Project check and backup

Studio scans the tables, the references between records, the tag addresses, the bindings of screen objects and the event functions. The list refreshes automatically about 0.3 seconds after every change. Tools › Check project (F7) refreshes it immediately and opens the Info tab of the Inspector. The numbers of errors and warnings are shown in the status bar.

• Table rules: empty required columns, columns that refer to a deleted record, the rules of each table (the same IP in two connections, a duplicated alarm number, inconsistent lower and upper limits).
• Addresses: the tag address must follow the rule of the driver of the connection, and the tag type must be supported by the driver.
• Section rules: Live settings, Remote monitoring, and recipe, report, archive, task and script definitions.
• Screens and objects: properties bound to a deleted tag or to a tag of the wrong type, empty range tables, event functions with missing parameters, references to deleted authorizations and cycles.
• Scripts: syntax, a tag name that does not exist, use of an object whose permission is off.

The address check is a syntax check. Studio does not connect to the PLC, so it cannot know whether the address exists on the device, and whether a connection is reachable becomes apparent only while Live is running. The check does not verify application logic: a property bound with the correct type to the wrong tag does not produce an error.

The Location column gives the position of the problem, for example HMI Tags › Tags › Motor_Hiz. Clicking a row opens the relevant section and selects the record. For screen object problems the screen is opened and the object is selected; for script problems the code area jumps to the relevant line. The Copy whole list command of the right-click menu is useful when asking for support.

Start Live (F5) and Upload check the number of errors after saving the project. If there are errors, you are asked to Start Live, Show problems or Cancel. A faulty script does not run in Live. If there are only warnings or notes, no question is asked.

A whole project is a single file: .fvs. Files with the old .fyscada extension also open; the content format is the same. The file is an indented JSON text in UTF-8. Editing it by hand is not recommended, because the tables refer to each other by IDs.

When saving, Studio first writes to a temporary file and then replaces the actual file. The previous version is kept in the same folder with the .bak extension and renewed at every save. Studio remembers the 10 most recently opened projects.

User and browser user passwords are stored as salted SHA-256 hashes. The OPC UA, MQTT and OPC DA connection passwords are never written to the project file; they are entered on the Live computer and kept in the .veri folder of the project. If you write a password into the SQL connection string of an archive, it stays in the file as plain text, and the Problems list warns about this. Keep that in mind when sharing the file.

The Revision history window (Project › Revision history…) lists each revision as a card: number, date, person, number of screens and tags, description, computer and the path of the uploaded file. Live shows the same history.

• Backup copy (Project › Save backup copy…) is written to the Yedek folder of the project. Manual and automatic backups together keep at most 20; the oldest are deleted.
• Automatic backup is created, when there are unsaved changes, at the interval in the Studio settings. The default is 10 minutes, 0 is off.
• Upload backup keeps the old version at the target when uploading to Live with overwrite. At most 10 are kept.

To revert to an older version, open the backup with Project › Open… and save it to the actual path of the project with Project › Save as…. The data Live writes while running (alarm, event, archive and report records) is not in any backup; add this folder to your own backup plan.

Start Live (F5) saves the project and opens Live with the path of this file; it is for trying the design right away. Upload delivers the project to the project folder of Live, creates a revision and does not require Live to be on the same computer. The target can be a share, a mapped drive or a USB stick, as long as you can reach the folder.

The file is written to the path Ad\Ad.fvs under the folder you select. The .veri folder at the target is not touched, so an update does not damage the existing alarm, event, archive and report records. A running Live does not pick up the new version by itself. It takes effect when you reopen the project with Change project… in the System menu, or restart Live.

Tags, connections, alarms, users and other sections are edited with the same table editor, and the toolbar of every table has three Excel buttons. Excel does not need to be installed. The files are in the standard .xlsx format.

The preview counts new, to be updated, unchanged, faulty and skipped rows separately. The Update existing as well or Add new only mode is selected. The whole import is a single undo step; Ctrl + Z reverses it all.

Passwords are not written to Excel and not read from it. Script code and the images of graphic lists are not transferred. Only .xlsx and CSV are read; the old .xls is rejected. Tags also have CSV commands, see HMI tags. For the Project texts table and translation, see languages and texts.