Common Project Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
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The document discusses the Ignition industrial application platform, emphasizing its features like unlimited licensing, scalability, and cross-platform compatibility. It addresses common mistakes in data collection, HMI design, and scripting, providing solutions to improve efficiency and organization in projects. The conclusion encourages users to learn from mistakes and highlights an upcoming community conference for further engagement.
Common Project Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
- 2. Moderator Kent Melville Sales Engineering Manager Inductive Automation
- 3. Presenter Mara Pillott Senior Applications Engineer Inductive Automation
- 4. Ignition: The Industrial Application Platform • Unlimited licensing model • Cross-platform compatibility • Based on IT-standard technologies • Scalable server-client architecture • Web-managed • Launch on desktop or mobile • Modular configurability • Rapid development and deployment One Universal Platform for HMI, SCADA, MES & IIoT: One Universal Platform for HMI/SCADA, MES & IIoT: • Unlimited licensing model • Cross-platform compatibility • Based on IT-standard technologies • Scalable server-client architecture • Web-based & web-managed • Web-deployed designer & clients • Modular configurability • Rapid development & deployment Ignition: Industrial Application Platform
- 5. Today’s Agenda • Introduction • Recognize common mistakes • Data collection and logging • HMI design • Scripting • Conclusion and Q&A
- 6. “Ignition's so easy that you can throw a screen together that's fully functional and you can do it in a very inefficient manner … knowing now what I wish I knew then, I probably would have gone through the whole ... Inductive University, the whole course scheme, to really understand the best way to do things.” — Dan Stauft, OT Director at SugarCreek Recognize Common Mistakes
- 7. Because Ignition is so easy to use, sometimes developers find ways to accomplish tasks that are inefficient or overly complex. Ignition is designed to: ● Build assets ● Repeatedly use and/or modify them Recognize Common Mistakes
- 8. Data Collection & Logging Data is the foundation of every project. Plan tag structure and data collection before finalizing screen design.
- 9. Data Collection & Logging Mistake: Inconsistent Folder Structure Consistency leads to reusability. Inconsistent tag structure slows development time and prevents the use of templates or reusable views. If you manually create each folder separately, tags may be named differently, or exist in some folders but not in others. If you drag in every tag from the PLC and let it dictate the tag structure, this may lead to inconsistencies as each PLC can have a different tag structure. It also may create excessive network traffic by polling unnecessary tags.
- 10. Data Collection & Logging Solution: User Defined Types UDTs ensure consistent structure. Reusable views or templates can easily be built from a UDT. Tag addresses can be parameterized and multiple UDT instances can be created with just a few clicks. Modifications to structure on a UDT can be made on the definition and changes apply to all instances automatically. No more repetitive copy/paste!
- 11. Data Collection & Logging Mistake: Inefficient Polling The default tag group updates values once per second. A common mistake is using the default tag group for all tags. PLC tags will poll, expressions will recalculate, and query tags will poll the database every second. The default may be too fast for some devices or create unnecessary traffic for values that don’t update often. Alternatively, the default may be too slow for some data points.
- 12. Data Collection & Logging Solution: Define Tag Groups Consider the ideal poll rate for your data points. Create additional tag groups for slower and/or faster rates. Assign tags to a slower tag group to reduce traffic or a faster tag group when needed. Avoid fast polling SQL query tags. Poll rate for expression tag scripts should not be faster than the expression’s execution time because it could slow down all tags on the Gateway.
- 13. Data Collection & Logging Mistake: Default Historical Configuration By default, a tag with history enabled will record “on change” if the value changes by 0.01. This is not appropriate for all requirements. Some data points require a value at set intervals. A floating point tag may not be accurate to the nearest 0.01 and the log will have many extra records with insignificant digits. Other floating point tags may have more significant digits and value changes will be missed.
- 14. Data Collection & Logging Solution: Tailored Historical Configuration Determine the best sample mode for your needs: On Change, Periodic, or by Tag Group. On Change records values only when the tag changes by the deadband amount. Periodic and Tag Group record values at set intervals. Set deadbands to the appropriate number of significant digits. You can also change deadband mode to percentage rather than absolute mode.
- 15. Data Collection & Logging Standard Architecture Full Scale-Out Architecture
- 16. Data Collection & Logging Mistake: Overloading a Single Gateway Standard architecture is valid for most use cases. As a system grows, it can be tempting to over- leverage a Gateway. An overloaded Gateway causes performance degradation such as stale tags, high memory and CPU usage, clock drift log warnings.
- 17. Data Collection & Logging Solution: Consider Distributed Architecture Split the system’s load between the front-end and back-end tasks. The back-end Gateways handle PLCs and devices. The front-end Gateways handle Clients. The Gateway Network connects Gateways and allows tags to be shared through remote tag providers. Evaluate your architecture when you reach 250,000 tags.
- 18. Recap Data Collection & Logging Mistakes: ● Improper polling frequencies ● Inefficient polling frequencies ● Poor tag structure ● Poor tag organization Solutions: ● Appropriate poll rates/tag groups ● Correct system architecture ● UDTs ● Consistent folder structure and naming conventions
- 19. HMI Design Mistake: Choosing the wrong visualization module Solution: Understanding when to use Vision vs. Perspective
- 20. HMI Design Mistake: Cluttered or hard-to-read screens Screens that are cut off or do not resize Solution: Choose the appropriate container type and screen design methods
- 21. HMI Design Mistake: Container that does not resize This example popup fits nicely on a desktop. However, the popup is cut off on a mobile device.
- 22. HMI Design Solution: Mobile-Responsive Design The popup uses a flex container and resizes on desktop or mobile.
- 23. HMI Design Flex Container Best for most mobile-responsive screens. The Flex Container can alter a component's width and height to accommodate all types of devices and screen sizes. It expands components to fill available free space, or shrinks them to prevent overflow.
- 24. HMI Design Coordinate Container Component's size and location are relative to parent size and location. Components can be fixed-size or grow/shrink proportionally when the view is stretched. Best for HMI screens or building diagrams when components should not resize. Use a coordinate container when you want overlapping components.
- 25. HMI Design Breakpoint Container Use when you want different components on mobile and desktop. Breakpoint consists of a single breakpoint and two child views.
- 26. HMI Design Column Container Use when you want the same components on all screen sizes, but in different positions and sizes. Column container has 3 breakpoints, each with 12 columns and unlimited rows.
- 27. HMI Design Tab Container Use for classic tab strip navigation buttons. Only one component can be displayed in each tab.
- 28. HMI Design Mistake: Cluttered or hard-to-read screens Screens are difficult to read if there is too much information In this example: ● Components are not aligned. ● Motors, tanks, and valves do not stand out from each other. ● Font is not consistent. ● When every value is highlighted, we don’t know which value is important.
- 29. HMI Design Solution: Use rulers and alignment tools Components are easiest to read when lined up in a predictable grid.
- 30. HMI Design Solution: Convey information visually with symbols It is easy to pick out the motor, tank, and valve components.
- 31. HMI Design Solution: Use Styles and Themes for consistent look and feel
- 32. HMI Design Solution: Emphasize Important Data Emphasize important data through color, position, size, isolation, and contrast. In this example, only the faulted pump is highlighted.
- 33. HMI Design Traditional HMI High-Performance HMI Solution: High-Performance HMIs
- 34. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Choose the best component for the task
- 35. HMI Design Solution: Check the Ignition Exchange Platform to share and discover free Ignition resources Consistently updated https://inductiveautomation.com/exchange/
- 36. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Establish a consistent hierarchy Main Menu Sub Menu Sub Menu Main Screen Main Screen Main Screen Main Screen
- 37. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Consistent Navigation Use docked menus on every page.
- 38. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Consistent Navigation
- 39. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Affordance: make it obvious what’s clickable
- 40. HMI Design Solution: Affordance: make it obvious what’s clickable
- 41. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Separate categories from utilities
- 42. HMI Design Mistake: Hard-to-use screens Solution: Avoid too many clicks
- 43. HMI Design Mistake: Incorrect bindings Solution: Understanding direct vs. indirect bindings How do you know when to use indirect binding? If you find yourself tempted to copy/paste a component and then change the direct binding, consider an indirect binding.
- 44. HMI Design Mistake: Incorrect bindings Solution: Templates and embedded views
- 45. HMI Design Mistake: Incorrect bindings Solution: Parameters and transforms In this example, there are five instances of the Blend Tank view on a Flex Repeater. Each view has a Device Number parameter. Flex Repeater instances can be added manually but it is often faster and more dynamic to use a transform.
- 46. HMI Design Mistake: Incorrect bindings Solution: Parameters and transforms In this example, we used a loop to add five instances. A list of views could also be generated from a database query.
- 47. Recap HMI Design Mistakes: ● Wrong Visualization Module ● Cluttered or hard-to-read screens Solutions: ● Vision vs. Perspective ● Container type ● Symbols ● Grids and rulers ● Emphasize important information ● High-performance HMI
- 48. Recap HMI Design Mistakes: ● Hard-to-use screens ● Incorrect bindings Solutions: ● Component type ● Hierarchy/common look and feel/styles and themes ● Affordance ● Separate categories from utilities ● Avoid too many clicks ● Direct vs. indirect ● Parameters and transforms ● Templates and embedded views
- 49. Scripting Mistake: Overly complex solutions Solution: Know when to use scripting vs. bindings Consider if built-in functionality meets the project needs
- 50. Scripting Don’t: Add change script to parameter to set display values. Do: Use indirect bindings on components.
- 51. Scripting Mistake: Overly complex solutions Solution: Using too many scripting functions Be cautious if one script is calling another script then calling another script.
- 52. Scripting Mistake: Unorganized scripts Solution: Define scripting functions Don’t be tempted to copy/paste lines of code.
- 53. Scripting Mistake: Unorganized scripts Solution: Categorize into libraries with standard locations and naming conventions Group scripts into packages.
- 54. Scripting Mistake: Unorganized scripts Solution: Commenting code What the script does and why.
- 55. Scripting Mistake: Misunderstanding the scope Solution: Gateway vs. client vs. designer
- 56. Scripting Mistake: Misunderstanding the scope Solution: Custom property vs. session property
- 58. Recap Scripting Mistakes: ● Overly complex solutions ● Unorganized scripts ● Misunderstanding the scope Solutions: ● Scripting vs. binding ● Too many scripts ● Define scripting functions ● Libraries with standard locations and naming conventions ● Commenting code ● Gateway vs. client vs. designer ● Custom vs. session property ● Message handling
- 59. Conclusion It’s easy to make mistakes. Fortunately, with Ignition it’s just as easy to fix those mistakes, then avoid making them in the future. Ignition provides many ways to make your projects more organized, efficient, stylish, and user-friendly.
- 62. Join us for the 2021 Ignition Community Conference on Sept. 21 & 22! Register for free at: icc.inductiveautomation.com ● Keynote ● Developer Panel ● Discover Gallery ● Build-a-Thon ● Community Sessions ● Improved virtual networking ● And much more!