I'm currently promoting/providing information for FactoryPMI, a web deployed (Java Web Start) HMI. I'd appreciate links to other products as well as your thoughts (pros/cons, viability, etc). What has your experience been with APROL and ProcessViewBrowser?

Thanks for your time,
Nathan

 

Has anyone used a database driven scripting language to provide realtime web access to process data (PHP or ASP with a database backend)? I've also seen projects to connect PHP to certain AB PLCS. Anyone have experience with this?

FactoryPMI works well as a commercial web based HMI package. I like to follow the latest open source projects. Any info?

Nathan

 

Nathan,

Seems like end-users love web-based solutions.

I'm all for Java Web Start because it gives you realtime interactive data and control and because it automatically deploys and keeps up to date any application deployed. Our customers think this is really cool stuff.

Steve

 

Take a look at Indusoft Web Studio. They have a nice browser based approach and very cost effective. www.indusoft.com

Terry Miller
FlashPoint Technologies

 

Take a look at WebHMI from ICOINCS. Configuration is a snap, you can drag your existing GENESIS32 HMI screens into and they beome Web enabled. HTTP://WWW.ICONICS.COM

 

ICONICS, Inc., Foxboro, MA has an excellent Web-Based HMI Solution. Realtime Graphics, Alarming, Trending, AlarmAlanylsi, an Historical Trending are supported with little programming required. If needed, Scripting may be added to content pages using a built-in editor for VBScript and JavaScript. WebHMI is fully compatible with the latest specifications form the OPC Foundation and it has been used successfully in a variety of applications including Water and Wastewater, Food and beverage, Automotive, Building Automation, and the Oil and Gas industry. More information is available at http://www.iconics.com or you may contact me directly at [email protected].

 

Be careful of ones that use MS "Active-X" controls. This is a technological dead end and should be avoided.

 

DHTML and AJAX are okay technologies in some places but if you want a real, full featured HMI and want to have it fully web-deployed without a per client licensing scheme then take a look at FactoryPMI.

http://www.inductiveautomation.com/products/factorypmi

 

Here's an article written by Steven Hechtman of Calmetrics Company that addresses you question on web based hmi systems. It specifically discusses pros and viability of web based hmi systems over traditional the hmi model.

http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/csk/csk101.html

 

Also, you can look at Outlaw Automation's webHMI demo at

http://www.icscada.ca

 

Which product are you referring to? The web site lists the following third party products under your HMI section. I'm unfamiliar with Cygnet and Monitor Pro. Are any web based? Do any run Java?

Cygnet
FactoryLink ECS 6
RSView
Wonderware
Monitor Pro

----
Nathan Boeger
http://www.inductiveautomation.com
Total SCADA Freedom

 

Nathan,

I've used http://www.bastools.com/catalyst/default.php with really good success. Their direct drivers are limited, but they have an OPC Client driver.

I've also used the ICONICS WebHMI product. The ICONICS software's learning curve isn't nearly as steep as Catalyst PRO, but its cost may be a prohibiting factor.

CH

 

Internet Explorer is still the most widely used browser in the world, and will support ActiveX for some time.

 

We did not use any third party software package on our server. We have a very reliable and powerful Linux based Modbus communication server (similar to OPC server) handle the communication to device.

The HMI web page use only Javascript and CSS 2.0, no Java applet or third party software is necessary.

-------------------------------------
http://www.icscada.ca

 

>Internet Explorer is still the most widely used browser in the world, and will support ActiveX for some time. <

Actually, Firefox is the most widely used browser now. Internet Explorer is plagued with security issues. The only people who use IE are those who don't know how to install Firefox and just use whatever came with their PC.

ActiveX was cool technology in the 90's, but nobody really uses it now.

 

There are some things wrong with this post-- serious facts in error. First, Internet Explorer still has between 57% and 62% depending on which study you read of the browser market-- so Firefox isn't the most widely used browser. Some people also like Safari...

Lots of people still use ActiveX.

Walt Boyes
Editor in Chief
Control and Controlglobal.com
www.controlglobal.com
Mailto:wboyes [at] putman.net
Read my blog SoundOFF!! At www.controlglobal.com/soundoff

 

Those would be the MS sponsored studies. And it will probably be moot when MS sells Windows in the EU without the exploder.

Regards
cww

 

No, actually those are the independent third party studies. MS studies say they still have 85% or more of the market.

Walt

 

In reply to Walt Boyes:

Those numbers for MS IE look about right for the US market. The percentage is a bit higher than that in a few countries. In a number of countries though Microsoft's market share has almost totally collapsed in recent years and they have a negligible market share there. There is a very significant geographical and language variation, so the answer to that depends on where "kx" is from.

Microsoft's browser market share peaked some time around 2000 (when Netscape went out of business) and has been in steady decline since then. The decline has been pretty much in a straight line. A large chunk of that IE install base still uses IE6. Some of those IE6 users upgraded to IE7, but IE7 is now in very rapid decline as those users upgrade to IE8. Neither of those newer versions has had any measurable effect on Microsoft's overall market share though.

Browser market share is a very complex topic, as there are different usage patterns for large business, small business, and personal use. It also varies considerably based on geography and language. A lot of the "free" market share stats that you see will be aggregate numbers from someone's advertising network which tends to give you a snapshot of one market segment.

 

Independence in a monopoly situation is a rare commodity. These same sources tend to say that Linux has just hit the 1% mark by their reckoning. And that Apache is a bit player. I've personally seen MS sites hiding behind a Linux firewall. Now, because it's nearly impossible to count that which you can get anywhere for free, I don't know what the real numbers are, but I'm certain they wish their numbers were accurate. Their methods of counting would not, for example count my dozen or so active installations. To give them the benefit of the doubt, no one has the methodology to count FOSS accurately. And that's as it should be.

Regards
cww