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TN - 1366 Managing your Standalone InTouch Application in the Galaxy

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Description

 

This Article from InSource Solutions is designed to show the Process of Managing InTouch Applications from a Standalone Application type.   This technote assumes some knowledge of System Platform.

  • Author: Glenn Yancey
  • Published: 05/18/2023
  • Applies to: InTouch 2020 and higher

Details

In order to manage your Standalone InTouch Applications, we need to create a Galaxy with the Application Server (System Platform) Galaxy that is specific to InTouch.    Since we will be using a Galaxy that is specifically geared towards InTouch, we need to understand how objects work.

·         Template – Object used for the Development of a standard.

  • Base Templates – Denoted by the Orange Lock.  READ-ONLY templates without ability to edit.
  • Derived Templates – Our own version of the Base Template that can be tailored to our architecture, specifications, or function.

·         Instance – Object that is derived from the template to be used in Runtime.  These are deployed from the Galaxy Repository server to the client nodes. 

EXPORTING YOUR STANDALONE INTOUCH APPLICATION

  1.  Open up the InTouch Application Manager

a.       Right click on the standalone Application that you would like to manage in the galaxy, and select “Export As Template” which will allow us to create an InTouch application in the Galaxy based off of this file. 

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b.       This creates a file of an “.aaPKG” extension, and will contain all of your Industrial/ArchestrA graphics as well as Windows, Tags, etc.

2)      Copy the above “.aaPKG” file to the below location, so that you can create a Managed application from it.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Wonderware\InTouch\ApplicationTemplates\1920 x 1080\

CREATING AN INTOUCH GALAXY

3)      Open up the System Platform Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

4)      Select “New Galaxy” to create a new Galaxy.

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a.       Galaxy Type: Base_InTouch.cab

                                                               i.      Do NOT select  any of the other Galaxy types.

b.       Galaxy Name: (any name you would like for your project (Galaxy))

c.       Select Create when done. 

d.       When finished, select CONNECT.  

 

5)      Once the IDE has been opened, look up on the top left under the Template Toolbox.   You should see three templates there.

a.       $InTouchViewApp – Represents an Empty InTouch application.   We will use this to import our application in.

                                                               i.      You would have 1 Template for every application that you have. 

b.       $ViewEngine – This template represents the overall container for your InTouch Applications.  

                                                               i.      It will be essential for us to create 1 instance per Platform instance created.

c.       $WinPlatform – Template that represents a computer.

                                                               i.      We would create an instance for EVERY computer that will receive our InTouch application.  

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6)      Create a DERIVED TEMPLATE of your $WinPlatform base template.

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7)      Create an INSTANCE from that newly derived $WinPlatform_001 template.

a.       The first instance created will be the Galaxy Repository node (Yellow Server icon)

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b.       You need to create instances to represent all client nodes (PanelPC, RDS Server, ControlRoom PC, etc.)

c.       Rename the WinPlatform instances below in the deployment view to reflect a description of that computer.  The Description does NOT contain the actual node name that the Platform will be mapped to.

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8)      Create one instance from the $ViewEngine base template for every $WinPlatform instance that you have (except for your Galaxy Repository Platform instance (Yellow Server icon)).

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9)      In the Platforms (white server icons) that are the Galaxy Repository Platform, you need to double click on them to open the editor.    Under Network Address, provide the NODE name of the computer that this Platform object is going to be mapped to.  

a.       The GR_Platform object doesn’t need to be modified as it is pre-programmed to bind to “localhost” as its node name.

b.       Add the node name for the Network Address for each Platform with the white server icon.

c.       Save and Close the Platform Templates (little floppy disk icon on the top right of the object).

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IMPORTING YOUR INTOUCH APPLICATION

 

10)   Right click on your Galaxy name underneath Template Toolbox.  

a.        Add a New Template Toolset, and call it “IT Applications”.  

                                                               i.      You can name it whatever you’d like.

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11)   Right click on $InTouchViewApp, and select “New” and “Derived Template”.

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a.       Rename that newly derived template to a good description of that application. (Ex. Demo2020)

b.       Drag that application over to the newly created Template Toolset called “IT Applications”.  

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                                                               i.      Note: The Red “X” denotes that the Template object must be configured before we can create an instance from it. 

12)   Double Click on the newly created Template that was derived from the $InTouchViewApp template (ex. $Demo2020).

a.       This will prompt you to either create or import existing InTouch applications.

                                                               i.      Choose “Create New InTouch Application”, and click “Use Application Template”. DO NOT SELECT “IMPORT EXISTING APPLICATION”.

                                                             ii.      Select “Click here to select an application template”.

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                                                           iii.      You should now see the Exported Template from Step 2 that our Managed application will be based from.   Click OK.

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                                                           iv.      You will see the template inside of the Application Template window.  Select NEXT

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                                                             v.      Uncheck “Backup the Current Galaxy”.

                                                           vi.      Make sure that the resolution matches, select NEXT.

        NOTE:You can choose to rename your Template under “Application Name:” if you’d like.

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vii.      WindowMaker will then open after copying over the files and folder of your existing Standalone application.   This could take up to several minutes.  WindowMaker will open automatically after import.

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13)   Once WindowMaker is fully open, check through your Windows to see if everything is in order. 

a.       Click OK to ignore the following message IF it arises.

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14)   In WindowMaker, go to Configure, Tools, WindowViewer to choose the behavior of how your operator would respond to changes that are pushed out from this InTouch Galaxy to the client nodes.  

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15)   Select the Managed Application tab in the WindowViewer properties to choose how the Operator should respond to the any changes deployed to this client node.  

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a.       In the Change Mode area, configure how WindowViewer responds when changes are deployed. Do any of the following:

  • Click Ignore Changes to have WindowViewer ignore any deployed changes. You can manually configure the RestartWindowViewer() and ReloadWindowViewer() script functions to accept the changes depending on the $ApplicationChanged system tag.

  • Click Restart WindowViewer to have WindowViewer restart automatically.

  • Click Prompt user to restart WindowViewer to have WindowViewer prompt you to restart WindowViewer.

  • Click Load changes into WindowViewer to have WindowViewer load the changes automatically.

  • Click Prompt user to load changes into WindowViewer to have WindowViewer prompt you to load changes into WindowViewer.

NOTE: If you select the Load changes into.. or Prompt user to load.. options, WindowViewer must be restarted to recognize changes to a managed application. Even with these options selected, you will be prompted to restart WindowViewer.

16)   Perform any modifications to your InTouch application, and then save/close to CHECK IN.  

a.       NOTE: There is NO need to select Notify Clients as you would have with NAD (Network Application Development).  

17)   Right click on the newly derived template from the $InTouchViewApp template (Ex.  Demo2020), and create a NEW instance for every Platform instance with a ViewEngine instance.   The new instances will show in “Unassigned Host” underneath the Deployment view on the bottom left.  

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18)   Drag and Drop your new instances from the Unassigned Host to underneath the ViewEngine instance.   A ViewEngine can host more than one instance, but we only need the one from our application to be sent to the Platform where the ViewEngine instance resides. 

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19)   Deploy the Platform that is your Galaxy Repository Platform (Ex. GR_Platform)

a.       Choose the defaults after selecting Deploy.

                                                               i.      NOTE: This Platform is ALWAYS the first object to deploy and last to undeploy.  

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20)   Select a Platform with the ViewEngine instance and the InTouchViewApp instance by right clicking and then select to DEPLOY.

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a.       Deploy with Cascade Deploy turned on.  Click OK.

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b.       This process could take a while.   You might run across the following icon showing up on your InTouchViewApp instance, but no need to panic.  

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Note: This icon represents the process of asynchronously transferring files to the target node is not yet complete. This icon is normally visible for only a few moments at the end of a deployment operation unless the object is deployed on a slow network. If the icon remains for more than a few moments, check if the application is OnScan, as the files will not transfer if the application is OffScan. This icon completely replaces the original while it is shown.

21)   Once the icon with the circular arrows in an orange box goes away, you should be able to open this application inside of the InTouch Application Manager.  

a.       NOTE: You CANNOT edit the application through the Application Manager, as all edits must be done through the IDE.    Right click to open the newly Managed application on the Client in WindowViewer.

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DEPLOYING CHANGES TO MANAGED INTOUCH APPLICATION

22)   After you have deployed your InTouch application from the Galaxy to the Client Node, you can then open WindowMaker back up through the IDE by clicking on the derived template from the $InTouchViewApp template (Ex. Demo2020).  

a.       Once the modifications are made and tested locally, you would then Save/Close your InTouch application to Check it back in.  

                                                               i.      NOTE: You can also select the instance to edit, but it would ONLY open the template for you in WindowMaker.

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b.       The Instances of that derived template will show a new icon (Box diagonally split between Black and Yellow) below to denote the application has changes waiting.  However, those changes will not take effect until after doing DEPLOY once more.

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c.       Right click on the InTouchViewApp instance (Ex. Demo2020_001), Select Deploy, and choose Deploy Changes.   The operator might have to choose an option based on Step 15.

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