Hume Datahub SDK Recent Changes

Compatibility Issues with Tcl/Tk version 8.4

• The DMH84 release of the Hume Datahub SDK includes Tcl/Tk applications that are based on Tcl patch level 8.4.18 and Tk patchlevel 8.4.18.  There is also the DMH85 version of the Hume Datahub SDK available that features improved Tcl/Tk SECS/GEM applications.
  
• With Tcl version 8.4, the Hume dmh package Tcl extension has been revised to use the ::dmh namespace to prevent future name conflicts such as occurred with the Tcl 8.4 lset command. The Hume package lset command has been renamed vset. Read more about the new Tcl 8.4 namespace and compatibility issues in the dmh_import document.  Most Tcl/Tk applications will need to call dmh_import and change usage of lset to vset in order to use the new version.  The new Tcl commands dmh_import, dmh_var, and vset have been added to both the 8.3 (DMH83) and the 8.4 (DMH84) Tcl/Tk distributions and to the GEM Tcl/Tk applications to support deploying software that is compatible with both Tcl 8.3 and Tcl 8.4+.  (10/1/2002).
• The current Datahub Tcl/Tk distribution includes updated versions of [incr Tcl] (3.3 vs 3.2) [incr Tk] (3.3 vs 3.2), and Iwidgets (4.0 vs 3.0). We suggest continuing to use the older versions with DMH83, and just using the newer versions with Tcl/Tk 8.4, as testing has revealed some compatibility issues. (10/1/2002).

Recent Hume Changes and Improvements

• The Tcl/Tk Host Supervisor application has had minor improvements.  The VFEI reconnect action has been removed from the supervisor window, and the startup configuration dialog has a new option for spooling initialization.  The table save logic takes into account loaded data and the existence of saved files for the messages and choices offered to the user.  The underlying hsms and secsport Tcl commands have been updated so that during creation of a connection, they will no longer overwrite array elements used for configuration with default values.  With this change, Tcl/Tk applications are able to configure connection data elements such as timer values before the interface is created. (8/20/08).
  
• The Tcl langauge support files used for the .NET, Java, VB, VC, and similar SECS libraries have been integrated into the Datahub SDK gem directories.  The creation of several SQL tables was changed so that fields used by both host and equipment roles are always created.  There is a new directory gem/server where the SecsServer.tcl application file is found.  The startup logic of the SECS libraries has been modified.  Tcl/Tk applications can now use any of procedures that have been developed to support these other language platforms.  The directory layout is simpler since all of the Tcl SECS/GEM source code is consolidated under the gem directory. (8/11/08).
• A minor change was made in the SECS Server logic of handling event reports to allow for the possibility of receiving a report that has been configured prior to completing the initialization that sets up event reporting. (8/11/08).
• The SECS equipment ControlState variable type has been changed to U1 for better consistency with other state values. (8/11/08).
  
• Two new properties were added to the SECS Host libraries to provide better control over the event report deletion and enabling logic that executes during initialization. (7/16/08).
• Performance of the Windows console logic was greatly improved by modifying the line trimming logic and introducing a "fast mode" where long output lines are optionally shortened. (7/15/08).
• The .NET and Java Host Supervisor applications were revised to help prevent overwriting previously saved session data with empty table data, along with a few other minor improvements. (6/15/08).
• Support for large process program transfers using Stream 13 and related Stream 7 messages has been added to both the SECS host and equipment libraries.  On the host side, process program uploads have been revised with the addition of Stream 13 support.   For new uploads, only the data of the recipe is saved in the file whether ordinary Stream 7 message types or Stream 13 message types were used for the transfer.   A new table, ei_ppid, is used to save and restore the mapping of process program identifiers to filenames.  The normal Stream 7 transfer software assumes the older upload format for a process program file only when there is no saved description information.  The new Stream 13 large data set transfer logic always assumes the new format; that uploaded files contain only process program data.  On the equipment side, The addition of Stream 13 data set transfer support added 3 new event types, 4 new variables, and a boolean property to disable the new features.  Also, there are new StateChange events to notify your application of data set transfer activity and more generally the posting of event reports by the SECS server.   The use of Stream 13 defaults to being disabled so that an existing equipment interface application can use the latest libraries and latest SECS server without needing application changes. (5/2/08).
• The property TracewinMaxWidth has been added to all host and equipment libraries to guard against excessive memory use when the trace windows are displaying connection activity and very large data messages such as recipe transfer occur. (4/4/08).
• The Java SECS Host GUI needed some layout tweaks to work properly with JDK 1.6. (3/28/08).
• The ability to clear mailbox counts has been added to the mbx Tcl command. (3/6/08).
• Methods were added to the Java and .NET SecsHost libraries to simplify configuration of alarms, events, parameters, and variables for equipment that does not support discovery. (2/15/08).
• The standard GEM spooling state model has required the host to send S6F23 to purge or unload the spool in order to deactivate spooling.  As a concession to non-spooling aware hosts, if spooling is active but no messages are spooled, and no message types are configured for spooling, then spooling is automatically deactivated when the online control state is entered.  (4/3/07).
• The Tcl SECS Server equipment logic has been revised to allow customization of the CEID values used for built-in event reports, and the varID values used for built-in data items. The Java, VB, VC++, C++, and .NET SECS equipment APIs have been updated with these features.  A revision was made to make the renumbering forgiving of sequencing and certain data errors. (4/3/07).
• The Datahub SDK installation script needed changes for Windows Vista.  Ordinary user access is no longer possible under the Program Files directory because of security changes.  Installation is forced elsewhere so that customization, saving, and directory searching work as expected. (1/25/07).
• The handling of MouseWheel events by Tk 8.4 on Windows has been improved using revised bindings similar to TIP 171. If these changes are not desired, they can be suppressed by defining the environment variable NO_MOUSEWHEELFIX before loading the dmh package. (1/10/07).
• The logic for handling LIKE expressions in the Datahub SQL command was revised to allow preceding SQL wildcard characters % and _ with a backslash character \ to have them be interpreted as ordinary characters. (1/9/07).
• Handling of ASCII ECV values by the SECS equipment logic was improved to allow for imbedded single quotes and to avoid using surrounding braces or escape sequences. (12/1/06).
• The C++ SecsEquip class is now available for POSIX platforms such as Linux in addition to Windows Visual Studio 6.0 and current Visual Studio versions. (11/1/06).
• The Tcl secsport command was revised to support receiving any number of interleaved multi-block SECS-I messages. (9/12/06).
• The Datahub SDK has been ported to 64bit Linux (x86_64).  Many of the HTML documents for Tcl commands were revised for better rendering by the konqueror browser. (7/31/06).
• The SECS host logic was revised to provide a more accurate process program byte length when S7F1 is used. (7/11/06).
• The 3.3 [incr Tcl/Tk] extensions were updated from the latest Sourceforge files. (6/15/06).
• The SECS host setup logic for S6F1 trace reports was revised to provide better error return code information. Changes were made in the Java SecsHost so that trace reports are automatically configured to be received as event reports when the traceSetup method is used. Also, the handling of event reports has been revised to present them to the host application even when a report has not been created. On the equipment side, diagnostic trace messages have been added to explain S9F7 replies to the S2F23 setup message. Also, new methods were added to the Java and .NET SecsHost libraries for better access to variable information. (5/31/06) and (6/30/06).
• Handling of SECS variable values larger than 20kb by the host software was revised to prevent an error after saving and restarting when the value is smaller.  Also, the threshold for oversize data items was expanded to 60kb by enlarging the variable table varvalue field size.  The variable initialization logic was revised to reduce the amount of data asked for in the S1F3R query.(4/4/06).
• The variable and parameter add methods in the Java SecsEquip, .NET SecsPort, VB SecsEquip, and VC SecsEquip libraries were simplified by giving parameters a varID range of 1000 - 2999, and variables a separate range of 3000 - 9999. (3/9/06).  New properties and methods have been introduced to provide control over persistent saving of parameters (Equipment Constant Variables). (6/6/06).
• The Tcl/Tk GEM host and equipment regression test files were revised to accommodate recent changes in the gemsim and gemhost applications. Also, the host initialization logic has more checks for communication being disabled or the connection being deleted during initialization as might be done in regression tests.(3/7/06) and (7/20/06).
• The SECS ei_client application which provides for remote viewing of a SECS interface trace window was updated for changes from the recently added trace logging feature, including changes in the Tcl SECS software to use the newer variable trace syntax. The Tcl SECS host and equipment communication disable procedures were revised to preserve variable traces created by the ei_client. (3/2/06).
• The Tcl/Tk GEM equipment simulator application was enhanced with persistent configuration of the startup properties. The Tcl/Tk host application has also been updated to make it easier to close and re-open the GUI and trace windows or to disable communication. The underlying Tcl hsms and secsport commands have been enhanced with new support for unattended logging of trace data, and this new feature has been integrated into the configuration of startup properties.  Also, the HSMS logic has a new feature for imposing a maximum message size which prevents excess memory use when communicating with buggy software. New (2/27/06) with some revisions on (6/15/06).
• A new Java class library for deploying equipment SECS interfaces was added to the Datahub SDK.  See the Java SecsEquip document. The Java SecsHost class library was added to the Datahub SDK in June 2005. These libraries and applications were recently revised to include trace logging features. (2/27/06).
• A new feature has been added to the SECS software to allow users to receive and work with improper SECS-II data. (10/17/2005).
• The Datahub SDK Tcl/Tk sources have been updated to the latest patch release, 8.4.11.  Small changes have been made to the installation program, documentation, and startup initialization. The Windows Start Menu program group has been renamed. (7/26/2005).
• The Datahub SDK has been ported to the 64-bit PA RISC version of HP-UX and Oracle 10g. (7/21/2005).
• The Tcl comm command was improved so that arbitrary 8 bit binary data can be handled using the string oriented subcommands. Recent versions of Tcl are able to represent binary data in string values using UTF-8 encoding. (5/18/05).
• The SEMI E5 standard has an incorrect message structure for S13F2, and equipment exists where the incorrect structure is implemented. A fix has been added to the receiving logic to add an L:2 wrapper if the incorrect format with two adjacent data items is received. (4/19/05).
• The .NET SecsPort and the other SECS libraries support using the new SecsServer.exe program for a simpler runtime deployment. (4/6/05)  The .NET SecsPort, the .NET SecsHost, and the VB SecsEquip components now feature Trace data logging. (3/1/06).
• New methods to support Equipment initiated Process Program transfers were added to the SECS equipment software. New code was also added to the SECS Host applications to respond to the equipment initiated transfers.  Also a new version of SendSecsMsg() was added to the .NET, VC++, and VB SECS libraries to provide parsed result data. Changes to the SECS equipment clock_offset value are now passed to the SECS libraries in the StateChange event. (4/6/05)
• SECS equipment handling of S5F3 was revised to accommodate using an empty ALID vector to indicate all alarm types. (8/10/05)
• Minor changes to some font declarations were made for Solaris 10 x86 and SUSE 9.2 Linux. Also namespace dmh export logic was revised to fix errors when using -notk. (4/5/05)
• Fixed a bug with the GEM Host creation of the recipe upload directory on Windows when the GNU file utilities are not installed.  The GEM Host recipe directory was also made configurable when using the supervisor. (2/24/05, 9/28/04).
• The Java DMH client library was updated for JDK 1.5 with the type safety of Generics. (2/1/05) A new static split method and more lappend methods were added to the TclList class. (5/27/05).  The library receiving logic was revised to fix a bug involving the disarm command. (6/6/06).
• The 4.0 Iwidgets dateentry class constructor was fixed to not explicitly call the base class constructor. (1/25/05).
• A New Visual C++ library SecsEquip and a new Visual Basic Active-X control SecsEquip.ocx have been created for deploying SECS Equipment interfaces. These products have the desirable features of the new .NET SecsPort component, and are intended for Equipment Manufacturers who prefer to use Visual C++ or Visual Basic 6.0. (1/18/05) These libraries were recently updated to include the new trace logging features. (3/9/06).
• A new Status Variable DvvalList has been added to the GEM Equipment application to enable the Host to discover DVVAL variables.  This addition fills a gap in the SECS/GEM standards.  Other variables PPError, PPFormat, RcpChangeName, and RcpChangeStatus have been added to update for the latest E30 version. (11/19/04).
• New Windows .NET software for deploying Equipment SECS interfaces and for deploying Host SECS interfaces has been added to the Hume Datahub SDK.  The new .NET components provide all the usual GEM/SECS capabilities in native .NET APIs.(10/18/04)
• Minor changes have been made to the Tcl GEM Equipment application to better integrate recipe management and spooling with the new .NET software.  Similarly, minor changes have been made to the GEM Host application for better integration with the new .NET component.  Also, the handling of ASCII recipe data by the GEM host software has been revised to treat it as binary, in order to avoid changes from code page or newline translation.  The format of received message tracing was tweaked to show an R if a reply was requested.  Handling of the gemsim ControlMode variable was revised.  The maximum length of SECS variable names was increased to 256 characters from 32. (11/8/04).
• Improvements were made to the HSMS logic and the GEM applications when setting up or recovering a connection.  The active client setup was revised to be asynchronous which improves responsiveness when the passive side is down.  The default TRACE values were changed to include state and connection information. (9/24/04) The reconnection logic was improved to prevent multiple retrying loops (2/1/05). When a passive server sees additional connection attempts, a linktest is done with the existing connection to hasten discovery of a broken connection. (5/17/05, 9/30/05).
• New DMH Client software is available for the Windows .NET Framework. (8/13/04).
• A change in the DMH logic was made to favor receiving reply messages to the mbx_do_xact, mbx_timed_get, and mbx_xact_pat commands in the situation when messages are being sent to mailboxes read by a Tcl DMH client at a rate faster than they are being received and processed. (6/23/04).
• The DMH POSIX C library was updated to include new API calls for sending and receiving binary messages in March 2004. The receiving logic has been revised to favor receiving reply or timed receive messages when both new asynchronous and reply messages are available. (1/21/05).
• The inspect interactive development tool was replaced with a new version written by Hume Integration.  The new inspect supports new features of Tcl/Tk such as namespaces, child interpreters, channels, packages, and working with [incr Tcl] classes and objects. (2/4/2004)
• The conversion of Tcl data strings to and from SECS ASCII data was made UTF-8 aware so that null characters embedded in ASCII data can be handled. (1/28/04)
• The Windows dmh84.exe (dmh_wish.exe) icon was updated from the network halo to the integrated H.  Version information was added to the dmh84.dll file.(1/25/05)
• Windows icons and resources have been tweaked for Windows Vista (Beta 2). Also, some non-standard HTML tag placements have been corrected. (6/28/06)

New with Tcl/Tk 8.4

• Numerous performance enhancements.
• A new core command lset for updating elements in a list.
• Virtual file system.
• Enhanced commands:
• lindex
• lsearch
• regsub
• trace
• eq and ne string comparison operators for expr
• 64-bit expr support
• New Tk widgets:
• labelframe
• panedwindow
• spinbox
• compound buttons, labels, and menu items.

Hume Changes to the 8.4 Tcl/Tk Core Distribution

• Hume has fixed a problem in the Tk library tk::EntryAutoScan procedure which affected ordering keystroke entry on Windows, when using entry widgets with modal windows, and having done a mouse drag selection of text in the entry widget, and releasing the mouse button to the left of the entry widget. This bug and fix have been reported using SourceForge. (12/11/01)
• The command memory_stats is added, and compiled by default for Windows NT.
• The NT console menu has a new item to display errorInfo, and a new item to display the HTML documentation. Bindings are added for Motif style cut-and-paste and NT style right button paste. These changes are actually done at runtime without changing the core code.  The changes that Hume has made in the past to make the console safe for memory use are no longer needed - the core has similar logic.  However, Hume has revised the console trimming logic for better performance, and has added a "fast mode" which optionally shortens long output lines.
• The Tk C code is patched for Windows NT so that the send command and winfo interps work using DDE.
• The Tcl library is patched so that index files of the name tclindex.txt are used if tclIndex is not found. This enables Tcl to execute from an ISO 9660 CDROM image where tclIndex is not a valid filename.
• The Tk C code is patched to create an option to the winfo command, timelastevent. Executing winfo timelastevent . returns a value that changes with each new window event at your display. This value will be unchanged over time when there has been no user interaction with the window interface. An application can poll this value using after, and determine if the user has been inactive.
• Hume compiles the Tcl DLL on windows NT so that 256 socket connections are possible. The default compilation results in a limit of 64.
• The NT tclWinPipe.c file is patched so that built in shell commands like "type" work without the user specifying cmd.exe /c. Also, NT batch files with the extension .cmd are made executable.  Hume has fixed an 8.4 revision to the preparation of exec command line arguments on NT that interferes with passing arguments containing braces.  Hume has also revised handling of NT interactive shell commands in the Tcl library init.tcl file to allow mixed case commands.
• Hume converts the Tcl/Tk man pages to HTML, adds new pages, and provides custom indexes. Hume removes multiple, strange occurrences of "the the" from the man pages. Hume has revised the encoding man page which had erroneous information regarding Tcl's internal string representation.