Devices

FactoryStudio supports embedded communication protocol drivers to directly access PLCs, Remote IO, Fieldbus standards, single and multi-loops, scanners, bar-codes, RFID devices and digital displays. OPC DA is also supported, but in most cases is not required. If you need to interface with a device that has a published protocol, Tatsoft can deliver a built-in driver for your device. A Protocol Driver Toolkit is also available so you can create your own add-on driver. 

The Device Configuration Tool can import databases from OPC servers, CSV or text files. If the device is compatible, it automatically implements multi-threading on TCP/IP networks or multi-serial scenarios. The addressing syntax follows the naming convention of the remote device, making configuration and maintenance much easier; a complete set of performance and diagnostics tools is included. The Channels tab is where you specify the name of the protocol to be used, and its’ connectivity options. The Nodes tab allows you to specify the address of a device. The Points tab is where you define data acquisition values from field Devices and maps to Tag values. Finally, AccessTypes allow you to specify with is device will be a Read or Write-only device, or both.

Alarms

FactoryStudio’s Alarm system provides tremendous flexibility in managing Alarms in your system. Multiple alarm levels for each point/tag can be defined and a whole range of behaviors, such as logging, acknowledgement, displaying, etc. is pre-packaged to simplify the configuration. The Alarm conditions are automatically replicated on redundant servers, making certain there are no lost Alarms in the event of a computer failure. The Alarm and Event tools are part of the tools necessary to create FDA-CFR Part 21 compliant applications.

By defining Alarm Groups you can assign common parameters to many Alarms, such as whether acknowledgement is required for the Alarms, if you want a Beep to be played, and more. You have full control over the colors for various Alarm conditions so that your corporate standards can be met.

Datasets

The Dataset Module, included in FactoryStudio provides an easy-to-use interface to exchange data in real-time with external Databases, XML, CSV or text files and access SQL queries and tables. For the most common databases and data sources (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, CSV files, Microsoft Access, PI, Firebird, Informix, Excel), FactoryStudio supplies pre-defined configurations that reduce the configuration to a mouse-click. Any database that supports ODBC, ADO.NET or OLE-DB can be accessed. A built-in Tatsoft DB SQL Database Engine is also supplied as a local database for your application(s). 

The data collected with the datasets can be dynamically mapped to real-time points/tags and can be used on scripts or reports, or presented on displays using a powerful Data Grid Visual Object.

Scripts

FactoryStudio fully supports Microsoft .NET languages in complete integration within the Microsoft .NET Framework. Inside the FactoryStudio framework architecture you can compile, cross-reference the objects, and access directly (using the Intellisense) the .NET classes and your project objects, including Alarms, Reports and Communication Nodes.

.NET languages provide a more powerful environment when compared with VBA or VBScript, that is as it is an interpreted language, not compiled, many errors can only be found when running your project VBA or VBScript in real-time production often times with undesirable results and consequences. The managed environment of the Microsoft.Net Framework gives one the support for finding and recovering from exceptions, thus providing a highly reliable environment for the runtime system/applications.

Project scripts and business logic can be written in C# or VB.NET, and a built-in language converter allows you to switch the created code dynamically between the languages.