FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00 (CPR 9 SR 13)

FactoryTalk View ME works within the system requirements of all Rockwell Automation® software products. For the latest compatibility information, refer to the Product Compatibility and Download Center.

Hardware requirements

The following is a sample specification of computer hardware to run FactoryTalk View ME applications aligned with the hardware used in product development testing.

• Intel® Core™ i5 Standard Power processor
• 4 GB of memory (RAM)

Software requirements

FactoryTalk View ME has been tested on the following operating systems:

• Windows 10* (v2004, v20H2, v21H1, and 21H2)
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2016 Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2016 (LTSB) Embedded**
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2019 Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
• Windows 11
• Windows Server® 2012
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2016*
• Windows Server 2019

* For more information about the Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 operating system support, see Known anomalies inherited from previous releases.

** This operating system is supported with the Allen-Bradley® 61xx family of industrial computers and CompactLogix™ 5480 family of controllers.

Supported browsers

The following web browsers have been tested and are supported for use with this release:

• Google® Chrome™ browser
• Microsoft® Edge™
• Mozilla® Firefox®

Supported SQL Server

FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00 supports SQL Server 2019 Express LocalDB as HMI tag databases.

Rockwell Automation Test Environment

Rockwell Automation tests software products under a standard configuration of operating systems and antivirus software. For additional information, see the Knowledgebase Document ID: PN24 - Rockwell Software Products and Antivirus Software.

Security requirements

To help meet secure system design requirements, review these publications:

• Configure System Security Features User Manual (publication SECURE-UM001)
• System Security Design Guidelines (publication SECURE-RM001)
• Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) Design and Implementation Guide (publication ENET-TD001)

To learn about implementing CIP Security, see CIP Security with Rockwell Automation Products (publication SECURE-AT001).

FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00 has the following new and enhanced features:

New features

There are no new features in this release.

Enhanced features

• Cross Reference enhancement

The Cross Reference form adds the function to search object names.

• Recipe enhancements
  RecipePlus is enhanced to write the runtime recipe name to a tag after downloading the recipe. It also provides the option to define decimal limits for ingredients.

The list identifies the anomalies corrected in FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00. Use the identification information provided in the anomaly heading to track the anomaly in future releases or for reference when receiving assistance from Customer Support with a related issue.

• When a screen saver is active on a PanelView Plus family terminal, the terminal exits the screen saver mode on receiving an alarm, but remotely acknowledging the alarm does not restart the screen saver mode. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 5.10.00. [348432]
• Tag Browser may not respond for a while when selecting a tag. First identified in FactoryTalk View version 10.00.00. [Jira 1096077]
• FactoryTalk View File Viewer stops responding when opening an ME alarm log file. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1470314]
• Font size in an application changes when the Windows scaling setting changes. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1200131]
• Unable to delete or rename graphic displays. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1175135]
• Unable to restore earlier versions of runtime applications and an error message shows in FactoryTalk Diagnostics. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 992182]
• Restoring .mer files does not restore the graphic displays. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1236719]
• When Optimize duplicate strings is selected, it takes hours to export language and sometimes FactoryTalk View ME stops responding. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 9.00.00. [Jira 849926]
• When using a Chart or a ChartEx ActiveX control, trace data randomly becomes zero even though the data in the controller is not zero. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 11.00.00. [Jira 1355102]
• Passing a literal string that includes spaces as a parameter results in double quotes around the string. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 10.00.00. [Jira 1251874]
• The Expression option for the File Location and Trigger properties is missing in the DataStore Plus ActiveX control. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1096099]
• Bitmap image on a GotoDisplay button is scaled up to fill the button regardless of the specified Scale property. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1103368]
• When using a Custom String Popup Keyboard ActiveX control and entering characters on the popup keyboard, only up to 30 characters can be entered. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 1112249]
• Macro does not run consistently on a terminal. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 11.00.00. [Jira 1017310]
• EmailSender ActiveX control does not support multiple languages. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 943021]

• If a remote desktop is connected to the terminal, but the remote desktop does not contain a remote directory, the terminal's performance slows down when the DataStorePlus ActiveX control on the terminal logs data to the remote desktop. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 7.00.00 [275446]

There is currently no workaround for this anomaly.

• Some object properties that are configured in character sets for East Asian languages, such as Chinese or Japanese, will show a question mark in the result list when you use the Find and Replace, Cross Reference, or Undo feature. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 7.00.00. [338894]

To avoid this problem, go to Control Panel > Regional and Language Options, and select the appropriate language to match the desired language.

• If the expression setting for the animation property of the base object is empty when you change the LinkAnimation property of a reference object to Link without expressions and change the expression setting for the animation property, the expression setting change cannot be saved. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 6.00.00. [272937]

To avoid this problem, enter a valid value in the expression setting for the animation property of the base object first.

• When opening a development application (*.med) in FactoryTalk View Studio, in the New/Open Machine Edition Application dialog box, the Resolution box shows blank. It is because the application's ProjectSettings.pts file is missing. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.00.00. [346587]

  To avoid this problem, re-configure the project window size in the Project Settings window.

• Applying color animations to an object group as well as to the individual objects in the group causes unexpected behaviors. First reported in version 8.00.00. [346758]
  To set up color animations for an object group, either apply the color animations to the group, or to the individual objects in the group.

• When registering or unregistering an ActiveX Control object in FactoryTalk View Studio with User Account Control (UAC) enabled in the operating system, an error message shows. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.00.00. [346124]

To successfully register or unregister an ActiveX Control object, do one of the following before the operation:

• Turn off UAC and restart the computer
• Run FactoryTalk View Studio as administrator

For more information about UAC, see Application notes.

• If a Recipe ActiveX control object is used on an On Top display, when using the object to execute the load operation, the runtime application stops responding on desktops and terminals. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 7.00.00. [345978, 346171]

  To avoid this problem, put the Recipe ActiveX control object on a Replace display.

• On terminals, after changing Decimal Separator to comma, the decimal separator may still be a period instead of a comma for numeric embedded variables. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.10.00. [352278]

There is currently no workaround for this anomaly.

• When loading web pages in Web Browser, the ActiveX control causes a memory leak. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 7.00.00. [275838, 276309]
  See the following table for more information.

  Loading a web page every number of seconds (s)	Approximate memory leak increase by the number of kilobytes (KB)	Approximate cumulative memory leak over a 600-second duration
  30 s	56 KB	1,120 KB
  60 s	58 KB	580 KB
  300 s	133 KB	266 KB

There is currently no workaround for this anomaly.

• If you installed the Stand-alone ME Transfer Utility on your computer and then uninstalled the ME Transfer Utility from Windows Control Panel, when you launch FactoryTalk Administration Console, the System node is missing from the directory tree. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 7.00.00. [348016]

To avoid this problem, follow the steps below:

1. In the Command Prompt window, navigate to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Rockwell\ on 64-bit operating systems

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Rockwell\ on 32-bit operating systems

where C: is the drive to which Rockwell Automation applications are installed.

2. Type the following command to register the RnaSecurityinterfaces.dll file:
   regsvr32 RnaSecurityInterfaces.dll
3. Restart your computer after registration.

• If a user's Login Macro runs remote display navigation, when the user logs in to an application, ME Station may stop responding if the user’s authentication does not complete before the remote display navigation is run. First identified in FactoryTalk View version 8.00.00. [348175]

There is currently no workaround for this anomaly.

• When running applications on a PanelView Plus 7 or PanelView Plus 6 terminal, if you switch the language to Chinese, the captions and shorter messages in the pop-up windows of User Management buttons may show as square boxes. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.20.00. [Jira 1191837]

To show the Chinese characters, link the Tahoma, Arial, and Courier New fonts with Arial Unicode MS.

To link a font with Arial Unicode MS

1. Go to Terminal Settings/Font Linking, select the font you want to edit, and press Show Links.
2. Press Edit Link.
3. In the Add Linked Font window, select Arial Unicode MS, and press Add Font.
4. After editing all the fonts, go to the FactoryTalk View ME Station window, and press Reset.

• When ME Custom String Popup Keyboard is open, the global connection for remote navigation does not work. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 6.00.00. [270634]

To ensure that the global connection for remote navigation works, close ME Custom String Popup Keyboard.

• If a design time application file (.med) is restored from a runtime application file (.mer) that is created using a later version FactoryTalk View Studio, certain graphic display may not be opened in the earlier version FactoryTalk View Studio and an error message may show. For example, if you create a v8.20 .mer file using FactoryTalk View Studio 9.0, and restore the .mer file to a .med file using FactoryTalk View Studio 8.20, certain graphic display may not be opened in FactoryTalk View Studio 8.20. This error may be caused by the global object that uses a parameter. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 6.10.00. [352393]

  To avoid this problem, remove the parameter from the global object.

• When using a tag placeholder for the Data_Source connection, the Chart ActiveX control does not show any data in the test display mode, and an error message shows in FactoryTalk Diagnostics: “Failed to resolve item’s ID ”#” because it does not exist on any server.” First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.20.00. [363775]

To avoid this problem, use a tag for the Data_Source connection instead of a tag placeholder.

• On Microsoft Surface® tablets, the press and hold gesture may not open a component's menu if the component is a text box. First identified in FactoryTalk View 9.00.00. [362400]

To avoid this problem, use a mouse and right-click the component to open the menu.

• Parameters used in the Float00x and the String 00x connections for the ME Recipe 2 ActiveX control cannot be resolved in test display mode. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 9.00.00. [365277]

Parameters can be resolved in the test run or runtime mode.

• Clearing alarm history may not clear alarm identifiers in alarm banner and alarm status list objects. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 9.00.00. [366740]

  There is currently no workaround for this anomaly.

• If a user account is locked in FactoryTalk ViewPoint, the account is still active in FactoryTalk View ME. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 8.00.00 [367826]

To unlock the user account in FactoryTalk ViewPoint, reload the application on the PanelView Plus family terminal.

• When running FactoryTalk View ME applications on Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 v1607 operating systems, initiating a network connectivity break by disabling NIC adaptors in Device Manager can cause application failures requiring a restart of the application. This issue was introduced in the Windows Server 2016 operating system and the Windows 10 v1607 feature build. [363223]

To avoid this problem, run the Microsoft Hotfix KB3201845 outlined in https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3201845.

Alternatively, you can run Windows 10 v1703 or other supported operating systems where this issue is not present.

For more information about Windows 10 operating system support, see Knowledgebase Document ID: IN4493 - Windows 10 Support for the FactoryTalk Suite of Rockwell Software products.

For more information about Windows Server 2016 operating system support, see Knowledgebase Document ID: IN4718 - Windows Server 2016 Support for the FactoryTalk Suite of Rockwell Software products.

• On the ODBC Database tab of the Diagnostics Setup editor, if the data source name and target table are not configured, other changes cannot be saved on the tab. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 11.00.00. [Jira 859411]

To avoid this problem, configure the data source name and target table. Then other changes can be saved on the ODBC Database tab.

• After switching the authentication mode from LDAP over SSL to other modes, it’s unable to log on with a domain user account. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 12.00.00. [Jira 562100]

To resolve this problem, reload the runtime application in FactoryTalk View ME Station.

• Transparency does not work for a Symbol Factory object containing PolyPolygon elements on a PanelView Plus 7 or PanelView Plus 6 terminal. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME version 10.00.00. [Jira 343451]

  To avoid this problem, you can use the PNG files provided in Knowledgebase Document ID: BF17144 - Transparency is not working correctly on the PanelView Plus 6/7 terminals for Symbol Factory objects.

• If FactoryTalk View ME is configured to print alarms, and the printer is not connected, the alarms will accumulate in the memory. This can eventually create a low memory available situation. First identified in FactoryTalk View ME 10.00.00. [Jira 3094182]
  To clear the accumulated print alarms, connect the configured printers. The memory will be released as each alarm prints.

FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00 has the following changes in functionality since the last release:

Web Browser ActiveX control on a PanelView Plus 7 Performance Series B terminal

On a PanelView Plus 7 Performance Series B terminal, the Web Browser ActiveX control becomes a button, which opens the specified URL in Microsoft Edge.

Change in operating system support

Beginning in this release, the product installer prevents installation on all 32-bit versions of Windows operating systems (for example, Windows 10, 32-bit) and any Windows 7 operating system (for example, Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit).

Remove the support of upgrading firmware on a Windows CE 4.0 terminal

Firmware Upgrade Wizard no longer supports upgrading firmware on a PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminal.

Remove the function of creating 5.0 and 5.10 runtime applications

FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00 removes the function of creating 5.0 and 5.10 runtime applications, but allows the upgrade of 5.0 and 5.10 applications to 13.0.

Remove the function of directly adding controller instruction faceplates in FactoryTalk View Studio

FactoryTalk View ME no longer supports directly adding controller instruction faceplates to an application in FactoryTalk View Studio. Alternatively, you can import controller instruction faceplates to an application in FactoryTalk View Studio. For the latest controller instruction faceplates, search "process library" on Product Compatibility and Download Center.

The following are the application notes for FactoryTalk View ME version 13.00.00.

Unattended or silent install

Use command-line parameters to perform an unattended or silent installation of the software.

Command-line parameters

The following table identifies the installation command-line parameters. Command-line parameters are case-insensitive. However, if a specified value includes a space, be sure to enclose the value in quotation marks (for example, "value with spaces").

Error codes

The following table identifies the error codes that can be returned by an installation.

Examples

The following examples show how to use the installation commands.

• To install FactoryTalk View ME Station using the default settings during the installation process. (Silent install) Setup.exe /Q /IAcceptAllLicenseTerms /Product="Machine Edition Station for Windows"
• To install the Chinese language version of the FactoryTalk View Studio for Machine Edition version 13.00.00 software on the D: drive and show the progress, error, or complete messages during installation, and restart the computer if necessary. The language shown during installation is Chinese. (Unattended install)Setup.exe /QS /IAcceptAllLicenseTerms /AutoRestart /SetupLanguage=CHS /Product="Studio for Machine Edition" /InstallDrive=D: /SerialNumber=12345ABCDE /ProductKey=ABCD2-34KDC /Version=13.00.00
• To repair the installation of FactoryTalk View Studio for Machine Edition silently.
  Setup.exe /Q /Repair /Product="Studio for Machine Edition"

VeriSign Universal Root Certification Authority certificate

If the VeriSign Universal Root Certification Authority certificate does not exist on the local computer, the certificate is installed while installing Rockwell Automation software. Use Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to view the certificate in Console Root > Certificates (Local Computer) > Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates.

Communications

• When using UltraVNC version 1.04 or later with FactoryTalk View, a crash may occur when navigating in FactoryTalk View Studio or loading an application in FactoryTalk View ME Station.

  To avoid this problem, ensure that your version of UltraVNC is earlier than 1.04.

• If you are using remote OPC servers at run time and if the remote OPC server fails:
  • Data on the clients appears to be valid, but does not update
  • Animations do not show in wireframes
  • Date displays do not show asterisks
  • Strings do not show questions marks
• Tags that use a FactoryTalk Linx remote OPC server will show a value in the Numeric Display object even when there is no communication, for example, when the Ethernet cable has been disconnected from the CE terminal, instead of showing asterisks or logging an error message to Diagnostics.
• If you connect to ControlLogix controllers via Ethernet network, there is no additional support for other Allen-Bradley devices or network hops through bridging modules to DH+ or RIO network.
• When you run an application by double-clicking the .mer file, the application may not be able to communicate. It is because the communications file will not be automatically overwritten, and the terminal has no communication configuration or another .mer file with a different communication configuration ran on the terminal.

  To avoid this problem, follow the steps below:

  1. If it is the first time you run the application, load the application in ME Station.
  2. When the following message shows, click Yes.

     "Do you want to replace the terminal's current communication configuration with the application's communication configuration?"

• If a slash mark (/) exists in a tag name, the application will not run correctly on a PanelView Plus terminal although it runs correctly during Test Run.

  To avoid this problem, do not include a slash mark in a tag name.

Windows operating system

• When running FactoryTalk View ME applications on Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 v1607 operating systems, initiating a network connectivity break by disabling NIC adaptors in Device Manager can cause application failures requiring a restart of the application. This issue was introduced in the Windows Server 2016 operating system and the Windows 10 v1607 feature build.

  To avoid this problem, run the Microsoft Hotfix KB3201845 outlined in https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3201845.

  Alternatively, you can run Windows 10 v1703 or other supported operating systems where this issue is not present.

  For more information about Windows 10 operating system support, see Knowledgebase Document ID: IN4493 - Windows 10 Support for the FactoryTalk Suite of Rockwell Software products.

  For more information about Windows Server 2016 operating system support, see Knowledgebase Document ID: IN4718 - Windows Server 2016 Support for the FactoryTalk Suite of Rockwell Software products.

• If you are using FactoryTalk View ME Station v10.00.00 or earlier on a Windows 10 operating system, files older than seven days may be deleted automatically in the %temp% folder.

  To retain the files:

  1. Disable silent cleanup by using either of the following methods:

     • If you have the administrator privilege, run the command:
     schtasks.exe /Change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\DiskCleanup\SilentCleanup" /Disable
     • Open Task Scheduler, navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > DiskCleanup, right-click SilentCleanup, and select Disable.

  2. Disable LowDiskSpaceChecks:
     1. Open Registry Editor.
     2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current\Version\Policies\Explorer.
     3. Select Edit > New > DWORD VALUE.
     4. Type the name NoLowDiskSpaceChecks.
     5. Right-click NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and select Modify.
     6. In the Value data box, enter 1, and click OK.

KEPServer

• FactoryTalk View ME version 11.00.00 can work with the following versions of KEPServer Enterprise:
  • Version 5.13 or later on Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016 operating systems
  • Version 5.0 or later on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems
    • To run KEPServer Enterprise 5.0 or later on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 operating systems, disable UAC and log in as an administrator.
    • When using a remote Kepware data server, to run FactoryTalk View ME version 6.00.00 or later applications on a Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 operating system, you need set DCOM manually.

• If an application running on a PanelView Plus terminal uses KEPServer as the OPC Data Server, a conflict is created with the Serial DF1 driver installed by default with FactoryTalk Linx. This produces the following recurring error message:

  "DF1: Failed to open COM2: as it may be already in use by another application."

  To stop the error message, remove the default Serial DF1 driver. For more information, see Knowledgebase Document ID: BF15496 - Error opening COM1 [OS Error == 55] shows up in diagnostics list when running Kepserver on PanelView Plus.

• If a runtime application (.mer) that contains a KEPServer Enterprise project file is converted to a design time application, the location of the project file is not shown to the user.

  To access the project file, go to \Users\Public\Public Documents\RSView Enterprise\ME\HMI Projects\<application name>\KEPServer.

• If you are using KEPServer Enterprise as an OPC server with FactoryTalk View version 9.00.00 or later and using an HMI tag to connect to a third-party device, you will not be able to access the tag value. The cause is that the security enhancements in FactoryTalk View version 9.00.00 or later affect the communications with third-party devices. To access the tag value, additional Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) configuration is required for KEPServer Enterprise on the computers.

  For more information about the configuration, see Appendix, "Troubleshoot KEPServer Enterprise" in the FactoryTalk View Installation Guide.

RSNetWorx

• If you use RSNetWorx, RSNetWorx version 10.00 or later is required. Rockwell Automation recommends RSNetWorx version 21.00 or later.

  If you are under a current technical support contract, you may download RSNetWorx v21 or later from the Product Compatibility and Download Center.

To download RSNetWorx:

1. Click the Download Software Updates link and enter your Rockwell Automation Member identification.
2. Enter your Company Name and the Software Serial Number for your current RSNetWorx.
3. Follow the instructions to download and install the updated software product.

   RSNetWorx v21.00 or later is also available in Studio Professional v21.00 or later. If you are not under a current technical support contract, you may purchase an update for RSNetWorx by contacting Rockwell Automation sales.

   For information about RSNetWorx version 11.00 and earlier incompatibility with Rockwell Automation software products, see Knowledgebase Document ID: PN785 - Product Notice 2013-10-001 - RSNetWorx V11 and Prior Incompatibility with Rockwell Automation Software Products (201310001).

PanelBuilder 1400e

• If you are installing PanelBuilder 1400e and FactoryTalk View Studio on the same computer, install PanelBuilder 1400e first. If you install FactoryTalk View Studio first, the PanelBuilder software will open, but you cannot create applications or open existing applications.

Network security

• For the latest network security considerations when using Rockwell Automation products, visit the Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase.

  For information about:

  • File extensions created by Rockwell Automation software, firewall rules, and service dependences, see Knowledgebase Document ID: PN826 - Security considerations when using Rockwell Automation Software Products.
  • TCP/UDP ports used by Rockwell Automation products, see Knowledgebase Document ID: BF7490 - TCP/UDP Ports Used by Rockwell Automation Products.

Internet security software

• If third-party Internet firewall software is enabled on a computer, FactoryTalk View ME cannot be installed or run.

  Before installing or running FactoryTalk View Studio, configure your internet firewall to allow the following .exe files to access the Internet:

  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Rockwell\Rsvchost.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Rockwell\RnaDirServer.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Rockwell\VStudio.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Rockwell\RNADirMultiplexor.exe
  • C:\Program Files\CommonFiles\Rockwell\RNADiagnosticsSrv.exe
  • C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSLinx Enterprise\RSLinxNG.exe

Before installing or running FactoryTalk View ME Station, configure your Internet firewall to allow the following .exe files to access the Internet:

• C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSView Enterprise\MEMacroEditor.exe
• C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSView Enterprise\MERuntime.exe
• C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSView Enterprise\TagSrv.exe

After configuring your firewall software to allow these files internet access, restart your computer to apply the changes.

Tip: If your computer is running a 64-bit operating system, the files are in \Program Files (x86), instead of \Program Files.

User Account Control settings

• User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of the Windows operating systems. This feature helps protect your computer from damage by programs that attempt to perform administrative tasks on your computer without your knowledge. By default, UAC is active and prompts you for administrative credentials, or to confirm that an executable file (.exe) associated with a menu item, button, or other item is safe to run.

  Turning off UAC is not recommended.

  This action	Prompts for authentication or confirmation before running this program
  Setting or changing settings related to DeskLock	DeskLock2000.exe
  Creating an application by importing a PanelBuilder application (*.pba) or a PanelView terminal file (*.pva)	VStudio.exe
  In the Networks and Communications dialog box, double-clicking FactoryTalk Linx Communications	MERuntime.exe
  In the FactoryTalk Linx Configuration dialog box, clicking Close	MERuntime.exe
  In the Application Settings dialog box, double-clicking Device Shortcuts	MERuntime.exe
  In the ShortCuts dialog box, clicking Close	MERuntime.exe
  Clicking OK in the FactoryTalk View ME Station Startup dialog box	MERuntime.exe
  Installing the FactoryTalk View software	Setup.exe
  Installing the SQL Server Express 2008 R2 SP2 instance for FactoryTalk View	SQLServerInstall.exe
  Uninstalling the FactoryTalk View software	UninstallAllFTView.exe

Constraints when using FactoryTalk View version 6.10.00 or later

Different versions of FactoryTalk View ME use different databases.

When installing FactoryTalk View ME version 6.10.00 or later:

• On a 32-bit operating system, Watcom database and SQL Server database will be installed.
• On a 64-bit operating system, only SQL Server database will be installed.

Due to this difference, some constraints with using FactoryTalk View ME version 6.10.00 or later are introduced on a 64-bit Windows OS.

To open or convert an application created with FactoryTalk View version 10.0 or later in FactoryTalk View version 9.0 or earlier, see Knowledgebase Document ID: QA48248 - Create Runtime Application: Pop-up Regarding Version 9.00 and Earlier.

For more information about constraints with creating and running MER on a 64-bit Windows operating system, review Appendix D, "Constraints when using FactoryTalk View version 6.10.00 or later" in FactoryTalk View ME Installation Guide for details.

Component names

• The names for the following FactoryTalk View Studio components do not support extended ASCII characters or UNICODE characters:
  • Application
  • HMI server
  • Data server
  • HMI tag
  • FactoryTalk Linx shortcut
  • design time application file (.med)
  • All FactoryTalk View application components, including graphic displays, parameter files, macro files, and data log files

Alarms

• If filtering is set up, when <AllTriggers> is triggered, the <AllTriggers> message will not show in the Alarm Status List.

Application Documenter

• If you restored an application using the Application Manager, the Application Documenter may not be able to detect the restored application or select it for documentation.

  To avoid the problem, open the restored application in FactoryTalk View Studio before opening it in the Application Documenter.

Application Manager

• If a FactoryTalk View ME application is created on a computer whose operating system is in one language, such as the English version of Windows, and is later restored on another operating system that is in another language, such as the German version of Windows, unexpected errors may arise when the application name includes more than 16 characters.

  To avoid this problem:

  1. Open or restore the application on an operating system that is in the original language, the English version of Windows in this example.
  2. On the English version of Windows operating system, use Application Manager to rename the application to 16 characters or less and to back up the application to an APA file.
  3. Restore the APA file on the operating system that is in another language, the German version of Windows in this example.

• If a FactoryTalk View ME application is closed, but FactoryTalk View Studio remains open, the Application Manager cannot delete or copy the closed application. The Application Manager does not recognize the application as being closed.

  To avoid this problem, open another application in FactoryTalk View Studio or close FactoryTalk View Studio before deleting or copying the application in Application Manager.

• The existing Application Name dialog box cannot show the .mea application when restoring a legacy .mea application through FactoryTalk View ME directly.

  To avoid this problem, use Application Manager to convert the .mea application to an .med application. The .med application can then be imported using FactoryTalk View ME.

Data logging

• If a FactoryTalk View ME application running on a Windows desktop platform is logging data to a custom path, attempting to access the log file (for example, to copy it) while data is being logged will stop the logging process and produce an error.

  To avoid this problem, access the log file after the data is logged.

• If the custom path is set as C:\ in FactoryTalk View ME version 6.0 or later version applications (including the applications migrated from FactoryTalk View ME version 5.1 or earlier) running on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 operating system, the data logging process fails to start and cannot show the trend with historical data.

  To avoid this problem, rebuild the application and change the store path to other drives or a subfolder of drive C:, such as "C:\log" or "C\log\data".

• If communication to a custom path fails while data is being written to the data log, data logging will stop.

  To resume data logging, shut down and restart the application.

• When FactoryTalk View ME Station is configured to delete log files on startup, it will delete alarm log file, audit log file, data log model, and diagnostics.

Domain controller

• If you set up a primary domain controller with a backup domain controller to authenticate users for a PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, or PanelView Plus CE terminal and the primary domain controller loses its network connection, the terminal will fail to authenticate through the backup domain controller.

  This will not happen if you authenticate domain users for personal computers.

Edit menu

• The Delete Row(s) menu item on the Edit menu does not delete multiple selected rows in certain spreadsheet editors. If you select multiple rows in the Information Messages, Local Messages, Macros, and Alarm Setup (Messages tab) editors, and then select Delete Row(s) from the Edit menu, only one row will be deleted.

  To delete multiple rows, right-click in the editor and select Delete Row(s).

Embedded variable

• Embedded variables are not loaded until the text in the graphic object they are associated with is shown. If an object with an embedded variable has visibility animation, the embedded variable will not be activated until the object becomes visible. If the object later becomes invisible, the embedded variable will remain active.

  For example, if a display containing an object with both visibility animation and embedded variables opens with the object invisible, and if the connection between the embedded variable and its tag is broken, FactoryTalk Diagnostics will not register communication errors for the object until the object becomes visible. If the object later becomes invisible, the communications errors will still be logged.

  This also means that if one or more states of a multistate indicator include embedded variables, the variables will become active when those states are shown.

Firmware Upgrade Package

• For the sake of expediency, we recommend upgrading via Ethernet or Compact Flash. The other protocols will work, however, the upgrade process may be extremely lengthy.
• When upgrading the firmware directly on a PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminal, do not remove the Compact Flash card until you see the following message: "The firmware upgrade has been completed. Remove the Firmware Upgrade Card and then press the Exit button." Premature removal of the card will cause the upgrade to fail.
• When the existing Machine Edition software on a PanelView Plus terminal is uninstalled during the upgrade, a multi-language message shows, stating that the software may be corrupted. The message includes two buttons, marked Download and Continue. Ignore this message, and do not press either of these buttons. Pressing either of these buttons will cause the Firmware Upgrade Wizard to become unstable.
• Upgrading the firmware over a direct Ethernet or Serial connection will not work unless the PanelView File Transfer Utility is running on the terminal.
• Files on the network are not available for upgrades. The upgrade files must be on the same computer as the Firmware Upgrade Wizard, otherwise the upgrade cannot be completed.
• The firmware upgrade deletes any files and shortcuts in the startup directory (Storage card\Windows\Startup), including those not related to FactoryTalk View ME Station.
• When you upgrade the firmware using a firmware upgrade (Compact Flash) card, the install procedure does not check the available space on the terminal's storage card. If the upgrade is larger than the existing firmware installation, be sure there is sufficient space available before starting the upgrade.
• When downloading through a local connection, the progress dialog becomes locked and cannot be moved. If another application is opened over the dialog and then removed, the progress dialog does not refresh, but goes blank instead.
• When the PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, and PanelView Plus CE terminals start, the characters EBC, followed by a letter or a number sequence, are shown on the top right corner of the screen: EBC-M or EBC 2.00.30, for example. If you see an EBC letter version earlier than "M", the Firmware Upgrade Wizard cannot perform the system upgrade.
• Firmware upgrades to PanelView Plus and PanelView Plus Compact 400 and 600 terminals can be performed remotely provided the terminal has sufficient available space. Since the presence of KepServer drivers is the most likely to affect the amount of available memory, if the terminal includes KepServer drivers, or if the upgrade includes KepServer drivers, the download may fail. A Compact Flash card upgrade is recommended.

Global display

• If an object contains undefined strings (for example, Chinese), and you choose to show undefined strings in the default language (for example, English), after you copy and paste the object, the duplicated object always shows the English language when you switch application languages. In this example, if the default language remains English and you did not choose to show undefined strings in the default language, when you change the application's current language to Chinese or French, the duplicated object still shows the English language, instead of a question mark (?).

  To avoid this problem, in the Language Configuration dialog box, clear the Display undefined strings using the default language check box before copying and pasting the object.

• Graphic objects that show floating point values, such as numeric displays and input objects, show only five decimal places, and the fifth decimal place will be rounded if necessary.
• Graphic displays, images, and graphic libraries that have the same name cannot be opened at the same time.
• Objects that have rounded corners and use a wide line width (greater than 10) will not show the rounded corners on a PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminal.
• If you are applying width or vertical position animation to text that uses Courier New font, the text will not animate properly.

  To avoid this problem, select a different font.

• Scaled graphic objects add 1 to width or height settings when editing.

  To avoid this problem, choose one of the following methods:

  • Ungroup the objects before scaling, scale each object individually, and regroup if needed.
  • Set the height and width for the objects twice.

Import files

• If you import a tag CSV file that contains large amounts of tags and alarms while a runtime application is running, you will need to wait a few minutes, and the Server Busy dialog box may show.

  To avoid this problem, stop the runtime application before importing a tag CSV file.

• When a PanelView 1200 project is converted to FactoryTalk View ME, the character lines are not scaled, and some symbol characters may not convert correctly.

  To avoid this problem, import the application and then scale the graphics after import.

• When a PanelView 1400 project is converted to FactoryTalk View ME, the Min and Max value of the Bit position tag may not convert correctly.

Language switching

• Spanish (Traditional Sort) cannot be saved in the Languages field of the Properties dialog box for a language switch button.

  To save Spanish (Traditional Sort), make the selection in the Property Panel instead of in the Properties dialog box.

• When FactoryTalk ME Station is running on aPanelView Plus terminal, if the user presses the LS (Language Switch) button with the Start in Last Runtime Language option (Application Settings/Startup Language) selected, language switching is slower than in previous releases.

Memory

• If FactoryTalk View ME is configured to print alarms, and the printer is not connected, the alarms will accumulate in the memory. This can eventually create a low memory available situation.

  To clear the accumulated print alarms, connect the configured printers. The memory will be released as each alarm prints.

Navigation

• Users cannot navigate through the Display List Selector by holding the Up or Down key on a terminal running FactoryTalk View ME Station version 6.10.00.

  To avoid this problem, in FactoryTalk View ME Station, go to Terminal Settings > Input Device > Keyboard/Keypad and change the value for Repeat Rate to 2 or greater.

PanelView Plus 7 Standard application

• In FactoryTalk View Studio version 8.20.00 and earlier, a PanelView Plus 7 Standard application cannot contain more than 25 displays or more than 200 alarms. In FactoryTalk View Studio version 9.00.00 and 10.00.00, a PanelView Plus 7 Standard application can contain up to 25 On Top displays, 25 Replace displays, and 500 alarms. In FactoryTalk View Studio version 11.00.00 and later, a PanelView Plus 7 Standard application can contain up to 100 displays and 500 alarms.
• Using FactoryTalk View Studio version 9.00.00 or later, you can create a v8.20 or earlier version of PanelView Plus 7 Standard runtime application (.mer) that contains more than 25 displays or more than 200 alarms. The runtime application can be run on a PanelView Plus 7 Standard terminal installed with firmware version 8.20 or earlier, and can be restored to a design time application (.med) using FactoryTalk View Studio version 8.20.00 or earlier. However, from the restored application, you cannot create a PanelView Plus 7 Standard runtime application using FactoryTalk View Studio version 8.20.00 or earlier, because the number of alarms or displays exceeds the restriction defined in FactoryTalk View Studio version 8.20.00 or earlier.
• Using FactoryTalk View Studio version 11.00.00 or later, you can create a v9.00 or v10.00 PanelView Plus 7 Standard runtime application (.mer) that contains more than 50 displays. The runtime application can be run on a PanelView Plus 7 Standard terminal installed with firmware version 9.00 or 10.00, and can be restored to a design time application (.med) using FactoryTalk View Studio version 9.00.00 or 10.00.00. However, from the restored application, you cannot create a PanelView Plus 7 Standard runtime application using FactoryTalk View Studio version 9.00.00 or 10.00.00, because the number of displays exceeds the restriction defined in FactoryTalk View Studio version 9.00.00 or 10.00.00. To maintain a PanelView Plus 7 Standard application that includes more than 50 displays, it is recommended to use FactoryTalk View ME v11.00.00 or later.

PanelView Plus terminal

• Due to limited memory (RAM) on PanelView Plus family terminals, the extended tag property @Description cannot be passed through on PanelView Plus family terminals.
• If the AM symbol, PM symbol, or Separator contains an ampersand (&), the string in the Time Format window is not shown correctly.
• When a parameter list is used to open a graphic display on a PanelView Plus terminal, it does not show correctly if spaces are part of the string.

  To show strings correctly on a PanelView Plus terminal, define all strings without spaces.

Parameter file

• If a parameter file name includes an exclamation point (!), no error message will appear when the parameter file is saved, but it will not be possible to create the runtime file (.mer) for the application.

  To avoid this problem, do not include an exclamation point in a parameter file name.

• When you use a parameter file, which is generated from an SE project, directly in an ME project, an error message shows.

  To avoid this problem, delete "@!=1" from the first line of the parameter file.

• ANSI format parameter file is shown in mess code when opened in FactoryTalk View Studio.

  To avoid this problem, convert the parameter file from ANSI to Unicode format, for example, in WordPad.

Runtime

• On a PanelView Plus 7 or PanelView Plus 6 terminal, when saving files that have the same file name extension, and whose names start with the same eight characters on an SD card:
  • A maximum of 999 such files can be stored in a folder if the SD card is formatted using FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32).
  • More than 999 such files can be stored in a folder if the SD card is formated using exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table). For example, when exporting CSV files (YYYY_MM_DD_HH_mm_ss-<FileLabel>-TYPE.csv), you may need to format the SD card using exFAT to save more files.

    For more information about formatting an SD card using exFAT, see Appendix, "Format an SD card using exFAT" in the FactoryTalk View ME User's Guide.

• On a PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminal, selecting the following option produces an error message in red: Terminal settings > Startup options > Startup tests > Select tests > CF External

  This message can safely be ignored. It does not indicate that the Compact Flash card has failed. This option is intended for use at the time of manufacture only.

• FactoryTalk View ME Station running on a Windows Server 2008 desktop does not save the Startup settings. Settings are not retained after closing the Terminal Settings > FactoryTalk View ME Station Startup dialog box.
• If a Windows-linked user belongs to a Distribution type Windows-linked user group, the user cannot log in to the running application on desktops.

  To ensure that the user can log in, change the group type of the Windows-linked user group to Security.

• In Windows 2000 domain, if a user group is added to runtime security, but the group's user is not directly added to runtime security, the user cannot log in on PanelView Plus 7 or PanelView Plus 6 terminals when SSL is enabled.

Shut down an application

• When there are multiple macros running in the application, or there are several displays popping up, if you shut down the application, you might experience a crash.

  To resolve this issue, reset the terminal.

Tag

• If tag names, device shortcuts, or direct references include spaces, the Tag Substitution tool does not work for the tags in embedded variables.

  To avoid this problem, remove spaces in tag names, device shortcuts, and direct references when the tags are in an embedded variable.

• If an HMI tag's Maximum property is increased, the change is not effective immediately.

  To apply the changes, close and reopen FactoryTalk View Studio.

• Using a long integer tag with a value of 2,147,483,648 or greater will not allow an application to be validated or a converted MER file to be created from version 5.1 to 6.0. It is because that during the validation and conversion process, a tag is written in the command line (tag=2147483648), macro, or expression.

  To avoid this problem, keep the integer tag value less than 2,147,483,648.

• When using tags, the values that are less than 53 bits are not shown correctly or may appear wireframed. It is because LINT, ULINT, or LWORD data types are not fully supported.

Trend

• If trend pens are configured with the maximum buffer size of 32,767 records, the entire allocated program memory on a CE terminal will be consumed in a few hours, resulting in an "out of memory" error. This requires a reboot of the terminal before the application can continue.

  To avoid this problem, set the buffer for extra data below the theoretical maximum.

• If you use two or more pens with the Isolated graphing display option selected, the colors of the pens will no longer match the legend and will appear offset.

  To avoid this problem, add and use a Next Pen button to align the legend with the pen.