myDESIGNER, part of the mySCADA bundle, is an integrated development environment used for configuring, developing, and managing HMI/SCADA applications. In this manual, you will find everything you need to create a full-feature SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) project. With this tool, you can create and manage mySCADA projects; configure connections with devices; and enter tags, alarms, and trends. It also allows you to design advanced mimic graphics with specific animations, corresponding with PLC tag values.

An easy-to-use interface allows for simple manipulation of the project’s configuration and data processing. The project data are stored in a single directory for easy backup and restoration. myDESIGNER has an integrated GUI (Graphical User Interface) visualization editor for easy creation of professional looking mimic graphics. The graphics are based on the Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) format, which means that your controlled technology will always look sharp.

Key Features #

• Free for personal and business use
• Simple to use
• GUI design in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
• Animations and effects can be added to any shape or object
• Support for background images (JPEG, GIF, and PNG)
• Ability to attach PDF documents to the project
• Ability to attach MP3 sound files to the project
• Built-in script editor
• Available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux

Drawing Possibilities #

• Shape tools: rectangles, circles, ellipses, paths, texts, and images
• Path tools: Bezier curves, conversion to a path, union, subtraction, intersection, merge
• Group editing
• Advanced text support
• Images import (.jpg, .png)
• Transformations: resize, rotate, skew, align, distribute
• Properties manager
• Resource manager: gradients, patterns, and markers
• Layers
• Smart Guidelines, snap to points, grid

Project Management #

Key components of mySCADA projects are the visualization screen views. This is where the schematic visualizations of controlled devices are displayed. Single objects or groups of objects can be created and defined especially for communication with connected PLCs. These specified objects can then be animated, changing their visual appearance based on the PLC tag values.

The graphic screens are internally represented as SVG files, defined project connections as configuration JSON files, and alarm states and trends stored in separate JSON files. The configuration files can be edited directly in myDESIGNER, so you do not have to edit them individually. The visual and server side scripts are also stored into external files with the .js extension. Complete mySCADA projects consist of configuration files, SVG files, scripts, documents and sound files, and they are saved directly to your hard drive. For more information about exact project structure, see the following table:

In the following sections, you will learn how to create a project; add, configure, or delete connections; define alarms and trends; and manage other project settings.