Omega CSMSTR Owner's manual

ADLD0099

REVISION 2.1

CRIMSON 3

USER MANUAL

Re-Order from

omegamation.com

Omegamation

TM

1-888-55-OMEGA

1-888-55-66342

The information contained herein is provided in good faith, but is subject to change without

notice. It is supplied with no warranty whatsoever, and does not represent a commitment on

the part of Red Lion Controls. Companies, names and data used as examples herein are

fictitious unless otherwise stated. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the express written

permission of Red Lion Controls Inc.

The Red Lion logo is a registered trademark of Red Lion Controls Inc.

Crimson and the Crimson logo are registered trademarks of Red Lion Controls Inc.

All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Written by Mike Granby and Jesse Benefiel.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GETTING STARTED ..........................................................................................1

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................... 1

INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE ............................................................................... 1

REGISTRATION ............................................................................................... 2

CHECKING FOR UPDATES ................................................................................... 2

INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS ........................................................................... 2

TROUBLESHOOTING ......................................................................................... 2

GETTING ASSISTANCE ...................................................................................... 4

BALLOON HELP ................................................................................................................................ 4

TECHNICAL SUPPORT......................................................................................................................... 4

ONLINE FORUMS .............................................................................................................................. 4

THE NEXT STEPS ............................................................................................ 4

CRIMSON BASICS ............................................................................................5

WINDOW LAYOUT ........................................................................................... 5

THE NAVIGATION PANE...................................................................................................................... 5

THE RESOURCE PANE ........................................................................................................................ 5

THE EDITING PANE ........................................................................................................................... 6

COLLAPSING PANES........................................................................................................................... 6

THE CATEGORIES ............................................................................................ 6

COMMUNICATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 6

DATA TAGS ..................................................................................................................................... 6

DISPLAY PAGES ................................................................................................................................ 6

PROGRAMS ..................................................................................................................................... 7

WEB SERVER ................................................................................................................................... 7

DATA LOGGER ................................................................................................................................. 7

SECURITY ....................................................................................................................................... 7

MODULES ....................................................................................................................................... 7

GETTING AROUND ........................................................................................... 8

BACK AND FORWARD ......................................................................................................................... 8

CATEGORY SHORTCUTS ...................................................................................................................... 8

ITEM SHORTCUTS ............................................................................................................................. 8

NAVIGATION LISTS .......................................................................................... 9

WORKING WITH FOLDERS ................................................................................................................... 9

SORTING LISTS AND FOLDERS ............................................................................................................. 9

DRAG AND DROP OPERATIONS .......................................................................................................... 10

SEARCHING IN LISTS ....................................................................................................................... 10

UNDO AND REDO ...........................................................................................10

GLOBAL SEARCHING ........................................................................................10

WORKING WITH DATABASES..............................................................................11

DATABASE IDENTIFIERS ................................................................................................................... 11

SAVING AN IMAGE .......................................................................................................................... 11

DATABASE PROTECTION ................................................................................................................... 12

CONVERTING A DATABASE ................................................................................................................ 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE II http://www.redlion.net/g3

FINDING DATABASE ERRORS ............................................................................................................. 13

DOWNLOADING TO A DEVICE ............................................................................ 13

CONFIGURING THE LINK ................................................................................................................... 13

SENDING THE DATABASE .................................................................................................................. 14

EXTRACTING DATABASES .................................................................................................................. 15

SENDING THE TIME AND DATE ........................................................................................................... 15

THE COMPACTFLASH CARD .............................................................................. 15

MOUNTING THE CARD ..................................................................................................................... 15

FORMATTING THE CARD ................................................................................................................... 16

REMOTE MONITORING .................................................................................... 16

USING THE EMULATOR ................................................................................... 18

ENABLING THE EMULATOR ............................................................................... 18

PORT MAPPING ............................................................................................. 18

EMULATOR CONFIGURATION ............................................................................. 19

EMULATOR LIMITATIONS ................................................................................. 19

USING COMMUNICATIONS .............................................................................. 20

SERIAL PORT SELECTION ................................................................................. 20

SELECTING A PROTOCOL ................................................................................. 20

PROTOCOL OPTIONS ...................................................................................... 21

WORKING WITH DEVICES ................................................................................ 21

ADVANCED SETTINGS ..................................................................................... 22

CREATING TAGS ............................................................................................ 23

PORT AND DEVICE USAGE ................................................................................ 23

NETWORK CONFIGURATION .............................................................................. 23

ETHERNET SETTINGS ....................................................................................................................... 23

MULTIPLE PORTS............................................................................................................................ 24

ROUTING SETTINGS ........................................................................................................................ 25

DOWNLOAD SETTINGS ..................................................................................................................... 26

ADDING PORTS .............................................................................................................................. 26

PROTOCOL SELECTION ..................................................................................................................... 27

USING VIRTUAL PORTS .................................................................................................................... 27

USING EXPANSION CARDS ............................................................................... 27

SLAVE PROTOCOLS ........................................................................................ 28

SELECTING THE PROTOCOL ............................................................................................................... 29

ADDING GATEWAY BLOCKS ............................................................................................................... 29

ADDING ITEMS TO A BLOCK .............................................................................................................. 30

ACCESSING INDIVIDUAL BITS ............................................................................................................ 30

PROTOCOL CONVERSION ................................................................................. 31

MASTER AND SLAVE ........................................................................................................................ 31

MASTER AND MASTER ...................................................................................................................... 32

WHICH WAY AROUND? .................................................................................................................... 32

CONTROLLING MASTER BLOCKS ......................................................................................................... 32

DATA TRANSFORMATION ................................................................................. 33

DISABLING COMMUNICATIONS .......................................................................... 33

WORKING WITH TAGS ................................................................................... 35

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE III

ALL ABOUT TAGS ...........................................................................................35

DATA SOURCES .............................................................................................................................. 35

TYPES OF TAGS .............................................................................................................................. 35

TAG ATTRIBUTES ........................................................................................................................... 36

ADVANTAGES OF TAGS .....................................................................................36

EDITING PROPERTIES ......................................................................................37

EXPRESSION PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................. 37

TRANSLATABLE STRINGS .................................................................................................................. 40

TWO-WAY PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................... 41

ACTION PROPERTIES ....................................................................................................................... 41

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 41

LOG PROPERTIES ...........................................................................................42

CREATING TAGS ............................................................................................42

DUPLICATING TAGS ........................................................................................43

EDITING MULTIPLE TAGS .................................................................................43

USING COPY FROM ......................................................................................................................... 43

USING PASTE SPECIAL ..................................................................................................................... 43

PROPERTY SELECTIONS .................................................................................................................... 44

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING .............................................................................45

FINDING TAG USAGE .......................................................................................45

NUMERIC TAGS ..............................................................................................46

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 46

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 49

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 50

ALARM PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 51

TRIGGER PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 53

PLOT PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 54

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 55

FLAG TAGS ...................................................................................................55

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 55

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 57

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 58

ALARM PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 58

TRIGGER PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 60

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 60

STRING TAGS ................................................................................................61

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 61

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 63

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 64

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 64

BASIC TAGS ..................................................................................................64

ADVANCED TOPICS .........................................................................................65

ARRAY PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 65

TAG DATA FLOW ............................................................................................................................ 65

USING ON WRITE........................................................................................................................... 66

USING FORMATS ........................................................................................... 69

FORMAT TYPES ..............................................................................................69

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE IV http://www.redlion.net/g3

GENERAL FORMAT ......................................................................................... 70

LINKED FORMAT ........................................................................................... 70

NUMERIC FORMAT ......................................................................................... 70

SCIENTIFIC FORMAT ....................................................................................... 71

TIME AND DATE FORMAT ................................................................................. 72

IP ADDRESS FORMAT ..................................................................................... 73

TWO-STATE FORMAT ..................................................................................... 73

THE MULTI-STATE FORMAT.............................................................................. 74

THE STRING FORMAT ..................................................................................... 75

USING COLORINGS ....................................................................................... 77

TYPES OF COLORING ...................................................................................... 77

GENERAL COLORING ...................................................................................... 77

LINKED COLORING ......................................................................................... 77

FIXED COLORING .......................................................................................... 78

TWO-STATE COLORING ................................................................................... 78

MULTI-STATE COLORING ................................................................................. 78

CREATING DISPLAY PAGES ............................................................................. 81

EDITOR BASICS ............................................................................................ 81

WORKING WITH PAGES .................................................................................................................... 81

CHANGING THE ZOOM LEVEL ............................................................................................................. 81

THE RESOURCE PANE ...................................................................................................................... 82

ADDING ITEMS TO A PAGE ................................................................................................................ 83

WORKING WITH PRIMITIVES ............................................................................. 83

SELECTING PRIMITIVES .................................................................................................................... 83

BURIED PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................................................ 84

USING THE QUICK BAR .................................................................................................................... 84

MOVING PRIMITIVES BETWEEN PAGES ................................................................................................. 84

MOVING PRIMITIVES BETWEEN DATABASES .......................................................................................... 84

CHANGING THE SIZE OF PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................... 84

USING LAYOUT HANDLES ................................................................................................................. 85

SMART ALIGNMENT ......................................................................................................................... 85

QUICK ALIGNMENT ......................................................................................................................... 86

USING THE GRID ............................................................................................................................ 86

ALIGNING PRIMITIVES ..................................................................................................................... 87

SPACING PRIMITIVES ....................................................................................................................... 87

REORDERING PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................. 87

DUPLICATING PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................ 88

EDITING MULTIPLE PRIMITIVES ......................................................................................................... 88

JUMPING TO OTHER ITEMS ............................................................................................................... 90

PRIMITIVE PROPERTIES ................................................................................... 90

SHOWING OR HIDING PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................................... 90

DEFINING PRIMITIVE COLORS ........................................................................................................... 91

DEFINING FLASHING COLORS ............................................................................................................ 92

DEFINING 2-STATE COLORS .............................................................................................................. 93

DEFINING 4-STATE COLORS .............................................................................................................. 93

DEFINING BLENDED COLORS ............................................................................................................. 93

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE V

DEFINING COLOR EXPRESSIONS ......................................................................................................... 94

DEFINING TANK FILLS ..................................................................................................................... 95

DEFINING FILL FORMATS .................................................................................................................. 96

DEFINING EDGE FORMATS ................................................................................................................ 96

USING GROUPS .............................................................................................97

MAKING AND BREAKING GROUPS ........................................................................................................ 97

EDITING WITHIN GROUPS ................................................................................................................ 97

NESTED GROUP EDITING .................................................................................................................. 98

EXPANDING GROUPS ....................................................................................................................... 98

ADDING MOVEMENT TO PRIMITIVES ....................................................................98

ADDING TEXT TO PRIMITIVES ............................................................................99

ADDING DATA TO PRIMITIVES.......................................................................... 101

ADDING ACTIONS TO PRIMITIVES ..................................................................... 106

PROTECTING ACTIONS ................................................................................................................... 106

ENABLING ACTIONS ...................................................................................................................... 106

THE GOTO PAGE ACTION ............................................................................................................... 107

THE USER DEFINED ACTION ........................................................................................................... 108

THE PUSH BUTTON ACTION ............................................................................................................ 109

THE CHANGE VALUE ACTION ........................................................................................................... 110

THE RAMP VALUE ACTION .............................................................................................................. 110

THE PLAY TUNE ACTION ................................................................................................................ 111

THE LOG ON USER ACTION ............................................................................................................ 111

THE LOG OFF USER ACTION ........................................................................................................... 111

ADDING ACTIONS TO KEYS ............................................................................. 112

EDITING PAGE PROPERTIES ............................................................................. 113

USER INTERFACE SETTINGS ............................................................................ 115

GLOBAL PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 115

ENTRY PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 116

IMAGES PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 117

FONTS PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 118

MANAGING IMAGES ....................................................................................... 118

MANAGING FONTS ........................................................................................ 120

PRIMITIVE TYPES ........................................................................................ 123

CORE PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................ 123

GEOMETRIC PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................. 123

3D PRIMITIVES ............................................................................................................................ 124

BUTTON PRIMITIVES ..................................................................................................................... 124

TEXT AND DATA PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................................... 125

LINE PRIMITIVE ........................................................................................................................... 126

IMAGE PRIMITIVE ......................................................................................................................... 126

SCALE PRIMITIVE ......................................................................................................................... 128

ARROWS .................................................................................................... 130

POLYGONS AND STARS ................................................................................... 131

POLYGONS .................................................................................................................................. 131

STARS ....................................................................................................................................... 131

BALLOONS AND CALL-OUTS ............................................................................. 132

SEMI-TRIMMED FIGURES ................................................................................ 133

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE VI http://www.redlion.net/g3

ACTIONS BUTTONS ....................................................................................... 133

ILLUMINATED BUTTONS.................................................................................. 134

INDICATORS ............................................................................................... 135

2-STATE TOGGLES ........................................................................................ 136

3-STATE TOGGLES ........................................................................................ 138

2-STATE SELECTORS ..................................................................................... 139

3-STATE SELECTORS ..................................................................................... 139

LEGACY PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................... 140

ELLIPSE FRAGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 140

RICH SLIDERS ............................................................................................................................. 140

SYSTEM PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................... 142

VIEWER FORMAT .......................................................................................................................... 142

ALARM VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 143

EVENT VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 143

FILE VIEWER ............................................................................................................................... 145

USER MANAGER ........................................................................................................................... 145

TREND VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 146

TOUCH CALIBRATION .................................................................................................................... 148

TOUCH TESTER ............................................................................................................................ 148

LOCALIZATION ........................................................................................... 149

SELECTING LANGUAGES .................................................................................. 149

CONFIGURING AUTO-TRANSLATION ................................................................... 150

TRANSLATING YOUR DATABASE ........................................................................ 150

ENTERING TRANSLATIONS .............................................................................................................. 151

GLOBAL AUTO-TRANSLATION .......................................................................................................... 151

EXPORTING AND IMPORTING ........................................................................................................... 151

APPLYING A LEXICON ..................................................................................................................... 151

PREVIEWING TRANSLATIONS ........................................................................... 152

SWITCHING LANGUAGES ................................................................................. 152

USING WIDGETS ........................................................................................ 153

CREATING A WIDGET .................................................................................... 153

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 157

WHY THIS MATTERS ..................................................................................................................... 158

DOWN TO DETAILS ....................................................................................................................... 158

WIDGET DATA DEFINITIONS ........................................................................... 158

FILING WIDGETS .......................................................................................... 160

FOLDER BINDING ......................................................................................... 160

ADVANCED BINDING ...................................................................................... 162

CLASS MATCHING ......................................................................................................................... 162

BINDING PREFIXES ....................................................................................................................... 162

USING BIND TO ........................................................................................................................... 163

DETAILS WIDGETS........................................................................................ 163

ENABLING DETAILS CREATION ......................................................................................................... 164

DEFINING DATA ITEMS .................................................................................................................. 164

RESULTS OF BINDING .................................................................................................................... 164

MULTIPLE DETAILS PAGES .............................................................................................................. 165

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE VII

USING THE DATA LOGGER ............................................................................. 167

CREATING DATA LOGS ................................................................................... 167

BATCH LOGGING .......................................................................................... 168

CONTROLLING A BATCH ................................................................................................................. 168

LOG FILE STORAGE ....................................................................................... 169

THE LOGGING PROCESS ................................................................................. 169

ACCESSING LOG FILES ................................................................................... 170

USING THE WEB SERVER .............................................................................. 171

IMPORTANT NOTE ........................................................................................ 171

WEB SERVER PROPERTIES .............................................................................. 171

ADDING WEB PAGES ..................................................................................... 173

USING A CUSTOM WEB SITE ........................................................................... 174

CREATING THE SITE ...................................................................................................................... 174

EMBEDDING DATA ........................................................................................................................ 174

DEPLOYING THE SITE .................................................................................................................... 174

USING THE SECURITY SYSTEM ....................................................................... 175

SECURITY BASICS ......................................................................................... 175

OBJECT-BASED SECURITY ............................................................................................................... 175

NAMED USERS ............................................................................................................................. 175

USER RIGHTS .............................................................................................................................. 176

ACCESS CONTROL ......................................................................................................................... 176

WRITE LOGGING .......................................................................................................................... 176

DEFAULT ACCESS ......................................................................................................................... 177

ON-DEMAND LOGON ..................................................................................................................... 177

MAINTENANCE ACCESS .................................................................................................................. 177

CHECK BEFORE OPERATE ............................................................................................................... 177

SECURITY SETTINGS ..................................................................................... 178

CREATING USERS ......................................................................................... 179

SPECIFYING TAG SECURITY ............................................................................. 179

SPECIFYING PAGE SECURITY ............................................................................ 180

SECURITY RELATED FUNCTIONS ....................................................................... 180

USING SERVICES......................................................................................... 181

USING TIME MANAGEMENT ............................................................................. 181

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 181

CHOOSING AN SNTP SERVER .......................................................................................................... 183

TIME-ZONE CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................................... 183

USING THE FTP SERVER ................................................................................ 184

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 184

FTP SECURITY............................................................................................................................. 184

USING FILE SYNCHRONIZATION ........................................................................ 185

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 185

USING ELECTRONIC MAIL ............................................................................... 187

ADDING CONTACTS ....................................................................................................................... 187

CONFIGURING SMTP .................................................................................................................... 187

CONFIGURING SMS ...................................................................................................................... 189

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE VIII http://www.redlion.net/g3

SHARING PORTS ......................................................................................... 192

ENABLING TCP/IP ........................................................................................ 192

SHARING THE REQUIRED PORT ........................................................................ 192

CONNECTING VIA ANOTHER PORT ..................................................................... 193

CONNECTING VIA ETHERNET ............................................................................ 193

PURE VIRTUAL PORTS .................................................................................... 195

LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................. 195

USING MODEMS ......................................................................................... 197

ADDING A DIAL-IN CONNECTION ...................................................................... 197

ADDING A DIAL-OUT CONNECTION ................................................................... 199

ADDING AN SMS CONNECTION ........................................................................ 201

SMS MESSAGE PROCESSING ............................................................................ 201

CHECKING THE MODEM STATUS ....................................................................... 202

TROUBLESHOOTING MODEM COMMUNICATION...................................................... 203

USING MULTIPLE INTERFACES .......................................................................... 203

USING THE USB HOST ................................................................................. 205

MEMORY STICK SUPPORT ............................................................................... 205

GENERAL PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................... 205

TRANSFER PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................. 206

KEYBOARD SUPPORT ..................................................................................... 206

USING PROGRAMS ...................................................................................... 207

THE PROGRAM LIST ...................................................................................... 207

FINDING PROGRAM USAGE .............................................................................. 207

EDITING PROGRAMS ...................................................................................... 207

GETTING HELP ............................................................................................ 208

THE RESOURCE PANE .................................................................................... 208

PROGRAM DATA TYPES .................................................................................. 209

PROGRAM PROPERTIES .................................................................................. 209

ADDING COMMENTS ...................................................................................... 211

RETURNING VALUES ...................................................................................... 211

HERE BE DRAGONS! ...................................................................................................................... 211

PASSING ARGUMENTS .................................................................................... 212

PROGRAMMING TIPS ..................................................................................... 212

MULTIPLE ACTIONS ....................................................................................................................... 212

IF STATEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 212

SWITCH STATEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 213

LOCAL VARIABLES ......................................................................................................................... 214

LOOP CONSTRUCTS ....................................................................................................................... 214

WRITING EXPRESSIONS ............................................................................... 217

DATA VALUES .............................................................................................. 217

CONSTANTS ................................................................................................................................ 217

TAG VALUES................................................................................................................................ 219

TAG PROPERTIES.......................................................................................................................... 219

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE IX

PAGE PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 219

COMMS REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 219

SIMPLE MATH ............................................................................................. 220

OPERATOR PRIORITY .................................................................................... 220

TYPE CONVERSION ....................................................................................... 220

COMPARING VALUES ..................................................................................... 221

TESTING BITS ............................................................................................. 221

MULTIPLE CONDITIONS .................................................................................. 222

CHOOSING VALUES ....................................................................................... 222

MANIPULATING BITS ..................................................................................... 222

AND, OR AND XOR ....................................................................................................................... 223

SHIFT OPERATORS ........................................................................................................................ 223

BITWISE NOT ............................................................................................................................. 223

INDEXING ARRAYS ........................................................................................ 223

INDEXING STRINGS ....................................................................................... 224

ADDING STRINGS ......................................................................................... 224

CALLING PROGRAMS ..................................................................................... 224

USING FUNCTIONS ....................................................................................... 224

PRIORITY SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 224

WRITING ACTIONS ...................................................................................... 227

CHANGING PAGE .......................................................................................... 227

CHANGING NUMERIC VALUES ........................................................................... 227

SIMPLE ASSIGNMENT ..................................................................................................................... 227

COMPOUND ASSIGNMENT ............................................................................................................... 227

INCREMENT AND DECREMENT .......................................................................................................... 227

CHANGING BIT VALUES .................................................................................. 227

RUNNING PROGRAMS .................................................................................... 228

USING FUNCTIONS ....................................................................................... 228

OPERATOR PRIORITY .................................................................................... 228

CRIMSON 3

USER MANUAL

GETTING STARTED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

REVISION 2.1 PAGE 1

GETTING STARTED

Welcome to Crimson 3—the latest version of Red Lion’s widely-acclaimed operator interface

configuration software. If you have used an earlier version of Crimson, you will soon notice

that Crimson 3 provides a huge number of improvements—while retaining all of the power

that you have grown used to. If you are new to Crimson, be sure to read at least the first few

chapters of this manual to get an introduction to how the software works. Either way, you will

soon find out how Crimson 3 makes it easier and quicker for you to design powerful and

attractive operator interface solutions.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Crimson 3 is designed to run on any version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 2000

onwards. Memory requirements are modest, and any system that meets the minimum system

requirements for its operating system will be capable of running Crimson without any

problems. About 150MB of free disk space will be needed for installation, and you should

ideally have a display with sufficient resolution to allow the editing of display pages without

having to scroll too much. For a VGA target device, an XGVA PC is recommended.

INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE

Crimson 3 is supplied as a Microsoft Installer package or an msi file. You will typically have

downloaded this file from Red Lion’s website, but if you have downloaded it from another

source, please check that Windows is satisfied with the package’s digital signature so that you

are assured of receiving genuine Red Lion software…

As shown above, the publisher should show as Red Lion Controls Inc, and you should be able

to click on the publisher’s name to verify the integrity of the digital signature. Once you are

happy with the package, press the Run button to start the installation.

The installation process is fairly standard, and ought to proceed without much interaction

beyond your specifying the target directory. One the process complete, look at your Start

Menu and find the Red Lion Controls folder. Click the Crimson 3 icon to start the software.

REGISTRATION CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE 2 http://www.redlion.net/g3

REGISTRATION

When you first run Crimson 3, you will be offered a chance to register your software…

While registration is optional, we strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to

provide us with your contact details so that we can inform you of Crimson updates and of

associated products. Since registration requires an Internet connection, you may skip the

process if so do not have such a connection available. Crimson will periodically remind you if

you are running an unregistered copy of the software.

CHECKING FOR UPDATES

If you have an Internet connection, you can use the Check for Update command in the Help

menu to scan Red Lion’s web site for a new version of Crimson 3. If a later version than the

one you are using is found, Crimson will ask if it should download the upgrade and update

your software automatically. You may also manually download the upgrade from Red Lion’s

website by visiting the Downloads page within the Support section.

INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS

If you’ve followed the instructions that came with your target hardware, you will not yet have

connected the hardware to your PC. Now that you have completed the Crimson 3 installation,

you may safely connect the device using a standard USB cable. After some churning,

Windows should indicate that it has found the drivers for the new hardware and that it is

ready for operation. No further user intervention should be required.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you connected the target device to your PC before installing Crimson 3, it is possible that

an aborted installation has made it impossible for you to install the drivers correctly. To check

for this, open the Windows Device Manager by finding the My Computer icon, right-clicking

and selecting the Manage command. A window similar to the one below should appear…

GETTING STARTED TROUBLESHOOTING

REVISION 2.1 PAGE 3

The exact process for getting to this point will vary from one operating system to another, but

the basic idea is the same: Find the My Computer icon—either on the desktop or on your start

menu—right-click it and select Manage. If that doesn’t work, select the System option from

the Control Panel, and activate the Device Manager from the Hardware tab.

If you have a problem with your USB drivers, you will see a yellow icon carrying an

exclamation point under the Universal Serial Bus controllers category. The name of the icon

may be HMI or Loader or something similar. The broken driver is shown in close-up below…

To fix the problem, right-click on the broken device and select Uninstall from the menu…

After asking for confirmation, Windows will remove the device from your system. You can

now power the Crimson target device off. After a couple of seconds, reapply power and

Windows will start the driver installation process once again.

As mentioned above, Crimson actually uses distinct device drivers for the boot loader and for

the Crimson runtime. You may thus have to repeat this repair process for each driver,

although it is unlikely that things got beyond the boot loader if that install failed.

Incorrectly Installed Device

GETTING ASSISTANCE CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE 4 http://www.redlion.net/g3

GETTING ASSISTANCE

If you hit a problem or need assistance, several resources are available.

B

ALLOON HELP

Crimson contains a very useful feature called Balloon Help…

This facility allows you to see help information for each item within Crimson. It is controlled

via the icon at the right-hand edge of the toolbar or via options on the Help menu. The default

mode allows the help text to be displayed by pressing the

F1 key, providing a quick way of

getting information if you are unsure of the settings for a given field. Keep this in mind, and

your life will be a lot easier!

T

ECHNICAL SUPPORT

Technical assistance is available on the web at…

http://www.redlion.net/support.html

Or, we can be contacted via email at…

support@redlion.net

You may also call +1 (717) 767-6511 and ask for the HMI Support Team.

O

NLINE FORUMS

A number of online forums exist to support users of PLCs and HMIs. Red Lion recommends

the Q&A forum at http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/

. The discussion board is populated by many

experts who are willing to help, and Red Lion’s own technical support staff also keep an eye

out for questions relating to our products.

THE NEXT STEPS

Since Crimson 3 has a completely new user interface, we suggest that existing Crimson users

at least give the next chapter a cursory reading. We also suggest that you look at the chapters

on tags and display page configuration, as some of the concepts used by Crimson 2 have been

simplified, and many things can be achieved through easier methods. If you are completely

new to Crimson, please try to read at least as far as the start of the chapter on Widgets.

Good luck, and have fun!

CRIMSON BASICS WINDOW LAYOUT

REVISION 2.1 PAGE 5

CRIMSON BASICS

To run Crimson, select the Crimson 3 icon in the Red Lion Controls section of your Start

Menu. After a couple of seconds, Crimson will appear. The first thing you will notice is the

updated user interface that we have adopted. This new interface allows quicker navigation

and faster database construction. We hope that it will greatly improve your productivity.

WINDOW LAYOUT

The main Crimson window comprises three sections…

T

HE NAVIGATION PANE

The left-hand portion of the window is called the Navigation Pane. It is used to move between

different categories of items within a Crimson configuration file. Each category is represented

by a bar at the base of the pane, and clicking on that bar will navigate to that section. The top

section of the Navigation Pane shows the available items in the current category, and provides

a toolbar to allow those items to be manipulated. If you want to make the top section larger,

you can pick up and drag the dividing line between it and the category bars.

T

HE RESOURCE PANE

The right-hand portion of the window is called the Resource Pane. It is used to access various

items that are of use when editing the current category. Just like the Navigation Pane, it

contains a number of categories which can be accessed via the category bars. Items in a given

resource category can be drag-and-dropped to the places where you wish to use them. For

example, a data tag can be picked up from the Resource Pane and dropped on a configuration

field to make that field dependant on the value of the selected tag. Many items can also be

double-clicked, thereby setting the current field to that item.

THE CATEGORIES CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

PAGE 6 http://www.redlion.net/g3

THE EDITING PANE

The central portion of the window is used to edit the currently selected item. Depending on

the selection, it may contain a number of tabs, each showing a given set of the properties for

that item, or it may contain an editor specific to the item that you are working on.

C

OLLAPSING PANES

Either or both of the Navigation Pane and Resource Pane can be collapsed to the edge of the

main window in order to free-up more space for the Editing Pane. To close a pane, click on

the ‘x’ in the top left-hand corner of its title bar. It will then be replaced by a smaller bar

marked with arrows. Clicking this bar will expand the associated pane. Clicking on the

pushpin icon of a temporarily-expanded pane will lock it in place.

THE CATEGORIES

The main categories in a Crimson database are as follows…

C

OMMUNICATIONS

This category specifies which protocols are to be used on the target device’s serial

ports and Ethernet ports. Where master protocols are used (ie. protocols in which

the Red Lion hardware initiates data transfer to and from a remote device) you can

also use this icon to specify one or more devices to be accessed. Where slave

protocols are used (ie. protocols in which the Red Lion hardware receives and responds to

requests from other systems) you can specify which data items are to be exposed for read or

write access. You can also use this category to move data between remote devices via the

protocol converter, to configure expansion cards and to configure services.

D

ATA TAGS

This category defines the data items that are to be used to be access data within the

remote devices, or to store information within the target device. Each tag has a

variety of properties, including formatting data, which specifies how the data held

within a tag is to be shown on the device’s display or in other contexts such as web

pages. By specifying this information within the tag, Crimson removes the need for you to

reenter formatting data each time a tag is displayed. More advanced tag properties include

alarms that may activate when various conditions relating to the tag occur, or triggers, which

perform programmable actions when those conditions are met.

D

ISPLAY PAGES

This category is used to create and edit display pages. The page editor allows you

to display various graphical items known as primitives. These vary from simple

items, such as rectangles and lines, to more complex items that can be tied to the

value of a particular tag or to an expression. By default, such primitives use the

formatting information defined when the tag was created, although this information can be

overridden if required. You may also use the editor to specify what actions should be taken

when keys or primitives are pressed, released or held down.

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Omega CSMSTR Owner's manual

Omega CSMSTR Owner's manual

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