DSC Module

[Highland_Controls]

Just curious if anyone here has used or is using the DSC module.  I used it on a LV 8.2 project many years ago, and it was a disaster.  It didn't always work, alarms didn't happen when they were supposed to, etc.  The developers were somewhere in Asia, and I worked with them, but it was never usable.  Since then, I have either used a different stand-alone SCADA package(Specview), or rolled my own historical database.  I am getting ready to quote a job and would like to use it if it is stable.  Any suggestions?

[Jacobson-ni]

What functionality are you looking to use from the DSC module specifically?

[Highland_Controls]

Historical data logging and playback, alarm and event logging.  From OPC server.

[Hooovahh · Accepted solution]

I haven't used this part of the DSC toolkit before, but as far as I know, little work has taken place in the DSC toolkit since 8.2.  If you hated it then, you probably won't love it now.  I used it for user permission control back in the 8.6 days and thought it did a fine job.  I also love the Image Navigator and wish it got more attention.

[RavensFan]

I've used the DSC module since prior to 8.2.  Definitely for logging, and also for alarms where I bound front panel controls to network shared variables and they would blink when they were in alarm.  I did not have to write any special code in LabVIEW to implement that.

I've never had particular problems with.  It certainly wasn't a disaster.  I'm wondering if your Asian developers knew what they were doing.

[Ben]

I would guess the "Asian developers" where the NI DSC developers. I recalll reading them the riot act when they dropped a feature of BridgeVIEW and the reply was something like "BridgeVIEW, I don't know BridgeVIEW but it was supposed to be a lot like DSC." (actually it should be the other way around.)

We have used it recently but we used MY DAQ (as in Ben wrote it) engine and the SV's where poked when we needed to do updates. Logging and alarms (from what was reported to me) seemed to work OK.

Network Shared variables still have limitations with rapidly changing values.

Just my 2 cents,

Ben

[Highland_Controls]

Yes, Ben is correct.  I was the LabVIEW developer.  The Asians(Malaysia?) were the DSC Module developers.  It was some kind of 3rd party thing, I don't think it was NI directly.

Given the same conditions, sometimes the alarms would work and sometimes they wouldn't.

[Highland_Controls]

Sounds to me like the DSC module is one of those things that just keeps floating along.  NI should probably decide if they want to do it right or abandon it.  Same thing with Motion.

[JÞB]

Another possibility is DCAF.  Unlike DSC it is open sourced today.  Tomorrow there is even a web-cast on the subject you may wish to join in to see if it is a viable alternative for you.