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The following additions / modifications were performed since 2005 version:
- AOT Computation - LMEX load
points now do NOT Accumulate Off Time when turned off manually. All
other automatic load point operations result in AOT accumulation.
- Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 - WebLink
and MCSA now run on Version 2.0 of the framework,
using ASP. NET 2.0. Numerous internal modifications were needed to compile
all the code in the new VS 2005 environment. Some of the previously used
functions in C++ and C# have been deprecated, so code had to be rewritten to
use the latest APIs.
- WebLink E-Mail Handling - was modified to use the latest above
mentioned APIs. E-Mail message format can now be selected on address level,
as opposed to globally like before. This means that each individual address
can have its own individual mail format. For example, a recipient can have
three e-mail addresses: one at the office (HTML messages), one at home
(ASCII messages), and he / she can also receive SMS messages on his / her
cell phone, all at the same time.
- SMS Messages - WebLink can now send SMS messages to cell phones via
provider's e-mail system. SMS Cell phone address can now be targeted with
SMS formatted e-mail messages - ASCII messages not exceeding 160 characters
in length.
- DNP Driver Modification - Support for objects Group 1 Variation 2,
and Group 10 Variation 2 was added. This enables NTMC to poll for status of
control point state and record its change of state if reported state
conflicts with the state recorded in NTMC database.
- Protocol Management by Remote Units - was modified. Each remote unit now supports
Native, DNP and MODBUS choices. The last two are always
available, and Native is available if protocol is implemented.
- Telescada - ATS Protocol - was added. NTMC can now talk to their
ATS series of RTUs used in the gas industry. The old Telescada protocol is
now called Telescada - ARS protocol.
- AnyDATA Modem Support - was added. The modems are used to
communicate with devices via cellular networks.
- WebLink Object Upload Logging - a switch has been added which can
turn off logging of object uploads to server. Default is OFF. Upload
failures are still logged.
- WebLink Publisher Cosmetic Changes - User name is displayed more
prominently than before after successful log-on. The words 'gas' and 'SMS'
have been added to the welcome page to reflect newer WebLink / NTMC
functionalities.
- WebLink Publisher Display of Objects With No Hyperlinks - those
objects are no longer displayed. The only objects with no links still allowed to persist are those which are needed to preserve the selector tree structure.
Effectively this prevents end users with restricted privileges to see other
users' owned system objects. Security previously prevented seeing other
users' object contents, now WebLink Publisher does not even list those
objects.
- AOT Management - Accumulated Off Time of load points is now once
again displayed in days - hours - minutes - seconds format. A new dialog screen was designed to
allow operators to enter AOT in that same format, instead of seconds as
before this change.
- MODBUS Driver Modification - The driver previously expected
specified length responses from server. Increased driver versatility no
longer allowed this approach, so messages are now handles on real time
basis.
The following known problems were corrected since 2005 version:
- Timed Control Point Display - displays were incorrect because of
some of the recent source code modifications involving remote unit windows
in RUEX.
- Control Point Activity Recording - was incorrect in NTMCRDR files.
The problem was introduced by recently added source code related to DNP
functionality.
- Load Point Frozen Mode - would not persist through system re-start.
Mode change would be recorded in memory (object), but was not saved on hard
disk. Load point operations mode would come back as 'Auto' after NTMC
re-start.
- MODBUS Driver Malfunction - the driver would upload data to
incorrect register on occasion. The problem was caused by inadvertent
interaction with some of the newly added / modified source code.
- Run Time Data Loading - was rewritten. In rare cases of file
corruption NTMC would reject the file, and not re-start. New code logs the
error, re-initializes run-time data file, and NTMC starts in spite of the
problem.
- LMEX Load Point List Display - had a problem in one customized
version only.
- WebLink Manager E-Mail Dispatcher - was not updating watchdog
reference counter. WebLink would re-start the main thread if e-mail dispatcher did not return within 90 seconds.
- WebLink Manager Event Logging - entries were improperly terminated,
so MCEV would not display them correctly. Problem occurred after source code
was rewritten to use the new 2.0 API.
- LMEX Reporting to WebLink - was modified. LMEX now reports to WebLink load point associated control point state, as opposed to load point state. In case of operation failure in RUEX, load point state
revert to previous state. This would cause WebLink to issue unnecessary e-mail messages.
- LMEX Load Point List Display - condition could arise where constant list updating ensued, eating up all processor time. A couple of inefficiencies were also corrected.
- Windows Socket Layer Interaction with VPNs - single socket 'reads'
may come back as multiple messages over VPNs, but not LANs. The driver was
modified to handle the situation.
- Remote Client Viewing of Log Files - the problem arose when files
were full, and number of lines to be read was smaller than maximum lines in
the file.
- Remote Unit Driver Initialization - data recording I/O point addresses would not properly initialize.
- WebLink and MCSA Windows in Minimized State - problem in windows
would not allow windows to be set back to normal viewing state if they were
minimized when the programs were shut down. WebLink and MCSA work around
this problem by not recording window state and location if program window is
minimized at the time of shutdown.
- MODBUS Driver Problem - In special circumstances, when the driver
would attempt to log an error condition, the event log generating code would
refer to a non-existent remote unit id, causing RUEX to shut down.
- SA206 Switch Driver Would no Longer Load - the problem was corrected.
- Remote Unit Resident Data Recording (RURDR) - could no longer be
enabled on Telescada RTUs. The problem was introduced when protocol
management by remote units was modified earlier this year (see Protocol Management by Remote Units
above, on this page). One of low level functions was inadvertently broken.
The problem was corrected.
- Remote Code Generator (RCG) Board Support - no longer worked.
Recent rework of protocol handling introduced a bug preventing RUEX from
properly addressing outgoing messages via RTUs equipped with RCG boards. The
problem was corrected.
- LMEX Screen Updating - LMEX screens would update too often, even
when no new data was forthcoming from RUEX. The problem was corrected.
- DNP Communications - a bug introduced in earlier revision
broke the code so DNP driver could no longer issue control codes and process
multi-segment messages. The bug
was removed.
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