Understanding the Solutions Manager

The Solutions Manager interface is the main hub for managing and organizing your Solutions.

Some very unique and powerful features include:

• 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 .dbsln — for easy management.

• You can open multiple Solutions at the same time or allow multiple engineers to work on each Solution.

• You can access Solution files located in your computer, or remote devices with the Platform Services enabled. 
• When accessing remote devices, you can from a pure HTML5 interface, without the needing of any location installation.

• To enable multiple users to work concurrently on the same solution, follow the procedure described in the section Multi-User Collaboration.

Navigating the User Interface

The User Interface is composed by the following sections:

• The Right side is Help only information, you can close that section, if you want. 

• The middle box, called the Solution List, shows a list of Solutions on your computer or a previously set remote computer.

• The Left side, has summary information and allows Navigation for the children pages with additional contents.
  • Server Information Page:  select folders, view and manage connected server (or local computer).
  • Licensing And Activation:  show and modify the license on the connected server (or local computer).
  • Product Information: show current version and list of installed drivers.

Selecting a Solution

The main area on the Solution Manager is where you can select a solution and execute commands on the selected solution, or create a new solution.

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 is case external applications or uses modify the contents of folders.

Each item in the solution list is a complete configuration for an application, each image is an independent solution. The image used for the solution preview is the contents of the display named MainPage in that solution.

On the top right corner, you can select List, Cards or Table view. 

Solution Configuration File

The configuration for the entire solution, is stored in single file with the extension .dbsln. 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. When moving files directly on the computer folders, you need to press the Refresh button to update the list content.

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

Upgrade from Legacy Projects 

When a file with extension .tProj is found, it shows on the Solution List, with the prefix Project. Only projects from versions 9.1 and 9.2 can be upgraded directly. For older project files, first use the 9.1 or 9.2 product to upgrade to those versions. 

When a legacy project is selected, the Upgrade Version command button is enabled. 

For further details on the Upgrade process to to page Migrating Legacy Projects

Access Solutions on Remote Computers

Requirements

The Solutions Manager can access configuration files from other Computer and Devices.  There are two ways to accomplish that, connecting to a Remote Server at  Server Information, or using a url to open an open UI.

Both methods require that the connected server has the TWebServices running on the remote computer, and the necessary firewall ports open. In Windows computer, you can setup the TWebServices to run, opening a local instance of the Solutions Manager at the target server, and setup the TWebServices in the ServerInformation page. For Linux and other operating system, you need to setup the TWebServices to run on power-up using the tools of the OS. The TWebServices by default uses port 10108.

When multiple users open the same solution from the Server, it allows  Multi-User Collaboration on the solution development.

Connecting to a Remote Solution Server 

At the page Server Information, just put the IP, or computer domain name, of the server you want and press the Connect button.

→ Read more about the Server Information page.

Using the Solution Manager Web UI 

It is possible to access the Solutions on a remote server, without even installing the product in your local computer. 

Just open browser and use the url:  http://<Server IP or Name>:10108/solutions. Example: http://192.169.1.1:10108/solutions

The requirements are the remote device has the TWebServices running, If the device has an security AccessKey defined, the URL shall be:

http://<ServerIPorName>:10108/solutions?accesskey=<key>

Using the Designer in Click-Once Mode

When you are using the Solutions Manager WebUI and you open a Solution for editing, its not necessary to have the Designer pre-installed in your computer, the system will use the click-once technology (if the browser supports it) and open a Designer window, getting the necessary files from the remote computer. Most common browser allow click-once, check the compliance on the browser technical information, querying for Click-Once compatibility. 

Reference Information

Executables Installation Folder

Using the Microsoft App standard, the MSIX installer creates a folder under \Program Files\WindowsApps\ for the product. That folder shouldn't not be accessed directly by the users, and the installation should be added or removed, using the Windows Add/Remove apps utility. 

In order to comply with same FactoryFloor or DataCenter requirements, it's also to install the product using the traditional setup.exe, which give further control on the installation folder. Read about custom installation at Deployment ? Managing Installations.

Product Folders at MyDocuments

The first time the product is executed in the computer, it automatically various Folders under MyDocuments special folder, using the product name as the initial node.

In this section: