We use PI from OSI soft as an historian, not the Aim*. PI also comes with a processbook application, which allows you to build trends, but also process images, like eg a reactor etc.....data is updated as fast as you like, we use polling times of 10-15 seconds. This application runs on a seperate XP server, our DCS is Unix (as it should be!) Allthough it is not possible to copy and paste DM views, it is possible to build a duplicate from a DM view. PI also offers a separate app called " Active View", which allows us to open processbook images, residing on a server, in a browser, from any pc, on or off site, no PI client software needed. So any one with the correct password and user id can, (in theory, cause we still have to implement it, it was just an experiment) view the process display, with (almost) live data, refreshing data automatically, from any pc with internet or lan connection. Once you have PI, (I'm sure other Invensys users have it as well, it's a very well known application) it takes very little money and effort to get the browser application to work. Rgds, Dirk Pauwels DCS coordinator. Lawter International, Belgium -----Original Message----- From: Ales Vaupotic [mailto:ales.vaupotic@xxxxxxxx]=20 Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:50 AM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: 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=20 the necessary C code under unix. But, I am not turning in. I am=20 strugling with MinGW to develop a series of small programs which will=20 serve the data to my webapp. For my needs, PHP app is just what I need.=20 I take snapshots of FoxView screens, convert them to PNG-8 transparent=20 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=20 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=20 view only. So, I do not have to bother with data editing. But I have=20 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=20 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=20 desktops without knowing their is something like Foxboro I/A installed=20 in the facility! All the outputs have been tested with current versions of all major=20 players in browser market: IE 5.5 & 6, Firefox 1.0, Mozila 1.8, Opera=20 7.5. Under FreeBSD I ran it in Konqueror. They all look identical as I=20 am not using any specific coding in HTML or scripting. So, my idea is to go with open standards, not bounding user to some=20 specific technology. I think simple HTML with SVG and Flash should be=20 enough. Java is also an option but with current stand of Windows=20 security issues, I don't see it on my (our) desktop(s) in near future.=20 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=20 PDA's in mind and with them smaller code is even more important. In my=20 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=20 are all different shapes and forms in differetn environmets. Should I force the user to=20 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. =20 =20 _______________________________________________________________________ This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html =20 foxboro mailing list: http://www.freelists.org/list/foxboro to subscribe: = mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=3Djoin to unsubscribe: = mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=3Dleave =20 _______________________________________________________________________ This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html foxboro mailing list: http://www.freelists.org/list/foxboro to subscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join to unsubscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave