Service Pack Note

Service Pack 5
for applicom 3.8
Rev Date File Name
1.0 12/10/07 SP5_appPCNIC38.pdf

Description

• Product concerned: applicom PC Network interface Cards

• Product version: 3.8

• Summary
This Note describes you the new feature and correction included in the corresponding Service Pack.

• Cost.
The Service Pack is free of charge.

• How to obtain information about the version of the applicom® software?

From the applicom® folder, run the application Version Information, select icon Software Installation. You will
find:
• Version: version and revision of applicom® software.
• Service Pack: The service pack installed.

• Where to find the Service Pack

It is available on the web site www.woodhead.com under the “Support” section and on the CD-ROM.

• What do I need to do?

To install the Service Pack, you have to download the file from the applicom homepage.
Run the file to uncompress the set-up directory (Disk1).
From the directory Disk1, run SETUP.EXE
1 New functionalities / Evolutions in SP1

Software Evolution Environment

Mitsubishi
Melsec Word frame size extension to 722 word for Mitsubishi Q PLC
Q PLC
PCKEY software verifies if the bios file (.bin) contains the sub-string
“verX” where X represents the card revision number.
This verification will avoid to customer to download the bad firmware on
one specific hardware revision of an applicom PCI2000ETH board. For
PCKEY example a version B firmware in a revision C hardware
PCI2000ETH
Tool
Note: all bios supplied on the CD-Rom and delivered by technical support
to customers are now compliant with new bios name format: “cardname-
verX-biosXYZ.bin”

“Two identical tag” message removed

The two identical tag message was displayed in the very specific case
where the SuiteLink Toolkit creates 2 times an exact same tag. The
PCDDE Server has been changed following the suggestion of
PCDDE -
Wonderware in order to bypass this toolkit behaviour.

This modification will not impact the normal case (customer for which the
phenomenon does not appear).

S5 Items support left and Rigth byte array

The OPC server will now support the two following array syntaxes:
- DbxDRy_n returning a byte array containing n right bytes of each
S5 Syntax consecutive word of DB OPC Server
- DbxDLy_n returning a byte array containing n left bytes of each
consecutive word of DB
Note: This feature is not supported in PCDDE

Item syntaxes browsing in test tools (PCCYC, readwait,…)

In PCCYC, readwait, writewait, modedif and createcyc tools, it will be
Test Tools possible to browse available item syntaxes. It simplifies the “address” -
field filling by the user

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 2 of 9

2 Corrected Issues in SP1

2.1 Software

Software Corrections Environment

PCDDE crash in function IOTCallBack (DDE Toolkit)
PCDDE IAS
(Can be detected through the DrWatson logger)
- User name incorrectly displayed in about box
Console -
- Some hotkeys missing in the Console
The frame max length modification is not saved in the console if the max
Console Modbus/Jbus
length is up to 999
- crash of the configuration manager with specific names (to long or with
Configuration
invalid characters) and description entered -
manager
- Incomplete Configuration backup as .apa files
Allen Bradley bad syntax corrected :
Item
- Tx:y/PRE changed in Tx:y.PRE AB TCP
Description
- Cx:y/PRE changed in Cx:y.PRE

Samples New C# sample -

2.2 Protocol

Protocols Corrections Environment

Ethernet/IP OPC
Bad value in bit alias of DWORD, Word, Byte…
Logix5000 WHDDE
Ethernet/IP OPC
Problem of access to Bit arrays over the OPC Browser
Logix5000 WHDDE
Communication freeze when access to RX7i PLC is open.
SRTP TCP RX7i PLC
Note : Only the addressed variable can be read
Task clih1htb missing in applicom 3.8 for ISA PC2000ETH. This task is
ISO S5 HTB PC2000ETH
used for HTB communication with S5 PLC.

UniTe TCP Bad status for client equipments access stored in DB PCI2000ETH

NDIS Very high percentage of computer CPU in relation with the applicom
PCI2000ETH
Communication industrial communication and not the additional Ethernet communication

Modbus TCP Bad module identifier send in Modbus frame for AuWriteReadMsg fct DLL

Diagnostic
Profibus DP DP equipments not displayed in diagnostic tool
Tool

Modbus Plus Item D*_* send wrong data type PCI2000MBP

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 3 of 9

3 Corrected Issues in SP2

3.1 Software

Software Corrections Environment

- WHDDE - No update of the Client application value after writing a
flip-flop variable
- WHDDE - The refresh time of the topic is not taken into account
WHDDE -
- WHDDE - Array Syntaxes accepted but not managed
- WHDDE - WHDDE Freeze possibility when opening the
diagnostic "Dump Topic" window

3.2 Protocol

Protocols Corrections Environment

Industrial Sporadic disconnection and reconnection performed with running S5 PLC
PCI2000ETH
Ethernet ISO S5 if one S5 PLC of the configuration is missing.

4 New functionalities / Evolutions in SP3

Protocols Evolution Environment

Allows to build a communication with an equipment « Simatic OP / MP »,
an applicom PCI/PCU2000ETH card and a SIMATIC Panel OP/MP with
WinCC Flexible. The communication is made with the protocol SOAP
native from WinCC Flexible 2004.
The variables defined by a name and an offset address are local variable
WinCC flexible -
from the SIMATIC Panel OP/MP defined in WinCC flexible or variables PCU2000ETH
SOAP
imported by the SIMATIC Panel OP/MP from a PLC over the MPI
network.
The number is limited to 10 variables by equipment.
Read/Write bit,byte and word can only accessible via OPC or DDE

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 4 of 9

5 New functionalities / Evolutions in SP4

Software Evolution Environment

Evolution of the Hardware reference guide (hw_install_hard.pdf) in order
Documentation to include the description of the new PCU card generation : PCU Cards
(PCU2000ETH, PCU1500PFB, PCU1500S7, PCU1000)

6 Corrected Issues in SP4

6.1 Software

Software Corrections Environment

Modbus ASCII/RTU Slave - Some fields were not saved

- In tab "Services" ModbusTCP
Console
- "Client Equipment Status Storage" Field configuration
- "Client Equipment Indicators Storage" Field
were not saved.

FINS_OMRON PLC's IP Address limitation extended

- About the OMRON PLC, the last 3 numbers of the IP address has to OMRON
Console
match the Station Number. configuration
- In the console, as the Station Number has been extended from 126 to
255, in order to use the whole IP address range.
Access Violation that could occur in apclient.exe when using: OPC data access
OPC Test Client - Item -> Item Deadband Mgt (V3.0) -> SetDeadBand
V3.0 functionality
- Item -> Sampling Feature (V3.0) -> Get Sampling Rate

PCDDE - Memory increase when writing bit of word and byte of word
PCDDE -
- During a write of bit of word tag or byte of word tag, the PCDDE
memory was increasing.
AB Ethernet/IP
WHDDE WHDDE freezed when in the diagnostic interface the spy view display is
Logix 5000
requested.

Some items configured in WHDDE were not refreshed

- This occurs only when arrays are used (an array previously removed is
not yet physically removed from the trend and a new item is added in the AB Ethernet/IP
WHDDE
same frame, generating a size overun of the trend) Logix 5000
- The problem can be detected inside the diagnostic of the server (size of
the trend not valid)

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 5 of 9

7 New functionalities / Evolutions in SP5

Software References
[EMF Internal ref] : Corrections
Concerned concerned
Improvement in the Ethernet Communication mechanism of the
applicom solution.

• Optimization in the Ethernet frame management layers to

improve the speed of the requests being processed.
• [EMF 551] Possibility to configure in the Console the response
time of the Ethernet server task. By default the response time
is 20 ms. (Server mode turn around time)
• A Multicast filter has been implemented in order to filter all
multicast request sent to the applicom board. Additionally for
the UDP free messaging, multicast IP address can be defined
as exceptions.
Ethernet
PCI2000ETH
communication Correction of different existing issues :
PCU2000ETH
mechanism • [EMF 629] status 66 may appear with ModbusTCP protocol
• [EMF 616] communication crash may appear with multiple
Ethernet disconnection on UniTE TCP communication
• [EMF 602] status 66 may appear when the remote server send
the response in several frames with non consecutive TCP
sequence numbers.
• [EMF 587] status 66 may appear when the card receives
frames from an EtherNet/IP controller without the EtherNet/IP
protocol task downloaded on the applicom Board
• [EMF 741] status 66 may appear when using the service
"Address Mask Request" (over ICMP protocol) on one of the
PC of the network were the card is connected.

New functionnalities has been added to the Logix 5000 Messaging

to the OPC Server and to the WHDDE Server.

• [EMF 712] Bits of a SINT, INT or DINT are now supported. Up

to now, the variable created as INT for exemple, could only be
accessed as INT. Now all variables can also be accessed at
the bit level.
• [EMF 713] Support of user specific string. Up to now only the
standard strings could be read and displayed as Strings from
the OPC Server. Now also user specific String format are
supported with the following syntax str.DATA,SCx (read the
PCI2000ETH
OPC/WHDDE string str of the length x)
PCU2000ETH
Correction of different existing issues :
• [EMF 480] Possible freeze of the Data server if a CLX CPU
program is reloaded during the communication
• [EMF 413] In Intouch a quick write of a bit from 0 to 1 to 0 may
not be sent to the CLX CPU if the change is to quick for the
Data server.
• [EMF 586] The OPC sever communication over Logix5000
messaging communication may be delayed of 1 second if
some Logix5000 devices configured are not present on the
network.

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 6 of 9

 [EMF 528] : Configuration of the “Nb cycle before retrieving data
after write” (NbValueDiscardedAfterWrite):

With some scada application like Intouch, to avoid rebounds after a

new value has been written to the PLC, the first read request received
of this value is excluded because it could have been read in parrallel
with the writing. So by default NbValueDiscardedAfterWrite = 1.
All
In some application were the data update is very slow, due to this
mechanism the refresh of a written value needs then twice the refresh
time. To improve the refresh time of written values, set the
NbValueDiscardedAfterWrite = 0.

This option is available in EXPERT mode in the OPC server properties

[EMF 603] : Send event after Item write:

After a item is written, the refresh in the OPC Client application is only
made after the value is confirmed by a read command. In order to avoid
high load on the network with sending a read command after every
write command, the OPC server gets the update of the value in a
normal update cycle (related to the group refresh period). For long
update cycles, the written value can need some time to be updated.
All
The “Send event after write” option will allow the OPC server to send to
the OPC client an event in order to update the written Item with the new
value after the confirmation that the write command was performed
succesfully. This allows a quick update of the value without network
overload.
Be Careful, the value is not confirmed in this case by a read request
OPC until the next update cycle has been performed.

This option is available in EXPERT mode in the OPC server properties

[EMF 715] : SYMBOLS node removed from the OPC Server
browser

When Symbols are defined in the OPC server (ImpSymb tool) to point
on specific data points, these symbols are defined by default under the
node SYMBOLS in the OPC tree. Now this node can be removed from
the OPC tree and all symboles are then defined directly under the
Topic name.

This option is available in EXPERT mode in the OPC server properties

[EMF 620] : S7 Item optimisation over Item Array of different
format

In the OPC standard mode, 2 items defined as array of different data

format on the same memory area in an S7 PLC are not optimized and
generates 2 different requests. Often used in scada application like
Cimplicity.
PCI2000ETH
You can import a new S7 definition file in the OPC Server following the PCU2000ETH
steps described in the Quicknote listed below. With this new definitions
the optimisation groups if possible the array requests of different data
format in order to generate just one single request.

See on the applicom CD the

“QuickNote_S7_array_optimisation_for_OPC”

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 7 of 9

 The link to the test tools
Configuration
All
Console A Link to the Readwait, WriteWait, GetDB and SetDB tools has been
added in the Configuration Console below the card definition
[EMF 541] : ApNetViewer tool improvements
ApNetViewer • Modification of the frame time format PCI2000ETH
tool • New export function for the Shomiti and Ethereal PCU2000ETH
(Wireshark) format

Please note also that the documentation has been adapted in order to integrate the modifications of the
applicom version SP5. The new version of the documentation has not been integrated in the SP5 installation
package. This version of the documentation is available on the applicom 3.8 Rev 5 CD-Rom or can be
downloaded on the website under the support section.

8 Corrected Issues in SP5

8.1 Software

Software References
[EMF Internal ref] : Issue corrected
Concerned concerned
[EMF 521] : Status Indicators of the card state at the bottom of the
All
console were updated every 100 milliseconds, now every 1 second.
[EMF 684] : In the configuration Console, when the project is saved, if
the option “DAServer” has been installed from the applicom CD and the
additional DAServer installation package was not performed the
following message will appear.
Could not open key < CLSID\{CFA7F1F7-4921-4234-009E-
F681B4C7A509} > in the registry ! All
This key must be created by setup. The DAServer is not correct
Configuration
console This message has been replace by the following one :
DAServer not installed. It must be installed separately and can be
found on the Wonderware Devices Integration Products CD.
[EMF 668] : After a card initialization from the applicom Console a
message "Impossible to initialize applicom cards" may appear even if
All
the initialization of the card is well performed.
Issue is corrected and no message is anymore displayed.
[EMF 675] : After selecting S-Bus Master as protocol for channel 1 the
applicom Board cannot be initialized.
All
The S-Bus protocol was not activated in this applicom Software
version.
[EMF 495 and 531] : an access violation (OPC crash) occurs in the
OPC Server OPC Server version DA 2.0 only, when deactivating an OPC group or All
the OPC server already deactivated
[EMF 607] : In the OPC spy tool, the format of write message was
All
displaying an error message for a successful write command.
[EMF 403] : In the OPC spy tool, a cyclic function in error displays a
All
message with its handle instead of its status.
[EMF 608] : Problem corrected in the IMPSYMB tool with OPC / DDE
Items importation from the .SCY file.
All
Previously, all items in capital letters that contain the 2 letters AT could
not be imported. Ex: TEMPERATURE.

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 8 of 9

 [EMF 648] : OPC server correction in order to support all values
different from 0 or –1 in the OPC group activation function.
This solves an issue detected with a customer specific OPC client
implementation.
[EMF 748] : In the OPC server properties the option “Disable icon in
All
task bar” was not running.
[EMF 745] : Incorrect Item values are read by the data severs from TI
PLCs in the following specific situation : TI PLC configured as TI ISO
OPC/DDE PCI2000ETH
devices (TI TCP devices are not concerned) and simultaneously at
DAServer PCU2000ETH
least another PLC is configured with a different TCP messaging (like
ModbusTCP).
[EMF 641-643] : NDIS driver improvement to avoid blue screen by PCI2000ETH
NDIS driver
uninstallation of the NDIS driver or during a PC hot reboot. PCU2000ETH
[EMF 667] : CERBAN/CERLOOP Problem with ST20 device PCU1000
CERBAN/ In this protocol, when a ST20 Equipment is configured, saved and PCI1000
CERLOOP edited again, an error could appear in the configuration files. At the next PCI2000
Board initialization INITAP returns an error 1. PCI4000

Service Pack 5 for applicom PCNIC 3.8 Page 9 of 9