Solutions Manager

Solutions Manager User Interface

The Solutions Manager interface is the main hub for managing and organizing your FactoryStudio Solutions. From this interface, you can create new Solutions, edit existing ones, and and run Solutions located in your computer or remote ones.

Some very unique and powerful features about Solution management tools include:

• This interface is product version agnostic. You can manage and open Solutions created with different product versions without upgrading the Solution in the field or switching the engineering tool in your computer.
• The platform creates a file for each Solution. All configuration, including tag definition, displays drawing, images and report templates is stored in a single file — an encrypted SQL database with extension .tproj — for easy management.
• You can open multiple Solutions at the same time or allow multiple engineers to work on each Solution.
• In order to enable multiple users to work concurrently on the same Solution, follow the procedure described at the section Multi-user Collaboration.

Solution List

The middle box is called Solution List and shows a list of Solutions on your computer or on a remote computer set previously. Click Refresh to update the Solutions list. 

Each item in the Solution selector is a complete Solution with the configuration for an application.

Each image below is an independent Solution. On the top right corner, you can select List, Cards or Table view.

List View

Card View

Table View

Your License

Your License presents information about the software license. There are flexible options for licensing according to each business' needs.

Clicking on the License Management shortcut will take you to the License Management page where you can manage your license and view your license details.

Solution Server

The Solutions Server section displays information about the computer and folders upon the list of presented list Solutions is build.

Clicking Solution Server allows managing the Solution Server Service settings. There are two options for Solution Server: Localhost or Remote. If you select Remote, you will need to set it up.

Help

Clicking the Help button (blue question mark icon) opens the Are you new here? dialog box which contains some suggestions to get started. It also contain links to our, documentation and forum pages.

Notifications

The bell icon located in the bottom right corner opens the Notifications box.

The Solution Configuration file

The configuration for the entire Solution, is stored in single file with the extension TPROJ.

That file is an encrypted embedded SQL database, with the configuration tables of the various modules, like Tags, Alarms, Scripts and Displays. 

You can move, rename, duplicate, backup and restore the Solution files, working directly on the computer folders, as you'd do with any other file.

The moving or adding TProj files directly on the computer folders, you need to press the Refresh button, so the list will update the content of the folders.

Other files extension for Solutions are created, when using the Publish feature, as described in the chapter Build and Publish.

Creating New Solutions

To create a  new Solution:

1. On the Solution Management, click New....

2. Select a target platform where your Solution will be installed and click Next.

3. Select a product family and a product model. Then, click Next.
4. Put a name and a short description to the new Solution.
5. Select a Solution template.

6. Click Create New Solution to finish.

Wizard Step 1: Target Platform selection 

When creating a new Solution, you will need to select a target platform. 

A Target Platform is where you intend to deploy your Solution for execution in production. Here are the options, with guidance for selection:

Windows:  Use this option if Windows Authentication is required or if Canary Historian or any other product or library that requires Windows will be used in the same computer.

Multi-Platform: This solution will execute in any device compatible with .NET Framework 4.8.

Wizard Step 2: Selecting the FrameworX Product 

Tatsoft's FrameworX technology powers 3 products option:

FactoryStudio: scalable models based on the number the communication points, enabling SCADA, MES, AdvancedHMI and a wide range of industrial applications. 

EdgeHMI: scalable models  based on the number communication points, with the sub-set of FactoryStudio features typically require for HMI on machines and embedded devices.

EdgeGateway: scalable models based on the number of communication points, with the features to perform data collections on field, including various protocols, data logging and scripting. 

You can keep the selection of product as FrameworX, when creating Solutions for Unlimited communication points, and Unlimited users.

According the selecting or the product, the various options of communications are presented. 

Wizard Step 3: Customizing Solution Name and other options 

About the Folder Structure for Solutions

FrameworX Solutions are created in a way that is possible to have multiple Solutions in one folder. 

Each Solution file, TPROJ, has all the configuration of the Solution, and some files that are dynamically created, such as retentive tag databases, or user UI settings, they carry the name of the Solution. 

Therefore when create multiple simple Solutions, typically for tests and demos,  it is easier to keep in the same folder. But, when created larger applications, or Solution for formal field deployment it's a good procedure to do in a new folder.r 

Canary Historian:

FrameworX applications bring the benefit to allow, at no extra cost, the usage up to 500 historian points, using the Canary Historian tools. You can upgrade to a higher tag counting.

When using that feature, even for the built-in 500 points, it's necessary to add the Canary license. See Canary Integration for more information. 

Editing and Viewing Solutions

The View button opens a ready-only version of the Solution configuration, which is very useful if you just want to put the Solution in execution or check its configuration. 

The Edit button enables modifications in the Solution. You may need to use the Logon button in the toolbar before editing if the Security Solutions were enabled to that Solution. 

Many Solutions can be opened at the same time. When a second instance of the same Solution is opened, the second instance will open as read-only.

To enable concurrent users, your Solution server must be licensed for multiple engineers. See Licensing and Activation for more information.

Steps to open am existing Solution.

Start Solution.exe: Run the Solutions application, using the Solution.exe command line, or desktop icon. 

Select Local or Remote computers: By default, the system will show the Solutions from the last location, or from your local computer on the first. You can modify the list of Solution, going the Solution Server page.

For remote computers, you can use the Web UI: If the remote computer has Web Server enabled, and you are in Windows computer, you can start see the Solutions of remote computer with the URL: <<<<<<<<<<I

Select the desired Solution at the List: you can use the search box or modify the options for visualization. When using Tables, you can sort by columns clicking in the tiles, or right click to switch column visibility.

Running Solutions

You can run a Solution by:

• Using the Run button in Solution Management.
• Starting the execution manually after you open the Solution for editing (Execute → Startup → Run Startup). 

Upgrading Solutions

Solutions retain information about the platform's version used to create the Solution.

Opening a Solution with a previous version without upgrading it will require a platform's equivalent version installed.

Also, you can upgrade the Solution to the latest version using the Upgrade Version command button. 

When Upgrading:

• A copy of the Solution is executed, creating a new file named: <Solution-name>-<preivous-vesion>.tproj.
• A new empty Solution is created named <Solution-name>.tproj.
• The Previous Solution is imported to the new Solution.

After upgrading, it is recommended to open the new Solution and build it (Execute → Build and Publish → Build... operation), so the system checks all its scripts.

Solution Templates

Solution templates can be a great way to speed up the development process by providing pre-configured settings and modules. Templates can be customized to fit your specific needs, and can be a useful starting point for building your application. When selecting a template, consider the functionality you need and the type of application you are building. Examples of different templates available include web applications, mobile apps, and desktop applications.

Pre-built Solution templates get you started faster by building the solutions you need. Some Solution templates are available when you install the software, such as Blank, Default, TrendChart, TrendChart with Alarm Pages and Alarm Footer, Redundancy Solutions, and Asset Viewer.

Template	Blank	Default	TrendChart	TrendChart and Alarm	TrendChart and Alarm Footer	Redundancy
Log on dialog
Several themes
Header page navigation using Industrial Icons
Empty main page
Layout with Header and Main page
Server Information page using the Dashboard display
System information template and Scripts
System Information Data Historian configuration
UI data template
TrendChart display
TrendChart data templates
Alarm Online display
Alarm Historical display
Alarm data template
Alarm Footer display
Redundancy Information display

Select and run a template to check the displays available on each template, and explore its settings. By that, you can check if one of the templates meet your needs and speed up your Solution development.

In addition, you can add or create more templates on your own.

Adding New Templates

The templates presented when creating a new Solution are standard Solution files located in the product installation folder in Templates. 

If you receive a new template from your vendor or integrators, copy it to that Solution.

To add a new template, create a Solution and save it in the Template folder on the installation directory, such as the following sample path: "C:\Program Files\...\Product\Version\Templates"

Designing a New Solution

The platform uses multi-user and multi-project organization to edit and run multiple projects simultaneously. All modules are combined in a simple unified user interface: the Solution Designer.

Change project settings using the Solution Designer, an integrated and user-friendly environment that performs all setup and test tasks, from tag definition and communications to drawing user interface displays.

In this section...