PcVue usage with FrontVue 

The FrontVue HMI is similar in most respects to PcVue's native HMI.

The basic principles of interaction between PcVue and FrontVue are as follows:

  • One or more instances of PcVue gather data in their respective databases in the usual manner.

  • Local users will access the variables in an instance of PcVue via the mimics in its native HMI whilst remote usage will be performed via FrontVue. The mimics in FrontVue can be unrelated to those in PcVue.

  • A station running FrontVue may employ in its mimics the data values derived from several instances of PcVue.

  • If the PcVue stations are in clusters of servers for redundancy (such that instances of PcVue provide standby for each other), that is transparent to FrontVue users.

Learn How to configure PcVue server types for data display in FrontVue.

The PcVue/FrontVue architecture

Each instance of PcVue has to have a protection key (dongle) that includes permission for connectivity with FrontVue before it can exchange data with instances of FrontVue.

Any variables that are unavailable to FrontVue will be flagged as such in the FrontVue mimics that display them.

 FrontVue, WebVue and PcVue networking can co-exist in an application but they differ as follows:

  • In PcVue networking, instances of PcVue share variable values with each other as back-ends, irrespective of use of those variables in mimics. In contrast, FrontVue has no variables store but gets data values from OPC sources for display in its own mimics.

  • WebVue is a browser-based front-end that is configured to provide access to mimics in a particular instance of PcVue. In contrast, FrontVue uses its own mimics with variable values copied from instances of PcVue or other sources.

The actions of FrontVue users can be logged in PcVue, including logon/logoff, commands, alarm masking and acknowledgements. For details see the topic How to log FrontVue user actions in PcVue.