Unified environment for building and testing FrameworX solutions
Platform → Designer | Concept | Tutorial | How-to Guide | Reference
Overview
Designer is the unified configuration component where you build and test complete FrameworX solutions. This page introduce key concepts about the Four Pillars Methodology to build solution and the Designer workspace that enables it.
- Four Pillars Methodology: how to organize and execute a solution development.
- Designer Workspace: unified interface to all module configuration and development tools
Key Concepts
Four Pillars Methodology
It is an optimized methodology for solution development of industrial applications.
It organize the all the necessary core modules for typical projects into four groups:
- Data Foundation - Unified Namespace Module
- Industrial Operations - Process Modules: Devices, Alarms and Historian.
- Business Operations - Application Modules: Datasets, Reports and Scripts.
- User Interaction - Operator UI Modules: Security, Displays and Clients UI deployment.
Designer Workspace
It is the unified environment for all configuration, No need to switch between tools. It includes:
- Solution Explorer - configuration access to all modules and tools
- Solution - custom solution settings, import and export tools
- Runtime - settings for the execution, diagnostics, and activation commands
- Modules - configuration UI for all modules
- Data Explorer - Integrated tool for data discovery and tests
- Track Changes - built version control system
How Designer Fits in the Solution Lifecycle
Designer is the configuration workspace in the Solution Lifecycle:
- Solution Center - Create and manage solutions
- Designer ← You are here (Configure all modules)
- Runtime - Execute and monitor
Designer produces the configuration that Runtime executes. Execution Profiles let you validate behavior before publishing to production.
Module Organization by the Four Pillars
| Module Organization by Four Pillars | |
|---|---|
Pillar 1: UNS Foundation | Pillar 2: Process Modules |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Pillar 3: Application Modules | Pillar 4: Operator UI |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Integrated Development Environment
Editor Type | Features | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
C#/VB.NET Editors | IntelliSense, syntax highlighting, debugging | Control logic and system integration |
Python Editor | Output playground, interactive execution | Analytics and data processing |
SQL Editors | Query builder, visual designer | Database integration |
JSON/XML Editors | Schema validation, formatting | Web data exchange |
Rich Text Editor | PDF/HTML output | Report generation |
Feature Highlights
- Single environment - All modules in one interface
- Consistent UI patterns - Same experience across modules
- Execution Profiles - Run in Development, Validation, or Production modes
- Online configuration - Modify running solutions
- Change tracking - See who modified what
- Version comparison - Track configuration evolution
What's Next
→ Four Pillars Methodology: optimized methodology for solution development.
→ Designer Workspace: UI for all module configuration and development tools.
In this section...