_name>}

• tag_name ::= <identifier>

• contained_name ::= <identifier>

• relative_reference ::= <relative_name> |

<relative_contained_reference>

• relative_contained_reference ::=
MyContainer.<contained_name> |
MyArea.<contained_name>

• relative_name ::= Me | MyContainer | MyArea |

MyHost | MyEngine | MyPlatform

• attribute_reference ::=
<value_ref>|<property_ref>

• whole_attribute_ref ::=
[.<primitive>][.<attribute>] |
[.<primitive>][.ATTRIBUTE(attribute)]

• value_ref ::=
<whole_attribute_ref>[<array_index>]

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• array_index ::= <open_bracket> {<index>}

<close_bracket>
[<open_bracket><index><close_bracket>][<open_b
racket><index><close_bracket>]

• property_ref ::=
<whole_attribute_ref>.<property>

• property ::=
Value|Type|Quality|BitField|Dimension1|Securit
yClassification|Locked|Category | propertyref

• propertyref ::=
PROPERTY(Value|Type|Quality|BitField|Dimension
1|SecurityClassification|Locked|Category)

• BitField ::= .00, .01, .02, …, .31 (valid ONLY

for attributes of type MxInteger; otherwise Configuration
error occurs at runtime)
• attribute ::=
<static_attribute>|<dynamic_attribute>

• static_attribute ::=
[<static_attribute>.]<identifier>

• <dynamic_attribute> ::=
<any_char_but>{<any_char_but>}

• primitive ::= [<primitive>.]<identifier>

• identifier ::= <valid_char>{<valid_char>}

• valid_char ::=
<letter>|<digit>|<special_character>

• letter ::= any letter in alphabet of any

language

• digit ::= any numerical character

• special_character ::= any graphics char,

except the following:

. + - * / \ = ( ) ` ~ ! % ^ & @ [ ] { } | : ; ’
, < > ? “ whitespace
• whitespace ::= CR, LF, Tab, Space, FF, as
returned by iswspace()

• any_char_but ::= any character except

whitespace

• open_bracket := [

• close_bracket := ]

• Galaxy_identifier ::= <letter> | <digit>

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Notes
• <tag_name> is an object’s unique name.

• <contained_name> is an object’s optional contained

name. It can be specified in a reference when an object is
referred to as a contained child of another object.

• <index> is –1 or a positive integer from 1 to 32767.

• <identifier> is limited to a maximum of 32 characters.

• An <attribute> name or <primitive> name can contain

several <identifier> parts. The length of each <identifier>
part can be up to 32 characters. Each <identifier> part is
separated by a period. The maximum total length of the
<attribute> name is 329. This name length applies to
both static and dynamic attribute names. The maximum
total length of the <primitive> name is 329.

• <relative_name> and <property> replacements are case

insensitive, including PROPERTY().

• If no attribute reference is specified, .PV is assumed. If

PV is an attribute of type array, the resulting reference is
invalid. For arrays, the .PV[] part must be explicitly
supplied.

The exception to this rule is a reference that is preceded

with an @ sign. This reference refers to the object itself
and not any particular attribute or property. Currently,
this reference string format is used only in the Execution
Order group on the Object Information page of the Object
Editor.
• Do not use Property Names or InTouch Pseudo-Property
Names for the names of primitives or attributes when
enhancing an object’s functionality on the Scripts, UDAs
and Extensions pages.

ArchestrA Property Names include: Locked, Category,

HasruntimeSetHandler, Name, Type, Quality,
Dimension1, Value, SecurityClassification, 00, 01, 02, 03,
04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31.
InTouch Pseudo-Property Names include: #VString,
#VString1, #VString2, #VString3, #VString4,
#EnumOrdinal, #ReadSts, #WriteSts and #QString. For
more information on InTouch Pseudo-Property Names,
see the InTouch® HMI Data Management Guide.

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Viewing Attributes in Objects

Within the ArchestrA IDE, you can view the attributes in an
object. This lets you see what attributes are available.

To view the attributes in a selected object

1 Select an object.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Properties.
3 To see the references for the selected object, click the
Attributes tab.

This page shows you:

• AttributeName The selected attributes for the
list object, the current value, and
locked and security status. The
information shown depends on
whether Configuration and
Runtime or Runtime Only is
selected.
• Value Shows the value of the attribute.
• Locked/Unlocked Shows if the attribute is locked or
unlocked.
• Security Shows the current security
setting, if any.

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4 To filter the view, select one or more of the following:

• Configuration and Runtime: Select to show both
configuration and run-time attributes for the selected
object.
• Runtime only: Select to show only run-time attributes
for the selected object.
• Include hidden: Select to show hidden attributes for
the selected object.
5 When you are done, click Close.

Viewing References and Cross References

Objects have references and cross references.
• References are the objects the selected object is looking
for.

• Cross references are the objects looking for the selected

object.

Cross Reference

Reference

You can view references and cross references for a selected

object.
Some attributes are dynamic attributes. These are attributes
that get created during run time and exist only in run-time.
A device integration (DI) reference to a hardware register is a
good example.
The attribute referencing a hardware register does not exist
at configuration time by default. DI instances create the
attribute dynamically during run time if the hardware
register exists in the target device.

Note References and cross-references shown in the Properties

dialog box only refer to interobject communications. Area
associations, containment, or host assignments are not shown.

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To view references and cross-references

1 Select an object.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Properties.
3 To see the references for the selected object, click the
References tab. You see:
• Source The attribute in the selected object
Attribute referencing an attribute in another
object in the application Galaxy.
• Attribute The reference string within the
Reference Source Attribute. This is either an
absolute reference or a relative
reference.
• Target The absolute reference of the
Attribute Attribute Reference. If this is a
reference to a dynamic attribute, the
Target Attribute only lists the
Tagname name of the instance.

4 To see the cross references for the selected object, click

the Cross References tab. You see the:
• Target The absolute reference of the
Attribute Attribute Reference. If this is a
reference to a dynamic attribute, the
Target Attribute only lists the
Tagname name of the instance.
• Attribute The reference string within the
Reference Source Attribute. This is an absolute
reference or a relative reference.
• Source The attribute in the selected object
Attribute that is referencing an attribute in
another object in the application
Galaxy.

5 When you are done, click Close.

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Finding Objects
Your Galaxy can get very large and can include many objects.
It can become difficult to find a specific object. You can
search for templates or instances. Also, you can search by
part or all of a tag name or hierachical name.

To search for objects

1 On the Edit menu, click Find. The Find dialog box appears.

2 Do some or all of the following:

• In the Find what box, type some or all of the name of
the object.
• In the Which name area, select either Tagname or
Hierarchical name as the type of name you entered in
the Find what box.
• In the Type area, specify if you are looking for an
Instance or a Template. If you select Template, the
Which name and Search scope groups are unavailable.
• In the Search criteria area, specify how to search for
the name in the Find what box. The options are:
Contains, Exact match, Starts with or Ends with.
• Limit the search scope by selecting from the Search
scope lists.

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3 When you are done specifying the search criteria, click

Find. The search results appear in the bottom pane.
4 Double-click an object in the results pane. The object is
located and selected for you in the Application views area.
If you double-click a Backup AppEngine, the IDE opens
the Deployment view and the object is selected there. See
Working with AppEngine Redundancy on page 226 for
more information.

Using Galaxy References in InTouch

You can use Galaxy references in InTouch. Use the InTouch
Tag Browser in unlimited selection mode to browse and
include references from an Application Server Galaxy in
InTouch applications you are developing.

Note You must install the Bootstrap and IDE on the InTouch node
to create the TagSource to browse Galaxy objects.

The following lists the primary ways you can open the Tag
Browser in InTouch to see unlimited selection mode:
• Double-click an animation link tagname or expression
input box.

• Double-click an ActiveX or wizard tagname or expression

input box.

• Double-click an empty area in any InTouch QuickScript

window.

• In the InTouch QuickScript editor, select Tagname on the

Insert menu.

• Press the Alt+N keys in the InTouch QuickScript editor.

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• Double-click a blank New Name box in the Substitute

Tagnames dialog box.

• Double-click the Tagname input box in the SQL Access

Bind List Configuration dialog box.

For complete information about using the InTouch Tag

Browser, see the InTouch documentation.
Before you can browse Galaxy references, you must define a
new tag source.

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To define a new tag source

1 In the InTouch HMI Tag Browser, click the Browse button
to the right of the Tag Source list. The Define Tag Sources
dialog box appears.

2 Click New to open the Define Tag Source dialog box.

3 Type a Tag Source Name. This name appears in the Tag

Source box of the Tag Browser. For example: Training1.
4 Select Galaxy from the list for Access Name and Tag
Source Type.
5 In the GR node name box, type the Host Name of the
computer on which the Galaxy is located. If the Galaxy is
located on the same computer, use localhost.

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6 In the Galaxy Name list, select the name of your Galaxy.

For example: Training. Assuming the examples given in
steps 3 and 5, the Define Tag Sources dialog box appears
as follows.

7 Click Close. The Tag Browser appears. Now you can

browse the TagNames.

To browse attribute references in a Galaxy

1 Open the InTouch Tag Browser in unlimited selection
mode.
2 In the Tag Source box, select the tag source you created in
the previous steps (Training1 in the example). The
Attribute Browser appears.
3 Select the object and attribute you want to reference in
your InTouch application and click OK.

Note The next time you open the Tag Browser, the Attribute
Browser automatically opens. To change that, exit the Attribute
Browser without selecting anything by clicking the blue arrow at
top right. The Tag Browser appears and it defaults to the InTouch
Tagname Dictionary.

For more information about using the Attribute Browser, see

Referencing Objects Using the Galaxy Browser on page 78.

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Chapter 10

Working with Security

Galaxies are created without security restrictions. After a

Galaxy is created, you can assign restrictions to manage
access. Using security lets you manage access to:
• IDE for configuring and managing objects.

• ArchestrA System Management Console (SMC) for

performing maintenance and system administration
functions.

• Any run-time operations.

This section describes the architecture of ArchestrA security

and how to use it to manage access to configuration and
run-time aspects of your Application Server application.
For more information on ArchestrA security, see your
FactorySuite A2 Deployment Guide.

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About Security
Security not only controls access to user interfaces in the
ArchestrA environment but also controls access to object
attributes and the data they represent.
Each Galaxy in the Galaxy Repository manages its own
security model. The security schema managed in a Galaxy is
a three-level configuration model to create and maintain the
following:
• Users associated with specific roles

• User roles associated with specific system

administration, configuration and run-time (operational)
permissions, which map to security groups

• Security groups associated with specific objects in the

Galaxy

The default Galaxy Security model includes:

• Two users: DefaultUser and Administrator, both with full
access to everything.

• One security group named Default.

• Two security roles: Default and Administrator, both with

full privileges.

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The security matrix defines a cascading model of users

associated with specific roles that are associated with specific
security groups that are associated with specific objects. User
run-time permissions can vary from object to object, action to
action, and process to process. The security icons associated
with object attributes map directly to control points in the
ArchestrA security model.

Security
Groups

Read/Write to some
Role A Object
attributes

Read-only to all
Roles Role B Object
attributes

Users

Role C Read/Write to all

attributes Object

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About Authentication Modes

When you assign security, you can select one of three
authentication modes:
• Galaxy: Uses local Galaxy configuration to authenticate
users. All security for the Galaxy is specified and
contained at the specific Galaxy level. When the user logs
on, security credentials are checked and access to areas
and activities are decided at the Galaxy level.

• OS User Based: Uses the operating system's user

authentication system on an individual user level. All
security for the Galaxy is specified and contained in the
operating system (OS) on a user level basis. When the
user logs on, security credentials are checked and access
to areas and activities are decided at the OS user level.

• OS Group Based: Uses the operating system's user

authentication system on a group basis. All security for
the Galaxy is specified and contained in the user-to-roles
mapping you created in the OS to assign security. When a
user logs on, security credentials are checked and verified
at the OS group level. OS groups are mapped to security
roles in the Galaxy to allow access to areas and activities
in the Galaxy.

Note If you are using OS user-based security or OS group-based

security and you have permissions to use the IDE, the Log In
dialog box does not appear.

For more information about OS security, see About OS

Group-based Security on page 198.

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Multiple Accounts Per User

Regardless of the security system you select, as with most
security systems, a single user can have multiple accounts.
For example, a user can have an account that provides
permissions for working with instances but not templates.
The same person can have another supervisory account for
working with templates and managing users in the
ArchestrA environment.
Each account requires a different user name and password.
For example:

User Name Password Access

bsmith password Instances, not templates

bobsmith super Instances, templates, not
managing users
Robertsmith admin Instances, templates,
managing users

Changing Security Settings

After you change security for a Galaxy, you see the following
behaviors and conditions:
• When you change the authentication mode security, the
IDE restarts.

• To switch users, the person must log on as the new user

by clicking Change User on the Galaxy menu.

• If you previously configured security under one

authentication mode and then switch authentication
modes, only those users created while configuring the
new mode are available. Other users are not deleted, just
unavailable in the new mode.

• Objects that are reassigned to different security groups

are marked as “pending update” and require
redeployment for the change in security group to take
effect.

• If security was previously configured for an OS-based

authentication mode, reconfiguring security synchronizes
the user’s full name and OS groups if some data in the OS
has changed.

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About Security Groups

Every object in the Galaxy belongs to only one security group.
You can create and manage security groups that make sense
for your organization. These security groups are mapped to
roles on the Roles page.
Permissions determine what kind of access users have for
each attribute. There are four basic operational permissions:
• Acknowledge alarms

• Change the value of attributes with security mode

Configure

• Change the value of attributes with security mode

Operate; this includes also security modes Secured Write
and Verified Write

• Change the value of attributes with security mode Tune

By default, all currently used objects are assigned to a

security group called Default.
A user who is a member of a role assigned to Security Role
“Default” has permission to:
• Acknowledge alarms

• Change attribute values with “configure” security mode

• Change attribute values with “operate” security mode,

including “secured write” and “verified write”

• Change attribute values with “tune” security mode

For example, you want users in certain roles to only have

permission to acknowledge alarms that are generated from
objects contained in Area1. You have a role named
Area1Acknowledgers. You need to:
1 Create a new Security Group, for example
SecGrpArea001.
2 Assign all objects that are contained in area Area1 to
Security Role SecRoleArea001.
3 On the Roles page, select the Area1Acknowledgers role. In
the Operational Permissions the Security Group for
SecGrpArea001, select Can Acknowledge Alarms.
4 Any user that belongs to the Area1Acknowledgers role can
at least acknowledge alarms of objects contained in the
security group SecGrpArea001. They do not have any
other operational permissions for those objects.

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About Roles
You can create and manage user roles that apply to your
organization’s processes and work-based authorities. Two
roles are defined by default: Administrator and Default.
You can specify General and Operational Permissions for
each role.
• General permissions relate to application configuration
and administration tasks.

• Operational permissions relate to the security groups

listed on the Security Groups page. By default, the
Administrator has all permissions.

Note You cannot modify the General permissions for the role of
Administrator.

The Operational Permissions that can be associated with a

role:
• Can Modify “Operate” Attributes: Allows users with
operational permissions to do certain normal day-to-day
tasks like changing setpoint, output and control mode for
a PID object, or commanding a Discrete Device object.

• Can Modify “Tune” Attributes: Allows users to tune the

attribute in the run-time environment. Examples of
tuning are attributes that adjust alarm setpoints and
PID sensitivity.

• Can Modify “Configure” Attributes: Allows users to

configure the attribute’s value. Requires that the user
first put the object Off scan. Writing to these attributes is
considered a significant configuration change, for
example, a PLC register that defines a Discrete Device
input.

• Can Acknowledge Alarms: Allows users to manually

acknowledge an alarm in the run-time environment.

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About Users
If you select either OS based authentication mode, users with
local machine accounts are added to the Authorized Users
Available list in the following format: .\<username>.
If you select OS Group Based authentication mode, the local
machine account must exist on each node in the Galaxy for
successful authentication of that user on any computer in the
Galaxy.
Two users are defined by default when a new Galaxy is
created: Administrator and DefaultUser. These cannot be
deleted in an open security setting and they are both
associated with the default roles, Administrator and Default.

Configuring Security
Before you open the security editor for a Galaxy, make sure:
• No other user is connected to the Galaxy.

• All objects in the Galaxy are checked in.

• Your user profile has configuration permissions to change

Framework Configuration/Modify Security Model, if
security is previously configured.

If you try to open the security editor before these conditions

are met, a warning message appears and you are denied
access.

Caution Do not configure security settings of the IDE while an

IDE-managed InTouch application is opened for editing in
WindowMaker.

Other users who try to open the Galaxy while you are
configuring security are denied access to the Galaxy.

Caution You can only change the ArchestrA administrator

username or password using the Change Network Account Utility.
The administrator account information is cached, and you may
need to redeploy engines after you change the account so that
the engines run using the current information. For more
information about the utility, see About ArchestrA User Accounts
on page 219.

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To configure Galaxy security

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Configure and then click
Security. The Configure Security dialog box appears.

2 On the Authentication Mode tab, do the following:

• Select the security type you want. Depending on what
you select, more options become available.
• If you select OS Group-based and you are working on a
slow or intermittent network, you can specify the
intervals in milliseconds:
Login Time: The timeout period (measured in
milli-seconds) during which the system validates the
user’s membership against the OS groups selected as
ArchestrA Roles. Minimum value is 0 (zero),
maximum is 9,999,999. The default value is 1,000. If
the login time is set to 0 (zero), which turns this
feature off, the operation does not time out. Specify a
value, based on the speed of your network and the
number of groups configured in ArchestrA. The
slower the network or the larger the number of
groups, the greater the value.

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Role Update: The time between each validation

attempt per OS group for the user’s membership
when a log on is attempted. The user membership
update is done one role per Role Update interval to
minimize network usage. The minimum allowed
value is 0 (zero) and the maximum is 9,999,999. The
default value is 0 (zero), which turns off this feature
so the operation does not pause between validating
user membership and groups. This option operates
independently of the Login Time option. Even if Login
Time times out, the role update operation continues in
the background and eventually updates user-to-role
relationships for this user in the local cache. For more
information about OS group-based security, see the
FactorySuite A2 Deployment Guide.
• Click OK or click the Security Groups tab.

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3 On the Security Groups page, do the following:

• Create a new security group by clicking the Add
button. Type a unique name for the new group in the
Security Groups Available pane. Security group names
can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters, including a
period. The name must include at least one letter and
cannot start with $.

Note Security group names are not case sensitive. Admin is the
same as admin.

• Assign the objects you want the new group to have

access to. Click the Default group. Drag the object(s)
to the new security group.
• Click OK or click the Roles tab.

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4 On the Roles page, do the following:

• Create a new role by clicking the Add button. Type a
name for the new role in the Roles Available pane.
Role names can be up to 512 alphanumeric
characters, including a period.
• Select the General and Operational Permissions for the
new role.

Important If a role is given “Can Modify Deployed Instances”

permission, make sure “Can Create/Modify/Delete...”
permissions in the System Configuration, Device Integration
Objects, and Application Configuration groups are also selected.
This provides the role with check in and undo checkout abilities.

• Click OK or click the Users tab.

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5 On the Users page, do the following:

• Create a new user by clicking the Add button.
If you selected authentication as Galaxy, type a name
for the user. User names can be up to 255
alphanumeric characters with no spaces.
If you selected an OS-based authentication, click the
Browse button in the Roles Available pane, select an
existing user and click OK. The user name appears as
.\<username>.
While viewing Application Server events and alarms
in InTouch, the “.” appears as the user’s domain if it is
a local name. Otherwise, it appears as <domain
name>\<username>.

Note Users and Roles in bold red text are invalid with the
selected Authentication Mode.

6 When you are done, click OK. You are prompted to log on
to the currently open Galaxy.

Assigning Users to Roles

After you create users and roles, you can assign users to
roles. On the Users page, all users in the Galaxy and the roles
they are assigned are listed.
By default, the new user is associated with the Default role
but not the Administrator role. This cannot be changed as
every user belongs to the Default role. Double-click in a text
box to change, if needed.

Note All users are automatically assigned to the Default role in

addition to any new roles you create and assign to them. The best
way to manage permissions is to limit the permissions of the
Default role to those permissions you want everyone to have.
Then, add users to other roles with permissions for other parts of
Application Server.

The Administrator user can log on any authentication mode

except when security is disabled. When logged on as
Administrator on the Galaxy Repository node, you can
change the password of any Galaxy user without providing
the old password.
• In Galaxy authentication mode, you can edit the User
Name in the Change Password dialog box.

• In OS-based authentication modes, the User Name of the

OS user is shown. User information cannot be edited.

You can assign users to more than one role.

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To assign a role to a user

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Configure and then click
Security. The Configure Security dialog box appears. Click
the Users tab.

2 Select the user in the Authorized Users available area.

Select a role in the Associated Roles for <user name> area.
3 Provide each user with a password by clicking Change
Password. The Change Password dialog box appears.

Important If an OS-based security mode is selected on the

Authentication Mode page, changing a user’s password changes
the OS password for the user. Any ArchestrA password may be set
to a maximum of 127 characters.

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4 Enter the correct information. This information is used in

the configuration, administration and run-time
environment to authenticate users.
5 Click OK.

Deleting Security Groups

You can delete a security group you no longer need. Before
you can delete a security group, make sure no
AutomationObjects are associated with it.
You cannot delete the Default security group.

To delete a security group

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Configure and then click
Security. The Configure Security dialog box appears. Click
the Security Groups page.
2 On the Security page, select the group you want to delete.
3 Click the Delete button.

Deleting Roles
You can delete roles you no longer need. You cannot delete a
role if any users are associated with it.
You cannot delete the Default and Administrator roles.

To delete a role
1 On the Galaxy menu, click Configure and then click
Security. The Configure Security dialog box appears. Click
the Roles tab.
2 On the Role page, select the role you want to delete.
3 Click the Delete button.

Deleting Users
You can delete users you no longer need.

Note You cannot delete a user who is currently logged on.

To delete a user
1 On the Galaxy menu, click Configure and then click
Security. The Configure Security dialog box appears. Click
the Users tab.
2 On the User page, select the user you want to delete.
3 Click the Delete button.

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About OS Group-based Security

If you use OS Group-based Authentication Mode, make sure
you understand the Windows operating system, particularly
its user permissions, groups and security features. ArchestrA
OS Group-based security uses these Windows features. For
more help, see the Microsoft online help or a 3rd party book
about Windows security.
When you use local OS Groups as Roles, each node within the
Galaxy must have the same OS Users, Groups, and
user-group mappings to get the same level of access to the
user at each node.

Connecting to a Remote Node for the First Time

A newly-added user working on a computer with no access to
the Galaxy Repository node cannot write to an attribute on a
remote node if that user has never logged on to the remote
node. This is true even if the user is given sufficient run-time
operational permissions to do writes. To enable remote
writing capabilities, log on to the remote node at least one
time.

Cached Data at Log In

If you log on to ArchestrA on a workstation that belongs to
Domain A and Domain Controller A fails, locally cached login
data is used on subsequent log on attempts. When the
domain controller returns to operation, your log on fails
during the time period that trusts are being reestablished by
the controller.
If, during the controller outage, your username/password
data changed, you can use the old log on data if you intend to
work locally.
If you want to perform remote operations, you should log on
with the new log on data. If that fails, the trusts are being
reestablished by the controller, and you should retry at a
later time.
The user’s full name is not available to any client (for
example, an InTouch window) if the domain controller is
disconnected from the network when the user logs on to
ArchestrA for the first time.
If the user previously logged on to ArchestrA when the
domain controller was connected, the user’s full name is still
available to the client from data stored in cache even if the
domain controller is disconnected when the user
subsequently logs on to ArchestrA.

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Mixed or Native Domains

The list of domains and user groups appears differently in
the group browser depending on whether your domain is
configured as a Mixed or Native domain.
Your unique listing maps to the list of domains and user
groups you see when you use the Windows tool for managing
your domain. A domain group configured as “Distribution”
instead of “Security” cannot be used for security purposes.

Using InTouch Access Levels Security

The Roles page includes the Access Level column. The Access
Level is an InTouch function.
In InTouch, access levels are a schema for prioritizing
run-time functions. In the ArchestrA security model, it only
maps to InTouch values and has no prioritizing
characteristics.
The maximum value is 9999 and the minimum is 0 (zero). If a
user is assigned more than one role with different access
levels, the higher access value is passed to InTouch.

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Chapter 11

Managing Galaxies

You can back up and restore Galaxies, change the Galaxy you
are working with, delete a Galaxy, and export and import all
or part of a Galaxy.
If you want to create a Galaxy, see Creating a New Galaxy on
page 15.

Backing Up and Restoring Galaxies

Periodically, you should back up your Galaxy. Backing up
your Galaxy helps if you have a computer failure or other
problem. If there is a failure, you can restore your Galaxy
from the backup.
Use the Galaxy Database Manager to back up and restore
your Galaxy. The Galaxy Database Manager is part of the
suite of ArchestrA System Management Console utilities.

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To open the Galaxy Database Manager

‹ Click Start, point to Programs and then to Wonderware,
and then click System Management Console.

See the Galaxy Database Manager documentation for

more information about backing up or restoring your
Galaxy.

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Changing Galaxies
You can have many Galaxies in the Galaxy Repository. If you
are a systems integrator, you have a Galaxy for every client,
at least.

G a lax y B

G a lax y C
G a la x y R e p o sito ry N o d e
G ala xy A

G ala xy D

A ctive G a la x y

For a Galaxy to deploy objects to other computers in the

Galaxy, the GR must host a platform defined in that Galaxy.
Because of this, you can only deploy one Galaxy from the
Galaxy Repository at a time to the computers on your
network. For more information about deploying, see
Deploying Objects on page 134.

To change from one Galaxy to another

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Change Galaxy. The Change
Galaxy dialog box appears.

2 Do one of the following:

• Select another Galaxy from the Galaxy Name list.
• Select another Galaxy Repository node from the GR
Node Name list.
3 Click Connect.

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Deleting a Galaxy
You can delete a Galaxy. Deleting a Galaxy removes all of the
Galaxy information from your computer.
Before you delete a Galaxy, you must fully undeploy it. For
more information about undeploying, see Undeploying
Objects on page 139.
Make sure you select the right Galaxy to delete. After you
delete a Galaxy, you cannot undelete it. You can only
recreate it by restoring from a backup. For more information,
see Backing Up and Restoring Galaxies on page 201.

To delete a Galaxy
1 Undeploy the Galaxy you want to delete.
2 Close any Galaxy and connected IDE you have open.
3 On the File menu, click Change Galaxy. The Connect to a
Galaxy dialog box appears.
4 Select the Galaxy you want to delete, except the
connected Galaxy.
5 Click Delete Galaxy.
6 At the prompt, click Yes.
7 When the Galaxy is deleted, click Close.

Exporting a Galaxy Dump File

You can export instances and their configuration data in a
Galaxy to a text file with a .CSV extension. After you export
the Galaxy to a text file, you can open it in Microsoft Excel
2000 or later and edit it. This makes it very easy to do large
editing changes, such as search and replace.
Exporting only exports instances. Templates cannot be
exported in .CSV file format.
The .CSV file contains the configuration for the checked-in
versions of the selected instances and the checked-out
instances of the user who does the Galaxy dump. If an
instance is checked out by another user when you export the
Galaxy, the checked in version is exported.

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The file contains only those attributes that are unlocked and
configuration time-writeable, one column per attribute. The
following are not exported:
• Scripts libraries are not exported. Scripts within an
object are exported.

• Attributes that are not text-based are not exported. For

example, type QualifiedStruct is not exported.

• Custom object online help files are not exported.

See Looking at the Galaxy Text Dump File Structure on

page 206 for specific information about the structure of the
.CSV file.
Before you start, make sure you know what instances you
want to export to the .CSV file.

To export objects to a Galaxy dump file

1 In the Application views area, select at least one instance.
Shift+click to select multiple instances. You can export
all instances derived from a template by selecting the
template.
2 On the Galaxy menu, click Export and then click Galaxy
Dump. The Galaxy Dump dialog box appears.
3 Browse to the location of the .csv file to which you want
to dump the selected instances. Type the name of the file.
Click Save.
4 When the Galaxy export process is done, click Close. A
.csv file is created containing the selected objects and
configuration data.
You can open this file in a text editor like Notepad or in
Microsoft Excel 2000 or later. When you have finished
editing the file, save it as plain text .CSV (comma
delimited) file to import back into the Galaxy.

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Looking at the Galaxy Text Dump File Structure

The Galaxy .CSV file has a specific structure. This section
describes that structure.
Objects are organized in the .csv file based on the template
each is derived from. A header row per template indicates the
instance’s columns’ reference.
Other information is organized in columns. This makes it
easy for you to read the information and carefully make any
changes you need. You can easily import the .csv file into a
text editor or into Microsoft Excel.

Add comments by adding a line with a semi-colon as the first

character in the comment.

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Host Attributes
Galaxy dump files contain a column for the Host attribute of
the objects being dumped. In the case of Platform objects,
Host is always the name of the Galaxy from which the object
is being dumped.
This data is ignored in subsequent Galaxy Load operations
because the Host for Platform objects is automatically the
name of the Galaxy into which it is being loaded, regardless
of the name of the Galaxy from which it was dumped.
Using a text editor, you can delete the Host attribute column,
like any other data in the Galaxy dump file. This has no
effect on Platform objects in subsequent Galaxy Load
operations because they take the Galaxy name as their Host.

About Quotation Marks and Carriage Returns

Carriage returns in scripts associated with dumped objects
are replaced with \n in the .csv file. If you edit the dump
file, do not delete the \n characters. If you edit scripts in the
dump file, use \n for a carriage return. This character set is
interpreted as a carriage return when the dump file is used
in a Galaxy Load operation.
When editing a script in a dump file, use \\n if you want to
include the backslash character (\) followed by the letter n in
a script. This character set is not converted to a carriage
return in a Galaxy Load function.
Be careful when adding or editing quotation marks in the
.csv file. Type all single quotation marks as two single
quotation marks and surround the entire string with opening
and closing quotation marks.
Make sure the string contains an even number of quotation
marks. When the object is loaded in a Galaxy Load operation,
the extra quotation marks are stripped from the string.
For example, if you want to enter 3"Pipe as a Short
Description, add a second quotation mark (3"“Pipe) and
then surrounding quotation marks (“3””Pipe”).

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Time Formats in Excel

If you edit a Galaxy dump file in Microsoft Excel, be careful
typing time entries. Excel can change the time format and
the resulting entries do not work when you reload the
changed Galaxy.
Galaxy Load accepts two formats:
• DAYS HH:MM:SS:SSSSSS - the number of DAYS is followed
by a space.

• HH:MM:SS:SSSSSS - Excel automatically changes the

entry to an incompatible format.

When you type time entries in Excel, use the following

format:
DAYS HH:MM:SS:SSSSSS.
For example:
0000 01:02:12.123: 1
04:03:06.12:120
22:66:88:123456

Importing a Galaxy Load File

After you are done editing a .CSV file, you can import it back
into your Galaxy.
A load file contains only instances. Templates cannot be
dumped or loaded. See Looking at the Galaxy Text Dump
File Structure on page 206 for more information about the
contents of the .csv file.

Note A comment line in a .csv file created in Microsoft Excel

can create an unintended default-value object. To avoid this,
open the .csv file in Notepad to make sure the comment line
does not contain quotation marks.

To import a .CSV file

1 On the Galaxy menu, click Galaxy Load. The Galaxy Load
dialog box appears.
2 Browse to find the .CSV file that contains the objects and
configuration data you want to import. Select the file and
click Open.

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3 The Galaxy Load Conflict Resolution dialog box appears.

Use it to resolve conflicts that can occur if objects you
want to load already exist in the Galaxy.

4 Select one of the following:

• Replace entire instance if an instance of an object with
the same name already exists and you want to replace
it entirely with the object in the import file.
• Only update changed attributes if an instance with
the same name already exists and you want to replace
only the attributes of the object where the values are
different.
• Skip if an instance with the same name already exists
and you want to keep the version already in the
Galaxy.
• Stop Galaxy Load if an instance with the same name
already exists and you want to cancel the Galaxy
Load.
5 Click OK. A progress box appears showing the Galaxy
load process.
When the load is done, all objects changed or created
during the Galaxy Load process are checked in.

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Synchronizing Time across a Galaxy

Some of the Application Server functions like scripting,
alarming, and historizing depend on all member computers
in a Galaxy being set to the same time. A time master is a
Network-Time-Protocol Server that provides a time that
other nodes on your network can synchronize with.
The time master can be a non-ArchestrA node or one within
the Galaxy. The ArchestrA nodes in the Galaxy periodically
synchronize their clocks to the time master.

Using Time Synchronization in Windows Domains

The system administrator of the Windows 2000 domain may
have time synchronization configured already. If this is the
case, configuring a Galaxy Time Master is unnecessary and
can conflict with the existing time synchronization.
Time synchronization in your Galaxy is critical if one or more
nodes run the Windows XP operating system. Windows XP
supports a network authentication protocol that requires
time synchronization between two nodes to enable
communication between them. This protocol fails the
communication between the nodes if the time on the two
nodes differs by a predetermined amount (for example, five
minutes).
If a node in your Galaxy runs Windows XP operating system
and its system time is beyond the allowed variance,
ArchestrA operations, such as deployment, may fail.

Synchronization Schedule
The designated node clock serves as the master clock for all
timestamping functions. Time synchronization is based on
Microsoft’s Windows Time Service. ArchestrA does not
implement its own time synchronization algorithm.
The default synchronization period is one time every 45
minutes until three successful synchronizations occur. After
three successful synchronizations, synchronization runs one
time every eight hours.
All WinPlatforms begin synchronizing the time on their node
when they are deployed.
You can specify a time master node in another time zone. The
time on each Application Server node is set to the time
specified on the node in the other time zone.

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Required Software
If a time master or a time client node runs either Windows
2003 Server or Windows XP software, you must install a
Microsoft hotfix on that computer before you can synchronize
to a time master. Install the appropriate hotfix according to
the following table.

Version Hotfix

Windows XP WindowsXP-KB823456-x86-ENU.exe

Windows WindowsServer2003-KB823456-x86-ENU
2003 Server .exe

Contact Microsoft through its Product Support Services to

get these hotfixes.
If your time master computer is a non-Galaxy node,
regardless of operating system, you must also change certain
Registry keys. Contact Wonderware Technical Support to
obtain the files that can set those Registry keys.

Important You must complete the software and Registry updates

before configuring a node as a time master.

Before you start, you need the fully qualified node name in
the format of: nodename.domain.organization.

To configure a time master node

1 Apply all hotfixes and make the Registry changes as
explained previously.
2 On the Galaxy menu, point to Configure and then click
Time Master. The Configure Time Master dialog box
appears.

3 Type the node name in the Time Master Node box.

4 Click OK.

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Hosting Multiple Galaxies in One Galaxy

Repository
You can create and configure multiple Galaxies in a single
Galaxy Repository on the same computer. You can configure
one Galaxy from an IDE and then change Galaxies and
configure the second one using the same IDE.

Note If you try to deploy objects from the second Galaxy to a

computer that hosts deployed objects from the first Galaxy, the
deploy fails.

Managing Licensing Issues

Your license controls access to the Galaxy Repository. If a
license-related message appears when you open the IDE,
there is a problem with your license. This message means
one of the following conditions:
• A license is not installed.

• Your license expired.

• You exceeded the licensed I/O count or number of

licensed WinPlatforms.

• The number of I/O or WinPlatforms specified in your IDE

development license is more than the I/O or
WinPlatforms specified in your Galaxy license.

Note If a license expires while you are using the IDE, you cannot
connect to the Galaxy the next time you open the IDE.

Viewing License and End-User License

Agreement Information
Use the License Utility to view information about your
license and End-User License Agreement. Until any
problems are resolved, you cannot:
• Open the IDE

• Connect to existing Galaxies

• Create new Galaxies

After you update your license, you can connect to your

Galaxy and open the IDE with no further problems. For more
information about updating your license, see Updating a
License on page 217.

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To view ArchestrA IDE version information

1 On the ArchestrA IDE menu, click Help.
2 Click About ArchestrA IDE. The About ArchestrA IDE dialog
box appears, showing the copyright notice, version, and
build date for your installed ArchestrA IDE application.

3 Click OK.

To view your license information

1 On the About ArchestrA IDE screen, click the View License
icon. The License Information dialog box appears.

2 In the Type list, select the license you want to view.

3 In the License Information area, check your Expiry date.

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4 Select Fs Dev License to view:

• In the Configuration Sessions area:
Current count The number of IDE sessions
currently open.
Max count Maximum number of configured
sessions allowed by your license.
Status Relationship between the
configured and maximum I/O
point count values.
You see one of three states:
• OK: Everything is fine.

• Exceeded: Configured I/O

points count exceeds the
maximum allowed by your
license.

• DEV: Your license has no I/O

and Platform Count feature
line.
• In the IO Point area
Configured count Number of configured I/O points
in your Galaxy.
Max count Maximum number of configured
I/O points allowed by your license.
If your license has no I/O and
Platform Count feature line, N/A
appears.
Status Relationship between the
configured and maximum I/O
point count values.
You see one of three states:
• OK: Everything is fine.

• Exceeded: Configured I/O

points count exceeds the
maximum allowed by your
license.

• DEV: Your license has no I/O

and Platform Count feature
line.

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5 Select App Server License to view:

• In the Platform area:
Current Count Number of deployed
WinPlatforms in your Galaxy.
Max Count Maximum number of deployed
WinPlatforms allowed by your
license. If your license has no I/O
and Platform Count feature line,
N/A appears.
Status Relationship between the current
and maximum WinPlatform
count values.
You see one of three states:
• OK: Everything is fine.
• Exceeded: Deployed
WinPlatform count exceeds
the maximum allowed by your
license.

• DEV: Your license has no I/O

and Platform Count feature
line.
• In the IO Point area:
Configured Number of configured I/O points
Count in your Galaxy.
Max Count Maximum number of configured
I/O points allowed by your
license. If your license has no I/O
and Platform Count feature line,
N/A appears.
Status Relationship between the
configured and maximum I/O
point count values.
You see one of three states:
• OK: Everything is fine.

• Exceeded: Configured I/O

points count exceeds the
maximum allowed by your
license.

• DEV: Your license has no I/O

and Platform Count feature
line.

6 When you are done, click Close.

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To view the end-user license agreement

1 On the About ArchestrA IDE dialog box, click View License
Agreement. The Eula Viewer dialog box appears. Scroll
down to read the terms and conditions of the agreement.

2 Click View Patent Information to read the patent

information. You must have an Internet connection to
view the patent information.
3 When you are done, click Close.

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Updating a License
After you get your new license from Wonderware, you must
install it to update your Galaxy Repository license. Follow
the steps below.

To update your license

1 Start the License Utility. On the Windows Start menu,
point to Programs, Wonderware, then to Common, and
then click License. The License Utility appears.

2 On the File menu, click Install License File. Browse to the

folder where you saved the .lic file.
3 Select the .lic file and click Open. The Destination
Computer for Installation dialog box opens.
4 Do the following:
• In the Domain box, type the name of the domain in
which the computer resides.
• In the Computer box, type the name of the computer
on which you want to install the license file.
• Click OK.
If a license file exists on that domain, the Installing a
License File dialog box appears.
• To overwrite the license file, click Overwrite.
• To add the new license file information to the existing
license, click Append.
• When you are done updating the license file, you can
see the results of the installation in the Results pane.

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Disk Space Requirements

After Application Server is installed on your system, certain
operations require at least 100 MB of available disk space.
These operations include
• Creating a Galaxy

• Deploying objects

• Importing and exporting objects

• Loading and dumping a Galaxy

• Restoring and backing up a Galaxy.

This minimum requirement applies to the Galaxy node as

well as any remote IDE nodes.
If your computer has less than 100 MB of available hard disk
space, running any of these operations can result in erratic
behavior.

Managing Communication between Galaxy

Nodes
You can use Application Server in a distributed environment.
All computers with ArchestrA-enabled software installed
must be able to communicate with each other.
Two items must be considered to ensure communication
between nodes:
• ArchestrA user accounts

• Multiple network interface cards in computers

All Platforms communicate with several attributes on the

Galaxy Repository (GR) Platform to detect configuration
changes. This communication sends NMX heartbeats from
each Platform to the GR Platform. For example, the
attributes include “time of last deploy," and “time of last
configuration change.”
In addition to NMX heartbeats, all Bootstraps on each
Platform in the Galaxy send each other heartbeats. These
heartbeats are for Platform status information, occur every
two seconds, and are configurable.

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About ArchestrA User Accounts

Communication occurs with an ArchestrA-specific user
account set up during the initial installation of each
ArchestrA component on each computer, including the IDE.

WARNING! The user account that is used for ArchestrA

communication is a standard Windows operating system
account located on the local computer or on a domain. Do not
delete this account with operating system account
management tools. If you do, the IDE stops functioning
properly.

If you delete the ArchestrA user account on an IDE node, you

must recreate it with the Change Network Account utility.
You must have Administrator privileges on the computer to
make changes with the Change Network Account utility.
Before you start, find out the user name and password that is
created on all computers with ArchestrA-enabled software
installed.

To recreate an ArchestrA user account

1 Start the Change Network Account program by clicking
Start, point to Programs, and click Wonderware. Click
Common and then click Change Network Account.

2 Do one of the following:

• In a single-node ArchestrA system, create any
account.
• In a multi-node ArchestrA system, create the same
user account with the same user name and password
on all other ArchestrA computers.

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3 Click OK. After you recreate the user account, the

Microsoft Windows security component on your computer
can take several minutes to update this information on
the ArchestrA Galaxy node. Until that happens, your
IDE might not function properly. Restarting the Galaxy
node applies this update immediately.

Using Multiple Network Interface Cards

You can use nodes with more than one network interface
card (NIC). These nodes must be configured properly so they
can communicate with other ArchestrA nodes.
If a node contains multiple NICs for redundancy reasons, see
Working with Redundancy on page 223 for more information.
If a multiple NIC computer in your Galaxy uses only one
NIC, you need to disable all cards except the supervisory
network.

Defining the Order of the NIC

For any multiple NIC ArchestrA node to communicate with
all other Galaxy nodes, you must define the correct order of
network connections in the network services of the computer.
Before you start configuring multiple network cards, you
need the IP address for the second and further nodes.

To define the correct order

1 Open the Network and Dial-up Connections dialog box and
rename each card with a clearly identifiable function, for
example, Supervisory Net and PLC net.
Opening the Network and Dial-up Connections dialog box
varies, depending on the version of Windows you are
using.
2 Order the network cards properly. On the Advanced
menu, click Advanced Settings. In the Advanced Settings
dialog box, click the up and down arrows to define the
correct order of Connections.
The first connection in the list must be the supervisory
network card. If a computer contains more than two
network cards, for example, a supervisory connection, a
PLC connection, and an RMC connection for ArchestrA
redundancy, the supervisory net must be listed first and
the others can be listed in any other position.
3 Click OK.

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Configuring the IP Address and DNS Settings

After you specify the order of the network cards, you are
ready to configure several other parameters to ensure
successful node-to-node communications in the ArchestrA
environment.
You must configure the IP address and DNS settings as
follows for each network card to function properly.

To configure the IP address and DNS settings

1 In the Network and Dial-up Connections dialog box,
right-click the network connection and click Properties in
the shortcut menu. The Properties dialog box for this
connection appears.
2 In the list of components used by this connection, select
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. The
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box appears.
3 For the supervisory network, select Obtain an IP address
automatically.
For the other network connections, select Use the
following IP address. Type the correct IP address for the
secondary and further cards. See your network
administrator for the proper settings for the remainder of
the parameters in this group.
4 Click Advanced. The Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box
appears. Click the DNS tab.
5 For the supervisory network, select Register this
connection’s addresses in DNS.
For the other network connections, clear this check box.
6 Click OK.

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Application Server User’s Guide

 223

Chapter 12

Working with Redundancy

You can set up and run Application Server in a redundant

environment. In the Wonderware® Application Server, two
types of redundancy ensure continued run-time operation.
You can configure redundant
• AppEngine object pairings for computer or software
failures

• Data acquisition communications to one or more PLCs

A failover is the condition during which run-time operations

are moved from one critical component to another. Failover
can occur due to failure conditions or it can be forced
manually, called a forced failover.
For more information about redundancy, see your
FactorySuite A2 Deployment Guide.

About Redundancy
Application Server provides redundancy in two critical
functions:
• AppEngine
You must configure both an AppEngine and two
WinPlatforms.

• Data acquisition
You must configure two DIObjects (data sources) and a
RedundantDIObject.

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Configuring AppEngine Redundancy

The Primary/Backup AppEngines form a redundancy pair.
The ArchestrA infrastructure will generate the backup
AppEngine automatically when redundancy is enabled for an
AppEngine. Hierarchy of ApplicationObjects can only be
assigned to the primary AppEngine. The primary and backup
engine need to be assigned to redundancy enabled platforms,
and they can be deployed separately.
For data acquisition, the Primary/Backup DIObjects (the
data sources) must be separately created, configured and
deployed. Also, you must create, configure and deploy a
RedundantDIObject to control failovers between the two data
source objects.
In a redundant system, install and configure the primary
OPC server on the backup engine node.

Important For AppEngine redundancy, ArchestrA supports a

one-to-one topology in which the computers hosting the Primary
and Backup object sets must be connected by crossover cable and
have fixed IP addresses.

When you configure redundancy, you configure the Primary

object and the Backup object.

Primary Server Backup Server

AppEngine A AppEngine A
(backup)

Primary object Backup object

DIObject A DIObject B

• Primary object: The main or central object that

provides the functionality during run time. For
AppEngines, this is the object you enable for redundancy.
For data acquisition, this is the DIObject you intend to
use first as your data source in run time.

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• Backup object: The object that provides the

functionality of the Primary object when the Primary
object fails. For AppEngines, this is the object created by
the ArchestrA infrastructure when the Primary object is
enabled for redundancy. For data acquisition, this is the
DIObject you do not intend to use first as your data
source in the run-time.

Redundancy during Run Time

When you deploy these objects to a run-time environment,
the configuration objects become the Active object and the
Standby object.
Primary Server Active Server

AppEngine A AppEngine A
(backup)

Active object Standby object

DIObject A DIObject B

• Active object: The object that is currently executing

functions. For AppEngines, it is the object that is hosting
and executing ApplicationObjects. For data acquisition, it
is the object that is providing field device data through
the RedundantDIObject.

• Standby object: The object that is waiting for a failure

in the Active object or for a force-failover. For
AppEngines, it is the object that monitors the status of
the Active AppEngine. For data acquisition, it is the
object that is not providing field device data through the
RedundantDIObject.

In the AppEngine redundancy environment, the Active and

Standby objects monitor each other’s status and switch when
failure conditions occur.
In the data acquisition environment, the RedundantDIObject
monitors the status of the two DIObject data sources, and
handles the switching from Active to Standby objects.

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The relationship between the configuration time

(Primary/Backup) and run-time (Active/Standby) object pairs
is not static. In the run time, either the Primary or Backup
object can be the Active object at any particular time.
Whenever one becomes the Active object, the other
automatically becomes the Standby.

Working with AppEngine Redundancy

You enable AppEngine redundancy in the Primary
AppEngine. You must also configure two WinPlatforms for
redundancy, one to host the Primary AppEngine and one to
host the Backup AppEngine.

Important WinPlatforms hosting redundancy-enabled AppEngines

must be deployed to computers running the same operating
system.

The configuration of both WinPlatforms should be the same.

At a minimum, the store-forward directory configurations
must be common to both WinPlatforms:
During configuration, you can assign Primary and Backup
AppEngines to the same WinPlatform. To deploy, you must
assign the Primary and Backup AppEngines to different
WinPlatforms.
Supervisory Network

Redundancy Message
Channel (RMC)
AppEngine A AppEngine A
(Backup)
Requires dedicated
NIC on each computer
WinPlatform 1 WinPlatform 2

Each production computer hosting a redundancy-enabled

AppEngine must have a minimum of two network cards. One
NIC is for the supervisory network and PLC network, if the
computer has only two network cards. The other must be for
a dedicated Ethernet connection between computers for the
redundancy message channel (RMC).
For information about distributed networks, see Using
Multiple Network Interface Cards on page 220.
The RMC handles redundancy monitoring, message handling
and data synchronization between redundant pairs.

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Configuring the Redundancy Message Channel

For the redundant pair of AppEngines to successfully
communicate with each other, you must define the correct
order of network connections in the network services of each
computer.
We recommend that you name each card with a clearly
identifiable function (for example, “Supervisory Net” and
“Redundant Message Channel”).
You must configure at least the following parameters:
• Redundancy Message Channel IP Address

• Redundancy Message Channel Port

• Primary Message Channel

To configure network cards

1 Open the Network Connections dialog box in Windows.
The specifics about opening this dialog box varies,
depending on the version of Windows you are working on.
For more information, see the Windows Help.
2 Click Advanced Settings. If the machine name is used in
the platform's "node name" box, The first connection in
the list must be the supervisory network card. Use the up
and down arrows to define the correct order of
Connections.
If a computer contains more than two network cards, the
supervisory net must be listed first and the RMC
connection can be listed in any other position. For
example, your computer might have a supervisory
connection, a field device connection, and a RMC
connection.
3 Configure the DNS settings for the supervisory network
card to function properly.
• On the DNS page of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings
dialog box, select the Register this connection’s
addresses in DNS check box.
• For the RMC network card to function properly, clear
the Register this connection's addresses in DNS check
box. For more details on these settings, see Using
Multiple Network Interface Cards on page 220.
4 In Application Server, open the WinPlatform in the
Object Editor for the computer you just configured.
5 Change the Redundancy Message Channel IP Address to the
IP address of the RMC connection. See the WinPlatform
Help for more information about these parameters.
6 Save and close.

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Configuring Redundancy
You configure redundancy in AppEngine/WinPlatforms
objects using their Object Editors.
The redundancy-related parameters in the AppEngine Object
Editor are located on the Redundancy and General tabs.
An AppEngine that is part of a redundancy pair has a
deployment status indicating its own status and that of its
partner object. These statuses are visually indicated in the
Application views.
There are four deployment statuses:
Pair Deployed Both Primary and Backup AppEngines
are deployed.
Pair Undeployed Both Primary and Backup AppEngines
are undeployed.
Partial Deployed Either the Primary or Backup
AppEngine is deployed and its partner is
not deployed. If an AppEngine has a
Partial Deployed status, its partner has
a Partial Undeployed status.
Partial Either the Primary or Backup
Undeployed AppEngine is undeployed and its partner
is deployed. If an AppEngine has a
Partial Undeployed status, its partner
has a Partial Deployed status.

To create AppEngine redundancy

1 In the Primary AppEngine, select Enable Redundancy on
the Redundancy tab.
2 Configure the remaining redundancy parameters as
needed. See the help file for the AppEngine for specific
information about these parameters.
3 On the General tab, set the Engine Failure Timeout option
to 2000 milliseconds. You may need to tune this
parameter between 2000 ms and the default 10000 ms,
depending on the requirements of your application.

Note The actual engine failure timeout is three times the value
of this parameter. If you set the parameter to 2000 ms (2
seconds), a failover occurs if the AppEngine fails to communicate
with the computer’s Bootstrap for 6 seconds. A setting of 10000
ms (10 seconds) can be too long a wait period (30 seconds) for a
well-functioning redundancy operation.

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 Working with AppEngine Redundancy 229

4 On the General tab, clear the Restart the engine when it

fails check box.

Important If you enable redundancy in an AppEngine, do not

select the Restart the engine when it fails option on the General
page of the AppEngine’s editor.

After you save the configuration of the object and check it

into the Galaxy, the icon for the object changes. A Backup
AppEngine is created with the same configuration as the
Primary object.

Icon Object

Primary AppEngine

Backup AppEngine

Configuring Redundancy in Templates

You can create a redundancy-enabled AppEngine template.
When you create an instance of the template, both the
Primary and Backup instances are created.
The Backup AppEngine is hosted by the Unassigned Host or
the default WinPlatform if you specified one in the Configure
User Information dialog box.
If you change the configuration and check in the Primary
AppEngine, the Backup AppEngine:
• Is checked out in the background

• Updates the configuration

• Is checked in without notification to connected clients

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Deleting Redundant AppEngines

You can disable redundancy in an AppEngine after the
ArchestrA infrastructure creates the Backup object. If you
disable redundancy and check in the Primary AppEngine,
the Backup is deleted from the Galaxy. The exception is
when the Backup is already deployed. In that case the newly
configured Primary object cannot be checked in.
To delete a Backup AppEngine from the Galaxy, you must
undeploy it first.
There is no redundancy-related configuration required on
ApplicationObjects hosted by an AppEngine configured for
redundancy. When a system failure occurs, the
ApplicationObjects and their attribute values are duplicated
on the Standby AppEngine, which becomes the Active
AppEngine. For more about failover functionality, see During
Deployment on page 233.
If the Platform hosting the redundant AppEngine is
shutdown in SMC, the AppEngine cannot be flagged as “On
failure mark as undeployed” when you undeploy the
AppEngine. You see an engine communication error in the
Deploy dialog box.

Deploying AppEngine Objects

Primary and Backup AppEngines can be deployed together
or individually.
• When they are deployed together, regardless of which
object is actually selected for deployment, the Primary
always becomes the Active and the Backup becomes the
Standby.

• When they are deployed individually, the first one

deployed becomes the Active.

Hosted ApplicationObjects are always deployed to the Active

AppEngine. When deploying the first of a redundant pair of
AppEngines, you can cascade deploy all objects it hosts. This
operation can be paired with deploying both the Primary and
Backup AppEngines at the same time.

Important If you deploy the Backup AppEngine first and then

deploy hosted objects to that AppEngine, make sure the network
communication to both target computers is good before deploying
the Primary AppEngine. Otherwise, errors occur.

In the run-time environment, either the Primary or Backup

AppEngine can become the Active or Standby depending
upon failure conditions on either computer.

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Configuration Requirements
Before deploying the Primary and Backup AppEngines, all
configuration requirements must be met.
• Each AppEngine must be assigned to a separate
WinPlatform.

• A valid redundancy message channel (RMC) must be

configured for each WinPlatform.

• To deploy the Primary and Backup together, select

Include Redundant Partner in the Deploy dialog box. This
option is not available when doing the following
operations:

• Cascade deploy from the Galaxy

• Multiple object selection deploy
• Deploying the WinPlatform that hosts the Primary or
Backup AppEngine
The following table shows a matrix of allowed operations
based on specific conditions.

Deploy Both
Primary and Cascade Deploy
Condition Backup Objects Allowed

Backup AppEngine's Yes Yes

host WinPlatform
configured for failover
and deployed
Backup AppEngine in Yes Yes
error state
Backup AppEngine's No Yes
host WinPlatform not
deployed
Backup AppEngine's Yes Yes
host WinPlatform not
configured for failover
and deployed
Deploy from Galaxy No Yes
node
Deploy from No Yes
WinPlatform hosting
Primary AppEngine
Multiple object No No
selection deploy

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Deploy Both
Primary and Cascade Deploy
Condition Backup Objects Allowed

Backup AppEngine's No Yes

host WinPlatform not
configured for failover
and not deployed
Deploy from Backup Yes Yes
AppEngine
Deploy from Primary Yes Yes
AppEngine

Undeploying AppEngine Objects

Undeploying redundant pairs of AppEngines is just like
undeploying any regular object.
You can undeploy the Active and Backup AppEngines
separately or as a pair.

Important Undeploying any AutomationObjects, including

redundant AppEngine pairs, does not uninstall code modules for
that object from the hosting computer. Code modules are
uninstalled only when the WinPlatform is undeployed.

To undeploy as a pair
1 Select one of the objects in an Application view.
2 On the Object menu, click Undeploy. The Undeploy dialog
box appears.
3 Select Include Redundant Partner in the Undeploy dialog
box and click OK.

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During Deployment
During initial deployment of a redundant pair of
AppEngines, files are deployed in the following order:
• Code modules and other files for the Primary AppEngine
are deployed

• Those files for its assigned ApplicationObjects

• All of these files are deployed to the Standby AppEngine

by the Active engine’s WinPlatform using the redundancy
message channel (RMC)

Note If some or all of these files already exist on the Standby

AppEngine’s WinPlatform, perhaps, assigned to another AppEngine
on that platform, only the delta files are deployed to the Standby
AppEngine.

AutomationObjects at Run Time

AutomationObjects are always assigned to the Primary
AppEngine in the configuration environment.
During run time, AutomationObjects are always deployed to
the Active AppEngine whether or not it was initially
configured as the Primary object.
All files are deployed by the Active AppEngine’s WinPlatform
to the Backup AppEngine as described above.

During Run Time

In the run-time environment, the Active and Standby
AppEngines first attempt to establish communication across
the RMC. This occurs when an AppEngine belonging to a
redundant pair first starts up. Therefore, if one AppEngine is
relocated later to a different WinPlatform, this
communication between AppEngines can be reestablished.
During run time, the Active and Standby engines
communicate with each other and monitor each other's
status.
In the case of a hardware or software failure on the Active
computer, the Standby AppEngine becomes the Active one.
To move the new Standby AppEngine from its hosting
computer, undeploy this AppEngine by selecting the On
failure mark as undeployed option on the Undeploy dialog box.
Reassign and redeploy it to a WinPlatform that is configured
for redundancy on another computer.

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AppEngine Redundancy States

Redundant pairs of AppEngines can have one of the following
states at a time:
• Active: The state of an AppEngine when it has
communication with its partner object, its partner is in
Standby-Not Ready, Standby-Sync’ing with Active, or
Standby-Ready state. A Standby AppEngine transitions
into this state when a failover condition is detected. In
this state, an AppEngine schedules and executes
deployed objects, sends checkpoint data and sends
subscriber list updates to the Standby AppEngine.

• Active - Standby not Available: The state of an Active

AppEngine when it determines it cannot achieve
communications with its partner object. This could mean
that checkpoint, subscription and alarm state changes
are not successfully transmitted to the Standby object
because the partner AppEngine is not deployed, number
of heartbeats missed from standby objects exceeds the
configured max consecutive number of heartbeats
missed, or notification is received that the Standby
AppEngine shutdown or is not running. If an AppEngine
is in this state, it 1) continues normal execution of hosted
objects, 2) cannot be manually switched to Standby state,
and 3) while continuing to attempt communicate with the
Standby, does not attempt to send data to the Standby
object.

• Determining Failover Status: The initial state of a

redundancy-enabled AppEngine when it is first started.
It has not determined yet whether it is the Active or
Standby AppEngine. Communication between the two
AppEngines is attempted first over the RMC and then
over the primary network to make this determination. If
communication cannot be made after a certain timeout
period, an AppEngine assumes the Active role if it has all
of the code modules and checkpoint file data to do so.
Continued attempts are made at communicating with its
partner.

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• Standby - Missed Heartbeats: The state of an

AppEngine when 1) the heartbeat pings are not received
from its Active partner through the RMC, but the
number of missed beats haven't reached the maximum
consecutive number of heartbeats missed, or 2) the
hearbeats from active engine have been missed through
the primary channel. When in this state, the Standby
object attempts to determine whether or not the Active
object failed. If a manual failover is started by using the
ForceFailoverCmd attribute, it is processed only if the
heartbeats were missed over the primary network and
not missed over the RMC.

• Standby - Not Ready: The state of an AppEngine when

one of several conditions occurs: 1) its lost
communications with its partner object or it maintains
communications with its partner but missed checkpoint
updates or alarm state changes from the Active
AppEngine, 2) new objects are deployed to the Active
AppEngine and necessary files are not installed on the
Standby AppEngine yet, or 3) the Standby AppEngine
lost communications over the RMC before it completed
synchronizing data. Typically, the AppEngine’s partner is
in one of the following states: Active-Standby not
Available, or Active.

• Standby - Ready: The state of an AppEngine when it

completed synchronizing code modules and checkpoint
data with the Active AppEngine. In this state, the
AppEngine monitors for Active AppEngine failure by
verifying heartbeat pings received from the Active engine
and checks that all files required for execution are in sync
with the Active engine. It receives the following from the
Active AppEngine: checkpoint change data,
subscription-related notifications, alarm state changes,
and history blocks.

• Standby - Sync'ng with Active: The state of an

AppEngine when it is synchronizing code modules with
the Active object. If code modules exist on the Standby
computer that do not exist on the Active node, they are
uninstalled, and likewise, any code modules that exist on
the Active node but not on the Standby node are
installed. After all code modules are synchronized, the
AppEngine transitions to Standby-Sync’d Code state.

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• Standby - Syncing Code: The state of a Standby

AppEngine that successfully synchronized all code
modules with the Active object.

• Standby - Syncing Data: The state of a Standby

AppEngine when all object-related data, including
checkpoint and subscriber information, are synchronized
with the Active object. An object in this state typically
transitions to Standby-Ready state.

• Switching to Active: A transitional state when a

Standby AppEngine is commanded to become Active.

• Switching to Standby: A transitional state when an

Active AppEngine is commanded to become Standby.
When the active engine is switched to standby, the
engine will be restarted. This transition state can be
switched off by the user changing the attribute of the
engine.

• Failed: The state of a redundant partner when its

process crashes or is terminated by the user. The
AppEngine process can be restarted using System
Management Console/PlatformManager.

• Unknown: The state of a redundant partner when a

communication loss occurs between AppEngines or when
the partner AppEngine is stopped, shutdown, or
undeployed.

For examples on redundant configuration, see the

FactorySuite A2 Deployment Guide.

Troubleshooting
Most troubleshooting happens in the System Management
Console. For more information about using the System
Management Console, see the System Management Console
User’s Guide.
Certain requirements are validated by the system
infrastructure. For example, the order in which you configure
an object pair for redundancy is validated.
The following problems can occur when you are using
redundancy:
• You can configure an AppEngine for redundancy before
configuring its associated WinPlatform. If you do this,
you see an error message that the Platform (specifically,
the RMC) is not configured yet.

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• If the RMC IP Address parameter is not configured in

both hosting WinPlatforms, then the configuration state
of both Primary and Backup AppEngines changes to
Error. You also see a message indicating that the host
WinPlatform is not configured with the network adapter
required for redundant communications. When the RMC
IP Address is configured and the WinPlatforms are
checked in, the hosted AppEngines are automatically
revalidated and the Error state is resolved. If hosted
AppEngines are checked out, they are not revalidated.

• If both Primary and Backup AppEngines are assigned to

the same WinPlatform and you try to deploy both
engines, both the Primary and Backup fail to deploy. You
see a message that the Primary and Backup objects must
be hosted by different WinPlatforms. Reassign the
Backup object to another WinPlatform and deploy it
separately.

• If both the Network Address and RMC IP Address

parameters in the WinPlatform’s editor refer to the same
network card, you get a warning message when you save
the configuration. These parameters must refer to
different network cards.

• Before restarting a computer that hosts one of a

redundant pair of AppEngines (either the Active or
Backup), ensure that the Primary Network is connected.
A restart while the Primary Network is disconnected
makes the Primary Network bind to the RMC’s IP
address. An incorrect redundancy state occurs, indicating
that redundancy functionality is good. Any time you
restart a redundancy-enabled computer, check for proper
network connections afterwards. For more information,
see Using Multiple Network Interface Cards on page 220.

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Generating Alarms
When failover conditions occur, the ArchestrA system reports
alarms to the subscribed alarm clients like InTouch.
These alarms contain the following information:
• The name of the AppEngine reporting the alarm.

• The node name of the AppEngine reporting the alarm.

• The state of the AppEngine.

• The node name of the AppEngine’s partner object.

Depending on what caused the failover, the Standby

AppEngine can become the Active AppEngine in an Off scan
state and alarms might not be generated.
If the Active AppEngine is shutdown off scan, the
checkpointer can transfer that state to the Standby. When
the Standby becomes the Active, it starts up off scan. When
the AppEngine is put on scan, alarms then are generated.
Reported alarms include the following:

Alarm Alarm
Previous Current Raised Cleared Alarm
Alarm State State When When Reported By

Standby Active Standby Standby Entering Active

Not Ready * Not Ready Not Ready Standby Engine
Ready
Standby Active Active Active Entering Active
Not Standby Standby Active Engine
Available Not Not
Available Available
Failover Standby During Active
Occurred becomes the next Engine
Active scan of
the
Active
engine
* The Active AppEngine monitors the status of the Standby through the RMC to determine when to raise
this alarm. Also, if the Active AppEngine is in Active-Standby not Available state, this alarm is not
generated.

When a failover occurs, the Standby AppEngine that

becomes active carries alarms outstanding from the old
Active AppEngine. The state of those old alarms, though, will
change to reflect the new partner's status.

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 Troubleshooting 239

Timestamps are preserved for alarms, including when:

• The alarm was acknowledged

• The alarm condition went true

• The alarm condition went false

Finally, the following information is preserved for alarms:

• An alarm was acknowledged

• The message input by the operator when the alarm was

acknowledged

All alarm state information is collected and sent to the

Standby AppEngine at the end of a scan cycle and before
being sent to alarm clients.
The sequence of reporting alarms ensures that alarm clients
do not report alarms in states that are different from those
reported by the Standby AppEngine if the Active AppEngine
fails.

Generating History
All active objects (AppEngine and hosted objects) report
history data as they normally do in the run-time
environment.
Historical data is reported to the historian only from the
Active AppEngine.
Losing connectivity with the historian does not cause a
failover. The Active AppEngine goes into store-forward mode
and caches data every 30 seconds. Store-forward data is
synchronized with the Standby AppEngine.
When failover conditions occur, no more than 30 seconds of
history data is lost in the transition from Standby to Active
status. For more information, see the FactorySuite A2
Deployment Guide.

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240 Chapter 12 Working with Redundancy

Working with Data Acquisition Redundancy

The RedundantDIObject monitors and controls the
redundant DIObject data sources at the object level. Unlike
redundant AppEngines, individual DIObject data sources do
not have redundancy-related states. For all practical
purposes, they function as standalone objects.
Only one DIObject data source provides field device data
through the RedundantDIObject at a time. Both data sources
must have commonly-configured DAGroups. These must be
reflected in and channeled through the RedundantDIObject,
which monitors the two DIObject data sources. It also
determines which one is Active at any given time. Both data
sources must also have the same item address space.

Configuring Data Acquisition Redundancy

Data acquisition redundancy objects involve two DIObjects
and the RedundantDIObject. In data acquisition redundancy,
you must configure all three components:
• Primary DIObject data source

• Backup DIObject data source

• Redundant DIObject data source

Because data acquisition redundant components are

essentially standalone objects, all valid operations that apply
to any other ApplicationObjects apply to the three objects.
All IDE commands, Galaxy Dump and Load functions, and
import and export operations are valid on the two DIObject
data sources and the RedundantDIObject.
See the online help associated with each DIObject for help in
configuring its Object Editor. Also see the help associated
with the RedundantDIObject.
Before you can deploy the RedundantDIObject, you must
configure at least one scan group. Also, configure only scan,
block read, and block write groups shared by the Primary
and Backup DIObjects in the RedundantDIObject.

To configure the Redundant DIObject

1 On the General tab of the Object Editor, set the Primary DI
Source and Backup DI Source.
2 Set up the common scan groups.
3 Set up the common block read and block write groups on
the tabs of the Object Editor.

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 Working with Data Acquisition Redundancy 241

Deploying Redundant DIObjects

Deployment for data acquisition redundancy is the same as
individually deploying unrelated objects. No special
conditions apply to each DIObject data source and the
RedundantDIObject.
See Deploying your Galaxy on page 131 for more information
about deploying objects.

What Happens in Run Time

The three objects in the data acquisition redundancy scheme
(RedundantDIObject and its two DIObject data sources)
work like any other ArchestrA object when deploying,
alarming, and historizing. They have no special
redundancy-related states or restrictions.
During run time, the RedundantDIObject monitors the
status of the DIObject data sources, and handles the
switching from Active to Standby object if failure conditions
occur.

RedundantDIObject and PLC Connectivity

For the RedundantDIObject, you can use the scan group
PingItem attribute to monitor the connection status of the
PLC at run time. If you are using the redundancy feature of
the RedundantDIObject to communicate with DIObjects, you
should configure the PingItem attribute for each scan group.

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Application Server User’s Guide

 243

Glossary

application A collection of objects in a Galaxy Repository that performs

automation tasks. Synonymous with Galaxy. There can be
one or more applications within a Galaxy Repository.

Application Engine A scan-based engine that hosts and executes the runtime
(AppEngine) logic contained within AutomationObjects.

ApplicationObject An AutomationObject that represents some element of your

production environment. This can include things like
• an automation process component. For example, a
thermocouple, pump, motor, valve, reactor, or tank
• or associated application component. For example,
function block, PID loop, Sequential Function Chart,
Ladder Logic program, batch phase, or SPC data sheet

Application Server The supervisory control platform. Application Server uses

existing Wonderware products such as InTouch for
visualization, the Wonderware Historian for data storage,
and the device Integration product line like a Data Access
Server (DAServer) for device communications.
An Application Server can be distributed across multiple
computers as part of a single Galaxy namespace.

Application view The Applications view shows the object-related contents of

the Galaxy in four different ways: Model view, Deployment
view, Derivation view, and Operations view. The Model view
appears when the IDE is opened for the first time.

ArchestrA The distributed architecture for supervisory control and

manufacturing information systems. It is an open and
extensible technology based on a distributed, object-based
design.

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ArchestrA Object A programmer’s tool to create new ApplicationObjects and

Toolkit Device Integration Object (DIObjects) templates, including
configuration and runtime implementations. Includes a tool
to build DI Objects and create unique Domain Objects that
interact with DIObjects in the ArchestrA environment.

ArchestrA Symbol A graphic you create and use to visualize data in an InTouch
HMI system. You use the ArchestrA Symbol Editor to create
ArchestrA Symbols from basic elements, such as rectangles,
lines, and text elements.

area A logical grouping of AutomationObjects that represents an

area or unit of a plant. It is used to group related
AutomationObjects for alarm, history, and security purposes.
It is represented by an area AutomationObject.

area object The system object that represents an area of your plant
within a Galaxy. The Area Object acts as an alarm
concentrator, and places other Automation Objects into
proper context with respect to the actual physical automation
layout.

assignment The designation of a host for an AutomationObject. For

example, an AppEngine AutomationObject is assigned to a
WinPlatform AutomationObject.

attribute An externally accessible data item of an AutomationObject.

attribute reference A text string that references an attribute of an

string AutomationObject.

AutomationObject An object type that represents permanent things in your

plant, such as ApplicationObject or Device Integration Object
(DIObjects), with user-defined, unique names within the
Galaxy. It provides a standard way to create, name,
download, execute, and monitor the represented component.

Backup Application The object created by the ArchestrA infrastructure when the
Engine Primary object is enabled for redundancy. See redundancy for
further details.

base template A root template at the top of a derived hierarchy. Unlike

other templates, a base template is not derived from another
template but developed with the ApplicationObject Toolkit
and imported into a Galaxy. All templates names start with a
dollar sign ($).

Block Read Group A DAGroup that is triggered by the user or another object. It
reads a block of data from the external data source and
indicates the completion status.

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Block Write Group A DAGroup that is triggered by the user or another object
after all the required data items are set. The block of data is
sent to the external data device. When the block write is
complete, it indicates the completion status.

Bootstrap The base ArchestrA service which is required on all

ArchestrA computers. It provides the base software
environment to enable a platform and allows a computer to
be included in the Galaxy Namespace.

Change log The revision history that tracks the life cycle activities of
ArchestrA Objects, such as object creation, check in/check
out, deployment, and import/export.

change propagation The ability to create templates which allows each component
template to support changes such that a change in one of the
elements can be automatically propagated to all — or select,
related — object instances.

check in IDE operation for making a configured object available for

other users to check out and use.

check out IDE operation for the purpose of editing an object. It makes
the item unavailable for other users to check out.

Checkpoint The act of saving to disk the configuration, state, and all
associated data necessary to support automatic restart of a
running AutomationObject. The restarted object has the
same configuration, state, and associated data as the last
checkpoint image on disk.

compound object An ApplicationObject that contains at least one other

ApplicationObject.

contained name An alternate naming convention that when combined with

the TagName of the root container object, results in the
hierarchical name. For example, for a given object, its
Hierarchical Name = Line1.Tank1.InletValve and its
Contained Name= InletValve.

containment A hierarchical grouping that allows one or more

AutomationObject to exist within the name space of a parent
AutomationObject and be treated like parts of the parent
AutomationObject. Allows for relative referencing to be
defined at the template and instance level.

DAGroup A data access group associated with Device Integration

Object (DIObjects). It defines how communications are
achieved with external data sources. It can be a Scan Group,
Block Read Group or Block Write Group.

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DAServer Manager The System Management Console (SMC) snap-in supplied by

(DAS Manager) the Data Access Server (DAServer) that provides the
required interface for activation, configuration, and diagnosis
of the DAServer.

Data Access Server The server executable that handles all communications
(DAServer) between field devices of a certain type and client applications.
Similar to I/O Servers but with more advanced capabilities.

Data Access Server A developer tool that can build a Data Access Server
Toolkit (DAS Toolkit) (DAServer).

Deployment The operation which instantiates an AutomationObject

instance in the ArchestrA runtime. This action involves
installing all the necessary software and instantiating the
object on the target platform with the object’s default
attribute data from Galaxy Repository.

Deployment view The part of the Application view in the IDE that shows how
objects are physically dispersed across Platforms, areas and
Engines. This is a view of how the application is spread
across computing resources.

derivation The creation of a new template based on an existing

Template.

Derivation view The part of the Application view in the IDE that shows the
parent-child relationship between base templates, derived
templates and derived instances. A view into the genealogy of
the application.

derived template Any template with a parent template. Derived templates

inherit the attributes of the parent template. You can
changes these attributes in the derived template.

Device Integration An AutomationObject that represents the communication

Object (DIObjects) with external devices or software. DI Objects run on an
Application Engine (AppEngine), and include DINetwork
Objects and DIDevice Objects.

DIDevice Object An object that represents the actual external device (for
example, a PLC or RTU) that is associated with a DINetwork
Object. It can diagnose and browse data registers of the
DAGroups for that device.

DINetwork Object An object that represents the network interface port to the
device through the Data Access Server (DAServer) or the
object that represents the communications path to another
software application. It provides diagnostics and
configuration for that specific network card.

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element Basic shapes, such as rectangles, lines, and text elements,

and controls you can use to create an ArchestrA Symbol to
your specifications.

Engine Object An ArchestrA system-enabled object that contains Local

Message Exchange and provides a host for
ApplicationObjects, Device Integration Object (DIObjects)
and area objects.

event record The data that is transferred about the system and logged
when a defined event changes state. For example, an analog
crosses its high level limit, an acknowledgement is made, or
an operator logs in to the system.

export The act of generating a package file (.aaPKG) extension from

persisted data in the Galaxy database. You can import the
resulting .aaPKG file into another Galaxy.

FactorySuite A Microsoft Windows application program that acts as a

Gateway communications protocol converter. Built with the ArchestrA
DAS Toolkit, FS Gateway links clients and data sources that
communicate using different data access protocols.

Galaxy The entire application. The complete ArchestrA system

consisting of a single logical name space (defined by the
Galaxy database) and a collection of platform objects, Engine
Objects and other objects. One or more networked PCs that
constitute an automation system. This is referred to as the
Galaxy Namespace.

Galaxy database The relational database containing all persistent

configuration information like templates, instances, security,
and so on in a Galaxy Repository.

Galaxy Database A utility to manage your Galaxy. It can back up and restore
Manager Galaxies if they become corrupt or to reproduce a Galaxy on
another computer. The Galaxy Database Manager is part of
the System Management Console (SMC).

GalaxyObject The object that represents a Galaxy.

Galaxy Repository The software sub-system consisting of one or more Galaxy

databases.

Graphic Toolbox The part of the IDE main window that shows a hierarchy of
graphic toolsets, which contain ArchestrA Symbols and client
controls.

hierarchical name The name of the object in the context of its container object.
For example, Tank1.OutletValve, where an object called
Tank1 contains the OutletValve object.

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Historical Storage The time series data storage system that compresses and
System (Historian) stores high volumes of time series data for later retrieval.
The standard historian is the Wonderware Historian.

host The parent of a child instance in the deployment view.

Example: a Platform instance is a Host for an Application
Engine (AppEngine) instance.

import The act of reading a package file (.aaPKG) and using it to

create AutomationObject instances and templates in the
Galaxy Repository.

instance An object derived from a template. You deploy instances to

the runtime environment.

instantiation The creation of a new instance based on a corresponding

template.

Integrated The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the

Development interface for the configuration side of Application Server. In
Environment (IDE) the IDE, you manage templates, create instances, deploy and
un-deploy objects, and other functions associated with the
development and maintenance of the system.

InTouch View InTouch View clients are InTouch runtime clients that solely
use of the Application Server for its data source. In addition,
standard InTouch runtimes can leverage Application Server
with the addition of a Platform license.

InTouchViewApp Represents an InTouch application in the Wonderware

object Application Server environment. The InTouchViewApp object
manages the check-in, check-out, and deployment of an
InTouch application.

I/O count Number of I/O points being accessed into the Galaxy. I/O
points are real I/O and are not equivalent to InTouch tags. I/
O count is based on the number of I/O points that are
configured through an OPC Server, I/O Server, Data Access
Server (DAServer) or InTouch Proxy Object, over the whole
Application Server namespace, regardless of how many PCs
are in the system.

Message Exchange The object to object communications protocol used by

Application Server. Message Exchange includes
LMX communication between objects
NMX communication between IAS nodes.

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Model view The area in the Application view in the IDE that shows how
objects are arranged to describe the physical layout of the
plant and supervisory process being controlled.

object Any template or instance in a Galaxy database. A common

characteristic of all objects is they are stored as separate
components in the Galaxy Repository.

object extensions The capability to add additional functions to an

AutomationObject while not changing the object’s original
behavior. Can be added to derived templates and object
instances. They include Scripts, User Defined Attributes
(UDAs) and Attribute Extensions.

Object Viewer A utility in which you can view the attribute values of the
selected object in runtime. This utility is only available when
an object is deployed. Object Viewer shows you diagnostic
information on ApplicationObjects so you can see
performance parameters, resource consumption and
reliability measurements. In addition to viewing an object’s
data value, data quality and the communication status of the
object, you can also modify some of its attributes for
diagnostic testing. Modifications can include adjusting
timing parameters and setting objects in an execution or idle
mode.

OffScan The state of an object that indicates it is idle and not ready to
execute its normal runtime processing.

OnScan The state of an object in which it is performing its normal

runtime processing based on a configured schedule.

Operations view The area in the IDE that shows the results of validating the
configuration of objects.

package definition The standard description file that contains the configuration
file (.aaPDF) data and implementation code for a base template. File
extension is .aaPDF.

package file The standard description file that contains the configuration
(.aaPKG) data and implementation code for one or more objects or
templates. File extension is .aaPKG.

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Platform Count Number of PCs in the Galaxy. Each Workstation and/or

Server communicating directly with the Application Server
requires a platform to be part of the Galaxy Namespace. This
includes each InTouch and InTouch View client. Each
InTouch Terminal Services Session needs a Application
Server Terminal Services Session License.
A Platform License includes a per seat FSCAL2000 with
Microsoft SQL Server CAL. Stand-alone computers only
hosting InSQL Servers or a remote Data Access Server
(DAServer) do not need a platform license.

Platform Manager This utility is an extension snap-in to the ArchestrA System

Management Console (SMC).Provides Galaxy application
diagnostics by allowing you to view the runtime status of
some system objects and to perform actions upon those
objects. Actions include setting platforms and engines in an
executable or idle mode and starting and stopping platforms
and engines.

platform object An object that represents a single computer in a Galaxy,

consisting of a system wide message exchange component
and a set of basic services. This object hosts all Application
Engines.

Primary Application The object created by the ArchestrA infrastructure when the
Engine Backup object is created through redundancy. See
redundancy for further details.

properties Data common to all attributes of objects, such as name,

value, quality, and data type.

proxy object An AutomationObject that represents an actual product for

the purpose of device integration with the Application Server
or InTouch HMI. For example, a Proxy object enables the
Application Server to access an OPC server.

redundancy Two computers: One executes objects. The other is a stand by.

RedundantDIObject Monitors and controls the redundant Device Integration

Object (DIObjects) data sources. Unlike redundant
AppEngines, individual DIObject data sources do not have
redundancy-related states. They function as stand-alone
objects.

Redundant Message A dedicated Ethernet connection which is required between

Channel the platforms hosting redundant engines. The RMC is vital to
keep both engines synchronized with alarms, history, and
checkpoint items from the engine that is in the Active Role.
Each engine also uses this Message Channel to provide its
health and status information to the other.

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reference A string that refers to an object or to data within one of its

attributes.

relative reference Objects may refer to themselves, containers, hosts or to child

objects elsewhere in the parent/child hierarchy using special
reserved keywords such as “Me” or “MyContainer”. Relative
references continue to work properly even if the object that is
referenced is renamed. Examples of relative references are
“Me”, “MyArea”, “MyContainer”, and “MyPlatform”.

remote reference The ability to redirect ArchestrA object references or

references to remote InTouch tags. The new script function
that redirects remote references at runtime is
IOSetRemoteReferences.

Scan Group A DAGroup that requires only the update interval be defined.
The data is retrieved at the requested rate.

Scan State The Scan State of an object in runtime. This can be either
OffScan or OnScan.

security Application Server security is applied to IDE, System

Management Console (SMC), and the runtime data level. At
the runtime data level which centralizes the definition of all
permissions to the ApplicationObjects. These
ApplicationObjects can be accessed by a variety of clients but
the security is centrally defined, allowing ease of
maintenance. Users that are allowed to modify these
ApplicationObjects at runtime are mapped to the objects by
user-defined roles. These roles can be mapped directly to
existing groups in a Microsoft Domain or workgroup.

System Management The central run-time system administration/management

Console (SMC) product where you perform all required runtime
administration functions.

system object An object that represents an area, platform or engine.

TagName The unique name given to an object. For example, for a given
object, its TagName = V1101 and its HierarchicalName =
Line1.Tank1.InletValve.

template An object containing configuration information and software

templates used to create a derived template and/or instance.

Template Toolbox The part of the IDE main window that shows Toolsets
containing templates. The Template Toolbox shows a tree
view of template categories in the Galaxy.

Toolset A named collection of templates shown together in the IDE

Template Toolbox.

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User Defined Allow you to add new functionality to an object. An attribute

Attributes (UDA) is added to an object at configuration time.

ViewEngine object Hosts InTouchViewApp objects. The ViewEngine object

supports common engine features such as deployment,
undeployment, startup, and shutdown.

WinPlatform object An object that represents a single computer in a Galaxy,

consisting of a systemwide message exchange component, a
set of basic services, the operating system, and the physical
hardware. This object hosts the Application Engine
(AppEngine).

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Index

A analog device objects 121

active object 225 AppEngine
active object, redundancy 225 historized data 150
adding custom help to objects 71 history configuration 150
alarm object 40
categories, setting 157 object, definition 40
clients and undeploying 142 redundancy 226
distributors 158 redundancy states 234
examples 154 AppEngine states, redundancy 234
extension group, using text strings 77 application
extensions 115, 124, 157 architecture, ArchestrA 167
subscription 159 templates 39
alarms Application views
Area AutomationObjects 159 using 21
configuring 155 ApplicationObject containment 53
definition 153 ArchestrA
disabling 160 messaging system 167
enabling 160 user accounts 219
examples 154 area
grouping 159 AutomationObject 159
InTouch syntax in IAS 162 object 41
specifying 157 objects, definition 41
subscribing 159 Area AutomationObjects, alarms 159
aliases assigning users to security roles 195
rules for locking in scripts 111 attributes
using in scripts 110 dynamic 175
allowed IO, viewing license hardware register 175
information 213 hidden in UDAs 104

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254 Index

historizing 144 configuration, Object Editor Extension

in runtime, writing to UDAs 66 page 157
keeping runtime values 140 configure history, finding object help 144
locking in instances 65 configure user information 31
locking in templates 65 configuring
locking in UDAs 66 alarm providers 155
property, finding 78 data acquisition redundancy 240
runtime 175 historize data 146
security 68 history 144
security locked in parent 69 multiple network cards 220
unlocking in instances 65 network cards 227
unlocking in templates 65 objects to store history 147
automatically initializing scripts 103 redundancy 228
AutomationObjects at runtime 233 security 190
user information 31
B WinPlatforms and AppEngines for
backing up Galaxies 201 history 150
backup object 225 Wonderware Historian 146
backup object, redundancy 225 configuring bit field access 82
backup server, redundancy 224 configuring computers for
redundancy 224
base templates 37, 39
configuring redundancy
importing 98
AppEngine 228
modifying 21
ordering network connections 227
bit field access 82
connecting
boolean attributes, alarm extensions 124
existing Galaxy 17
boolean data types, output
extensions 122 remote node for the first time 198
boolean label extension 77 contained
using a text string 77 names 51, 57, 94
boolean label extensions 126 templates, creating new 49
Bootstrap, hosting Galaxies 13 contained objects
naming conventions 57, 60
C viewing 60
cascade containment
deploy 134 definition 50
deploy, selecting 136 examples 58
changing names, scripting 56
Galaxies 203 naming conventions 57, 60
passwords 33 relationships, viewing 23, 57
users 34 templates 50
check-in comments, setting 31 creating
checking objects contained templates 50
in 90 derived templates 48
out 89 extensions 113
clients and alarms 159 Galaxy, security restrictions 15
communication at runtime 233 instances 93
components in Galaxies 13 new Galaxy 15

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object extensions 114 deployment

scripts 107 error messages 138
toolsets 46, 47 redundancy 241
UDAs 102 deployment status
creating user accounts 219 pair deployed 228
crossover cable, wiring redundancy 224 pair undeployed 228
.csv files partial deployed 228
characters in 207 partial undeployed 228
editing 204 redundancy objects 240
importing 208 viewing icons 135
structure 206 Deployment view
time formats 208 assignment relationships 24
custom using 24
help, locating folders 71 Derivation view
toolsets 45 parental relationships 27
customizing using 27
derived templates 48 derivation, viewing objects 27
information for a Galaxy 31 derived templates 39, 42
object help 71 contained names 57
your workspace 29 creating 48
customizing 48
D nesting 49
data deriving templates from derived
acquisition redundancy 240 templates 49
types and bit field access 82 determining Galaxy status 133
data types, configure history 145 device intergration templates 39
default, templates 37, 39 devived locked scripts 112
deleting DIDevice objects, definition 39
extensions 114 differences between alarms and
Galaxies 204 events 153
objects 96 DINetwork objects
redundant AppEngines 230 configuration limits 25
roles 197 definition 39
security groups 197 deploying 134
toolsets 47 DIObject data sources 240
users 197 disabling
deleting Galaxies, before you start 204 alarms 160, 161
deploy host objects first 134 redundancy 230
deploying disk space requirements 218
AppEngine objects 230 DNS settings, configuring 221
DINetwork objects 134 documentation conventions 11
history 149 dynamic attributes 175
imported objects 100
instances 35 E
objects 134 editing
redundant diobjects 241 base templates 21
templates 35 objects 61
scripts 105

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256 Index

editing .csv files 206 managing multiple 203

editing .csv files, characters in 207 naming conventions 16
enabling alarms 160 opening with security 17
event restoring 201
distributors 158 synchronizing time 210
subscription 159 synchronizing time in Windows 2000 or
events XP 210
definition 153 validating 92
examples 154 Galaxy
execution order of objects, setting 71 components, deploy 14
expanding tabs 30 creating 15
exporting database, Galaxy Repository 14
Galaxy dump file 204 repository, hosting Galaxies 13
Galaxy file structure 206 Repository, specifying 15
instances 96, 204 reserved names 16
object help 205 status, determining 133
objects 96, 204 text dump 206
script function libraries 97 Galaxy Browser 78
script libraries 205 Galaxy dump files
scripts 96, 97 characters 207
exporting templates 204 importing 208
extension inheritance 113 time formats 208
characteristics 113 general Object Editor layout 64
Extensions page 76, 113 generating
extensions, deleting 114 alarms 238
history 239
F group
failover and redundancy 223 lock icons 69
field reference object 121 locking 69
finding security 69
help folders 71 grouping alarms 159
object attributes 78
objects 177 H
floating hardware register attributes 175
areas 29 heartbeats 218
views 29 help header structure 63
formatting reference strings 171 hidden attributes, UDAs 104
hiding
G areas 30
Galaxies views 30
components of 13 hierarchical
default users 184 names 51, 57, 95
definition 13 names, viewing 23
deleting 204 historized data
disk space requirements 218 AppEngines 150
location on the network 13 store forward 149
logging in to 33 when data is stored 148
logging out of 33 WinPlatforms 150

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 Index 257

historizing reserved names 94

attributes 144 unlocking attributes 65
data, installing Wonderware InTouch
Historian 146 alarm and event client 162
history alarm syntax 162
deploying 149 references in a Galaxy 178
undeploying 149 IO, viewing allowed 213
History extension 125 IP address, network settings 221
history, data types, configuring 145
host attributes 207 L
hosting, multiple Galaxies in one Galaxy .lic files, using 217
repository 212 license information, viewing 213
HTML editors for customizing object licensed objects
help 71
objects
licenses 212
I licensing issues 212
I/O licenses 212 location of historian 146
icons, deployment status 135 locked scripts in child objects 112
IDE objects in runtime 132 locking
IDE, views 18 aliases in scripts 111
importing scripts 111
base templates 98 template attributes 65
.csv files 208 UDAs 102
Galaxy load files 208 logging
objects 98 in to disconnected networks 198
objects and deploying 100 in to Galaxies 33
objects and security groups 100 in to Galaxies, security enabled 33
objects with scripts 100 out of Galaxies 33
script function libraries 100
inheriting attributes, parent and child M
relationships 35
managing templates with toolsets 45
Input extensions 114
manually
Input extensions, data quality 123
initializing scripts 103
InputOutput
validating objects 92
attributes in scripts 118
MDAS
extension 116
historizing data 146
InputOutput extensions, data
quality 123 using 146
installing Wonderware Historian 146 Message Exchange and attributes 168
instances 37 mixed or native domains 199
creating 93 Model view
defined 37 containment relationships 21
deploying 35 opening 21
exporting 96, 204 moving
locking attributes 65 objects, undeploying 21
naming conventions 93 views 29
on other computers 24

Application Server User’s Guide

258 Index

multiple help folders, finding 71

accounts per user 187 importing 98
network cards in one computer 220 in runtime 132
multiple Galaxies 203 inheriting extensions 113
opening Object Editor 61
N redeploying 139
naming conventions specific information 121
containment 57, 60 undeploying 139
Galaxies 16 validating manually 92
instances 93 Objects Information page 70
scripts 107 Operations view, opening 28
templates 49 ordering network cards 220
toolsets 46 Output
UDAs 104 extension 115
nesting templates 37, 52 functionality 121
network Output extensions, data quality 123
configuring DNS settings 221
configuring IP address 221 P
network cards parent and child
multiple in one computer 220 relationships, viewing 27
redundancy 226 passwords, changing 33
setting 220 planning for deploying 131
specifying the order 220 Primary AppEngine, viewing
network, outages 161 attributes 80
primary object, redundancy 224
O primary server, redundancy 224
object propagating changes, templates 38
derivation, viewing 27
properties, viewing 43 R
relationships, viewing 22 reassigning objects, undeploying 21
object attributes, finding 78 recreating ArchestrA user account 219
Object Editor redeploying
getting help 63 objects 139
opening 61 objects, uploading changes first 140
object help redundancy
adding images 71 alarm generation 238
exporting 205 AppEngine states 234
finding 144 ApplicationObjects configuration 230
HTML editors for customizing 71 configuring templates 229
Object Information page 70 during deployment 233
objects history generation 239
checking in 90 pair 224
checking out 89 runtime 225
deploying 134 setting network cards 226
disabling alarms 161 templates 229
enabling alarms 160 WinPlatforms
exporting 96, 204 configuration 226
wiring for 224

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 Index 259

Redundancy, page 228 exporting 96

redundant engines, undeploying 232 initializing Startup scripts 103
redundant partner deploy, selecting 136 InputOutput attributes 118
RedundantDIObject 223 locked in child objects 112
reference strings 168 locking rules 111
references in scripts, validating 90 manually initializing 103
referencing objects, Galaxy Browser 78 naming conventions 107
relationships, viewing parent/child 27 timing 107
renaming validating 90, 106
contained objects 60 Scripts page 72
contained objects, updating security
references 61 Galaxy users 184
objects 94 groups, default 184
reorganizing the workspace 30 groups, importing objects 100
required port for Wonderware icon not available 69
Historian 146 icons 69
required software 211 opening Galaxies 17
reserved names options in attributes 69
instances 94 restricting access to attributes 68
list of 16 restrictions, creating new Galaxies 15
templates 49 security roles 184
resetting setting network cards 220
the workspace 30 setting prompts for check-in
workspace 30 comments 31
restoring Galaxies 201 setting, alarms 158
return views to the default locations 30 single scan cycles 121
reusing existing objects 98 specifying
rules for locking alarms 157
aliases in scripts 111 text strings for states 77
scripts 111 standby object, redundancy 225
runtime Startup scripts, initializing 103
and bit field access 82 store forward, historized data 149
attributes 175 storing history, configuring 147
configuration, uploading 140 subscribing to alarms 159
how objects deploy from the IDE 132 switch objects 121
runtime environment, scripting 106 synchronization schedule 210
synchronizing
S time across a Galaxy 210
script function libraries views 30
exporting 97 synchronizing time across networks 210
importing 100 synchronizing time across networks,
script libraries, exporting 205 Windows 2000 or XP 210
scripting system templates 40
containment names 56
UDAs 103 T
scripts tagnames 51, 57, 94
aliases, using 110 tagnames, containment 54
execution types 107 technical support, contacting 12

Application Server User’s Guide

260 Index

Template Toolbox, location 19 locking in child objects 102

templates 37 page 74
alarm extensions 124 scripting 103
application 39 undeploying 139
base 37, 39 alarm clients 142
classes 39 AppEngine objects 232
configuring redundancy 229 history 149
contained names 57 objects 139
containment 50 objects before moving 21
creating derived 48 undeploying redundant engines 232
default 37, 39 undeployment conditions 142
defined 37 unlocking, template attributes 65
deploying 35 updating your license 212, 217
derived 39, 42 uploading runtime configuration 140
device integration 39 user accounts 219
exporting 204 user defaults, setting 31
inheriting extensions 113 users, default 184
managing 45
naming conventions 49 V
nesting 37 validating
nesting levels 52 Galaxies 92
propagating changes 38 manually 92
reserved names 49 object manually 92
system 40 objects 90
text strings objects, viewing results 28
alarm extension group 77 references in scripts 90
boolean label extension 77 scripts 90, 106
time formats, .csv files 208 viewing
time master attributes in objects 174
specifying 210 containment relationships 60
specifying in Windows 2000 or XP 210 cross references 175
toolsets license information 213
creating 46, 47 object properties 43
custom 45 object relationships 22
definition 45 objects, assignment relationships 24
deleting 47 references 175
managing 45 viewing your licenses 212
naming conventions 46 views in the IDE 18
troubleshooting 236 views, synchronizing 30

U W
UDA naming conventions 104 Welcome 11
UDAs Windows
adding to objects 102 2000 domains 210
and scripting 103 XP domains 210
hidden attributes 104 Windows user accounts 219
locking attributes 66 WinPlatform
object 40

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 Index 261

WinPlatforms working
configuration in redundancy 226 extensions 113
historized data 150 UDAs 102
history configuration 150 workspace, resetting 30
Wonderware Historian writing
configuring for history 146 scripts 105
installing 146 to attributes in runtime, UDAs 66
required port 146

Application Server User’s Guide

262 Index

Application Server User’s Guide