ACM 8.0 Release Contents - February 2020

Major Version Change

With this release, ACM requires .Net Framework 4.7.2.

If you have a support agreement, the new ACM version can be downloaded by using the monthly login credentials received from your sales representative.  For more details, please contact us today.

ACM 8.0 also has the following new Operating System requirements:

• Microsoft Windows:
  • 7 SP1, 8.1, and 10 (Anniversary Update or later)
• Microsoft Windows Server:
  • 2008 R2 SP1, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, and 2019

New Protocols Supported by ACM

• Dresser Micro Corrector Protocol
  • Supports Dresser Micro Corrector devices with firmware version 1.99 and earlier. 
  • Supported Features
  • Device Configuration
  • OPC Items
• New Mercury Protocol (listed as Honeywell/Mercury (NEW*) in ACM)
  • Supported Devices
    • Honeywell Mercury Instruments EC 350 and ERX 350
    • Older Mercury device types
  • Supported Features
  • Device Configuration

  • OPC Items

  • SRBX Polling

  • Scheduler

    Important information regarding the existing Honeywell-Mercury Protocol

    • Mercury devices already configured in ACM will continue to work using the existing protocol driver, but will need to be converted to the new protocol driver by the end of year 2020. 
    • AUTOSOL will provide assistance and a method for converting existing devices to the new protocol driver.  Contact your AUTOSOL Sales Representative or AUTOSOL Customer Support when ready.
    • AUTOSOL suggests that testing is done with the new protocol driver using devices in your system to ensure correct operation.

    Important information regarding the initial Beta version of the new Honeywell-Mercury Protocol

    EC 350 devices created with the initial Beta release of the New Honeywell-Mercury Protocol driver may have the incorrect device type in this updated version.  Please verify the configured device type for each EC 350 device already created in ACM.

• ROMET-AdEM Protocol
  • Supports AdEM-PTZ devices
  • Supported Features
  • Device ConfigurationOPC Items
• Siemens S7 Protocol
• Supports 300, 400, 1200 and 1500 model devices .
• Supported Features
• Device Configuration
• OPC Items
• Teledyne CA Protocol
  • Supported Features
  • Device Configuration
  • OPC Items

Improved Security

• Improved security configuration to allow authorized users to:
  • Assign permissions for Create/Update/Delete operations on all objects, objects of a specific type, or specific properties on objects of specific types.
  • Assign permissions for command execution on all objects, objects of a specific type, or specific commands on objects of specific types.
  • View the User Guide for more information.

Features Added

ACM Client General

• Added an option to the Dashboard "View" drop-down to select no active view, which cancels item subscriptions.
• Added an option to the User Preferences to use the default datetime format or to establish a custom datetime format. All datetime tags shown within the client for the logged in user will follow this setting. This does not impact the datetime format on reports.
• Added a button to the Log Viewer to mimic the behavior of the keyboard short-cut Ctrl+M in order to add a mark to the log.

ACM Connections

• Added a connection option "No status update and poll immediately on secondary" to the Connection tab of all Device objects. This feature, if enabled, will prevent bad quality item updates from going to OPC clients until a poll is attempted on the secondary connection.
  • The feature will be in effect if:
    • The new feature option is enabled.
    • The device is configured to "Switch to Secondary on Failure".
    • The device has a secondary connection configured.
  • If the conditions are met, failed polls will not send bad quality updates for items. Instead, once the poll on primary is complete ACM will trigger a poll on the secondary connection for the same task at the same priority. Item updates will happen normally while on the secondary connection.
  • This option is disabled by default and only available if the selected Connection Option is "Switch to Secondary on Failure".
• Added the Host Address 1 and Host Address 2 fields from the TCP/IP connection as standard OPC items that will be updated when a configuration change occurs.

• Added communication statistics items for each port within the TCPPool port object. Note: These components must be applied as part of a full ACM update. This feature changes the method used by ACM components to track communication statistics data. It affects all protocol modules, all connection port modules, the main polling engine, and the database. They should not be applied as a single module update.

  Effect on Published Output

  More comm stats items are available for the TCPPool port type.

ACM Publishing

• Added the following fields for PFX:
  • Under Prove Report Tab: Resultant K-Factor, Meter Flowing Density, Density, Totalizer
  • Under Prove Run: Flow Rate, Under Prove Identification, Pipe Material, Base Prover Volume (Upstream and Downstream)
  • Under Meter ID: K-Factor, Proving Mode, Prover Location

• Added an option to publish colon, comma, pipe and tab delimited files for CSV.

  Effect on Published Output

  New options to separate fields in published CSV files.

• Modified ACM to only publish records with EFM fields to EFM output types. i.e. FLOWCAL Transaction Queue, Autosol EFM Database and PGAS.

  Effect on Published Output

  No record will be output to EFM output types if there is not an EFM field in the record.

• Added an option to the FLOWCAL Transaction Queue publisher to set a custom floating point precision. This new option is on the Queue Records tab in the area labeled "Numeric Precision".

  Effect on Published Output

  If a custom floating point precision is set, this will change the precision of single precision floating point values when they're written to double precision output fields.

ACM $Server Object

• Added a new option to control how often ACM updates values for items subscribed through the custom Item Server interface. Items can now be updated only when their value or quality changes, or they can be updated on every poll. This new option was added to the Server tab of the $Server object and is labeled "Item Update Frequency". The default is to only update when value or quality changes.
• Added the sub-option "Shutdown even when auto-poll enabled" under "Auto-Shutdown" to the $Server Object form. This was previously only visible in the property grid view.

ACM Server Monitor

• Added support in the Server Monitor for accounts with blank passwords.
• Added more information to the Server Information form regarding platform version.  This is accessed via the "Status" tab of ACM Monitor.

All Protocols

• Added "Abort Current Task" and "Dump Item List" as commands available to each protocol. These commands were previously only available via an OPC Client. 

BSAP Protocol

• Provided the ability for the "Retrieve History" and "Time Sync" OPC items to accept a -1 value.

DNP3/DNP3 FBx Protocol

• Increased the number of DNP3 FBx Station Meters to 24 and made a modification to read history using the new history commands.
• Added the ability to read DNP3 Objects by group and index to avoid a large retrieval of data for a small number of items. This is available via an Item Modifier.  View the User Guide for more information regarding DNP3 Item Modifiers.
• Added the option to use the lagging/end timestamp for history in the DNP3 FBx protocol. This new option on the Archive Collection tab is labeled "Use end timestamp for history" and is not selected by default.
• Provided the capability to read user defined objects and parameters in the DNP3 FBx protocol.
• Added GC writes to the DNP3 FBx extension. Note: The items for the GC write configured in the Gas Chromatograph object must be FBx object parameters.
• Added the Class Upload Fields to the the DNP3 and DNP3 FBx forms as they both support class uploads. These fields are found on the Device tab.
• Added an option to initialize Class 1-3 items with a Class 0 poll after communication failure in the DNP3 protocol. This option is on the Device tab and labeled "Initialize class 1-3 after comm failure" and is not selected by default..

Eagle Protocol

• Added an option to the Eagle protocol to retrieve history during a call-in to eliminate the need for a second connection to be created for history collection. This new option is on the Device tab and labeled "Retrieve history during call-in" and is not selected by default..
• Provided the ability for the "Retrieve History" and "Time Sync" OPC items to accept a -1 value.

Flow-X Protocol

• Added the ability to schedule the retrieval of new reports in the Flow-X protocol. This feature can be configured on the Archive Collection tab of the Flow-X device setup.

• Modified the publisher to automatically map the Flow-X protocol Differential Pressure and Pulses to the correct fields in the CFX file based on the meter type.

  Effect on Published Output

  The Gas History Record will use the Pulse field data for Turbine meters and the DP field data for Orifice meters.

Mercury Protocol

• Provided the ability for the "Retrieve History" and "Time Sync" OPC items to accept a -1 value.

Modbus Protocol

All Modbus Extensions

• Provided the ability for the "Retrieve History" and "Time Sync" OPC items to accept a -1 value.

Modbus/FB3000 Protocol

• Renamed the Modbus/FB3000 protocol to Modbus Ferguson Beauregard.

OMNI Modbus Protocol

• Added an option to the OMNI protocol to prevent DP and Pulses conflicts by automatically mapping the fields to the CFX file based on the meter type. This new option is on the Archive Collection tab and labeled "Prevent DP and Pulse value conflicts" and only necessary if the OMNI archive is configured to contain both the DP and Pulse registers. This option is not selected by default.

  Effect on Published Output

  A new option to 'Prevent DP and Pulse conflicts' will change the EFM identifier of either the DP field or the Pulse field in periodic records. Each field retains its name (for database and CSV publishers), but only one has it's EFM identifier. This prevents two fields from going to the same shared output of CFX files when a custom map is used with both DP and Pulse fields in it.

• Added support for 32 OMNI products and included more registers in support of Revision 22 of the OMNI protocol. 

  Effect on Published Output

  Up to 32 products can be assigned and published.

SCADAPack Modbus Protocol

• Added an option to SCADAPack Modbus to retrieve historical gas analysis records and merge them with the corresponding hourly records. This option is on the Meter Runs tab and labeled “Collect Meter Gas Quality”.  It is only available if collecting hourly records.

ROC Protocol

• Provided the ability for the "Retrieve History" and "Time Sync" OPC items to accept a -1 value.

Totalflow Protocol

• Added additional logging details for Totalflow devices to show the saved position information for each archive type in order to help troubleshoot problems related to the history collection.

• Added an option to Totalflow devices to stop the publishing of log periodic records if GC analysis trend retrieval is configured but failed to be collected due to a communication time-out. This option is on the Device tab and labeled "Do not publish period records if matching GC trend records are not available". It is not selected by default.

  Effect on Published Output

  The new option for ensuring GC trend data is merged with log period data can prevent log period records from being published if their associated GC trend record isn't found.

Issues Fixed

ACM Archive Management

• Corrected an issue in the Archive Manager causing ACM to close due to an Application Hang error.
• Modified the Archive Management process to display the correct type of periodic history based on the "Type" selection of Hourly or Daily.
• Resolved an issue where the toolbar on the Archive Detail screen was not functioning.
• Updated the Archive Management tab buttons and tool tip labels to better describe the form functions.
• Added a refresh button to the Archive Management grid to refresh the data in the grid.

ACM Client General

• Modified the Queue Viewer to show historical records for a device and/or port object when the object is opened.
• Corrected an issue in the Record Collection "Add-Multi" form that allowed values greater than the maximum to be entered.
• Corrected issues that caused unexpected results when pasting into a Multi-editor grid.
• Updated messages when importing ACM configuration data to make it clear when a rename is related to leading or trailing spaces having been deleted.
• Corrected an error that prevented the selection of RTU Configuration files located on a different drive than where ACM is installed.
• Corrected an issue that displayed many pop-up error messages when the connection to the ACM Server was lost.
• Corrected an issue in the Archive Collection and Meter Run forms that made it appear object names were being truncated.
• Fixed the right-click action on multi-edit grids for unit fields so that all highlighted fields will be updated.
• Corrected an issue that caused the application to lose focus when turning off Tabular View in a record collection window.
• Updated verbiage on the Reconnect dialog to make the options clearer. This dialog appears if the connection to the ACM Server is lost.

ACM Connections

• Modified all port types to enforce the maximum allowed Transmit Delay of 60 seconds to prevent a very long delay period from blocking polling on the port.
• Modified ACM to prevent high CPU usage when multiple devices using the TCPPool port type come due to poll at the same time using the same phone number.
• Added a check to Serial, TCP/IP, TCPPool and TCPListen port types to monitor transmit delay time and ensure it is limited to the 60 second maximum setting.
• Fixed an issue with the Demand item getting stuck 'On' when demanding a poll on the secondary connection while a primary connection test is in progress.

ACM Database

• Corrected an issue in the Bulk Manager that caused staging tables to grow continuously with unprocessed records after timeouts.

ACM Importer/Exporter

• Corrected an issue preventing a device with a tab character in its name from being loaded into ACM.

ACM Installer

• Included the optional Mercury file, "unitmap.txt", in the ACM install pack.

ACM Publishing

• Corrected an issue that caused the publisher to skip records when a column was not defined in a database.

  Effect on Published Output

  More records will be output.

• Added BTU output to the FLOWCAL Online Transaction Queue.

  Effect on Published Output

  Added BTU output to the FLOWCAL Online Transaction Queue.

• Corrected the PGAS Xml publisher so that volume records will only be created when "Populate Volume Record" is selected.

  Effect on Published Output

  Meter characteristic records will no longer be created alone. They will only be included when volume and/or quality records are added to the file.

• Corrected an issue when executing the "Refresh Published Reports" command for a publisher with no filter applied.

ACM Reporting

• Modified the Reporting tab to keep the same report selected when clicking back and forth between the main ACM tabs.
• Disabled the "interval" option for the weekday schedule in Scheduled reports. Also corrected the calculation for the next run date for the weekday schedule in order to properly email daily reports.

ACM Server

• Fixed a problem that caused asiDATA to send back an unscaled value for an item with scaling flags when an OPC client did a synchronous read request before ACM had polled the item.
• Modified the Server Information form to detect versions of .NET higher than .NET 4.0.

ACM Server Object

• Modified the history deletion process to keep the correct number of periodic records and to improve the speed at which records are deleted.

All Protocols

• Corrected an issue that caused messages to be sent with the wrong priority when "Poll items immediately when activated" is enabled.

Benchmark Protocol

• Corrected an issue causing the Benchmark Protocol to return the error message "Field item data is out of range".

BSAP Protocol

• Corrected an issue with certain BSAP items that caused the Status tab in the device configuration to freeze.

DF1 Protocol

• Corrected an issue in the DF1 protocol that prevented the connection from returning to the primary connection after a fail-over to the secondary connection.
• Fixed the high message count for Gas Quality write by combining write values into as few messages as possible.
• Fixed history collection, event collection and time sync for NGCTT devices.

DNP3/DNP3 FBx Protocol

• Corrected an issue preventing DNP3 from working with the Archive Manager due to the internal property names used for meter objects not following the standard naming convention for ACM.
• Corrected an issue in the DNP3 FBx protocol that caused uploads to go permanently into an unknown state after encountering a "too many open files" error.
• Corrected an issue that allowed multiple copies of the same object to be added to a poll in the DNP3 protocol.
• Corrected an issue with certain DNP3 FBx items that caused the Status tab in the device configuration to freeze.

Flow Automation Protocol

• Corrected the meter configuration data for the Auto-Adjust meter in the Flow Automation native protocol.

  Effect on Published Output

  Auto-Adjust meters are now identified as a turbine meter type. The value that was used as the K Factor is now identified as the pipe diameter.

• Modified the Flow Automation protocol to compare daily records with previous records using the date and contract hour so that new records aren't erroneously ignored.

Flow-X Protocol

• Corrected an issue in the Flow-X protocol that caused the "double" data type to be displayed in scientific notation when converting the value to a string for a CFX file.

  Effect on Published Output

  This change prevents scientific notation format on numbers that are stored in string fields of CFX custom batch records.

• Modified the Flow-X driver to use the Batch Record start timestamp value as the timestamp in custom batch records.

  Effect on Published Output

  This change corrects an issue that could cause CFX batch report and custom batch records to have mismatched timestamps

• Corrected an issue causing the Flow-X protocol to crash while retrieving history.
• Corrected an issue in the Flow-X protocol that caused a crash during a demand poll.
• Fixed an issue in the Flow-X protocol that halted event collection after encountering an event record with an empty text field.
• Modified the Flow-X protocol to provide more detailed logging information when the publisher fails.

Hex Repeater Protocol

• Corrected an issue causing the Hex Repeater protocol to crash when executing different commands.
• Mapped the following Hex Repeater strings to their appropriate CFX properties:
  • Temp SG was measured
  • Pres SG was measured
  • Dynamic Viscosity
  • Volume Corr. Factor

Mercury Protocols

• Made a modification to the Mercury protocol to handle errors previously reported as "Invalid inquiry error: 30" as a time-out so the poll is retried.

Modbus Protocol

All Modbus Extensions

• Fixed an incorrectly formed register write message in the Modbus protocols when using the multi-write function code with an extended device address format.

Lufkin Modbus Protocol

• Corrected an issue with Lufkin Modbus where an incorrect extended address was used when building write messages.
• Corrected an issue preventing the Test Communication from working for Modbus Lufkin devices with an address over 248.

OMNI Modbus Protocol

• Added an option to skip the Date Time Format register request and the Text Batch Report Availability register request to allow old model OMNI devices to collect text Batch Reports. This new option is on the Archive Collection tab and labeled "Skip report timestamp check". It is not selected by default.

  Effect on Published Output

  This update added a new option to skip the step of reading the timestamp registers for batch, prove, and daily reports in the OMNI protocol. Some old firmware doesn't have those registers. This can make published report files that use the report's timestamp information (in tokens as part of the file name, for example) use the current date and time instead of the report's date and time.

• Corrected an issue in the Modbus OMNI protocol that prevented all Prove records from being collected when collecting from multiple archives.

  Effect on Published Output

  More Prove records will be output.

• Corrected an issue that could cause the prove collection from multiple archives to be out of sync and terminate unexpectedly when "Collect Meter and Product Info" was not checked on a Modbus OMNI device.
• Added a new option for Modbus OMNI devices to combine prove records using timestamps. The default behavior is to combine prove records from different archives at the same index position. This new option combines records from different archives only if their timestamps match. The option is not selected by default.
• Corrected an issue causing the Modbus OMNI driver to poll endlessly if the last record on the last archive had an empty time stamp.
• Corrected an issue that prevented the archive pointer from being moved back on a Modbus OMNI device.

Scanner 1150 Protocol

• Corrected an issue in the Scanner 1150 protocol that generated duplicate records after communication time outs.

ROC Protocol

• Updated the error code message for "Unknown Error Code 251" to "Industry Canada audit log full" to match the ROC manual.
• Corrected an issue requiring multiple passes for ROC event collection.
• Corrected an issue that caused the ROC protocol to switch from Hourly Upload to Event Upload before Hourly Upload was complete.

• Corrected the ROC protocol to output pipe diameter only when the calculation method is AGA3. 

  Effect on Published Output

  The Pipe Diameter will be output only when the calculation method is AGA3.

• Added Pulse Index Start and Pulse Index End to ROC Batch records. The CFX file will be published with Pulse Index Start and Pulse Index End.

  Effect on Published Output

  The CFX file will be published with Pulse Index Start and Pulse Index End.

• Corrected an issue that caused the ROC Meter Configuration to be read multiple times during a single poll cycle.
• Modified the ROC protocol to stop polling OPC items with invalid TLP addresses upon a TLP error response from the device.
• Corrected an issue which prevented ROC Events from publishing correctly.
• Corrected an issue which prevented ROC Alarms from publishing correctly.
• Changed the time out for the ROC sign-on to 9 minutes 30 seconds to prevent an issue with a poll that runs every 10 minutes. The system will also reset the time out flag when a sign on fails, so it will attempt to sign on at the next poll.

Totalflow Protocol

• Modified the Totalflow manual import service to detect the Measurement Canada indicator in the import file.

  Effect on Published Output

  This change corrects an issue with the 're-verification' data in published event records. Records that have a true value will now display a true value (-1) in the column.

• Modified the Totalflow TimeSync command to work with non NGC-8200 devices that use an Operator ID without a password.
• Added a new option to the Totalflow protocol to verify the count of history records received matches the count requested. This new option is on the Archive Collection tab and labeled "Verify History Records". It is not selected by default.

• Modified the method by which static pressure type (gauge or absolute) is determined in the Totalflow protocol.

  Effect on Published Output

  This change may display a static pressure value in the meter config record where one did not appear before.