In Machine Edition, you run two types of iFIX scheduled events:
- iFIX Compare – Checks if your local iFIX project files are different from the ones on the Change Management Server. This option was available for 3.5 projects, although with iFIX 3.5 this event only compared the iFIX backup (.fbk) file. With iFIX 4.0, this event compares the entire iFIX project, file by file, for differences.
- iFIX Compare and Backup – Checks if your local iFIX project files are different from the ones on the Change Management Server. If the ones on your local drive are newer, or do not exist yet on the Change Management Server, these files are checked in. This option is available only for iFIX 4.0.
Both of these events use binary compares, which means that the log file only lists the files that changed. Details on what changes occur in the files are not reported.
TIP:
- After the "iFIX Compare" or "iFIX Compare and Backup" event runs the binary compare, if you want more information about the specific changes in each file, you can run an ASCII compare for some file types in iFIX.
- For example, if you want details of the changes in your picture files, not including VBA script changes, you can use the PCM History window and select the Text Compare check box (which runs an ASCII compare) to generate a summary report with changes. For more information on this option, refer to the Understanding the Change Management History Window section.
- Additionally, some file compares that you run in iFIX are ASCII compares, which provide more information, by default. Refer to the Summary of Binary vs. ASCII Compare Functionality section for a list the compare formats available for each file type in the PCM History window.
If you want to run the "iFIX Compare" and "iFIX Compare and Backup" events, you must have the Machine Edition Client and Scheduler Components installed on your SCADA Server (at a minimum). These install programs are not found on the iFIX product CD. You need to install them from the Machine Edition CD.
After the scheduled event runs for "iFIX Compare" and "iFIX Compare and Backup" events, a log file is written to the following folder:
c:\fxData\API\<machine name>\<logged in user>\iFIX\logs\<project name>\default.htm
The steps that follow describe how to add an "iFIX Compare" or "iFIX Compare and Backup" event in Machine Edition. For more detailed information, refer to the "Scheduler Event Properties" topic in the Machine Edition online help.
To add an iFIX Compare Event:
- Start Machine Edition.
- In the Navigator, right-click Scheduler Event List and select Check Out Access Control.
- Right-click Scheduler Event List, and click Add.
- Enter a name, and press Enter.
- Double-click the event you added in step 4 to open the Event Properties dialog box.
- In the Event Type field, select iFIX Compare.
- In the Computer Name field, enter the name of the iFIX SCADA computer.
- In the Project Type field, enter a description.
- In the Event Trigger field, select Once, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Manually.
- If Manually is not selected, enter a day and time to start the event.
- Click OK.
- In the Navigator, right-click Scheduler Event List and select Check In Access Control.
NOTE: Names can include numbers (0-9), lowercase letters (a-z), uppercase letters (A-Z), or the dash (-) symbol, and can be up to 31 characters long. The first character must be a letter. Spaces are not allowed.
NOTE: Machine Edition supports computer names that include numbers (0-9), lowercase letters (a-z), uppercase letters (A-Z), or the dash (-) symbol. If you leave this field blank or enter a period "." in this field, the event executes on all computers the schedule is run on.
TIP: Try not start an event exactly on the hour. This is because the Scheduler's AutoRefresh setting overrides any events that take place at the same time. Event execution is suspended while the refresh process takes place. For example, if an event is set to be triggered at 7 a.m. and AutoRefresh is set to 7, the event will not occur. The event is also ignored if the refresh process takes one-and-a-half minutes and the event is set to be triggered at 7:01.
To add an iFIX Compare and Backup Event:
- Start Machine Edition.
- In the Navigator, right-click Scheduler Event List and select Check Out Access Control.
- Right-click Scheduler Event List, and click Add.
- Enter a name, and press Enter.
- Double-click the event you added in step 4 to open the Event Properties dialog box.
- In the Event Type field, select iFIX Compare and Backup.
- In the Computer Name field, enter the name of the iFIX SCADA computer.
- In the Project Type field, enter a description.
- In the Event Trigger field, select Once, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Manually.
- If Manually is not selected, enter a day and time to start the event.
- Click OK.
- In the Navigator, right-click Scheduler Event List and select Check In Access Control.
NOTE: Names can include numbers (0-9), lowercase letters (a-z), uppercase letters (A-Z), or the dash (-) symbol, and can be up to 31 characters long. The first character must be a letter. Spaces are not allowed.
NOTE: Machine Edition supports computer names that include numbers (0-9), lowercase letters (a-z), uppercase letters (A-Z), or the dash (-) symbol. If you leave this field blank or enter a period "." in this field, the event executes on all computers the schedule is run on.
TIP: Try not start an event exactly on the hour. This is because the Scheduler's AutoRefresh setting overrides any events that take place at the same time. Event execution is suspended while the refresh process takes place. For example, if an event is set to be triggered at 7 a.m. and AutoRefresh is set to 7, the event will not occur. The event is also ignored if the refresh process takes one-and-a-half minutes and the event is set to be triggered at 7:01.
