Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue After doing a save to database from a controller an attempt to reload the controller results in "Invalid Handle ID" or "Object not found in database" for every object in the controller. Environment CyberStation CX9xxx controller. Cause Bad object instance ID in the database. In the Continuum database each object in a controller contains the instance id of its owner controller in the ObjectIdHi field of its instance ID, this is illustrated in the screen shot below, Num1 is an InfinityNumeric created in the controller named NC2.42. You can see that the ObjectIdLo of NC2.42 becomes the ObjectIdHi of Num1 Somehow during the process of reloading a CX9200 via HyperTerminal followed by a save to database, all the objects end up with the wrong controller id in their ObjectIdHi resulting in the aforementioned error on reload. Resolution Put CyberStation in offline edit mode. Send the controller to ASCII file. Delete the controller. Import the file created in step 2 to re-create the controller and its objects. Put CyberStation online Reload the controller.

Issue Controller stops sending Valid and Invalid Access events but other types of events such as Exit Requests events are delivered fine. Environment CyberStation NetController I (CX9900) Cause Due to a defect in the firmware the controller can randomly get in a mode where Valid/Invalid Access Events are stuck in the controller and not delivered to CyberStation, the defect has been fixed in the second generation access controllers (CX9680 version 2.100035 and ACX57xx version 1.100037) but not in the older first generation controllers such as the CX99xx. Resolution A PE program running in the CyberStation can detect and alert of the condition and also perform an automatic reload to make the controller resume sending the valid/invalid access events. The following program is provided for illustration purposes ONLY and can be used as a guideline for creating a program in CyberStation to detect that a controller has stopped sending valid access events.

Issue To configure a door to send the raw bit stream on card swipe select 'Custom' as one of the weigand card formats for the door and make sure there is no AccessFormat(2,3,4) array created in the controller, if there is one it can be renamed to enable raw bit stream functionality and then rename back when done. In order to get the RAW bit stream data from a card the door has been configured for Custom with NO AccessFormat array created, but when a card is swiped at the reader no event comes in. Environment CyberStation CX9900 CX9702 CX9680 ACX5720 ACX5740 Cause The AccessServer system variable in the controller has a value of zero which is invalid for a CX controller (valid only for old ACX7xx) The door must be configured to validate card & site in order for the custom card event with raw bit stream to be generated, if the door is operating on site code only it will produce and invalid attempt instead. After making the changes above, the controller may have to be reloaded in order for the changes to take effect. Resolution Set the AccessServer system variable to a valid value. (ACCNetId of the Controller or ID of primary access server in the range 191-254)   NOTE: Setting the AccessServer to the AccNetID of the controller disables remote validation while setting it to the ID of the Primary Access Server enables remote validation.

Issue Using an alarm expression with a point to act as a shunt...   Do all objects associated with this alarm have to be configured with an alarm point? or is it only those object from which we want to shunt the alarm? Environment CyberStation Cause Documentation Resolution   All objects that are using the ShuntAlarm MUST be configured with an alarm point, with the alarm expression in this example any object attached to the alarm but not configured with a Point1 will not go in alarm.

Issue Bacnet Loop object is not setting Present Loop Value or Present Loop Output based on the control points even though everything is setup so that it should be controlling properly. Changing the Min. Loop Value does show the change in the Loop Value and Loop Output but it is not controlling based on the Input and SP values. Environment Continuum BACnet Cause Something was setting the Present Loop Priority at a higher priority level than what the Loop was setting itself (default Priority 10). Resolution In the Loop object on the General tab, set Present Loop Priority to 1 (default is 10). See location of the attribute below. Loop control was resumed after forcing this to use Priority 1.

Issue "Root element is missing" error window come up when attempting to edit a personnel object using the Personnel Manager. Environment CyberStation Cause Corrupted Personnel Manager data file. Resolution Navigate to the Continuum installation folder. Locate the file "PersonnelEditorWorkstationSettings.xml" Edit the file and try to identify and fix the problem, if not able to identify/fix the problem you can delete the file but you will lose any customizations done to the personnel manager that are saved in the file such as the default location of area link schedules etc. 

Issue How to specify the number of digits to display after the decimal point in a Pinpoint Graphic. Environment CyberStation Cause Have Graphic that is displaying a temperature value as 78.567, customer wants the temperature displayed with only ONE decimal place (78.56) Resolution PinPoint graphics display the value of points based on the point's print format. Edit the point and change the format from ###.### to ###.## If the point is in a BACnet device edit the point under the BACnet Devices folder and set its format appropriately.

Issue Referring to a local array by name in Plain English references data element one ([1]) instead of data element zero ([0]) as is the case when the array is a global point or value. In the example below, setting theArray and setting theArray[1] is actually the same, the value 10 is overwritten by the value 20 Environment Enterprise Server - ES Automation Server - AS CyberStation CX b3 i2 Cause Function as designed. Resolution Function as designed. This is the way Plain English works, the ability to access data element one ([1]) by just naming the array is provided for convenience.

Issue The entries are displayed in the order they are entered into the table, is there any way to change the order so that the list of attributes is alphabetical? Environment Continuum Personnel Manager Cause The list of Allowable Attribute Values is not sorted alphabetically and is not able to be sorted. The entries will stay in the order they were entered. Resolution Unfortunately there is no way to re-sort these attributes into another order. They will need to be removed from the list and then re-entered in the order that they need to be presented. (Note: Defect#958 has been raised for this issue.)

Issue After configure web client, the log on page appears, then type the user name and password,  the log on process not continue and get server error in '/webclient' application. When use IE browser on the IIS server machine to access web server will get the error as shown as the capture picture below:    When use IE browser on the client machine to access web server will get the error as shown as the capture picture below Environment LAN Windows server 2008 R2 SQL server 2008 IIS 7.0 IE 7.0 Webclient 1.90 Cause Incorrect IIS server configuration, some items is unchecked except CGI and ISAPI Resolution Go to IIS manager, check all the items of web service extension except CGI and ISAPI Try to log on again from browser, that should be ok.

Issue Unable to delete some folders within Continuum, could the database be corrupt? Environment Continuum Cyberstation Cause This is a Default Class Folder that is being viewed. Resolution The Folder object in the screenshot is a Default Class Folder for the Folders in this tree. It is a system object automatically created by Continuum to help sort objects in folders into each object class. It is not actually duplicating the objects but just filtering them into a single view, you are unable to delete these default class folders but can delete all of the contents within this class folders...which are the original objects. Unless you actually want to delete the original objects then do not do this. If you look at the Root of Continuum, you should see a list of different networks, folders, objects,etc. At the bottom of the tree view you will see a list of the default class folders for each of the classes of objects contained in the Root folder - this is just a filter. All Default Class Folders can be identified by the "infinity" symbol shown on the folder icon. This indicates that these are not actually Folder objects in the database but are filters showing a specific object class.

Issue Is it possible to customize the active alarm view in status line mode to remove the weekday from the date field? Environment Continuum Cyberstation Cause Do not want the name of day  (weekday) being shown in the Active Alarm View. Resolution The weekday can be removed from being displayed in the Active Alarm View. You will need to change the "Long Date" field in your Windows Regional Settings to remove the preceding weekday name.   Change "dddd,d MMMM yyyy" to "d MMMM yyyy" and you will see that the entry in the alarm bar goes from having the name of the day shown; To only showing the day, month, and year;

Issue At times it is necessary to manually delete MSMQ messages Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause Under certain conditions messages build up in queues and don't clear out from msmq (i.e. Cyberstation offline that is configured to receive alarms) Resolution To open MSMQ Go to Windows Control Panel> Administrative Tools>Computer Management Expand Services and Applications Expand Message Queuing Expand Outgoing Queues and select one of the entries Right Click on queue messages and select AllTasks>Purge Are you sure you want to delete all messages? Yes Repeat this for the queues that require purging Note: The IP of the Cyberstation is listed in the Outgoing Queue Channel (an offline Cyber will keep building up messages) Here is a snapshot of the queues below.

Issue When launching Continuum the following error window comes up   The main menu splash is not displayed and the application randomly crashes with an MFC error. The following Application error is seen in the windows log.     Continuum.exe 1.94.0.1 4f735b82 MFC80.DLL 8.0.50727.6195 4dcdeca2 c0000005 00023b10 f94 01ce6c36e741312b C:\Program Files (x86)\Continuum\Continuum.exe C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_none_cbf5e994470a1a8f\MFC80.DLL 295d2fa7-d82a-11e2-9a81-00188b6cfffd     Environment CyberStation Cause Corrupted Continuum.MNU menu file. Resolution Remove the corrupted menu file and replace with a good file from another WS. Note: When copying a menu file from another WS make sure it is the same type in terms of 32 versus 64 bit as there are paths in the file that differ depending on the OS type.

Issue Continuum BACnet devices not seen in Continuum Explorer Environment CyberStation Cause "Continuum Explorer\View\Show Continuum BACnet Devices As" is set to "Infinet Controllers only" Resolution "Continuum Explorer\View\Show Continuum BACnet Devices As" is set to "Infinet Controllers only" Set to "Infinet Controller and BACnet Device The slightly confusing thing is that all Non Continuum (third party) devices still appear in the Bacnet view. This is correct, as designed. See below for both examples  

Issue When logging onto a client session on the WebClient server, the screen goes white and cannot logon. Environment WebClient Firewall Client WebServer Cause Firewall was restricting access to the database server. Resolution Turned off firewall on the database server.

Issue Different Windows Users see the Pinpoint buttons differently. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Cyberstation Pinpoint Cause Continuum uses the information from the Windows profiles to define the system appearance. Resolution In the Windows Display properties you can select the "Windows and Buttons" style for your profile, this will change the appearance of the standard buttons used within Pinpoint graphics. For example: Selecting Windows XP Style will look like: Selecting Windows Classic Style will look like: Windows 7 also has other styles available.

Issue When browsing to graphics file directory on shared drive the following error is generated. Environment WebClient IIS Cause When specifying the virtual directory physical path in IIS DO NOT use a mapped drive. In the example below 'Y' is a mapped drive to ABEPSSZ4002\Program Files\Continuum\NewGraphicsFiles The 'Test Settings" results in an authentication error Resolution Use remote folder path only specifying the remote computer either by name or IP address follow be the name of the share. If the example below, the Program Files\Continuum|NewGraphicsFiles folder on the remote computer that will host all the graphic files has been shared with the proper permissions using the share name NewGraphicsFiles.  

Issue Sending BACnet alarms to a third party BACnet device (from bCX or b3 controller) Environment Continuum BACnet Cyberstation, B-OWS Cause Clarification required on the best way to send BACnet alarms to a third party BACnet device (from bCX or b3 controller). Resolution There are two main methods that can be used. The Event Notification Delivery tab should be set up using the Continuum discovered BACnet address or the NET:MAC method see below. Both methods generate the same packet and should give the same results. It is normally recommended to use Guarantee Delivery Method 1 Method 2 NOTE BACnet Global Broadcast is not often used

Issue How to create a push button to launch an external application. Environment Continuum Cyberstation Cause Not sure how to open an external application from the Continuum Menu pages. Resolution To setup a button to run an external application, you can create a hotspot on a Menu page that when clicked, runs the application. 1. On the menu you want to add the button; right-click and select Edit. 2. Click and draw a rectangle. 3. Right click the rectangle and select Properties. 4. Edit the hotspot by giving a name, selecting Control to be Execute, select the application you want to run using the Open field, then tick "Make hotspot look like a windows button", and type a display label in the Button field. 5. Hit OK, then save and run the page. 6. Test that it works by pressing the button you just created.