Hume Datahub SDK Recent Changes

SECS/GEM Software Changes

• Java libaries now include jar files and javadoc in-context API documentation.  New classes StringList and ListBuilder have been added for list parsing and list construction. The libraries are no longer compatible with pre JDK 1.6 versions.  (7/25/10).
• The SECS-I communication trace window now includes the block send retry count when the display of the Header Interpretation is selected. (7/8/10).
• An integer conversion issue was fixed for the .NET libraries which affected custom message handlers when the 4 byte SECS header system value was a negative 32bit value. (6/15/10).
  
• A Tcl library procedure, secs_DMH_reply, was enhanced to provide for a client data argument and background error trapping.  This procedure is a higher performance alternative for implementing SECS message conversations using the SECS server for the developer who is willing to deploy asynchronous conversation logic. (5/31/10).
  
• A minor change was made to better coordinate disabling of SECS communication during a modal send-and-reply.  Second,  conversions of hex values in the Secs Server have been made tolerant of improper formats by using a new procedure ei_hexvalue.   Also, a synchronization bug was fixed in the static Java TclList methods. (4/29/10).
  
• Linux x86 versions of the SDK and SecsServer have been updated to use newer runtime libraries and to be compatible with the latest X-windows. (3/21/10).
  
• The Tcl hsms command was updated to support a non-standard 1994 protocol version that uses two length bytes. (10/08/09).
  
• The SecsServer program was enhanced so that it can generate temporary licenses using the -setup.tcl option. (6/28/09).
  
• Both the .NET SecsPort and .NET SecsHost components were revised to simplify usage - events are executed by the same thread used to construct connections, and only events are needed to receive asynchronous inputs.  With these changes, the SecsPort can be directly imbedded in a LabView application, and the application does not need to deal with thread synchronization issues.  We think you will agree that these changes are worth breaking compatibility with earlier versions. (6/24/08).
  
• The alarm text (ALTX) length limit was raised to 120 from 40 per the recent change in SEMI standard E5. (3/17/09).
• Tracing of HSMS control messages has been enhanced to be similar to data messages.  Also, the secsport and hsms Tcl commands have been revised so that during creation of a connection they 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. (9/9/08).
• The Tcl/Tk user interfaces for the host and equipment applications have been rewritten using the ttk widget set newly available with Tk 8.5.  There are many new features including Conversations.  The updated applications are installed under directory gem2 so they can co-exist with the older versions. (8/14/08).
  

Host Side

• Subscription logic of the Tcl Host user interface was tweaked to allow for other interfaces running without windows in the same process. (6/29/10).
  
• An array version of VariableQuery() was added to the .NET SecsHost for more efficient querying of sets of variables. (4/8/10).
  
• The handling of property CEID_OFFLINE by the .NET and Java libraries has been improved so that a restart is not needed to use a changed value. (3/22/10).
  
• A property was added to the .NET SecsHost to disable the use of UserControl instances and calls to Application.DoEvents.  This feature enables using the SecsHost component in a Windows Service application using the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). (1/27/10).
  
• Initialization was revised to discover ECV parameters before Status variables.  This avoids problems with equipment that reports ECV items as being both ECVs and Status Variables.  A related change is that the host logic allows ECVs to be included in event reports if the array element report_ecvs is defined and set to 1. (12/18/09).
  
• The .NET SecsHost component was revised to allow not dispatching events to the thread that constructed the instance.  (12/15/09).
  
• A new property, ReportsUnlink, has been added to the .NET host library to accommodate certain equipment that requires S2F35 to be sent twice during event report setup.  A corresponding field was added to the startup table. (1/30/09)
  
• New methods have been added to the Java and .NET host libraries to request variable values by name or identifier. (10/20/08).
  
• 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).
  
• 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. (5/2/08).
  

Equipment Side

• The S2F31R time set command has been updated to allow the host to use UTC TimeFormat 2 values with one or more fraction decimal places.  However, we continue to recommend that clock synchronization should be done using NTP at the system level, and the SECS clock set commands should not be used. (6/11/10).
• Command mailbox usage for the .NET and Java libraries has been revised to preserve the sequence of data changes mixed with rapid event posting.  The .NET application now includes a demonstration test case for this scenario. (4/4/10).
  
• The ERACK value in the S2F38 reply message has been updated to send the value 1 instead of 2 for unknown CEIDs, and similarly the TIACK error code for the S2F32 message was revised to send the value 1 if the time offset could not be set. (4/8/10).
  
• A minor problem with using non-numeric text values for the built-in variable LocationID was fixed. (3/4/10).
  
• The .NET SecsPort component was enhanced to include methods for integrating OPC device data as SECS interface items. (12/12/09).
  
• The handling of the ECV UseMultiBlockInquire was tweaked to avoid and prevent errors from incorrectly saved values. (7/20/09).
  
• A minor change was made so that multiple reports in an event report are sent in numeric ascending order. (7/16/09).
  
• We are introducing the variable class PPV, Process Parameter Variables, for the subset of ECV Parameter items that affect processing.  The equipment logic rejects an S2F16 request to set a PPV value with the return code value of 2 unless the control state is remote.  Methods used to add Parameters have been revised to permit specifying whether the ECV affects processing.  Documentation has been revised to refer to ECV items as Equipment Configuration Variables and not the misnomer Equipment Constant Variables.  Pursuant to this change, the Event Name OperatorEquipmentConstantChange has been renamed OperatorECVChange. (5/26/09).
  
• New variable definitions and a property have been added to simplify complying with the requirements of SEMI Draft Standard #4557 for the Photovoltaic Industry.  The new alarm event sharing property simplifies having all alarm set and clear events share the same generic data collection events.  New variable items AlarmCode, AlarmText, LocationID, and PPUsedName have been added.  The Java and .NET applications have been updated to demonstrate use of the new alarm event sharing property, and setting the TimeFormat per the PVECI draft Standard.  (12/6/08).
  
• New methods have been added to the .NET and Java equipment libraries to facilitate using variables and parameters by name in addition to access by integer varID. (10/6/08).  The .NET SecsPort Dispose logic was also revised to fix an issue that interfered with an unforced exit. (10/24/08).
• The boolean parameter EnableSpooling, specified by the latest GEM E30 standard, has been added as a means for the host to disable the transition to the Spooling Active state. (10/3/08)
• Higher resolution time formats with timezone information are supported with TimeFormat set to the value 2.  A new parameter TimeFormatMinutesWest provides for specification of the extended format. (10/2/08).
  
• SECS-I features have been added to the C++ SecsEquip libraries for Windows and POSIX. (9/16/08).
  
• The SECS equipment ControlState variable type has been changed to U1 for better consistency with other state values. (8/11/08).
• 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).

OPC Software

• We are pleased to inform you that support for OPC has been added to the Datahub SDK version for Windows.  There is a new Tcl command ::opc::opc and a new high-level application, the OPC Supervisor.  There are also example procedures for the OEM to easily deploy an equipment SECS interface with a controller system that uses OPC connected devices. (5/27/09).

Tcl/Tk Application and API Changes

• Hume Datahub SDK applications have been revised to use the built-in font TkFixedFont instead of creating the font fixed. (4/4/10).
  
• The .NET DmhClient component library, HumeDMH.dll, had a bug with parsing a version string as a floating point value in locales where a period is not used for the decimal point. (6/5/2009).
  
• The SQL subscription OPEN command has been enhanced with a new option ARGDATA which provides for passing user specified data to a subscription procedure.  (5/26/09).
  
• Several Tcl commands have been newly added to the dmh package including hash5, hub_insert, hub_safe_sub, mbx_when_reply, and mbx_xact. (5/12/09).
  
• The Windows console Exit menu item was changed to call exit in the main interpretor so that ::dmh::dp_atexit is not bypassed. (4/26/09).
  
• The dmh package library code was updated with internal changes to support debugging certain procedures by swapping in instrumented versions.  When testing this change, a memory leak with sending messages was observed and fixed.  (11/5/08).
• The .NET DmhClient component library, HumeDMH.dll, is now delivered as signed, strong name assemblies to facilitate system installation and sharing.   Signed strong name versions of the SecsPort and SecsHost can be created by the customer as needed.  They are not delivered by Hume to avoid creating problems for the customer building the example SECS applications.  (10/20/2008).
  
• The SecsServer application was updated so that any Tcl application script can be specified on the command line for execution. (9/12/08).
  
• 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 Datahub UI has been revised to use the table display widget newly available in Tk 8.5.  There is a new Edit menu action to use an existing table data row as the editing startpoint for a new row, and there is a new Table menu action that shows example code to make a table persistent.  The persistence code uses the ::dmh::dp_atexit command which is newly documented. (3/18/07).
  
• The ability to clear mailbox counts has been added to the mbx Tcl command. (3/6/08).
• 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 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).

Tcl/Tk 8.5 Compatibility Changes

• The current release of the Hume Datahub SDK includes Tcl/Tk applications that are based on Tcl & Tk patch levels 8.5.2.  From a compatibility point of view, Tcl 8.5 differences from Tcl 8.4 are minor and present few problems (more details).
  
• The Tcl 8.5 distribution is not compatible with the open source tbcload package.  The Hume Data Collection Component (DCC) command dc_encode which is used to obscure passwords is now a compiled dmh package command and the DCC no longer requires tbcload.   With this change, the dmh package version has been changed to 1.3 from 1.2.
  
• Since Tcl version 8.4, the Hume dmh package Tcl extension has been revised to use the ::dmh namespace to prevent name conflicts such as occurred with the Tcl 8.4 lset command.  Read more about the new Tcl 8.4 namespace and compatibility issues in the dmh_import document.  The Hume provided Tcl commands dmh_import, dmh_var, and vset were added to the 8.3 (DMH83) distribution and newer Tcl/Tk distributions to support deploying software that is compatible with Tcl 8.3 and newer.
  
• The Datahub SDK Tcl/Tk 8.5 distribution includes updated versions of the optional packages [incr Tcl],  [incr Tk], and Iwidgets.  You need to use the versions that are matched to your version of Tcl/Tk.  Hume provides a modified index file for these packages so that the correct version is chosen when multiple versions are installed.
  

New with Tcl/Tk 8.5

• Faster execution: Tcl 8.5 is 10% faster than 8.4 with reduced memory usage.
• New widgets: Tk 8.5 features new themed widgets including a tabbed notebook, combobox, and a treeview widget that works well for table data too.
• A new dictionary data structure command dict.
• A new syntax operator causing argument expansion {*} see the wiki discussion.
  
• New core commands such as  lassign, lrepeat, and lreverse.
• New subcommands such as clock add, string islist, and string reverse.
  
• Reorganization of channel related commands in the new chan command.
• Arbitrary-precision integers, new math function commands, and revised use of tcl_precision.
• Many, many more improvements: See the 8.5 Changes page on the wiki.tcl.tk site for details.
  

Hume Changes to the 8.5 Tcl/Tk SourceForge Distribution

• Hume has diagnosed and fixed a problem with executing wish -help (Sourceforge bug report 1938580). (4/9/2008)
  
• 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.
• The windows 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 Windows 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 so that the send command and winfo interps work using the Hume DDE command.
• 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.  Users should migrate to the new Tk 8.5 command tk inactive for this purpose - winfo timelastevent will not be patched into the next version.
  
• Hume compiles the Tcl DLL on Windows so that 256 socket connections are possible. The default compilation results in a limit of 64.
• The windows tclWinPipe.c file is patched so that built in shell commands like "type" work without the user specifying cmd.exe /c. Also, windows batch files with the extension .cmd are made executable.   Hume has also revised handling of windows 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 has revised the encoding man page which had erroneous information regarding Tcl's internal string representation.