Ignition SCADA: Vision, databases, scripting and reporting

Nine modules, an hour of material and an hour of hands-on work each, which is three days end to end. This course assumes IATIG01: the gateway, the Designer, devices, tags, UDTs, alarming and tag history are taught there and not repeated here.

A note on the name first. Ignition’s Vision module is a desktop visualization client. It has nothing to do with machine vision or cameras. That is a different course on this site. Vision is what an enormous number of existing plants run on, and knowing when it is still the right answer is a real engineering judgement rather than nostalgia.

From there the course moves to the parts that apply whichever visualization module you use: SQL databases and why a SCADA system needs one, named queries and never building a query by joining strings, and Transaction Groups for moving data on a trigger from the process rather than a timer.

Scripting gets two modules and opens with the argument that most of the time you do not need one: bindings, expressions, Transaction Groups and alarms cover more than people expect, and a script is the least discoverable object in a project. Then where scripts run, why gateway and client scope are different worlds, and how to fail safely instead of silently.

It closes with reporting, security, including why hiding a button is not security and why the gateway itself is the thing to lock down, and the deployment and handover that make the system somebody else’s to run.

1. 1

   The Vision module, and where it still belongs

   Vision against Perspective as an engineering decision, windows and the client launcher, why an enormous installed base still runs Vision, and how to tell which one a new project should use.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
2. 2

   Vision windows, templates and navigation

   Window types and layout, building a template and using template parameters, indirection against UDTs, popups with parameters, and a navigation strategy that survives a hundred windows.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
3. 3

   Databases and SQL from Ignition

   Why a SCADA system needs a database, connecting one, what Ignition stores in it, named queries instead of SQL scattered through a project, and not trusting user input into a query.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
4. 4

   Transaction Groups

   Moving data between tags and tables on a schedule or a trigger, standard against historical groups, update modes, and when a Transaction Group is the right tool rather than a script.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
5. 5

   Scripting in Ignition

   Python in Ignition and what that actually means, the system functions, where a script can run, and the first rule of scripting on a SCADA system: most of the time you do not need one.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
6. 6

   Scripting in practice

   Component and tag events, gateway against client scope, the project script library, extension functions, and scripts that fail safely instead of silently.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
7. 7

   Reporting

   Report data sources and parameters, designing a report that prints properly, scheduling and distribution, and viewing reports from both Perspective and Vision.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
8. 8

   Security, identity providers and zones

   Authentication against authorisation, users, roles and security levels, identity providers, security zones, and locking down the gateway rather than just the screens.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab
9. 9

   Deployment, backups and handover

   Gateway, project and tag backups and what each one contains, moving a project between gateways, redundancy in outline, and the documentation a SCADA system has to ship with.

   Available now 7 slides ~60 min 60 min lab

Lab times are approximate: they are a guide to how long the hands-on part usually takes, not a limit. You can ask for more lab time whenever you need it.