Tools for diagnosis

Once you have started running a project you can, using the Startup window, select some diagnostic tools, which show the windows:

• PropertyWatch (Watch)

• TraceWindow

• ModuleInformation (Info).

You can also start the diagnostic tools, as explained above, on the Run-Test and Run-StartUp by pressing the left mouse button on the icons of the diagnostic tools. If the menus are enabled for the Screens you can also access the Tools menu at run time.

Watch Window

This tool is a window divided into two frames, as shown in the figure below, whose main objectives are:

• Simulate offline the value of objects and their properties;

• Track, online, the state of objects and their properties:

In the figure you can see:

• The left frame has four tabs (List1 to List4) where the application designer can group objects of the same type. Thus, for example, in the <List1>of the figure below placed tags of the same relinker @Tag.GZM_01Z4_D00060.

• If the designer is not connected to the IEDs and changes the tag value, all application actions associated with this change will be performed manually.

• If the designer is connected to any IED, online, the value of each tag whose source is the IED is the value that is coming from the field.

• The right frame contains the properties of the selected object in the left frame. In the example below, object properties

<@Tag.GZM_01Z4_D00060.STA>.

• If the designer is not connected to the IEDs, he can change the value of a property manually and verify that the treatments provided for this change will occur.

• If the designer is connected to IEDs, the values of these properties refer to conditions associated with the object. Thus, in the example, the object has quality = 0 (point of failure), its last reading was on 09/10/2018 17:35:58.690 (time stamp), etc.

Trace Window

This tool allows you to debug routines associated with the various modules of the ActionいNET program. Thus, for example, if several Script codes have been developed associated with a command window, you can define that the Display module (responsible for displaying application screens) is tracked and, within the Script code, you can place commands that include information in the trace window, such as the command below, underlined in red:
<@Info.Trace(txtAux + "_L");> which will place in the Trace window the value of the Txtaux variable concatenated with the string "_D".

Info window - Module information

The Info - Module Information window contains information about the operation of the modules. For example, when choosing a Device module and a specific channel, you have a lot of information about how the communication channel works.
A very important point is the Read Information Groups because it provides information about the virtual read groups, the execution time of each item, the amount of reads and reads that failed, and also reports on the code and date/time of the last error.
For problem investigation, the following steps should typically be followed when using the Information Module:

1. Go to "Read Groups Information" to check the number of successes and failures in communication in order to quickly identify the communication blocks.

2. If you have a systematic error in all blocks, or status codes with negative values, this typically means that you cannot access the remote device. Make sure the node address is correct.

3. If you have either block with systematic error, check the tags and addresses related to the block. Use TraceWindow with Devices information to collect information about these communication errors.

4. For some protocols, such as OPC, dropped items will show wrong addresses in the configuration.

When running the application in test mode in The Enterprise Model, keep in mind that in this mode, only reads are performed from field devices, even if you have a setting to write to the field.
It is very useful to run the application with ONLINE CONFIGURATION enabled, so you don't have to stop/start the Device module when modifying the configuration. You can modify the PLC addresses in Points, AccessTypes, and most of the application and see in real time the results in execution. You can use Startup-Window or Propertywatch to start and stop only one module, such as Devices, instead of restarting the entire execution system.

Activating Diagnostic Tools

When the user will enable the run-time of the application, it is possible to define which diagnostic tools will be activated along with the application (see selection in red), as well as which modules of the application will be activated (see selection in green):
Once the application is activated, the window below is displayed, with the status of all modules in the application:

In the example figure above, all modules are enabled, unless devices and reports

So, for example, if the user makes a change to the Devices module, which handles communication with IEDs, just stop the module and then reactivate it.
If when you activate the app, the designer didn't activate the Watch or Trace, just press the buttons above Watch and Trace to start them.

Using the Watch

When enabled, this module comes with all fields empty. To insert objects into each of its tabs, simply type the letter associated with the object (for example, tag) that through the "intellisense" property are shown the possible objects associated with that letter, as shown in the figures below:
When typing <H> objects are displayed where gray highlighted <Historian> the first object that pairs with the letter <H>.

The name <tag.A1.> was inserted through "Intellisense" and when inserted point after the A1 (feeder 1) all the points of this feeder are displayed.

The point <Tag.A1.DJ.PCOND> has been selected, and when inserted the point, all properties associated with this point are displayed. In this way, you can select only the properties that you want to debug in a point grouping.

In conclusion, through the Watch you add several objects to a window tab, which you want to analyze the behavior, as shown in the figure below:


When the application is terminated, this window is maintained so that when restarting the application, all placed objects are kept, that is, if in each tab were inserted 20 objects, they will remain when the application is reactivated.
A faster way to include points in a tab is to import them from an Excel spreadsheet, generated as presented in previous chapters. The example shown in the figure below shows an Excel spreadsheet generated from the template of a Feeder, where the header of the columns was added: Object / Value. After generating this worksheet, with all the tags of the
Feeder 1, simply copy the columns in gray and paste them into one of the tabs of the Watch tool.

Using Trace

Trace, as stated above, allows you to crawl ActionいNET modules. When activated, as shown in the figure below, a window opens so that the designer of the
application select the debug options. The <Settings> opens a second window with possible options.

Once the options are set, the user closes this window (Close) and it will be associated with this project whenever it is activated.
The buttons on the Trace window are:

• Settings: opens the window with debugging options;

• Clear: cleans all lines of this window;

• Pause: stop inserting rows into the worksheet, depending on the execution of the application;

• Export: Esporta data to an XML spreadsheet;

• Close: Closes the Trace window.

Trace Options Window

This window is subdivided into four sections:

1. Object Tracking: Allows you to select objects such as tags, scripts, etc. that whenever used/changed cause the creation of a new line in the Trace window informing the modification. Objects support "Intellisense" and the <Add>, <Remove> and <Clear> used to perform these actions in the list.

1. Modules that will be Tracked: Allows the designer to select one or more modules from those existing in ActionいNET. In addition to the module selection you can select the types of events associated with the module: Error, Warning, Info, and Debug.

2. Outputs: Defines where the trace lines will be written, whether in the Trace array and/or in a file in XML format.

3. Window Theme: Lets you choose the color of the window from one of four possible.

Communication Troubleshooting

Operations Records (LOG)

The protocol uses a LOG logging system in text file and in Windows event. There are four types of messages: Debug, Info, Warning and Error.

Error messages, which cannot be ignored and require attention and correction
for the correct operation of the Communication Module. Error

Trace Window of the Action.NET

The Action.NET has the trace window, which runs on the server and displays the real-time operations record of each channel and node. It has 4 important columns (Info 1, Info 2, Info 3, and Info 4), which inform the Channel, Node, Point Address, and method executed by the driver.

Windows Event

The Communication Module is configured internally to always record all Warning and Error messages. This rule is independent of the log-level setting defined.
The message format consists of: Channel, Node (when any), Point Address (when any), Date/Time, Message Type, Thread, Method, and Message.

Text file

The Communication Module will log messages based on the hierarchical level defined in the channel configuration (Manual Session 2).
The directory consists of folders for each channel and node that has been initialized. The root is found in: C:\Action.NET\Projects\Logs\Drivers\
The text file is created in the format: Log-DIA-MES-ANO.log
For example, if you configured the maximum storage of 30 files, each with a maximum size of 35 Megabytes. Each day cycle a file is created if it has not exceeded the maximum size. If, this size is exceeded once. A copy of the file of the day with end .1 will be created and another new file will be created. If the burst repeats itself on the same day. The new file replaces the copy and starts a new file. If not, a new daily file cycle is created. Therefore, each node can store approximately 1076 Megabytes on disk.
The message format consists of: Point address (when any), Date/Time, Message Type, Thread, Method, and Message.