The DCS module is for control systems engineers in process plants who configure distributed control systems. It reads, checks, compares and edits a plant's configuration from the vendor's text export, so that reviewing and bulk-editing a configuration does not need the vendor's engineering environment open. Emerson DeltaV, through its FHX exports, is the first vendor. For a short summary of every domain module, see Domain modules.
Verification state: read this first
The module is pre-release and in an early stage.
- No DeltaV system, other vendor tool or real plant export of a customer has been used. One real DeltaV 14.5.1 export, of a 25 MB production database found in a public repository, has been read by the module's code as evidence; other DeltaV versions and databases have not.
- DeltaV has not imported anything the module wrote. Whether DeltaV accepts an edited export is open.
- The DeltaV export command has not been run against DeltaV on any version. A verification kit for a DeltaV engineering station is written and waiting for its report.
- Nothing has run on Windows, which is where DeltaV runs. Tests ran on Linux.
- Nothing has been seen in the running Editor by a DeltaV engineer; the views are tested with rendering tests.
- Most vendor facts the plan rests on come from search summaries, because the vendors' sites could not be reached during research.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Modelled | Built and tested against material we generated or the one public export, not against the vendor tool |
| Kit shipped | As modelled, and a verification kit exists that runs it on the real vendor tool; waiting for its report |
| Verified | Run against the real vendor tool, with version and operating system recorded |
| Verified by a customer | Run by a customer's engineer on their own system |
What is built
| Capability | State | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Read and index an FHX export (plant areas, module classes, modules and instances, function blocks, parameters, controllers, module paths) | Modelled, read on a real export | The DeltaV Plant view |
| Batch equipment hierarchy (no recipes) | Modelled, read on a real export | The DeltaV Plant view |
| Controllers and I/O references | Modelled, read on a real export | The DeltaV Plant view |
Language features for .fhx: colouring, go to definition, references, hover, outline, completion | Modelled | Read and navigate FHX |
| Checks in Problems, with the site's naming rules | Modelled, read on a real export | Checks in Problems |
| Sequential function chart and function block diagram views (read only) | Modelled, read on a real export | Sequences and function block diagrams |
| Alarms table with edits | Modelled, read on a real export | Alarms |
| Bulk edit of a module class's instances | Modelled, read on a real export | Edit instances of a module class |
| Library items and the impact of a change | Modelled, read on a real export | Library items and impact |
| Semantic compare of two exports | Modelled, read on a real export | Compare two exports |
| Value edits that keep every other byte, and the save guard | Modelled, read on a real export | Save an edited export and import it |
| Configuration report | Modelled, read on a real export | Configuration report |
| Run DeltaV's database export | Kit shipped | Export a DeltaV database |
| Agent tools (9 read-only, 2 that change an export) | Modelled | Agents, approvals and the log |
What is not built yet, including import into DeltaV, download, simulation, live values and the other vendors, is on What's next. Nothing in the module writes to a running plant, downloads to a controller or imports into DeltaV.
Where things appear
| Surface | What |
|---|---|
| Explorer, DeltaV Plant view | Exports, areas, modules, classes and instances; Batch equipment; Controllers and I/O |
| Text editor | .fhx files as DeltaV FHX, with colouring, outline, navigation and completion |
| Editor tabs | DeltaV Alarms, DeltaV Instances, DeltaV Sequence, DeltaV Function Block Diagram, DeltaV Impact, the export compare |
| Problems | Findings with source "our check" |
| Output, channel DCS | Edits, save guard decisions, DeltaV export runs, invalid naming rules |
| Chat and agents | The neuralInverse_dcs_* tools |
Commands are under Neural Inverse DCS in the Command Palette.
Pages in this section
- Set up: turning the environment on, requirements, working on copies.
- The DeltaV Plant view, Read and navigate FHX, Checks in Problems, Sequences and function block diagrams.
- Alarms, Edit instances of a module class, Library items and impact.
- Compare two exports, Save an edited export and import it, Configuration report.
- Export a DeltaV database, Agents, approvals and the log.
- Reference and troubleshooting and What's next.