Emerson Exchange 365

Watch List utility for DeltaV

Hi All,

I am new to DeltaV and I got shocked with the limitation of the watchit utility.  during testing/debugging it is very useful if the engineer has a simple user friendly list that display all parameters that he cares about. with easily add/remove parameters to it.

I asked some of my DeltaV experts colleagues and they confirmed that is the only way available to watch parameters.

So, I have created a watchlist that runs on DeltaV operate and uses frsReadValue/frsWriteValue for the sake of displaying live values. as below

    

But I am very limited having it as a pop up in DeltaV operate. because you can not have it alongside or in top of control studio window. also, Continuous reads freezes out all DeltaV operate actions.

 I can develop a standalone  tool using VB dot Net. which interface with OPCDAAutomation Active X interface. but there is no way to get the my client agrees to use non Standard Emerson tool on their systems.

I wonder if Emerson can adopt the idea and create that tool as a part of DeltaV standard utilities.. It is Simple... and I can provide the source code to them free of charge!!

or Someone tell me if there is potential problems/issues for using such tool.

BR,

Mohamed

• testing
• OPC
• Watchlist
• debug
• ControlStudio
• Watchit
• OPCDAAutomation

Mohamed Elsaber

• 11 Jul 2019 1:24 PM
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8 Replies

• Sal Salamone

  

  • 11 Jul 2019 4:10 PM

  Hi Mohamed,
  It sounds as though there are build in tools that you may not know of. First, Watchit is great for simple things but not really something to use for reporting. OPCWatchit will give you a browse button to help navigate the tagnames and see their values, you can also cut and paste that path from OPCWatchit to use in Watchit, which makes finding the path easier. But for tracking certain performance criteria I would suggest using DeltaV Reporter. It's already there you just have to install it; i.e. its included look up DeltaV Reporter in Book Online. Using Microsoft EXCEL you can have values update live or generate a report, or automatically generate a report. Many of my customers require printed reports and this is how I accomplished that.
  Regards,
  Sal

  Sal Salamone

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• Matt Stoner

  

  • 11 Jul 2019 5:30 PM

  Watchit can open multiple instances and has an option to always be on top for each instance (Click the eye in the top left corner and select Always on top which can be over Operate, Control Studio, etc unless minimized). It can display strings and named sets (Number and String) which OPCWatchit can't do. It also has the option to change the update rate of the item. I'm not sure what you mean be "freezes out all DeltaV operate actions" but I don't believe this is ever the case, at least I have never seen an issue "freezing out" DV Operate.
  
  DeltaV does have a tool called Excel Add-In that can also do similar functionality and you can find more information here:
  www.emerson.com/.../product-data-sheet-deltav-excel-add-in-en-56264.pdf
  
  I'm not sure who is the user (engineer, operator, etc) and what they are trying to do but I find that Watchit and Excel Add-In provide all the functionality that I have ever needed.
  
  Might want to post use case(s) of what you were trying to accomplish that caused you to develop a tool.

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• Mohamed Elsaber

  

  • 12 Jul 2019 9:24 AM

  In reply to Sal Salamone:

  Hi Sal,
  Thanks for the reply.
  The tool is not used for reporting. it just same as WatchIt but shows multiple tags on the same window with easier user interface.
  
  For instance, I was testing some code which was writing values to 20 tags in per SFC step. I was able to open only 6 WatchIt windows on my screen. so I had to re-run every step 4 times and populate the tags in the WatchIt windows every time with next 6 tags. It was so messy and exhausting.
  
  By that tool I was able to list all tags at once, and watch them changing to the right values as the code goes.
  I was able to enable/disable transitions by just writing 1/0 on the table. this allowed me to test the code in a very efficient way.
  
  I am only limited by the customer not to use non-standard Emerson executable on the system. Otherwise, I would use exe program that interfaces with Emerson OPC without using DeltaV Operate at all.
  
  WatchIt has the feature to Stay On Top of any open window, and allows continuous reads. I can't do that with a VBA form embedded in DeltaV operate.
  
  Speaking about MS Excel. it is not installed on the system. and Firewall disable ports that allows Excel to access OPC for a remote server. in addition to that, It will not give you the benefit of having a window on-top of Control Studio windows during testing the code.
  
  BR,
  Mohamed

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• Mohamed Elsaber

  

  • 12 Jul 2019 9:25 AM

  In reply to Matt Stoner:

  Hi Matt,
  please see my reply to Sal above.

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• Matt Stoner

  

  • 12 Jul 2019 1:04 PM

  In reply to Mohamed Elsaber:

  Why only limited to 6 watchits? I have had many more than this and positioned these so you just see the values during testing to see the values changed and I group them logically like SP/MODE.Target of a valve together which I've shown example below

  

  You can submit your request/idea to User Driven Enhancement Program at https://userideas-emerson.com/

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• Sal Salamone

  

  • 12 Jul 2019 2:35 PM

  In reply to Mohamed Elsaber:

  Hello again Mohamed,
  You are correct that there is not an easier built in tool for doing what you are needing. We (Novaspect and Emerson Impact Partner) have added parameters within steps so we can test and troubleshoot an SFC or EM (Equipment Module) more effectively. The graphic we use is custom as well, similar to what you have created. If there is another solution I am not aware of one. As Matt said, it would be good to submit your need to the User Driven Enhancement Program.
  Regards,
  Sal

  Sal Salamone

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• Ben Merryman

  

  • 9 Feb 2021 10:43 PM

  Seems like a neat tool to me! It would save a couple of headaches to be able to mass drive multiple tags in a quick way for iterative testing of CMs. Especially if you could have a table of states that you would be driving the group of tags with. I think this is similar to how Mimic works but I haven't used that application yet.

  Ben Merryman

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• Andre Dicaire

  

  • 10 Feb 2021 4:40 PM

  In reply to Ben Merryman:

  Submitting to the UDEP process is a good idea, but will not yield results for you in the near future.
  
  The customer can install Excel on the workstations that would require this and the Excel license will provide up to 500 simultaneous values. You can then create a file with forms and such to provide a user friendly interface based on the features of Excel. This is fully supported by Emerson to satisfy your customer's concerns. And you can deploy today. Install a local copy of Excel so that there are no worries about connecting through a Firewall.
  
  You indicate that you are running Control Studio. This would clearly be a DeltaV Workstation then, which could run the Excel Add In and provide a basis for a solution.
  
  Watchit is extremely useful in trouble shooting but managing many tags can be a bit arduous. With Excel Add In, you can more easily devise a way to manage multiple datapoints, like, Add PV, SP, OUT, MODE for module XYZ. Create templates for repeatable views or lists related to certain data structures.
  
  The cost to purchase Excel and the DeltaV Excel AddIn license would be far less than a ground up development effort and test effort, and ongoing maintenance support for an unsupported point solution. Note also that Excel on the DeltaV workstation provides ability for Reports to be generated. The Report add-in provides access to the History data.

  Andre Dicaire

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