Quick Tutorial to Tatsoft's FrameworX
This guide provides you steps on creating new data-driven robust applications, from Downloading and Installing the software to executing your first solution.
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System Requirements
The tables below show the system requirements for the proper installation and operation of the Productsoftware. Keep in mind these are the recommended prerequisites for the basic installation - depending on your project, you may need different requirements.
Installation System Requirements | ||
|---|---|---|
Hardware | Minimum | Recommended |
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo | Intel Core i7 |
RAM | 4 Gb | 8 Gb |
Operation System | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
Disk Space | 2 Gb | 10 Gb |
Display Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 or higher |
.NET Framework | v4.8 | v4.8 |
Downloading and Installing FrameworX
We commend downloading our evaluation version to start exploring our software. You can do that by filling out the form here.
We offer a FREE TRIAL with:
Two hours of resettable runtime
Multiple demo projects to use, review, and learn from
500 communication points
Access to all the features in the platform
Access to all our standard communication protocols
MQTT Broker
OPC Client and Server
The Engineering Environment is enabled to edit projects for 30 days with no time restrictions. After the 30-day evaluation period, your project will open but with limited access to the entire project. Project Information access is enabled.
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You can execute Project Examples and Demos with the Free Trial. For simple applications that show casing-specific functionality, check Solution Examples. For complete demos of typical applications, check Demo Projects Overview |
When you install FrameworX for the first time, just click Install. It takes less than a minute!
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Time Limit The Runtime will run for two hours. You will need to restart it during your 30-day evaluation period. The Runtime will not run after 30 days. Contact Sales if an additional access license is needed. |
Managing and Running Solutions
When you first open the software, you'll find a list of your current solutions. By default, you'll find all of our demos installed. Before creating your own solution, we recommend exploring our demos!
For new users, we recommend starting with the Brewery Demo. In this solution, we’ve built a brewery line from scratch, using all of the main software features. At our training site, you’ll find a free course that explains how we did this, from creating a project to adding alarming capabilities. *Update with the demo information for v10*
To open a Solution, just select from the list and click "Run" to simply deploy it or "Edit" to take a look at how we created it. You can also double click the solution to load it.
It will take a minute to open the solution. Once it's successfully started, you'll find the following Welcome Window.
Creating a New Solution
If you want to create your own solution, simply click "New" in the Solution Manager.
Creating a new Solution consists of three phases. First, you must choose which version of the Product Family you'll use and click Next. The features included in your selection will be represented by the icons on the bottom of the page.
Then, you'll move , you must choose what kind of application you'll build. UPDATE, there's a grammatical error
Finally, add a title and a description and choose a location on your computer to install this solution (we install it inside the Documents folder, by default). You can choose a template for your solution here as well, but for this example, we won't select anything. When you're ready, simply click "Create New Solution".
Creating a new solution may take a minute - once loading is complete, you'll see our Home Page, that contains all of the basic information for this solution.
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By default, our Solution Explorer Navigation is filtered by All Modules and Features. If you wish to work with a simplified version of the platform, simply change the filter in the first box. |
In the homepage you can also change the Theme you'll be using: we offer five different options (Light, Dark, Indigo, Blue and Live). By default, Light will be selected.
Creating a
Unified NamespaceThe Unified Namespace is the data model your solution will be using.
This is where you'll create your tags, which represent real-time and historical data variables that modules can read, write, and subscribe to.
Tags are Local (created within FrameworX) or Remote (dynamically accessed via ExternalTags Sources connectivity). The ExternalTags Sources enable direct interaction with variables in remote systems, bypassing the need to create specific tags in the project. It establishes connections with tags sources which can be set up in a table or directly in the assets, enhancing the versatility of data access and exploration in the Unified Namespace.
Additional metadata, known as Tag Attributes (e.g., last update time, quality status, description), are automatically generated upon tag creation.
To start, we'll create one tag as example.
5. Using the Data Explorer
The DataExplore tools allows you to easily perform data mining and monitoring from various data sources, including MQTT Brokers, OPC-UA, PLCs and SQL databases.
Each Data Source has specific features suitable that connection, but all tools share common look and fell, and similar workflows. This section will present those common workflows, and the specific features for each connection type, which include:
MQTT: Run Built-in Broker or the publisher simulator. Browse data from any broker.
OPC-UA: Run Built-in Server or simulator. Browse data from local or remote servers.
ControlLogix PLCs: Discover ControlLogix PLC in your network, connect to browse its data structure.
SQL Queries: Explore SQL database and build new queries visually.
6. Using Device Protocols
The Devices module implements real-item data communication with a wide variety of field devices and industrial protocols.
The Devices module supports standard interfaces like OPC-UA, OPC-DA and MQTT, Hart, and many proprietary protocols to various PLCs manufacturers.
The connectivity also includes IT protocols, like SNMP and Ping, and connection with Historian tools, such as OSIsoft PI, GE Historian, InfluxDB and Canary.
To maintain an organized and efficient communication structure, devices are grouped into channels based on their communication protocol and settings, and further organized into nodes representing individual devices or stations.
Channels are responsible for managing communication protocols and drivers, while Nodes handle multiple threads pointing to the configured Channels. Understanding the relationship between Channels and Nodes is essential for efficient data exchange.
- Channels: execute processes based on communication protocols and drivers, configuring the required protocol or driver for a specific device. To create a new channel, navigate to Devices → Channels and click on "New Channel" Fill in the necessary information in the "Create New Channel" window and confirm by clicking "OK." The new channel will appear as a row in the table.
- Nodes: perform multiple threads pointing to the Channels, ensuring efficient data exchange and minimizing latency. To configure nodes, go to Devices → Nodes and input the required information. Columns can be added or removed by right-clicking the column heading area. Device node configuration properties include Name, Channel, PrimaryStation, BackupStation, SyncDate, SyncStation, SyncSettings, TemplateID and Description, each serving a specific purpose.
Simple Display with Symbols
Note: the current Alpha has some bugs on previewing so I'd like to review this part after it has been corrected.
Let's start by exploring the Draw Environment. To access, go to Displays → Draw, or simply click the Draw button at the top menu.
This will open the main Draw Environment. By default, the first page created will be the MainPage, where your main content should go.
Before adding anything to the display, you can create tags directly from this environment to use in your page. Simply click the New Tag button in the top menu. This will open a dialog box.
For this example, create a tag with the following settings and click "OK":
Name: Fan1Enabled
Type: Digital
After you've created your tag, you add graphical components to link it to. On the left side of the screen, you'll find all of the components you can use to build your display. Search for "RotateBlower" to get a fan from our Symbol Library. To add it to Display, simply drag it to the main drawing area. You can then double click it to open the Symbol Settings and map it the tag as shown below.
Then, search for "SelectorSwitch" to add a switch to the display as well. Double click it to connect it to the tag we created.
Click on Document Preview, and then click on the SelectorSwitch to turn on or turn off the RotateBlower2 fan.
Connecting to Devices: Modbus Master
To add Devices, go to Devices → Channels. Here, click the "+" sign to create a new channel. From the list, select "Modbus Master Protocol" and click "OK".
Them, go to Nodes, on the same section of the menu, and do the same thing to create a node connected to the channel.
Then, let's go to the Unified Namespace section to create some tags related to this device. Simply click New Tag to create four tags, as defined below:
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| MBDig1 | Digital |
| MBDig2 | Digital |
| MBInt1 | Integer |
| MBInt2 | Integer |
After the four tags have been create, select them and copy the selected rows: we'll use them on the Points section and in our Display, to showcase data from the device.
First, in Devices > Points, right-click to Insert Rows and copy the tags.
Then, go to our main display (by clicking on Draw) and paste the tags there as well. Text bales will be automatically created.
To view your display, choose Document Preview once again.
Note: training material mentions running a simulator, but I couldn't find that in the new version. I'll update after I figure it out.
Create a Real-Time Alarm
To test out the Alarming functionalities in the platform, let's create an alarm. First, on the UNS section, create a new Tag, named FilterAlarm, with the Type "Text".
On Alarms → Groups, you'll find some default groups created.
On Alarms → Items, you'll need to create some items, as shown below. To create, simply click on directly on the first line of the table.
| TagName | Condition | Limit | Group | Message |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tag.temperature | Hi | 80 | Warning | Temperature is Hi |
Tag.temperature | HiHi | 90 | Critical | Temperature is HiHi |
In the Draw Environment, search for AlarmWindow and drag it into the display.
Insert three buttons under the AlarmWindow object and give their respective names: “All”, “Warning”, “Critical”. You can change the button text in the Drawing Properties, on the right side of the screen.
Double-click on the buttons and configure the filters:
Create Trends
Let's create a Trend Legacy to show the real-time values.
On Unified Namespace → Data Templates, create a new template called Trend.
After you've done that, add the following lines to the table (just start typing on the first line of the table and click Enter to add it).
Name: Reference | Type: Reference
Name: Cursos | Type: Double
Name: pen | Type: Integer
Go to Unified Namespace and create a trend tag as shown below.
Finally, let's add it to the Display. Search for TrendChart and drag it into the display. Double click it to configure it as shown below.
8. Create a Database and DataGrid
9. Data Explorer Tools
10. Build, Publish and Track
7. Mapping Tags
8. Create the Display to show the data
10. Licensing And Registration
Exploring More Features
With these ten steps, you've learned the basic on working with FrameworX and you're ready to continue your journey.
To learn more, we recommend you:
- Explore the User Guide, that goes into detail on each module.
- Take a look at our Solution Examples, that showcase different aspects and functionalities of the platform.
If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with us take a look at Support and Resources.
You can also schedule a introductory meeting with one of our onboarding specialists here.
In this section...
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