- News and Updated Information -

Whats new then?

• 10th December 2002 - updated Download v1.78 files now.
  Language.
  Enhanced the SENDRECIPE function to include the abilities of SendTo.
  Enhanced the CHARTOPEN function - dynamic Start/End times, etc.
  Drawing Editor
  The group probe has been greatly enhanced to allow better control of object colouring, line widths, fill styles, fonts and properties.

• 14th October 2002 - new Download v1.78 files now.
  Language.
  Added new language function, GETTAGHISTORY
  Charting.
  Added chart markers to help investigate areas of special interest on the chart. Two markers are available and these are shown as thick vertical lines with the marker number in a box at the bottom. When markers are used the chart Databox will be expanded to show the data for the marker(s). The markers may be placed anywhere on the chart area and may be in any order required. If two markers are placed on the chart the Databox will display the calculated Rate of Change between these two markers.

• 1st July 2002 - v1.77 released.
  Recipe Export Enhancement.
  When recipes fail to export DM now offers the user some important choices. Previously DM would automatically abort the export.
   
  A message box asking if you wish to retry sending the data that failed or cancel the retry.
  1. If retry is pressed DM will attempt to re-send the data. If it fails again the retry message box will again appear.
  2. If cancel is selected another message box will appear offering more options.
   
  Single recipe export or (Send)
  When using the Send feature to export a recipe to a single instrument/destination, DM will now prompt the user on any failure as mentioned above.
  When the more options message box appears the following choices are available.
  1. Ok. used to skip the current data that has failed to be sent.
  2. Cancel, used to abort the export.
   
  Multiple recipe export or (SendTo)
  When using the SendTo feature to export a recipe to more than one instrument/destination, DM will now prompt the user on any failure as mentioned above.
  When the more options message box appears the following choices are available.
  1. Yes. used to skip the current data that has failed to be sent.
  2. No, used to skip the current instrument/destination. No further data will be sent here.
  3. Cancel, used to abort the export.
   
  Annunciator Enhancements
  Fonts have been added to the annunciator. Fonts can be applied to individual panes, so all panes could use a different font if so required. The pane set-up dialog window has also changed to incorporate this by the addition of one ‘font’ button. The general layout of this dialog has also been changed.
   
  Another new feature of the annunciator is single pane acknowledge. This method allows individual panes to be acknowledged rather than using the current acknowledge all.
  To use this feature simply single-click the left-mouse button on the pane you wish to acknowledge. This will stop the pane flashing and cancel the output alarm relay (to silence the alarm siren, etc). Note, it will not be possible to hide the annunciator until all existing alarms have been acknowledged. Also, if a new alarm occurs and a single pane has already been acknowledged the output alarm relay will be reactivated.
   
  Also, the annunciators rows and columns size has been increased to 13x13. (from 12x12)
   
  Running External Programmes
  A problem has been fixed with the run external programme operation. The problem previously only occurred if a DM button or DM language file tried to run an external programme which itself relied on external information (e.g. ini files etc) stored in a directory outside of DM’s scope. The problem was only noticeable if an external programme had already been run (any number of times) and then DM had been shutdown and restarted. If this sequence of events had occurred then the external programme itself would run okay, but it would be unable to locate and load any external information that had it required.
   
  Language
  New function added, EXPORTEVENT. Allows events between a start and end UTC to be written to a choosen file name in CSV format or directly to the events window.
   
  Also, added two new variables.
  #GN_OPTRYCOUNT		counts the number of invalid login attempts
  $GS_OPTRYNAME		stores the login attempt user name
   
  Driver Enhancements
  Modbus and Allen Bradley drivers have been enhanced. Modbus driver now has a new data type float. Allen Bradley driver now supports signed-16 bit data.
   
  Login changes
  Operators can now change their passwords, but, they must enter their original password first to validate the change. This also applies to all other login levels.
   
   

• 11th September 2001 - v1.76 released.

  Internal Global Variables
  Global variables can now be monitored whilst DM is in run mode (not configuration mode). To activate this feature simply call the logger from the main menu, then select variables from the monitor menu item. All # and $ global variables will be displayed and updated when they change. If a value you are interested in resides as an array element, just double-click the array. Doing this makes another window appear that will show the complete contents of the arrays. Note: you can also write new values to these internals by double-clicking the variable of interest.
  Track bars
  Fixed the ‘Track Bars’ step size problem for all step sizes greater than zero.
  Timed-Lockout
  Improved the Timed-Lockout feature. It now detects cursor movements no matter what DM windows (events, tag monitor, alarms, etc) are obscuring the current DM drawing.
  Language
  Added three new language functions, STOP, FINDFILES and MERGEICUDATA. Also UPLOADICU has been enhanced.
  Charting
  Maximum chart span increased to 14 days.
  Chart resolution increased.
  Logger
  Taglist monitor window has been enhanced. It now has a statusbar showing port and tag type information. Recording of real tags is now inhibited if the tag is not sampled.
   
   

• 4th April 2001 - v1.75 released.
  Button Objects
  Buttons can now have a re-press delay time applied to them. What this means is, that when a button is pressed it cannot be pressed again until the set delay period expires. This is useful for many reasons, one being to avoid double-clicks.
  Modbus Driver
  A problem encounted in v1.74 has been corrected. (v1.73 and prior are okay)
  Parity mode is now selectable on advanced port setup.
  Network Communication Support Added
  You can now use network (sockets) to communicate from and to any number of computers. Also logged data can now be accessed via remote machines.
  Language
  A new function called CHARTPRINT has been added. This allows charts loaded via a ‘load chart’ button press to be printed via another button press.
   

• 23rd January 2001 - v1.74 released.
  Print Setup
  When printing Tab reports, Events or Alarms from language the printout is now automatically re-directed to the currently selected printer. That is the printer selected from 'Print Setup' on the menu.
  Recipes
  A new feature has been added to the recipe setup dialog. This new feature allows you to have alternate recipe directories. This means you can insert/remove/rename sub-directories of the current recipes directory. This allows you to load/save/delete recipes that have the same name etc.
  Object Helper
  Some more button information has been included. E.g. Face Text and Alternate recipe directory.
  Language Files
  A .bak (backup) file is now created when .dmb (language) files are saved.
  Language
  New function added - UPLOADICU (see language help for more information).
  Operation
  View logger history now available in run mode.
  Logger window can now be hidden using the top right X button.
  Object Selection (Configuration Mode)
  The object selection routine has been vastly improved. Top level objects are now always selected before objects draw beneath them. Also, any object can now be accurately selected with a single mouse click, this applies to multi-object selection/deselection as well. No more worrying about which objects get selected, you simply get the one you clicked on.
  Manual multi-object selection (holding down the shift key method) has been enhanced. It no longer matters which order objects are pre-selected for grouping as they will always retain their original sequencing.
  New Arrange Features
  Two new features have been added to the main menus 'Arrange' section. These two new features are Move Forward and Move Back. When used a single selected object (not multi-objects) can be moved either one level forwards or backwards. Similar to Move To Front and Move To Back in their action but with a step size of only one level.
   
   

• 8th November 2000 - v1.73 released.

  Language change

  • WRITEINI function now automatically creates the directory structure for the given path.
    
  • EXPORT function modified to work with non GMT time zones.
  New Language functions have been added
  • ACKALARM Acknowledges all current alarms
    
  • ACKANNUM Acknowledges all current annunciation’s
    
  • EXPORTALARM Sends a selected range of alarms to a selected file on disk
    
  • FILEDELETE Deletes the selected file
    
  • PRINTALARM Sends a selected range of alarms to the default system printer
    
  • PRINTEVENT Allow a selectable range of daily event files to be printed
    
  • PRINTTAG Prints historical data in column format (tab report)
    
  • SETPORTRECORD Allows the selected port’s recording to be switched on or off
    
  • SETPORTSAMPLE Allows the selected port’s sampling to be switched on or off
    
  • SHOWALARM Show and hide the alarm window
  File selection window
  The double-click option has been removed from the file selection window. Files must now be selected then Ok pressed. (Run mode only)
  File Selection Dialog
  This dialog now has Change directory and Create new directory options added. These will only appear if requested to by the language setup options. See SELECTFILE function in the language help. Also the Name and Date columns can now be toggled between ascending and descending order when the column header is depressed.
  New Feature
  Added Run Time Version control.
  Grouped Object Editing Window
  This window now stays displayed whilst you are editing object properties.
  Alarms update
  Alarms have been enhanced to save the active alarm conditions in case of brown-outs. Also the alarm history filter search algorithm has been improved, the searching is now alot faster.
  The alarm setup now incorporates a display format option and the ability to add @TAGNAME specifiers to the message section to show live values.
  Modem Telephony
  Prevented forced tag reads and writes until the modem connection is established.
  History file selection
  The history file selection dialog which appears when requested from the alarms window and from the events window now sorts the dates into descending order correctly.
  SID file titles
  The .sid file captions can now use the @TAGNAME specifiers to modify their titles.
  Bitmap printing
  Changed the way bitmaps are printed. This should fix the problem of bitmaps only printing to certain printers.
  New Driver
  A new driver for the Sartorius SBI has been added.
  Enhancements
  Objects can no longer be reduced to zero size.
   
   
   

• 17th August 2000 - v1.72 released.

  Added driver for Mitsubishi FX series PLCs using direct 1 to 1 connection via programming port.
  Added modem support allowing connection to remote plant via telephone lines.

• 8th August 2000

  Web site has been given a makeover. Should now be easier to navigate :-)

• 4th August 2000 - v1.71 changes.

  Fixed function keys, they no longer action invisible buttons.

• 31st July 2000 - v1.71 changes.

  Multiple tags window now has sortable columns (ascending / descending).

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