Moving to the Current Version

Your VTScada license entitles you to upgrades for a period of time after purchase. (Maintaining a Support Plus contract provides unlimited upgrades.) You can find the end date of your SupportPlus period in the About dialog, accessible from the VTScada Application Manager. Each new version of VTScada introduces new tools and sometimes changes how older features work.

Notes:

  • Review the lists of changes for each version of VTScada between the one you are upgrading from and the current one, to find additional tasks that you may need to perform.
  • If your application runs on a single server, create a backup before starting.
    (With multi-server applications, it is always better to let VTScada look after backups and redundancy.)
  • In general, it is better to install a new version on top of an older version.
  • VIC clients should be updated with each server update. Older versions may work but will not have newer features or security updates.
  • Text in expressions or custom modules is not added to your languages CSV file automatically. In a multilingual application you must add your own phrases to the language file.
  • If your VAM has an instance of the Training Simulator, uninstall it. The simulation code is subject to change from one version to another and older versions are sometimes not compatible with the current version of VTScada. If you are still using the simulator, then after upgrading reinstall from the newest .Snapshot file in the Examples folder.

General Upgrade Procedure:

In a networked system, upgrade one workstation at a time.

You are advised to update the primary historian last.
                You must update I/O clients before I/O servers. Check that the machine you are updating is not a server for any driver.
                  These two warnings may mean that you will need to adjust your server lists temporarily. The original list may be restored after all servers have been upgraded.

Test the conversion process on an application clone, reviewing the effects in the version log.

If auto-deploy is on at this server, turn it off before stopping the older version of VTScada.

  1. Shut down VTScada on the server you are updating.
  2. Run the installation program, installing to the existing folder.
  3. Restart VTScada and run your application.
    Confirm that the application runs as expected.
  4. Deploy the changes.
    (Auto-deploy may be switched back on if you are using it.)
  5. Proceed to the next workstation.
  6. If you adjusted your server lists (as per the first caution statement), then after all workstations have been upgraded, restore the server lists to the original.

VTScada 12.2

  • As of 12.2.03, all new applications will have a default minimum password length of 8 characters. (See PasswordMinLen). The minimum password length of pre-existing applications will be unchanged, however, it is recommended that all passwords be at least 8 characters long and to remove stagnant accounts (such as accounts made for testing purposes) especially if they have very short passwords (ex. "a")

  • Tags that have automatically linked to a parent tag (linking to Driver tags, Port tags, Alarm Database tags, Publishers, Historians, Style Settings and so on...) will now be able to automatically link to ancestors and siblings. Direct ancestors will prevail over siblings. The siblings of direct ancestors count as ancestors. This new behavior will be disabled in applications that existed before this update until the setting EnableSiblingTagAutoLinking is enabled. Legacy behavior will likely still be preserved, presuming that tags that are configured to auto-link already have a parent tag that they are linked to. New applications will have EnableSiblingTagAutoLinking enabled by default.

  • Important considerations for using .SVG images: SVGs are resource heavy. Reconsider your file type if the image is larger than 1MB or will be redrawn often. Animated SVGs are not supported. Only elements supported by Microsoft Direct2D are supported. Unsupported elements won't load. SVG images are only supported on Windows 10 version 1703 and up. In applications running on earlier versions of Windows, .SVG images won't load.

  • Most engine-level functions that do math support 64-bit signed integer computation (values from -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807). Exceptions and special considerations for individual functions are noted on their respective reference sheets. In an overflow situation, where the result would exceed the 64-bit signed integer range, or if at least one of the values is not within the 64-bit signed integer range, arithmetic is done with the precision of 8-byte IEEE floating point numbers. The legal value range of values is ±10^307, with a precision of approximately 15 decimal places.

  • Bitwise engine-level functions that perform Boolean logic will work with 64-bit signed integers.

  • The #VTypeLong value type now means 64-bit signed integer as opposed to 32-bit signed integer.

  • The number -9223372036854775808 (the smallest 64-bit integer) cannot be compiled like that. The coder needs to use -9223372036854775807 - 1. This is because the smallest 64-bit number -9223372036854775808 compiles as the unary minus operator applied to the positive number 9223372036854775808. That positive number is one more than the largest signed 64-bit integer, so it is handled using a double, and hence precision is lost.

  • Tags that have automatically linked to a parent tag (linking to Driver tags, Port tags, Alarm Database tags, Publishers, Historians, Style Settings and so on...) will now be able to automatically link to ancestors and siblings. Direct ancestors will prevail over siblings. This new behavior will be disabled in pre-existing applications unless EnableSiblingTagAutoLinking is enabled. Legacy behavior will likely still be preserved, presuming that tags that are configured to auto-link already have a parent tag that they are linked to. New applications will have EnableSiblingTagAutoLinking enabled by default.

  • The CRC function now returns positive values rather than negative. The bit sequences are unchanged.
    This is a side effect of the switch to 64-bit values in version 12.2. Versions from 12.1.60 onwards that included the pre-release version of that feature are also affected.