VizNET, the revolutionary .Net data visualisation environment developed by local pioneers Adroit Technologies, is receiving increased notoriety as NASDAQ listed companies, international developers and local institutions alike begin to see the competitive advantage of making VizNET, with its smart client capability and tighter integration, the user interface of choice for organisations to access information across company disciplines and throughout the supply chain. But what is VizNET? How does it work? And what are its advantages? Senior software developer for Adroit, Nicholas Beets, takes time out from the busy beta release development phase of the product to explain the evolution of user interface development.
The primary purpose of the VizNET framework is to provide a Web-enabled, data visualisation tool that can collaborate with data from a number of sources. The data can be accessed and manipulated from one or more local, LAN or Internet clients. The data can also be secured at the data element level on a per user basis for read/write/none access. And CAD type tools are provided for the design of graphic forms (mimics) that contain a mixture of vector drawing and windows components for visualising and manipulating the data. Standalone operator environments then allow access to these graphic forms via a smart client application.
VizNET comprises three main components
1. The server: this is the 'data portal' - it aggregates data from a number of disparate sources via 'data source plug-ins' which, in turn, convert data from the outside world into a generic VizNET format called a 'data element'. The server also contains datasources designed to hold all user information and configured graphic forms.
2. The designer: this is used to configure data sources and data elements in the server and allows for the design of graphic forms to visualise and interact with the data.
3. The operator: this allows access to the configured graphic forms for the viewing and manipulation of data.
High performance graphic cards, Internet-based Web clients, Windows, CE and cellular technology have changed the UI landscape. Adroit chose to harness the technology of the future. In developing the VizNET product, Adroit have added an additional level of server architecture. The traditional manufacturing set-up, for example, of a PLC/scada server/scada client has been replaced by PLC/agent server/VizNET server/VizNET client. Preliminary tests demonstrate that the new architecture is highly effective at data transfer and shows significant improvements in speed. Properties can be modified easily, making VizNET more flexible than its predecessors, while all development can take place live and in realtime.
Adroit believes that it has created a unique UI environment - providing a rich integrated development environment (IDE) that is much easier to use employing simple drag-and-drop functionality while retaining exceptional functionality, such as multiple language support, levels and layers, .NET scripting, and vector graphics are a few of the features supported by graphic forms.
To further understand VizNET, we take a look at some of the technological advances that this product encompasses:
THEN: Developers would use the same user interface (UI) to design and to view a picture.
NOW: VizNET has two user interface types: the designer that is used to edit and configure graphic forms and the operator that loads graphic forms to 'operate' on the data. The operator is a smart client that has a small footprint, allowing for execution on systems with limited space.
THEN: Developers were unable to embed third party controls and components in their pictures and needed to configure separate data views in the development phase.
NOW: With VizNET's digital dashboard type environment, developers can have many items running at one time (eg it is possible to show alarms for a system right next to a chart depicting realtime values on the same graphic form).
THEN: Behaviours were used to animate properties of picture elements such as colour, position, filling or text.
NOW: Behaviours are replaced in design mode by an onscreen graph/map that allows users to see where data is coming from and where it is going to. Graphic forms can be customised by mapping data to the properties for an object using simple drag-and-drop functionality. It is also possible to switch the graphic form into preview mode to display what the graphic form will look and feel like in the operator UI environment. This technology makes it easier to perform onscreen set-ups and visual editing.
THEN: Active X components.
NOW: Windows components replace Active X components. Windows components are a much more secure and stable form of Active X controls written using the .NET development framework.
THEN: UI graphics were saved as files in a directory.
NOW: Pictures are stored on the VizNET Server inside a special datastore and automatically available to all VizNET user interfaces. This improvement eliminates the need for extensive file searching and redeployment when changes are made to existing files.
VizNET recently made headlines in the United States, when NASDAQ listed MES (manufacturing execution system) developer; Cimnet recognised the inherent advantage of using VizNET to scale the divide between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and the shop floor, around the world. Cimnet recently acquired a minority stake in Adroit Technologies and entered into a licensing agreement for an interest in the VizNET software. The agreement allows for the joint development of a new .NET version of Factelligenceä, Cimnet's configurable manufacturing execution systems (MES) product.
Adroit is currently looking for complementary partner companies that can independently extend the framework. In this way customers across the enterprise, manufacturing and processing space, can choose best-of-breed products that take full advantage of the VizNET framework, while delivering critical information to improve the execution of their business from HMI, MES, business intelligence, reporting, asset management even ERP. VizNET is scheduled for release in the South African market in the third quarter of 2004.
For more information contact Dave Wibberley, managing director, Adroit Technologies, 011 781 3513, [email protected], www.adroit.co.za
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