Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

For the answers to the following questions please see the relevant section of the FAQ:

- Does SpecView work with Win95/98/NT/2000/Me/XP?

- Do I need to send the dongle back in order to get it upgraded to to add further options?

- Will updating affect my existing Projects?

- Can I copy SpecView to another PC & how can this be done?

- During installation I get an error about DCOM.

- Why am I seeing: 'N/R' or 'NPV' or 'NCA' or 'N/C' or 'T/O' or 'W/O' on the screen where the instrument's values should be?

- On my generic Modbus instrument how do I access higher registers?

- Why are the instrument values shown 10 or 100 times too big (or too small)?

- Why are the wrong values being returned from the instrument?

- How do I use a BarCode Scanner with SpecView?

- How can I avoid affecting communications throughput if some instrument(s) need to be turned off or disconnected for a reason?

FAQ - SpecView Runtime

- Can I monitor SpecView remotely?

- How do I view previous Event Logs?

- How can I restore the Historical Replay Control Panel window to its original size?

- Why am I getting steps or gaps on my Trend Chart rather than a smooth curve?

- I am getting empty logfiles, what could be the reason for this?

- How can performance be improved - so that the rate that instrument variables are updated is increased?

- How can I make the color of things on a GDW change according to a value?

- How can I modify one of SpecView's Demo Projects so it will work with my instruments?

- Running a program using 'SpecView: Run External Program' the program's window is minimized.

- How can I improve the speed that SpecView starts up?

- Can I run SpecView from the Windows Startup Group?

- Why am I not seeing all the Instrument Parameters I expect to see in the Parameter List?

- The Trend Chart doesn't appear to be updating, why might this be?

FAQ - SpecView Edit Mode

- Can I develop complex screen(s) for one instrument (e.g: Furnace1) then copy it/them for another instrument of the same type (e.g: Furnace2)?

- Double-clicking on an item on the GDW seems to have no effect, when usually it would display the relevant attributes box for that item.

- I can't seem to add a variable on a GDW into Recipe.

- I can't seem to edit a value's Dynamic Attributes.

- Changing the color of text on the screen (using Object->Text Font...) doesn't appear to have any effect.

- How do I configure SpecView Networking (Remote/Local)?

- What can I do if Auto detect doesn't work for my instrument?

- How do I do a Strategy Controller event every second?

- How do I do a Strategy Controller event every minute?

- My variables list box doesn't appear, why not?

- How do I animate a graphic using the Strategy Controller?

- How do I make clicking somewhere on a GDW do a button-type action?

- I've set the Fill Color of a shape but it isn't being filled, why?

- Why is it that using the Edit->Paste of an object doesn't appear to work?

- What can I do if comparing an instrument value (with decimal places) with an integer in the Strategy Controller doesn't work?

- Can I copy a whole Project?

- Adding a bitmap to a GDW makes the GDW much larger, why?

- How do I archive logfiles?

- How do I delete logfiles?

- I am confused about the difference between Log Files and Log File Reports created by Log File Conversion.

- How can I make the Strategy Controller run another program?

- How do I run a DOS .BAT file from the action: SpecView: Run External Program ?

- How do I setup the Strategy Controller to do a delay (for example, 5 seconds) ?

- How can I make a button on a GDW do more than one action ?

- How can I make a button toggle a Boolean so that successive clicks turn it On/Off/On/...?

- What is the maximum value for an Integer or Number variable?

- How can a value be displayed on a GDW using scientific notation (showing mantissa & exponent)?

- Opening a screen in Runtime mode with a Trend Chart; the chart is always initially blank with no pen lines. What can be done about this?

- How can a screen (GDW) be printed to an Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) file?

- How can I make a Strategy Event which will keep 'firing' all the time that something is 'true'?

- How can I make something blink/flash on screen?

- How can I position items on a screen & align them to within a pixel & stop them 'jumping' to the grid?

- How can I make some text appear on the screen using the Strategy Controller when something happens?

- How can I run a Help (HLP) file from a button on the screen?

- How can I use COM ports 10 and above?

- Why am I not seeing all the Instrument Parameters I expect to see in the Variables List?