System requirements for Studio 5000 View Designer version 8.01.00

For optimal performance of the View Designer application, your personal computer should meet or exceed the following hardware and software requirements. View Designer can be installed on a personal computer that meets the operating system minimum requirements, but may not meet performance expectations when used in a production system.

Hardware Requirements

• Third generation Intel Core i5 Standard Power processor (i5-3xxx)
• 8 GB of RAM
• 20 GB of available space on the hard drive. If only installing View Designer, the hard disk space requirement is 5 GB free.
• DirectX 9, with WDDM 1.0 or higher graphics device

Software Requirements

View Designer requires the following software on the host computer:

• View Designer version 8.01 is included in Studio 5000 with version 33.01.01
• View Designer version 8.01 is compatible with any version of Studio 5000 version 27 and later
• Operating system and service pack compatibility:
  • Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
  • Tested with Windows 10 versions 21H1, 20H2, and 1809.
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition
  • Windows Server 2016 Standard Edition
  • Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition
• This version of View Designer is expected to operate correctly on all other editions and service packs of the following operating systems but has not been tested:
  • Microsoft® Windows 7
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Microsoft Windows 8
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Other versions of Microsoft Windows 10

Firmware requirements

• View Designer version 8.01 is compatible with PanelView 5510 and PanelView 5310 running version 8.xxx firmware.
• PanelView 5510 and PanelView 5310 firmware version 8.xxx is compatible with Logix controller firmware versions 27 and later.

VMware Requirements

To install and run View Designer on a VMware® virtual machine, the following versions of VMware are required:

• VMware® Player™ 6.0 or greater
• VMware® Workstation™ 10.0 or greater

To use the View Designer emulator, enable 3D graphics acceleration in VMware.

System features for Studio 5000 View Designer version 8.01.00

This release of the View Designer application includes new features and functionality listed in the following sections.

New features

• Web browser. An HTML5 capable web browser for the PanelView 5510 is capable of displaying content on an SD card or USB drive locally to the panel, on an intranet server, or on the Internet. The PanelView 5310 does not support the web browser. The new Open Web Browser command displays the web browser as a full window or a smaller window overlaying another screen. Configure allowed locations by role to limit the URLs allowed to display in the browser. Typical use cases include:
  • Display HTML help content to an operator.
  • Display web-based information used for machine or process operation or maintenance.
  • Display web pages available from many Rockwell Automation products such as Logix controllers, Stratix switches, PowerMonitors, etc.
  • Display mp4 videos to show an operator how to set up or troubleshoot a machine.
  • Display an H.264 or mjpeg IP camera stream for a difficult to reach or dangerous area of the facility.
• 500 screen support. The PanelView 5510 now displays up to a total of 500 screens and popups. The PanelView 5310 is limited to a total of 100 screens and popups. There is no longer a limitation of 50 popups. Many performance improvements were implemented for View Designer and the PanelView 5000 runtime.
• Automatic Diagnostics. The Automatic Diagnostics feature works with Logix controllers at revision v33 and later to automatically provide fault information about your Rockwell Automation control system. If devices connected to the Logix controller experience fault conditions, the Logix controller will automatically send this information to the PanelView 5000, making it easier to notice and troubleshoot fault conditions. If you use the predefined screens and system banner indication, View Designer does not require any configuration.
  • New indicator on system banner shows when faults occur.
    • Pressing the indicator navigates to a pre-defined Automatic Diagnostics screen.
  • New Automatic Diagnostics summary element lists any current diagnostic notifications.
  • Automatic Diagnostics messages support language switching to Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
  • New Automatic Diagnostics history element shows past 1000 diagnostic events.
    • Maintained through power cycles and project downloads.
    • Cleared by a firmware update or with a Clear Automatic Diagnostics History command.

• Clear specific data log. This functionality extends the Clear Data Log command with the ability to clear a single data log.
• Keypad location configuration. Numeric inputs have a new property for KeypadPosition to define where on the screen the keypad displays.

Screen error occurs when displaying a large number of alarms (253344)

An HMI device screen error occurs when the number of alarms exceeds the recommended value. To resolve this issue, do not exceed 4,000 alarms per controller.

Tags appear in error on the Emulator if items are modified in the Browse for Controller dialog (155926)

Tags appear in error on the Emulator with an error message of Read … failed because a CIP connection could not be made if items are modified in the Browse for Controller dialog used to browse for an Emulator to Controller Path. To resolve this issue, close the Emulator, browse for the Emulator to Controller Path, and launch the Emulator again.

Emulator instance appears smaller than expected after rebooting a Hyper-V Virtual Machine (153276)

Rebooting a Hyper-V Virtual Machine with View Designer installed or shutting down View Designer without first closing the VM window causes the first instance of the Emulator that opens after the reboot or restart to appear smaller than expected. Close and restart the Emulator.

Deleting and re-adding a PDF document from a project does not automatically refresh an instance of a PDF Viewer (153526)

Deleting and re-adding a PDF document from a project does not automatically refresh an instance of a PDF Viewer Add-On Graphic that references the PDF document. Close and reopen the project or screen containing the PDF Viewer Add-On Graphic, or select a different PDF document in the PDF Viewer Add-On Graphic and then reselect the re-added PDF document in the PDF Viewer Add-On Graphic.

Too many elements on the screen results that not all of them displays. (862116)

If multiple elements on a screen have state tables with many states and many of the properties of the elements are included in the state table, then some of the elements may not be visible on the screen. To work around this anomaly, use fewer properties in the state tables or have a smaller number of states.

Partial frame appears around PDF document displayed on the HMI device (1069225)

The PDF viewer from Toolbox > System may have a partial frame around the PDF document on the HMI device.

PanelView 5310 lose synchronization with CompactLogix 5370 controller when HMI devices are power-cycled while pushing HMIBC buttons (1273015)

PanelView 5310 HMI devices might not synchronize with CompactLogix 5370 controller after power disruption when an HMIBC button is pushed. The HMI devices after powering up show an indeterminate state. If this occurs, cycle power to the Logix controller.

.dmk file's digital signature verification fails when using ControlFLASH Plus (1339133)

When flashing the HMI device, ControlFLASH Plus returns an error failing to validate the digital signature of the .dmk file. This anomaly exists when using ControlFLASH Plus version 4.00. A future version of ControlFLASH Plus will resolve this anomaly.

Adding an initial user-defined data type property definition to a screen when a shortcut to the screen is open does not immediately show the new property on the Properties pane of the shortcut. Select the defining screen tab again and then reselect the shortcut tab. Alternatively, close and reopen the shortcut or click within the Project Explorer. [145474]

Copying Navigation menu commands causes invalid references. (814821)

Copying screens that contain elements with Navigation commands and pasting them to a different project may cause the copied navigation commands to reference different screens. After pasting the screens, make sure that any navigation commands reference the correct screens.

Data updates pause intermittently after network disruptions on CompactLogix 5370 controllers (460566)

When using CompactLogix 5370 controllers running V33 firmware, rapidly repeating network disruptions may cause PanelView 5000 HMI devices to intermittently pause updating data for two or three seconds at a time. If this occurs, cycle power to the switches in your network, or manually disconnect and reconnect ports.

Conflicting error messages appear after downloading a project containing a tag with a syntax error or invalid format (146146)

Downloading a project containing a tag with a syntax error or invalid format displays conflicting error messages. An incorrect message appears stating that the tag does not exist in the controller or has an External Access property set to None. The correct error message appears in the Errors pane.

Installing the Windows KB4055002 patch corrupts the Windows FontFamily element (1353640)

Installing the Windows KB4055002 patch corrupts the Windows FontFamily element. Binding to a text property for graphic element then displays an error and prevents the Properties pane from expanding. To prevent the error and expand the Properties pane when binding to a text property, install .NET framework update 4055532. This update includes patch Windows KB4074880 which resolves the corruption of the Windows FontFamily element.

The number of Navigation menu icons is different on View 5000Emulator and on the physical HMI device when using Windows 7 (DFCTS00365265)

In Windows 7, the number of screen icons that appear in the Navigation menu in the View 5000 Emulator window of an emulated project may be different than the number of screen icons that appear in the Navigation menu for the same project on the physical HMI device.

Some traces do not appear after pausing a trend chart (1353612)

Pausing a trend chart may cause some traces to no longer appear. This may occur when pausing and resuming a trend chart immediately after a download or screen navigation. The data does not appear if the trend chart has a higher sample rate than the data log. The trend chart plots only historical data for the sample period.

Inconsistent synchronization indications and tag communication errors when Logix controller is out of memory (1353614)

Inconsistent synchronization indications and tag communication errors may appear on the HMI device when the Logix controller is almost out of memory.

Windows 7 causes project download to fail (1353618)

A Windows 7 anomaly may cause a project download to fail with a message that View Designer cannot connect to the HMI device. See Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase Answer ID 2588507 and install the hotfix.

Reinserting the SD card immediately after ejection does not restart data logging (1353621)

Ejecting and immediately reinserting the SD card into the HMI device may not restart data logging. Data logging does not recognize that the SD card is present. Eject the SD card, wait several seconds, and reinsert the SD card to restart data logging.

View Designer creates .dmp files after opening a version 2.xx project on later View Designer versions (1353632)

Opening a View Designer version 2.xx project when View Designer version 3.01 or later is installed creates .dmp files in C:\ProgramData\Rockwell Automation\Studio 5000\CrashDumps. Delete the .dmp files to recover disk space. Rebooting the computer may stop the creation of .dmp files.

Project without a .vpd extension does not download to the HMI device (1353636)

A project that is open in View Designer version 3.01 that does not have a .vpd extension cannot download to the HMI device when both View Designer version 3.01 and version 4.01 or later are installed on the same computer. Rename the project file to end in the extension .vpd.

FAT 32 SD cards may corrupt the SD card file system on HMI device power loss (1353639)

SD cards formatted with FAT32 may corrupt the file system on the SD card if the HMI device loses power while data logging. Use an SD card formatted with EXT3.

Edit menu buttons are disabled after undocking Toolbox or Properties windows (DFCTS00342576)

Closing a project with the Toolbox or Properties window undocked disables the Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, and Select All commands from the Edit menu when the project is re-opened. To enable the menu items, dock the Toolbox or Properties window.

State Enter event does not trigger when navigating from one shortcut to another shortcut representing the same screen (DFCTS00361627)

When two or more shortcuts navigate to the same screen and that screen has a State Table and a State Enter event, navigation from a shortcut triggers the State Enter event. When immediately navigating from the open shortcut to another shortcut that also represents the same screen, the State Enter event does not trigger.

Language files are lost when importing a project that uses a language not supported on the machine (DFCTS00363733)

If a project using a language in the language import/export file is created on a computer using a language that is not supported by the operating system on a second computer, when copying the project to the second computer and exporting the language file, the unsupported language data does not export and is lost. Ensure that the target computer supports the exported language.

Graphic elements added to the definition of an Add-On Graphic show outside of the selected Add-On Graphic after Cut and Paste (DFCTS00362720)

Graphic elements added to the definition of an Add-On Graphic after an instance of the Add-On Graphic is cut are shown outside of the selected Add-On Graphic instance when it is pasted. To resolve this issue, create a new instance of the Add-On Graphic instead of pasting the instance.

HMI device does not indicate a download in progress when a screen saver is running (DFCTS00342409)

When downloading to an HMI device on which the screen saver is running, there is no indication that the download is occurring, and the Home screen, rather than the last open screen, appears on the HMI device when the download is complete.

Events do not function when added to alarm tables (DFCTS00360544)

The Events tab is visible when selecting an Alarm table graphic element. Alarm table graphic elements have built-in events. Adding events to an alarm table graphic element may cause the built-in events to stop working. Do not add events to an alarm table graphic element.

View Designer terminates when running on a machine with InstantGo or Connected Standby (DFCTS00351966)

View Designer may crash when running on a device using the InstantGo or Connected Standby feature of Windows and the device enters Sleep mode. Restart View Designer. 

ShelveDuration and MaxShelveDuration values do not update when changed through a numeric input form the HMI device (DFCTS00339713)

The ShelveDuration and MaxShelveDuration values for an alarm are not updated if the values are changed through a numeric input from the HMI Device. The previous values are used instead. To change ShelveDuration and MaxShelveDuration for an alarm, use Logix Designer.

HMI device restarts when synchronizing with a controller with more than 50,000 tags (DFCTS00361416)

Projects referencing a controller with more than the recommended limit of 50,000 tags may experience a restart of the HMI device when performing an online synchronization with the controller. Reference a controller with no more than 50,000 tags.

Firmware update fails or HMI device faults when updating firmware using ControlFLASH and changing screens (DFCTS00356235)

Using ControlFLASH to update the firmware on the HMI device while the HMI device is changing screens may cause the following:

• • ControlFLASH fails to complete the update of the firmware on the HMI device.
  • The HMI device faults.

If the firmware update fails, use ControlFLASH again to complete the firmware update. If the HMI device faults, restart the HMI device and then use ControlFLASH again to complete the firmware update.

To avoid this issue, update the firmware on the HMI device when the HMI device is not changing screens.

Toolbox search using keyboards for Japanese and Chinese crashes View Designer (DFCTS00362734)

View Designer crashes when searching the Toolbox using keyboards for Chinese and Japanese.

Touch or key events triggered simultaneously on button release execute when the first button releases (DFCTS00354276)

The release action for Button Behavior events that are triggered simultaneously by a touch press or key press execute when the first touch or key releases. This occurs even when the other touch or key is still pressed.

Passed-through properties of aliased Logix Designer tags do not display on the HMI device (DFCTS00350204)

The HMI device does not display passed-through extended properties of aliased Logix Designer tags.

Text Input graphic element shifts down during inline editing on machines without DirectWrite support (DFCTS00342434)

On computers that do not support DirectWrite, the Text Input graphic element may shift down a line during inline editing. This does not affect how the text is displayed on the HMI device.

Functional changes

View Designer version 8.01 has the following changes since the last release:

View Designer performance was improved in these functions:

• Save
• Find/replace
• Open a project
• Launching the emulator
• Renaming an AOG definition

Runtime performance was improved for:

• Screen switching
• Downloads

Popup caching is now selectable using the Cacheable property on a popup.

Images are now limited in size to avoid performance issues.

To launch projects faster, View Designer now performs some background operations after the project is opened instead of waiting to open the project.

• Certain operations cannot be done until these background operations are complete:
  • Download
  • Emulate
  • Verify
  • Find and Replace
  • Save as .vpdr
• Background operations are indicated by blinking a new icon on the ribbon.
• When the blinking stops, background operations are complete.

Application notes

The following are the application notes for View Designer version 8.01.

Installation

Installing View Designer requires local administrative privileges. If these privileges are unavailable or if your company uses third party privilege management software, work with your IT department to install View Designer. Virtual machines generally have local administrative privileges.

Multi-version support

• Version 3.x and later versions of View Designer may be installed on the same computer to support projects using different versions of View Designer.

SD card requirements

PanelView 5000 requires the following for SD cards:

• 4 GB of free space
• A supported SD card type of SDHC or microSDHC with adapter
• An environmental rating for the PanelView 5000 environment
• A supported format of FAT32 or EXT3

I/O connection

When a PanelView 5000 is in the I/O tree of the Logix controller and the Logix controller becomes overloaded to the point where it no longer processes communication of tag data with the PanelView 5000, a loss of the I/O connection between the Logix controller and the PanelView 5000 HMI device may occur. The I/O connection re-establishes when the Logix controller has the bandwidth to handle tag data communications.

Project conversion

View Designer version 8.01 contains a new System Banner and predefined screens. When converting a project to View Designer version 8.01:

• User-defined changes to predefined screens and the System Banner do not convert.
• Reapply user-defined changes to predefined screens and the System Banner.
• Refer to the original project for user-defined changes to reapply to predefined screens and the System Banner. View Designer does not support copying and pasting content on predefined screens and the System Banner between versions.
• View Designer creates a backup of the original project in the same folder as the converted project. View Designer appends the name of the new project file with _Vx, where x is the version of the old file.

Firewall rules

View Designer does not require endpoint firewall rules because it is not a server product that allows remote clients.

Additional security considerations when using Rockwell Automation products include:

• File extensions created by Rockwell Automation software, firewall rules, and service dependences, see Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase Answer ID 609492.
• TCP/UDP ports used by Rockwell Automation products, see Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase Answer ID BF7490.

Limits

For best results, observe View Designer project limits:

Sample Applications

The Sample Applications for View Designer can be found at C:\Users\Public\Documents\Studio 5000\Samples\View Designer