9. Process images/visualization

The runtime visualization can be operated either as an independent application or using a web browser (RI client). Multiple autonomous representation modules can be concurrently open for each licensed user interface (operating station). This allows for instance when running in a multi-monitor mode to have the alarm screen always displayed on one monitor, the plant overview on another, with the third monitor showing the currently operated process.

The integrated zooming and panning can be initiated by the user with either the mouse, via defined touch gestures or buttons. Automated presetting using an algorithm (depending on process variables) is also possible. The eight representation levels can be individually added or removed in dependency to the current zoom level (cluttering/decluttering). The internal representation of processes and symbols uses vector graphics which allows preservation of image quality irrespective of the selected zoom level.

To allow efficient use of large video projection walls process and operation representation may also be stretched multiple times beyond that of a simple monitor. The theoretical limits lie at 32,767 x 32,767 pixels. Color rendering supports both TrueColor and dynamic colors (flashing) for alarm status display. Symbol representations of devices can be created along with the corresponding operational and information dialogues by the user in the form of a reusable object (typical). In general, one or more graphical objects correspond to each device object of the data space. These objects are stored in structured graphical catalogues and can be recognized using a name and/or graphical symbol representation. Insertion and placement in overview, plant and detailed representations is performed through drag&drop using a mouse.

When data model, symbol representation or operational and information dialogues have been modified, such only need to be correspondingly modified in the template object (reference). All symbol representations existing in the process representations are automatically changed. Symbol representations can be structured in a hierarchically cascaded manner whereby the inheritance of properties continues to be represented.

The following graphical objects for creating your own symbols (references) will be provided:

Line, multi-line, freehand-line, polygon, ellipse/circle, circle/ellipse segment, circle/ellipse sector, circle/ellipse section, arc, simple text, button, cascaded button (menu), popup, text field, selection list, combo box, checkbox, radio button, spin button, table, trend, bar trend, time/date display, tabs, frames, ActiveX controls.

The following animation types are provided by the system:

Foreground color, background color, hover color, visibility, operability, rotation, scaling (resizing) x/y, position (movement) x/y, geometry, both angles for arcs/sectors/segments/sections, display of static image files, dynamic display of image files (image change), animated image files, videos, movement of objects along freely definable paths, text/value, font/font face/font size.

The following external graphic formats can be integrated into process representations and symbols:

GIF, animated GIF, BMP, XPM. Additional inclusion of vector formats WMF and EMF allows the import from virtually all CAD application (AutoCAD, MicroStation, Smartplant or similar tools) and clipart libraries. Several hundreds of technical automation images are available in the system as ready to use graphics library.

The total number of process representations per project is only limited by the available hard disk space.

The system supports display of PDF files through corresponding integration into the user interface. When using PDFs in user interfaces based on integrated EWO it shall also be possible to set anchors within the document to jump to predefined positions.

All process representations can be hierarchically positioned in a tree view to support the operator during process execution. Automatic navigation elements (tree view, direct selection, list …) as well as automatically generated totals messages will be provided for this hierarchical display, meaning that all alarms of a subordinated process representation are represented in a superordinate process representation through a summary alarms display, without any additional engineering effort.

Using this tree view also allows to create identically copies of defined structures within the solution. After creating such a copy, it shall be integrated to the existing hierarchical level based on the original structure.

Panel files can be dynamically generated and stored through automated panel generation. Scripts can be used to add both shapes and objects as well as caching settings.

9.1. Style sheets, widgets, color schemes and icon-sets

Use of widgets allows implementation of special functions and representation variants into the user interface. These include amongst others tables, charts, menu trees, EWOs, bar charts, heat maps, progress bars, as well as embedded modules. EWO stands for External Widget Object and this means a specific way to embed external Widgets into user interfaces.

Customized style sheets (CSS) should be supported to define customized designs of a complete SCADA project or just certain subsections, displays or specific widgets. This shall be possible for the main panel as well as for child panels. Style sheets allow personalization of the appearance of widgets and applications in addition to attributes defined on the graphical interface. The concepts, terms and syntax of the style sheets are strongly inspired by cascaded HTML style sheets (CSS) customized for use with the available widgets. Style sheets are applied on top of the current widget style and support definition of an optimized look & feel for the desired applications to facilitate operation of these.

The CSS stylesheet should allow the use of system-defined color designations. This enables the consistent use of terms and it reduces the need to fall back to different standards.

Adjustment of color schemes (e.g. daytime and nighttime colors) is possible on a running system whereby such scheme changes can be event triggered. By activating the respective color scheme, the colors on all opened panel files are refreshed and redrawn to show the newly selected color(s) or even a chosen Color DB defining the color changes. You can store multiple color schemes which are interchangeable.

It shall be possible to use edible icons responding on changes of design rules. This functionality should be part of basic software package and it should be possible to activate or deactivate this behavior. More than this for defined use cases it should be possible to choose a static icon set following specific design guidelines within the user interface.

The switch between static and responding icon sets should be possible during runtime.

9.2. Animating graphical elements and animation capabilities

• Any graphical attribute can be animated.
• Comprehensive functions are available for controlling animations.
• Creation of animation groups.

Modules can move in real time.

The following functions should be provided in addition to simple directional animations:

• Modification of visibility/transparency of modules
• Modification of module size
• Definition of animation duration
• Definition of various animation curves

9.3. Responsive design and graphical requirements for applications

The solution supports responsive design enabling implementation of designs on manifold end-devices with greatly varying size of images. This enables operation on different hardware like laptops or smartphones with different screen resolution or different screen sizes. The settings given to a template or a tool are used throughout all instances and can be designed via graphic designing.

In order to meet the requirements of modern user interfaces and to seize the possibilities of modern screens and displays, the selected solution should support layout management. In this scope, it is also essential to provide a possibility for zooming in the corresponding area.

In addition to common resolutions, special attention should be paid to supporting Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels), Ultra HD (3840 × 2160 pixels) and 4K (4096 × 2160 pixels). A mixture of different display sizes must be supported and, in the sense of Responsive Design, the system must start the correct resolution according to the specifications for the format.

9.4 Multilingualism and support of characters

The system supports simultaneous multilingualism of the operating stations within a project. A preferred language can be assigned for each user reflecting the logon (login). Additionally, the language can be changed online when operating a process representation.

It must be supported by the system to create projects using utf8 as a default protocol for character sets. By using Unicode UTF-8 encoding, characters and symbols from all languages can be displayed simultaneously within a text.

A dedicated font type and size can be specified for each language. Important is to present a tool defining the font size not in points, but in pixels. Representation of far eastern language characters is equally as possible as visualization of Cyrillic or Arabic fonts. Up to 42 languages are supported within a project. Each project has to define it´s project languages. It is essential for all connected stations or clients or subprojects to use the same languages down to country level to guarantee communication between them (e.g. English US vs. English UK or German Germany vs. German Austria) – each country is representing a separate language in that case and the project must consist of the equal language set.

Due to configuration of text- and language-libraries, it should be possible to “translate” all text-based parts of the user interfaces by changing the language setting during runtime. Import of different language texts can be done via upload or can be changed case by case.

The use of dictionaries within the program and support during the installation of a predefined language library allows translation of all text sections on the user interfaces through simple language selection on a running system. Installation of various language texts can be cumulative or when required defined or complemented within the object.

A native translation tool should be available to reduce engineering efforts and fasten the support of multilingual presentation of processes.