1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
Hi VR
#1 Can't start execution of serial number. The error message specifically mentions "of the same workcell", so this leads me to a big suspect. I think what happened is you have multiple WorkcellStations under the same Workcell, you started executing the serial number under WorkcellStation #1, you left the execution (like putting it on pause or just going back to the menu), and then you selected the WorkcellStation #2 and tried to start that same serial number. This is not allowed : if you start a work instruction on a WorkcellStation, we have to finish it on the same one.
#2 : Can't select a station. There's a screen in the menu called Station Dashboard, can you check what it says for this machine in the username/last column? And for the machines that you connected on, can you confirm if it shows your username on them? I've never seen this message giving an empty name before, so I'm assuming either it didn't save your username correctly on the machines or somehow it left the "bad" machine with a broken value.
Q1 : production & waste quantity. Correct, you need those 2 otherwise you won't be able to finish the execution of your work instructions. Here is what the configuration screen looks like, this example is complete :
Also note you need to select a Subtype in the Advanced Settings tab. If you need more information on this, Here is the documentation link, look at the "Stations" section under the big pyramid image.
Q2 : Fix equipment type displayname. I've never seen this issue before, but you're right, there's no screen to modify this. Here's a query that you can run in SQL :
UPDATE equipmenttype SET displayname = 'NEW_DISPLAYNAME_HERE' WHERE displayname = 'OLD_DISPLAYNAME_HERE'
To my knowledge, this should change the way it appears in the screens and not break anything. But I never tried this before, so I can't offer a guarantee it will be 100% safe, if it breaks something we can change it back.
Q3 : Deleting disabled equipments. Deleting equipments can't be done, we can only disable. I checked and it's true that in the Execution Station Selection screen, it allows choosing disabled equipments. I think this is a bug in the software, I raised a request for the software team to fix it (PSPT-78160). But often what happens in this screen is at the beginning of their shift the users select their few machines using the popup, and then they will be in their drop-down as long as they don't get removed from it, so the users only keep their few machines in the dropdown.
Q4 : Re-installation issues. I asked our installation expert and the answer was that clean re-installs are much easier. It should be possible to do what you're asking without re-starting from 0, but it would be pretty complicated. If you really want to try it, you should open an actual ticket for this.
Q5 : Connecting with other systems. There's 2 pieces that I think you should really look into. The first one is called Smart Tools. Smart Tools are essentially a series of tags and we can have steps of type Smart tool. The tags can be read, write, or read-write. In a Smart tool step, we define a list of tags to read or write and the order. So for example you can have a step that reads a "Ready?" tag and then write to a "Execute" tag, which would trigger something in your other system, and then you could add a 3rd tag to return a result. This is just an example, you can specify the actions you want. First you need to configure the smart tool (tags) in the Configuration -> Smart Tool screen, then in the Authoring screen you can create steps of type smart tool, finally in the Routing screen you will have to associate the step with the specific smart tool. The second stuff to look at is the endpoint, see documentation here. So with the endpoint system, you can call a Thingworx service in specific situations, mostly when finishing a step or serial number or job order, and the service receives corresponding parameters (serial number, job order, etc.). The goal of this service is that it can then transfer this information to any system you want. So one idea is that the service could check if you're in the correct situation (like completing step X on machine Y) and then the service could reach to something on your Raspberry or Vuforia.
Posting multiple questions isn't ideal but don't worry about it. Ideally we would separate them in smaller groups, so in the future when we want information on issue X we can direct to a specific post and not have to say "this post, and then in the 2nd reply go to question #4".
Hi VR
#1 Can't start execution of serial number. The error message specifically mentions "of the same workcell", so this leads me to a big suspect. I think what happened is you have multiple WorkcellStations under the same Workcell, you started executing the serial number under WorkcellStation #1, you left the execution (like putting it on pause or just going back to the menu), and then you selected the WorkcellStation #2 and tried to start that same serial number. This is not allowed : if you start a work instruction on a WorkcellStation, we have to finish it on the same one.
#2 : Can't select a station. There's a screen in the menu called Station Dashboard, can you check what it says for this machine in the username/last column? And for the machines that you connected on, can you confirm if it shows your username on them? I've never seen this message giving an empty name before, so I'm assuming either it didn't save your username correctly on the machines or somehow it left the "bad" machine with a broken value.
Q1 : production & waste quantity. Correct, you need those 2 otherwise you won't be able to finish the execution of your work instructions. Here is what the configuration screen looks like, this example is complete :
Also note you need to select a Subtype in the Advanced Settings tab. If you need more information on this, Here is the documentation link, look at the "Stations" section under the big pyramid image.
Q2 : Fix equipment type displayname. I've never seen this issue before, but you're right, there's no screen to modify this. Here's a query that you can run in SQL :
UPDATE equipmenttype SET displayname = 'NEW_DISPLAYNAME_HERE' WHERE displayname = 'OLD_DISPLAYNAME_HERE'
To my knowledge, this should change the way it appears in the screens and not break anything. But I never tried this before, so I can't offer a guarantee it will be 100% safe, if it breaks something we can change it back.
Q3 : Deleting disabled equipments. Deleting equipments can't be done, we can only disable. I checked and it's true that in the Execution Station Selection screen, it allows choosing disabled equipments. I think this is a bug in the software, I raised a request for the software team to fix it (PSPT-78160). But often what happens in this screen is at the beginning of their shift the users select their few machines using the popup, and then they will be in their drop-down as long as they don't get removed from it, so the users only keep their few machines in the dropdown.
Q4 : Re-installation issues. I asked our installation expert and the answer was that clean re-installs are much easier. It should be possible to do what you're asking without re-starting from 0, but it would be pretty complicated. If you really want to try it, you should open an actual ticket for this.
Q5 : Connecting with other systems. There's 2 pieces that I think you should really look into. The first one is called Smart Tools. Smart Tools are essentially a series of tags and we can have steps of type Smart tool. The tags can be read, write, or read-write. In a Smart tool step, we define a list of tags to read or write and the order. So for example you can have a step that reads a "Ready?" tag and then write to a "Execute" tag, which would trigger something in your other system, and then you could add a 3rd tag to return a result. This is just an example, you can specify the actions you want. First you need to configure the smart tool (tags) in the Configuration -> Smart Tool screen, then in the Authoring screen you can create steps of type smart tool, finally in the Routing screen you will have to associate the step with the specific smart tool. The second stuff to look at is the endpoint, see documentation here. So with the endpoint system, you can call a Thingworx service in specific situations, mostly when finishing a step or serial number or job order, and the service receives corresponding parameters (serial number, job order, etc.). The goal of this service is that it can then transfer this information to any system you want. So one idea is that the service could check if you're in the correct situation (like completing step X on machine Y) and then the service could reach to something on your Raspberry or Vuforia.
Posting multiple questions isn't ideal but don't worry about it. Ideally we would separate them in smaller groups, so in the future when we want information on issue X we can direct to a specific post and not have to say "this post, and then in the 2nd reply go to question #4".
