PROMOTIC 9.0 - Release notes

Bugfixes

- The "Position" tab of the PmgObject object: New "Corner radius" configurator for entering the radius of corner rounding of the Pmg object.

- PmS7 communication driver: Now is supported data type WCHAR and WSTRING.

- Management of application designers in the development environment: New component used to secure the application against unauthorized access and setting permissions of application designers to access objects in the Pma object tree.

- PmArray.Insert method:

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver:

- New preconfigurations:

- PmaComm.InfoLogAdd method: New method for writing text into the item "/COMM/Driver/Log" in the INFO system.

- INFO system: Now the content of any of the Pmg object can be displayed in any currently open panel (see item Panels).

- New methods and properties in the graphic object PmfTable:

- PmS7 communication driver: Now is supported data type TOD (Time of day).

- PmElgas2 communication driver:

- PmABradleyCIP communication driver: Generalization for communication with PLC devices of the Micro850 type. In the protocol parameters in the "PLC type" configurator there is a new item 2 = Micro850/870 firmware22+.

- PmManager: New configuration window for setting and controlling the PmRtManager program.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmArray.Filter method: New method - Allows to filter 1-dimensional array.

- PmfTable.EditType property: New property EditType for setting the table cell editing permission.

- Pm.StringFind method: New option reverse:n; allows to define the search direction.

- Video tutorials: All video tutorials have been redone.
Now the tutorial describes creation of application for temperature control in hotel rooms.
It is simpler and more illustrative for training purposes compared to the previous tutorials with the application for boiler room control.

- Bugfixes

- PmForm object: New PmfTree object, which can be used to display the tree structure of data in a form.

- Development environment:

- Communication drivers:

- Pm.PlaySound method: Parameters repeat and stop enabled for the Web.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmDNP3 communication driver: New driver for communication by the DNP3 protocol.

- Development environment:

- Menu and toolbar of the graphics editor:

- The PmaDataTable object:

- The PmaSequencer object:

- The PmForm object:

- The "Image" tab of the PmgRasterImage object: The "Crop image" configurator for Web panels is now functional.

- PmgBox.BorderType property: New types of border box: Ridge and Solid.

- The Pm object:

- PmArray object: New methods GetSubArray and SetSubArray for reading/writing row/column in the array.

- New preconfigurations:

- Bugfixes in the development environment, in the PmFormat object and in the PmfTable object.

- New preconfigurations:

- The "Data" tab of the PmaObject object: Extending control options and adding new functions to the variable table
(row and cell mode, multiple item selection, direct cell editing, filter rows, column configuration, remove, copy, insert items, search and replace text, etc.)

- Bugfixes in the graphics editor.

- PmDateObject object:

- New preconfigurations:

- How to create an application using different national languages: Added new supported runtime national languages: Bulgarian (bg).

- PmS7 communication driver: Fixed bug: If PLC device split the received data of one request into multiple submessages, then a bad receive was signalled.

- PmBACnet communication driver: Fixed bug: Receiving and writing of the priority-array[x] property is now available.
Also the driver functionality is extended to receive a separate priority-array property (i.e. without specifying an index) - see the example AnalogOutput.15.priority-array.

- The "Appearance" tab of the PmaRoot object: In the "Application appearance zoom" configurator, the macro expression can be used for entering the value.

- New preconfigurations:

- Windows remote desktop: Since this version, HW Key works directly via Windows remote desktop (RDP), without the need to use a local licence server.

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: Bugfix: If in the PmaCommGroup object many variables were used then data receipt did not work.
New "PmaCommGroup > Parameters > Special Parameters > Maximum number of variables in one registering message" configurator.

- PmABradleyCIP communication driver: Fixed bug: Receiving the value of the $STRING type did not work when it was in the form of structure.

- PmaCommGroup.onDataSend event: New event that is triggered after sending data to the communication.

- The PmaComm object - Setting the parameters of the Ethernet-client: New "TCP/UDP local port number" configurator

- The PmForm object: New properties to change the font:

- Formatting rule for date and time (DateTime):

- New preconfigurations:

- PmManager:

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: Fixed bug: If could not connect, then new connection requests were being made and old requests were not terminated.

- The PmaWebDir object:

- Pm.GetSystemInfo method: New options:

- Pm.PrintScreen method: Added the "screen:xxx;" parameter and the "point:x,y;" parameter.

- New preconfiguration:

- Installator manager: New tool for creating and managing PROMOTIC custom installers.
The installer allows to create an installation program containing PROMOTIC version and one or more PROMOTIC applications.

- New preconfiguration:

- PmFormat new object: This object allows a new general type of formatting (conversion) of the value (number, text string, logical value, date and time) into a text string and back.
This formatting can now be used:

- PmArray.Sort method: New onSort parameter to sort a 1-dimensional array using a function.

- PmIEC8705 communication driver: New type of Master message of the Read command (ASDU-102, C_RD_NA_1) type.

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver:

- The "Text editing of the object" configuration window: New window for text editing of Pma and Pmg objects and its subobjects.
This window replaces the Content tab of the objects PmaObject and PmgObject.

- PmaRoot.onAppStopEnd event: The PROMOTIC system now, in this event, preconfigures the saving of the INFO system status (the content of the Errors and Debug items) into the Application_RtStop.log file.
This file can then be viewed in the development environment in the menu " > Open application file".

- New AddEvent method in each Pma object and Pmg object allows registration of JavaScript functions to be called when the defined object event occures.

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: Fixed bug: Establishing connection with some types of OPC UA servers failed

- PmgAlarmStateViewer object: Fixed bug: Incorrect background color setting

- Fixed bug: The texts in alarm nad event viewers were aligned to the center instead of to the left of the table columns.

- Generalization alarm and event viewers (PmgAlarmStateViewer, PmgAlarmHistoryViewer, PmgEventViewer objects):

- The "Data extension AlarmAnalog" configuration window of the ExtAlarmAnalog object: New configurators "Hysteresis for upper limits and "Hysteresis for lower limits for entering the hysteresis upper/lower limits.
Now it is possible for the alarm to disappear with different value that triggered it.

- PmModbusMr communication driver: Now is supported data type S1 = String type 1 (byte order: 214365..) and S3 = String type 3 (byte order: 123456..)

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: Fixed bug: Malfunction accured when the received communication message was divided into multiple submessages.

- PmCharServer communication driver: Added option to use the PmaCommMsg object of the Master type. For now, it is working only for communication with a single client.

- MQTT communication protocol: Fixed bug: Update and bugfix of the driver to comply with the MQTT5 standard.

- The following system objects have been renamed PmgPane to PmgBox, PmgBarPane to PmgBarBox, PmgSliderPane to PmgSliderBox and PmgMeterPane to PmgMeterBox.

- PmfNumber.StepSize property: New property for entering of incremet by clicking the mouse the "up"/"down" buttons while editing.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmgObject.GetPar method: Fixed bug: Parameter evaluation in embedded graphic objects

- PmKNX communication driver: New driver for communication by the KNX protocol.

- PmBuffer.CalcCheckSum method: New types of checksums (hash) md5, sha256 and sha512.

- Pm.WndOper method: New method: Operation execution over the opened window of another application

- How to create an application using different national languages: Added new supported runtime national languages: Italian (it).

- PmgAlarmStateViewer object: Modified preconfiguration controls, added context menu and new function for printing. New onConnect event.

- PmgAlarmHistoryViewer object: Modified preconfiguration controls, added context menu and new function for printing. Extended GetColInfo method and new methods GetGroupInfo, GetTimeFormat and SetTimeFormat.

- PmgEventViewer object: Modified preconfiguration controls, added context menu and new function for printing. Extended GetColInfo method and new methods GetGroupInfo, GetTimeFormat and SetTimeFormat.

- PmgTrendViewer object: Modified preconfiguration controls, added context menu in the viewer and new function for displaying values of the active trend as a table in a new window.

- The "Data extension AlarmAnalog" configuration window of the ExtAlarmAnalog object: In the "Alarm identifier" configurator it is now possible to use Macro expression.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: Fixed bug: On writing into variables in the PmaCommGroup object the communication was sometimes terminated.

- PmSMS communication driver: New "Character set" configurator allows the UTF-8 encoding for the modem.

- How to create an application using different national languages: Added new supported runtime national languages: Estonian (et).

- ExtWriteAction object: Added testing of the written value for quality, minimum and maximum.

- PmManager: During the installation and in the PmManager program an option was added allowing to set higher security of the PROMOTIC system folders. It defines whether the changes to these folders can be done by any user or only the users with admin rights.

- PmaTrendGroup object: Fixed bug: Bugfix of records reading by methods GetValueByTime and GetData. The filename comparation was case sensitive by mistake.

- PmaSequencer object: Fixed bug: Bugfix of sequencer running in another thread.

- PmaAlarmGroup object: Fixed bug: Bugfix of dynamic PmAlarmItem and onStateChange.

- New preconfiguration:

- Development environment: The option to edit multiple Pma objects simultaneously by means of tabs of the application in the window title bar of the development environment.

- The "Web" tab of the PmaWeb object: New "Extended configuration" configurator with the option HttpHeaders. Allows to set for example the name and value of HTTP headers that will be inserted into each HTTP transmission.

- PmaPanel.GetLastRefresh method: New method. It is used for obtaining the time when this panel requested data (locally or on the Web) for the last time
This way it is possible to determine whether the panel is currently open (locally or on the Web) and then, for example, modify the communication period.

- Application INI file description (Application.ini): New keys MediumDt and MediumRt allow to set another licence for the development environment and for runtime environment.

- New preconfiguration:

- Editor of Pmg objects: Adding Drag&Drop functionality in the Pmg object tree.
Selected Pmg object can be easily grabbed by the mouse and dragged in order to move/copy it in front or behind another Pmg object.

- Prototypes and instances: Bugfixes and improvements of local and global Pma and Pmg prototypes.

- PmBuffer.CalcCheckSum method: New method for calculation various checik sums for data contained in the buffer.

- Data extensions ExtComm and ExtOpcDa: These objects now have new properties RecalcD, RecalcK and RecalcQ that can be used changing the recalculation values in the script.

- PmOpcUaClient communication driver: New driver for communication with OPC UA servers.

- Pm.CreateView method: New method for opening various viewers (panel = PmaPanel, report = PmaReport, form = PmForm, etc.).
This method replaces the method OpenView and provides simpler and more general approach to opening various types of viewers in the PROMOTIC system.

- PmaGlobal new object: New Pma object located at the beginning of the application objects tree named #Global, where both application (PmaPrototype object) and graphic (PmgPrototype object) prototypes can be placed.
The graphic prototypes no longer need to be located only in a single panel, but a single prototype can be used in multiple panel simultaneously.
In this version, the global graphic prototype can only be edited as instance in a panel, but in the following versions there will be a simpler way of editing the global prototype directly.

- New licence carrier: Software licence key (.swk) bound to specific components of the Windows OS.

- PmArray.Sort method: New method for array sorting.

- PmaRoot.AddEventTimer method: New method for running JavaScript function with time delay or repeat period in scripts of Pma objects.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmManager:

- PmDdAdmin - administration of SQL databases: Bugfix for SQL Server 2017 - sometimes it was not possible to create or delete a database.

- New preconfigurations:

- PmModbusMr communication driver: Now is supported data type UL1 = ULong type 1 (4Byte Unsigned Integer), UL2 = ULong type 2 (4Byte Unsigned Integer) and UL3 = ULong type 3 (4Byte Unsigned Integer)

- $.expr macro expression: The pVar variable can be used in the expression (object of the PmVar type).

- The "Group" tab of the PmaAlarmGroup object: New configurators State viewer and History viewer for entering the path to state and history viewer.

- The "Group" tab of the PmaEventGroup object: New "History viewer" configurator for entering the path to history viewer.

- The "Group" tab of the PmaAlarmGroup object: New configurators Enable alarm storage at short application shutdown and Maximum time of application shutdown [s] for setup of active alarm saving while the application is temporarily shut down.

- PmgRoot.AddEventTimer method: New method for running JavaScript function with time delay or repeat period in the panel (in the graphics of the PmaPanel object).

- New preconfigurations:

- PmBuffer object:

- Pm.GetSystemInfo method: New options:

- Pm object: InfoLogReg and InfoLogAdd new methods: Methods allow registering a new item into the INFO system and then adding new entries into item. This is generalization of the Pm.Debug method for user defined logging.

- PmBuffer new object: New object that holds multiple values in a single memory block in binary form. This block can then be saved in the form of the HexaString type (e.g. for drivers PmChar or PmCharServer).

- PmForm object: New subobject PmfTable which can be used to assign a table of values into the form.

- PmArray object: New methods Insert and Remove for adding or removing items in the array.

- Bugfix in communication drivers. In version Pm9.0.3, the core of all communication drivers was upgraded (in order to add the new PmCharServer driver) and therefore some other drivers also had to be modified.

- PostgreSQL database: This data base is now supported in the PROMOTIC system. It can be used (the same way as other supported databases) in objects PmaAdo, PmaTrendGroup, PmaAlarmGroup and PmaEventGroup.

- PmaPanel object: Panel compilation was removed. All modifications of the graphics content are saved automatically when the complete PmaPanel object is saved.

- PmCharServer communication driver: New driver of the Ethernet-Server type. The PROMOTIC application can act as server offering defined data (text or bináry) to other clients.

- MQTT communication protocol: New preconfiguration for the PmChar communication driver.
The client can be of Subscriber or Publisher type (i.e. the preconfiguration can do both reading and writing).
For now, the communication does not support encryption.

- PmLicServer licence server: Renamed and modified licence server.
In previous versions, the licence server name was PmNetKey.exe and was available as independent program for installation.
Now it is named PmLicServer.exe and is included in the installation of each corresponding PROMOTIC version (it is possible to choose only the installation of PmLicServer in the install options).

- Runtime PROMOTIC: The PROMOTIC system now supports also 64-bit versions of both runtime and development environment.

- Users and permissions: New logging-in by name and password of Windows users, so the user management is then provided by Windows resources.
Logged-in user is then a member of user groups based on his membership in corresponding Windows groups of users.

- PmChar communication driver: Fixed bug: After closing the port the message of the Slave type was not completed correctly.

- PmaCommGroup.onDataReceive event: New property pEvent.Attr that can be used to detect whether the message that triggered this event was the first or the last.

- The "Text" tab of the PmgString object: Fixed bug: The "Alignment horizontal" configurator with the "Right" value did not work correctly in local panel.

- Pm.RestartGui method: New method. Executes restart of the application graphic interface.

- The configurators of the alarm item: Change of values in the "Priority" configurator from three possible values 0,5,10 to a range of values 0-10.

- Script editor: The key "tab" no longer adds two spaces but inserts "tab" character into the text that is 2 spaces long.

- Editor of Pmg objects:

- PmaAlarmGroup/PmaEventGroup object: the GetHistoryData method was unable to go through multiple backups (if the number of records was not set "records:xx;"). The patch has also been included into the version Pm8.3.29.

- PmABradleyDF1 communication driver: Generalization for "L - Long" type data area.

- PmgRadioButton object: Fixed bug: Even if the object had control disabled (in the "Control enabled" configurator), then in Web panels it was still possible to change the value by clicking the mouse.

- Many major changes that are all described in Transition from older versions to PROMOTIC 9.

- Web panels: Since version Pm9.0.0 all Web panels in PROMOTIC are designed only for Web browsers supporting standard HTML5 technology. It means for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari etc. The InternetExplorer is supported only since version 11.

- The "Panel" tab of the PmgRoot object: