S+ Engineering (Composer) FC248, FC226 Documentation Vagaries

I had an interesting experience when I found that there are at least two versions of the single volume Function Code Manual. What looks like the newer one is, in fact, older.

2VAA000844R0001_G_en_S__Engineering_for_Harmony_1.1__Function_Code_Application_Manual.pdf

2VAA000844R0001_I_en_S__Engineering_for_Harmony__Function_Code_Application_Manual.pdf

You might think that 1.1 is "better" than the generic one, but you would be wrong. Imagine my surprise when I found an entire new function code! FC 248 Turbine I/O Device Definition is only documented in the August 2016 version. DBDOC supports it now.

If you need documentation of the specialized Turbine I/O Device, you need the new 2016 version, or a version better than the 1.1 one from 2015.

The August 2016 version refers to SCI200 as the equivalent of CI800. Presumably, this is an official change in the designation of that module.

Here are the differences in function code 226 tables.

In the documentation for FC 227, there is a minor terminology improvement, from

to (in the 2016 only version)

Under S4 in Specifications, in the 2016 version, we find this additional information on the defaults defined by the baud rate.

The 1.1 version simply says: "0-7 [retries], default = 7", which is nowhere near as complete as the above.

The point of this presentation is that you should keep on top of the new function code manuals if you have new modules, or are designing for them.

Text File Dumps of Configuration and Source -- A Useful New Tool

Since Version 10.6.1, DBDOC has reported the specifications that make up the configuration of an INFI 90 system in "DMPCFG" text files. We use these files to cross-check DBDOC handling of the CLD and CAD files, verifying that we are handling the CLDs and CAD sheets the same as the ABB compilers Composer and WinCAD (and DOS CADEWS and SLAD).

An offshoot of this work was that we were able to make DBDOC generate the same values as ABB compilers in the cases where we found the CFG files do not have the documented default values. Two examples are S28 of FC80 and S2 of FC 225. The documentation says each has a default value 2, but Composer and WinCAD compile a value of 0.

At the moment, you need to compare and interpret these text files manually, but look for DDBOC to do more automatically in the future.

The following example occurred this past week, and was something of a mystery to track down. DMPCFG proved its value as part of the solution.

Example 1: Mismatch Between CLD/CAD Files and the Module Load File.

A client was concerned at the failure of the blocks shown here (8120, 9498) to display live data in Hyperview.  As you can see, other blocks on the same sheet were showing live data without incident.  They speculated that the cause might have something to do with the fact that one of the blocks was an AOLDB, a new block type. 

DBDOC Analysis:

In fact, the block type issue was a red herring.  DBDOC does in fact support the newest block types added to Composer.   The fact that the values of the specifications were shown correctly was evidence for that.

The actual problem was almost certainly that the configuration in the module did not match the CLD, and the CLD is of course what is used to generated DBDOC's graphical representation of the CLD diagram.  We expected that most likely, for some reason, blocks 8120 and 9498 did not exist in the module, but that they were present in the CLD.

In order to verify this, we had a look at the DMPCFG files from the CFG (loaded into the module), and the CLD (used by DBDOC).  Surprisingly, they showed the exact opposite of what we were expecting!

CFG DMPCFG File -- 8120 and 9498 are present!

Block 8120 FC48 S1=9498 S2=16 S3=0.0 S4=50.0 S5=20.4 S6=-99.0 S7=1.0 S8=2.0 S9=2.0  

Block 9498 FC96 S1=5 S2=1254 S3=9497 S4=9.223E+018 S5=9.223E+018 S6=9.223E+018

And in the CLD DMPCFG file, 8120 and 9498 were absent. 

So then, how did 8120 and 9498 get into the CLD diagram displayed in Hyperview?  And why weren't they in the module at the time when live data was being requested and the screenshot taken?

DMPCFG File Comparison

It's clear from the contents of the DMPCFG files provided by the client, that at the point the DMPCFG files were created, the CFG did have blocks 8120 and 9498, while the CLD did not.

Left: CFG (with block 8120), Right: Source CLD (without 8120) 

Left: CFG (with block 9498), Right: Source CLD (without 9498, and with new blocks 9499 and 9501) 

What Actually Happened

This is what the sequence of events turned out to be:

1. By October, a CLD with block 8120 FC 48 and block 9498 FC 96 had been compiled into a CFG that was loaded into the module.
2. This same CLD was built by DBDOC into the October M14 file shown, where blocks 8120 and 9498 are present.
3. The CLD was changed to have blocks 8120 and 9498 removed, and blocks 9499 (a new DAANG block) and 9501 added.
4. A new M14 file was built in November, which was not being used when the problem was noticed.  However, it was this DBDOC build that generated the DMPCFG files in the comparison above, since at that moment, the CLD no longer had blocks 8120 and 9498. It had not yet been recompiled, so the CFG file remained unchanged as shown blocks 8120 and 9498.
5. Later, the CLD without blocks 8120 and 9498 was compiled, and the resulting CFG loaded into the module.
6. Finally, the October M14 was accidentally viewed in Hyperview, instead of the newest November one, leading to the CLD "NO CONN" screenshot first noted, as Hyperview attempted to fetch live data for blocks that no longer existed in the module.

Of course, one might ask, what caused the client to accidentally view the second most recent DBDOC M14 file, instead of the most recent one?

It turns out, when Hyperview opens an M14 specified with '*' (most users do this, because it's supposed to allow the most recent build to be opened automatically), it checks the File Creation date, which can be changed to the current date by copying the file.  This is what happened with the M14s in question -- they were copied, and the less recent of them received a newer File Creation timestamp, and thus was erroneously opened by Hyperview as the most recent M14.

We are changing Hyperview to instead look at the File Modified time for this purpose, and this modification will be seen in DBDOC 10.7.  Hopefully this will protect clients from this problem in the future.

DBDOC: Reads the Manual and Checks Your Specs.

DBDOC is unique in giving you significant help in finding integrity issues in your system. Every INFI 90 system in the world would benefit from improving operational safety and reliability. Our Error Browser and Error Marker development was designed to make it possible to manage errors and improve the integrity of your systems.

Here you see our much loved copy of the function code manual, dog-eared and duct-taped. You've probably read it too, but possibly not as intensely as we have.

Based on studying the documentation and the experiences of our clients, we added new tests for function block specifications that violate the documentation in ways that seem significant. Read on to see what we found.

We reviewed test data for 229 systems around the world, and found 1160 new errors of note in 77 systems involving 33 function codes - 15 errors per system. Of course, this means that 68% of the systems had none of the specification errors we looked for. It also means that over 1/3 of the systems had these new errors Composer did not find, but that DBDOC will.

I expect this will be the most boring blog I ever write. Holy Understatements, Batman!

Here are example of errors found in various specification values for various function codes from real systems. Some could bite!  All are now reported by DBDOC in the Error Browser.

FC35 - 45 instances in 21 systems

• Module 5,65,02 Block 133 FC35 S2 value 005 is out of the valid range [000,102]

FC36 - 15 instances in 4 systems

• Module 5,26,05 Block 6441 FC36 S9 value 9 is out of the valid range [0,8]
• Module 7,101,06 Block 5800 FC36 S10 value -1 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC45 - 22 instances in 6 systems

• Module 2,48,02 Block 854 FC45 S2 value 20 is out of the valid range [0,2]

FC50 - 1 instance in 1 system

• Module 3,01,04 Block 4082 FC50 S1 value -1 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC69 - 9 instances in 4 systems

• Module 32,04,05 Block 3285 FC69 S2 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]

FC80 - 61 instances in 26 systems

• Module 2,78,02 Block 2151 FC80 S6 value 39 is out of the valid range [1-3 or 5-8]
• Module 2,15,05 Block 2039 FC80 S17 value 246 is out of the valid range [0,7]
• Module 1,11,02 Block 2494 FC80 S23 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,4]

FC82 - 4 instances in 3 systems

• Module 3,02,20 Block 1992 FC82 S5 value 30 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 2,12,06 Block 15 FC82 S15 value 179 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC83 - 501 instances in 4 systems

• Module 11,30,15 Block 463 FC83 S1 value 65 is out of the valid range [0,63]

FC84 - 5 instances in 4 systems

• Module 2,20,02 Block 6641 FC84 S2 value 10 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 2,20,02 Block 6641 FC84 S2 value 10 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC86 - 1 instance in 1 system

• Module 2,104,10 Block 1882 FC86 S6 value 013 is out of the valid range [000,101]

FC95 - 36 instances in 5 systems

• Module 1,62,03 Block 979 FC95 S7 value 2 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 1,53,02 Block 9062 FC95 S12 value 7 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC110, FC111, FC112 - 24 instances in 10 systems

• Module 5,12,04 Block 4015 FC110 S1 value 20 is out of the valid range [0,3]
• Module 5,23,02 Block 56 FC111 S1 value 10 is out of the valid range [0,3]
• Module 7,09,03 Block 4140 FC112 S1 value 10 is out of the valid range [0,3]

FC123 - 12 instances in 1 system

• Module 4,07,06 Block 3793 FC123 S7 value 22 is out of the valid range [0,11]
• Module 4,07,06 Block 3793 FC123 S8 value 22 is out of the valid range [0,11]

FC124 - 6 instances in 2 systems

• Module 5,33,03 Block 3194 FC124 S11 value 120 is out of the valid range [00,22]
• Module 5,33,03 Block 3194 FC124 S13 value 60 is out of the valid range [00,22]

FC126 - 3 instances in 1 system

• Module 1,14,11 Block 8501 FC126 S2 value 115 is out of the valid range [0,2]

FC129 - 92 instances in 33 systems

• Module 1,15,02 Block 3405 FC129 S7 value 003 is out of the valid range [000,111]
• Module 1,15,06 Block 3133 FC129 S8 value 1000 is out of the valid range [000,111]
• Module 1,20,05 Block 7810 FC129 S9 value 002 is out of the valid range [000,111]
• Module 1,23,03 Block 3995 FC129 S10 value 1000 is out of the valid range [000,111]
• Module 5,15,04 Block 2559 FC129 S11 value 20002 is out of the valid range [0000,2222]
• Module 1,44,04 Block 2509 FC129 S13 value 0003 is out of the valid range [0000,2222]
• Module 1,24,03 Block 1808 FC129 S14 value 222 is out of the valid range [000,142]
• Module 1,04,03 Block 3993 FC129 S15 value 23 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 3,54,04 Block 7764 FC129 S19 value 5 is out of the valid range [Any or All of 0,1,2,3]

FC132 - 64 instances in 14 systems

• Module 1,01,15 Block 1346 FC132 S3 value 2 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 1,60,02 Block 448 FC132 S3 value 4 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 11,26,04 Block 1106 FC132 S3 value 7 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 34,46,03 Block 8150 FC132 S10 value 78 is out of the valid range [0,5]
• Module 1,03,04 Block 1211 FC132 S13 value 50 is out of the valid range [0,5]
• Module 2,01,02 Block 244 FC132 S16 value 150 is out of the valid range [0,5]

FC136 - 28 instances in 3 systems

• Module 1,07,03 Block 1258 FC136 S16 value 3.0 is out of the valid range [0.0, 1.0, 2.0]

FC140 - 34 instances in 4 systems

• Module 10,02,07 Block 1076 FC140 S4 value 8078 is out of the valid range [00,11]
• Module 7,103,02 Block 3250 FC140 S5 value 212 is out of the valid range [0,63]

FC143 - 1 instance in 1 system

• Module 1,20,09 Block 8872 FC143 S1 value 3 is out of the valid range [0,2]

FC149 - 60 instances in 10 systems

• Module 5,41,02 Block 232 FC149 S3 value 8 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S11 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S12 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S13 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S14 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S15 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S16 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 11,01,04 Block 161 FC149 S17 value 5 is out of the valid range [0,2]

FC151 - 6 instances in 3 systems

• Module 1,65,05 Block 4531 FC151 S6 value 4532.0 is out of the valid range [0.0,127.0]
• Module 2,30,03 Block 7180 FC151 S7 value 3 is out of the valid range [0,1]

FC156 - 5 instances in 4 systems
Module 1,18,03 Block 6438 FC156 S19 value 32 is out of the valid range [0,1]

• Module 3,03,02 Block 7284 FC156 S20 value 40 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• FC166 - 8 instances in 3 systems

Module 4,05,07 Block 3697 FC166 S2 value 120 is out of the valid range [0,2]

• Module 3,01,04 Block 3807 FC166 S8 value 32767 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• FC182 - 19 instances in 1 system
• Module 1,07,14 Block 56 FC182 S1 value 000 is out of the valid range [001-009, 020-124, 040-041, 064]

FC190 - 6 instances in 3 systems

• Module 2,32,07 Block 2280 FC190 S2 value 7200 is out of the valid range [1,6553]

FC216 - 61 instances in 10 systems

• Module 1,09,07 Block 8172 FC216 S3 value 19 is out of the valid range [1,16]
• Module 20,38,07 Block 650 FC216 S4 value 051 is out of the valid range [000-109, 010-113, 020-125, 040-144, 060-161, 099-199]
• Module 1,03,04 Block 1428 FC216 S5 value 2 is out of the valid range [0,1]
• Module 6,60,08 Block 162 FC216 S11 value 0 is out of the valid range [16,24]

FC222 - 1 instance in 1 system

• Module 1,09,02 Block 1023 FC222 S2 value 1022 is out of the valid range [0000-1209, 0010-1115, 0210-1214, 0300-1302, 0400-1400, 0500-1500, 0900-1900]

FC224 - 18 instances in 4 systems

• Module 1,09,02 Block 1048 FC224 S2 value 1047 is out of the valid range [0,2]
• Module 1,09,02 Block 1048 FC224 S3 value 1046 is out of the valid range [0,255]

FC226 - 8 instances in 2 systems

• Module 20,10,31 Block 8358 FC226 S3 value 10 is out of the valid range [0,4]

FC247 - 4 instances in 2 systems

• Module 1,13,04 Block 953 FC247 S5 value 5 is out of the valid range [1-4 or 6-8]

Holy Complications, Batman! A number of expressions in http://holysmokesbatman.com/directory apply. DBDOC helps improve your system's integrity.