Re: [foxboro] Browser Based HMI

Hi, Tom & company!

I am also starting a similar project with Web HMI. As all of our systems 
run on Windows, I am already handicaped as it is much easier to develop 
the necessary C code under unix. But, I am not turning in. I am 
strugling with MinGW to develop a series of small programs which will 
serve the data to my webapp. For my needs, PHP app is just what I need. 
I take snapshots of FoxView screens, convert them to PNG-8 transparent 
images without the background and out comes a nice 10K per screen image. 
Animations are made with Flash. After I send the image to the browser, I 
connect to AIM*API and get the values for my screen. I output them with 
absolute positioned <div>'s. Another flush() from PHP and voila! here is 
my screen transfered to another part of the world!

I must say there is a special request from my bosses that web app is 
view only. So, I do not have to bother with data editing. But I have 
done some already and can use the solution when needed. Also there is no 
auto-refresh as we would like to keep the traffic down. The main 
audience for this app are the managers which need the data a few times a 
month. But they get the reports and trends and live views on their 
desktops without knowing their is something like Foxboro I/A installed 
in the facility!

All the outputs have been tested with current versions of  all major 
players in browser market: IE 5.5 & 6, Firefox 1.0, Mozila 1.8, Opera 
7.5. Under FreeBSD I ran it in Konqueror. They all look identical as I 
am not using any specific coding in HTML or scripting.

So, my idea is to go with open standards, not bounding user to some 
specific technology. I think simple HTML with SVG and Flash should be 
enough. Java is also an option but with current stand of Windows 
security issues, I don't see it on my (our) desktop(s) in near future. 
There are to many users turning it off, or simply not installing it, and 
application for it becomes unusable. ActiveX is even worse. I also have 
PDA's in mind and with them smaller code is even more important. In my 
opinion a simple web browser should do. Whether I seat at work, at home, 
at web caffe, in my camper, everywhere is a browser available. But they 
are all different
shapes and forms in differetn environmets. Should I force the user to 
download a specific software to once view my page? No!

I also talk to much ;)

Best regards,
Ales Vaupotic
AMI d.o.o.
Ptuj, Slovenija

PS. Sorry for my english, it's my third language.
 
 
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