The SCADAvantage Client (HMI) is built using Microsoft Visual Studio and includes a set of tools that allow the user to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for SCADAvantage. The Client (HMI) supports single and multiple display screens (up to 4 per computer). The graphic interfaces can be as simple as tabular lists of device names and values or as complicated as alarm displays combined with station graphics, real-time values and trend elements on a single screen.
Using SCADAvantage client, it is easy to define the look and feel of SCADAvantage to match a company standard. Display builders use Microsoft Visual Studio and the
SCADAvantage data objects to build the client environment. The objects are network-ready and are placed on forms by drag-and-drop methods and property settings. Most objects provide advanced data access and control options when a user employs the right-click and flyover functions (the flyover function displays the point name, value, and other information such as failure reasons).
The right-click function ability is dependent on the point type and user access and is similar to the right-click features in Windows Explorer. A client executable can connect to many SCADAvantage servers at the same time; system security ensures appropriate access is granted to each server.
The following objects are available in the SCADAvantage client environment: • Alarm Summary – allows access to SCADAvantage alarms. Users can view,
acknowledge, and clear alarms.
• Command Button – allows a number of functions such as screen navigation, device commands, access to trend screens and access to reports.
• Transparent Command Button- used to create “hot spots” on graphic displays. • Event Summary – allows access to SCADAvantage events.
• Flood Bar – fills a rectangle based on an analog value. This often represents the level in tanks or vessels.
• Gauge – represents an analog value in a gauge or speedometer format.
• Grid – displays the tabular results of an SQL query; the grid can use either static or active queries.
• Infopad – provides an electronic notepad that is used by operators to make operational notes.
• Template Viewer – This may be used to display templates for wells, compressor stations, valve sites, or any other common display that is reused. Graphic templates save many hours of display building and testing.
• GISmap – displays database objects on a map and provides a powerful graphical navigation tool for operators.
• Image – displays a bitmap with coloring based on the associated point’s state.
• Label – enables the display and input of text and numeric values from the database, for example, a point’s units or value.
• Slider Bar – enables numeric data entry into the database. Users can enter a value directly or use the slider to enter a value.
• Status – displays a point’s current value and data quality. • Time – displays the current time and date.
A calculation engine is available in the client environment and is used to manipulate database values and create new values in the client executable. The engine is capable of performing mathematic and logic sequences with numbers as well as manipulating and displaying strings and Boolean values.
1.6 General Overview
1.6.1 Display Names and Files 1.6.2 Dynamic Display Files 1.6.3 External Data Access 1.7 Display Component Overview
1.7.1 Full Graphic Capability 1.7.2 Color Palate
1.7.3 Blink 1.7.4 Area Fill
1.7.5 Screen Painting Performance 1.7.6 Cursors
1.7.7 Windows
1.7.8 Alphanumeric Characters 1.7.9 User-Defined Symbols
1.7.10 Graphic Support 1.7.11 Pan and Zoom
1.7.12 Graphic Element Import 1.7.13 Navigation Between Displays 1.7.14 Navigation Within Displays 1.7.15 Graphic Animation
1.7.16 Display Cycling 1.7.17 Map Navigation
1.7.17.1 Smart Map
GISM
APThe SCADAvantage GIS Map provides the ability to blend geographic data in the form of maps or satellite imagery with telemetric data provided by a SCADAvantage real-time database. Geographic data sources can deliver geographic data as either bitmap images known as tiles or as vector data consisting of point, line, and area geometry.
The GIS Map uses the ESRI Map Control at its core. The ERSI Map Control is a powerful and feature rich component with panning and zooming features in common with Internet map controls such as Bing Maps and Google Maps.
The SCADAvantage GISmap shows operators an overview of the wells, pads or pipelines and devices connected in the field. Symbols or pipes are color coded based on alarm and flash while unacknowledged. A quick search by station name or tag is also included. All information is updated live from the real-time database. A configuration is added to the database, elements are automatically added to the map with no manual refresh needed. When configuration is deleted from the database, elements are automatically removed from the map.
Zooming includes automatic de-cluttering of well or pipelines as the map zooms out. A numeric symbol summarizes the number of elements in a region. Color and flashing is based on the highest priority of any element in alarm. When zooming out on a pipeline network, smaller details are removed from the map. Zooming in shows individual well head or pipeline station details with easy click access to alarms, trends or control actions. The map also supports panning in any direction and limiting the map to stay within a bounded region.
The GIS map can display data from commercial GIS Map servers like ArcGIS from ESRI. However, it can also superimpose vector shape data from custom shape files or shape files generated from public GIS map services.
The GISmap has also been optimized for touch screen interaction. 1.7.17.2 Plot Object Types
1.7.17.2.1 Wells 1.7.17.2.2 Pipes 1.8 Dynamic Data Type Support
1.8.1 Floating Point Data 1.8.2 Integer Data 1.8.3 Text Data
1.8.4 Digital Status Data
1.8.5 Date and Time Information 1.8.6 Bar Charts
1.8.7 Trends and X/Y Plots 1.8.7.1 Range Selection 1.8.7.2 Groups
D
IPSTICKSSCADAvantage trending facility provides for detailed analysis of graphical representations of historical and/or real-time data. This analysis is possible via a mechanism known as a dipstick, which is a vertical line created on the trend graphic area at a date/time of interest. This vertical line is positioned via a single left-click on the trend background and is
accompanied by a popup window that contains the data analysis values. The following image shows a simplified view of dipstick analysis:
The trend also allow for calculations on values defined by the intervals created by multiple dipsticks. The following image illustrates this:
In the image shown above, four dipsticks have been added to the trending display, yielding three intervals of samples. The calculations pertaining to these intervals are displayed as a column of data between each respective dipstick.
1.8.7.3 Exporting and Printing 1.9 Display Annotations
1.9.2 Default Attribute Sets 1.9.3 Data Quality Indicators 1.9.4 Display Annotation Priorities 1.10 Graphic Displays
1.10.1 Custom Displays
1.10.1.1 Well Monitoring 1.10.1.1.1 Navigation 1.10.1.1.2 Well Types
1.10.1.2 Remote Calibration of Smart Devices 1.10.1.3 Dyno Cards
1.10.1.3.1 Display Dyno Card Diagram
1.10.1.3.2 Managing Reference and Overlay Cards 1.10.1.3.3 Exporting Data
1.10.1.3.4 Printing 1.10.2 External Applications Support 1.10.3 Display Hardcopy Requirements 1.10.4 GUI Reports
1.11 GUI Operator Functions 1.11.1 Security 1.11.1.1 Passwords 1.11.1.2 Operator Privileges 1.11.1.3 Event Tracking 1.11.1.4 Areas of Responsibility 1.11.2 Feedback
1.11.3 Point Selection Technique
1.11.3.1 Identification of Selectable Fields 1.11.3.2 Pointing Device
1.11.3.3 Selecting a Point with Smart Tabbing 1.11.3.4 Point Select Cancel
1.11.4 Device Control Technique
1.11.4.1 Control Security 1.11.4.2 Validating Controls 1.11.5 Data Entry/Editing Technique
1.11.5.1 Full Screen Editing 1.11.5.2 Editing Functions 1.11.5.3 Cursor and Tab Support 1.11.5.4 Reasonability Checking 1.11.5.5 Audit Trail
1.11.6 Messaging
1.11.6.1 Shift Change via Infopad 1.11.6.2 Instant Messaging 1.11.7 Web Access
1.11.8 Gas Measurement
1.11.8.2 Gas Analysis 1.11.8.3 Meter Parameters 1.11.8.4 Reports
1.11.8.5 Trends
1.11.8.6 Exporting Data 1.12 GUI Engineering Functions
TODO
For source control on project and product development, ABB uses Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for version or Microsoft Team Foundation Server depending on the needs. ABB recommends some form of source control during HMI display development. While SourceSafe is no longer available to purchase, other revision control systems are available. A comparison of revision control software can be found on Wikipedia.
1.13 1.13.1 GUI Management 1.13.1.1 Templates 1.13.1.2 Projects 1.13.1.3 Controls
D
EPLOYMENTThe Client Application Manager (CAM) simplifies the process of installing SCADAvantage software on hundreds of operator or web desktops and keeping it up to date. This is especially useful as a SCADAvantage system grows to include multiple servers and multiple clients or when clients are spread across a region or area. CAM ensures lower start-up and maintenance costs for users of SCADAvantage by automatically distributing updated client environment files (typically executable and library files) to client PCs over the network. 1.13.1.3.1 CAM Server 1.13.1.3.1.1 Applications 1.13.1.3.1.2 Elements 1.13.1.3.1.3 Groups 1.13.1.3.2 CAM Client
1.13.1.3.3 Patches and Updates
D
ATABASEM
ANAGEMENTB
USINESSO
BJECTT
EMPLATES(BOT
S)
A Business Object Template (BOT) is a powerful tool that allows the convenient addition of entire database entities such as well site, valve station or metering station to a
SCADAvantage system without requiring the server to be restarted. A BOT appears as a screen with fields to fill in by the user.
Typical fields to be entered in a gas well BOT (for example) are: • Area Name
• Land location • Meter number
• Network communication address • RTU device communication address • Security Zone
• Well display name • Plot Location
Once these fields are entered and the BOT is executed, the following occurs: 1. The automatic generation of all the appropriate tags in the database 2. The automatic generation of a new well symbol on the smart map
3. The automatic linking of the symbol to the appropriate well template display 4. The connection of the well tags with the well template display
5. The connection of all links to other displays like trends or point displays
6. The addition of RTU device communication setup and addition to polling schedule 7. The automatic generation of alarm limits
8. The inclusion of buttons to display pre-configured trends and reports 9. The inclusion of pre-defined control sequences
Essentially the new entity is added to the system and is fully functional as if it had been part of the original implementation of the system. Using the BOT, entities can also be removed easily when are abandoned or sold. A bulk number of entities can also be loaded using a spreadsheet with the required information and format.
BOTs also allow connections to external databases to load and unload information related to the well. When this isn’t enough, there’s also the ability to execute a custom application to load and unload information in a 3rd party system related to a well or metering station. TODO 1.13.1.3.4 Definition 1.13.1.3.4.1 Components 1.13.1.3.4.2 Variables 1.13.1.3.4.3 External Applications 1.13.1.3.4.4 Collections 1.13.1.3.4.5 Toolkit 1.13.1.3.5 Load/Unload