Slide 1 Session Description In this session we will discuss design considerations to achieve the best performance from your Wonderware ArchestrA Graphics

Slide 3

© 2012 Invensys. All Rights Reserved. The names, logos, and taglines identifying the products and services of Invensys are proprietary marks of Invensys or its subsidiaries. All third party trademarks and service marks are the proprietary marks of their respective owners.

WW TSS-03ArchestrA Graphics: Design Guidelines for Top Performance

Mirko CanelOctober, 2012

Slide 5

Agenda

We will discuss design considerations to achieve the best performance from Wonderware ArchestrA Graphics. Key topics covered:

1. Improve the performance of graphics to reduce the total time to show updated values

2. CPU Utilization Considerations

3. Memory Utilization Considerations

4. Bottleneck Investigation

5. ArchestrA IDE Performance Considerations

Slide 6

Introduction

ArchestrA Graphics overview of the technology

1. .NET considerations on memory utilization: Garbage Collector (the typical saw tooth in the memory utilization)

2. Vector graphics overview of the concepts

3. GDI+ and CPU rendering

Slide 7

Introduction GDI, GDI+

GDI GDI+

Obj_rect

Obj_line

Obj_bmp

Obj_Transparency

Obj_ Antialiasing

Obj_ Translucency

Fn1(x)

Fn2(x)

Fn3(x)Obj_Gradients

Fn4(x)

Slide 8

ArchestrA Graphics Call-Up time base concepts

Retrieve Definition

Bind Data

Render

Continuous Updates

Close

Call-Up Time

Graphic Call-up Time

Static CPU Load

Memory Utilization

Retrieve Bind Render Continuous Close

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Call Up Time: The contributors

Simplified overview on the main contributors to the time consumption when showing an ArchestrA Graphic

• Retrieve Definition: Size and complexity of the ArchestrA Graphics

• Binding Data: Number of custom properties and references

• Rendering Time: Total number of simple and complex graphic elements, runtime graphical effects

• Waiting Data: Engine scan cycle, I/O speed, communication strategy

• Expression Evaluation: Total number, complexity, code efficiency

• Delta Rendering: Number of data changes + Total number of simple and complex graphic elements, runtime graphical effects

CloseRetrieve RenderBind Waiting Data… Expression Evaluation

Render

Slide 10

Call-Up Time Advanced concepts: ActiveOnDemand DDE SuiteLink

Call-Up Time

Retrieve RenderBind Continuous Close

Subscription/Activation possible inter-Engines

latencies

Waiting Data…ArchestrAGraphic

IO / AppServer

Expressions Evaluation

IO Scan Cycle possible inter-Engines latencies

OPERATOR REQUEST t

Delta Expressions Evaluation


1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec.

Default values and placeholders shown

Cached data

GoodQuality / Initializing:2012 New Feature

Behavior introduced by the Engine, always consistent across the next examples.

L00115867: InitializingQualityOnSuspend=1

BEHAVIOR FOR IOSERVER AND DASERVERS THAT DOES NOT IMPLEMENT SUBSCRIPTION MESSAGES.

NEW VALUES


Render

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Call-Up Time Advanced concepts: ActiveOnDemand DDE SuiteLink

Call-Up Time

Retrieve RenderBind Close

Waiting Data…

ArchestrAGraphic

DDESL Client

OPERATOR REQUEST NEW VALUES t



DAS 1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec.1 Sec.

Control Layer


Continuous

Subscription/Activation possible inter-Engines latencies





ACT

XInitialUpDate

BEHAVIOR FOR DASERVERS THAT DOES IMPLEMENT SUBSCRIPTION MESSAGES.

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Call-Up Time Advanced concepts: ActiveOnDemand OPC Client

Call-Up Time

Retrieve RenderBind Close

Waiting Data…

ArchestrAGraphic

OPC Client

OPERATOR REQUESTt



OPCServer 1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec.1 Sec.

Control Layer

Continuous

Subscription/Activation possible inter-Engines latencies






ACT

READ

X

NEW VALUES

InitialUpDate

Slide 13

Call-Up Time Advanced concepts: ActiveAll:OPC & SL

Call-Up Time

Retrieve RenderBind Continuous Close

ArchestrAGraphic

IO / AppServer



t



1 Sec.



1 Sec. 1 Sec. 1 Sec.1 Sec.

OPERATOR REQUEST NEW VALUES ActiveOnDemand


Render

Slide 14

Call Up Time: Retrieval InTouch

=

DeserializationDefinitionFiles

Disk I/O

View.exe

Glass

Bolts

Polygon6

Polygon5

Polygon4

Polygon3

Arrow

Arc1

.

.

.

.

.

.

Objects Initialization

ArchestrA Graphic Library


Render

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=

Glass

Bolts

Polygon6

Polygon5

Polygon4

Polygon3

Arrow

Arc1

.

.

.

.

• Graphic element information

• Animations Initialization

• Scripting Interface Initialization

• Communication Interface Initialization


Render

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Call Up Time: Retrieval InTouchGlass

Bolts

Polygon6

Polygon5

Polygon4

Polygon3

Arrow

Arc1

.

.

.

.






Render

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=

Glass

Bolts

Polygon6

Polygon5

Polygon4

Polygon3

Arrow

Arc1

.

.

.

.






Render

Slide 18

Call Up Time: Retrieval InTouchGlass

Bolts

Objects Initialization

Polygon6

Polygon5

Polygon4

Polygon3

Arrow

Arc1

.

.

.

.






Render

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A simple ArchestrA Graphic Element is not just a representation on the screen, it is part and able to interact dynamically with the entire ArchestrA framework:

• Graphic Definition

• Animations

• Scripting

• Communication

Line=


Render

Slide 20

The Simplest mitigation method for addressing slow retrieval of ArchestrA graphic shown using the new API ShowGraphic or the ShowSymbol animation is to use the fastest disk IO available.

• SSD vs. traditional Drives

Call Up Time: Retrieval ArchestrA


Render

Slide 21


The Simplest mitigation method for addressing slow InTouch Windows call up times is to “uncheck” load windows from disk (pre 2012)

• This does not change the initial draw times but all subsequent draw times are faster.

• This method has had limitations that have been more commonly reached when using ArchestrA graphics

– Memory limitations are reached

– When limitations are reached in WindowViewer, new opened windows can result in lower performance.


Render

Slide 22

Call Up Time: Retrieval 2012

Slide 23

In-Memory Window Caching

InTouch 2012 Enhancements

• The total amount of memory accessible to WindowViewer has been extended to the maximums by default.

– 2 Gb on 32 bit OS; 3 Gb on 64 bit OS

• The memory cache will remove oldest windows from the cache to make room for new windows being opened.

– First in/First out and time based aging

• Windows that are a high priority for fast access can be designated which will result in them being always considered recent.

• ArchestrA Graphics memory footprint has been reduced by 15%

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Call Up Time: Data BindingData binding is affected first of all by the total number of references present in your ArchestrA graphics.

• Use a clever organization of the information: 1 integer custom property instead of 16 Boolean custom properties when designing a symbol that will be used across all the graphics of your application (icons, alarm states)

• Try to avoid redundant information by reusing Custom Properties for the embedded symbols. Clever use of Private/Public

• Use of Owning Object/SetCustomProperty/ShowGraphic


Render

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InTouch tags show the last known value immediately, while ArchestrA communications will identify initializing data. Once the graphic has been fully rendered, the data required by the window must be initialized and this can result in a slow operator experience.

Call Up Time: Data Binding ShowSymbol/ShowGraphic vs. InTouch


Render

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• How to improve the binding time?

– “Round robin” considerations

• GR or not GR ?

• MyContainer / myArea / myEngine Vs Static References

– For top performance uses Static References. (me.attribute is considered static reference)

– Intouch:MemoryTags

– Redirection using OwningObject (improved reference binding algorithm)

– SetCustomPropertyValue (script execution time reduced by 80%)

– SHOW GRAPHIC IMPROVEMENTS “INTRO”

Call Up Time: Data Binding


Render

Slide 27

From the OPC DI manual:

The item syntax for array elements is <sg>.Attribute(<item>)[<index>]

DI objects are special Objects with Dynamic arrays and properties.

The Attribute() keyword is used to identify which references are IO properties of the DI objects from internal dynamic properties.

ALWAYS use the Attribute keyword in your references.

L00119964 : Doc Enhancement request

L00118912 : Investigation

Call Up Time: Hitting GR Node


Render

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Possible Scenarios:

• Turning off many PLCS will cause a lot of references to go bad and will hit the GR node causing poor performance to the GR node.

• DI Objects undeploy

• Massive use of relative references

The importance of monitor binding counts:

Logger: wwpackageserver ReferenceBinding

ObjectViewer: GRNodePlatform.GR.BindCnt



Render

Slide 29



Render

Example of anOPC DI objectUndeploy and Deploy

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• How to improve the binding time?

– Redirection using OwningObject property (improved reference binding algorithm)

– Redirection using SetCustomPropertyValue function (script execution time reduced by 80%)

– Redirection using Show Graphic



Render

Slide 31

The new “ShowGraphic” function extends the flexibility of the product and improves the concept of OwningObject and Dynamic References: everything is now embedded parameter of the main function and natively resolved.



Render

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Dim graphicInfo as aaGraphic.GraphicInfo;

Dim cpValues [2] as aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair;

cpValues[1] = new aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair("CP1", 20, true);

cpValues[2] = new aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair("CP2", "Pump.PV.TagName", false);

graphicInfo.Identity = "i1";

graphicInfo.GraphicName = "S1";

graphicInfo.OwningObject = "UserDefined_001";

graphicInfo.WindowTitle = "ShowGraphic";

graphicInfo.Resizable = false;

graphicInfo.CustomProperties=cpValues;

ShowGraphic( graphicInfo );

Call Up Time: ShowGraphic


Render

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Call Up Time: RenderingThe rendering time is impacted by the high number of primitive invokes: each single line, circle, textbox we are drawing has a cost.

• Extremely high definition of small details can impact the rendering performance

• Reusing multiple times an extremely hi detailed small icon symbol can reduce the rendering performance of the entire application

• Gradients, transparencies, graphical effects that need runtime calculation can impact rendering performance (CPU vs. GPU: GDI+ vs. GDI)


Render

Slide 34

Call Up Time: Rendering

The Urban Legend

Is it more efficient to include 1000 ArchestrA Graphics in one InTouch window, or to have 1 ArchestrA Graphic containing 1000 embedded ArchestrA graphics?


Render

• 1 ArchestrA Graphic with 1000 graphics: as mentioned before, each invoke has a cost. 1000 InTouch calls to the ArchestrA graphic library vs.. only 1.

• 2 You are ready for the future! ArchestrA Graphics are ready to evolve taking advantage of the next evolutions of the .NET framework.

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Call Up Time: Rendering Gradients

The definition of gradients are the colors and the type of gradients.

• All of the individual colors are calculated at runtime when initially rendered and any time an animation changes the gradient.

– When large numbers of graphic elements (1000’s) using gradients are used the impact can be severe.

• This information consumes more memory than a solid fill.

• Be careful of a larger number of small graphic elements using gradients. The effect may be minimal visually but severe in terms of performance.

• Transparencies have a similar performance impact.


Render

Slide 36

Call Up Time: Rendering Gradients

Same Embedded Symbol (just resized)

• Same Detail

• Same Calculations

• Same Cost

• Different Visual Value

• A simple PNG image, is this case

perform much better.


Render

Slide 37

Symbol Embedding Pitfall Example

Status Symbol is created.

This will be used on every piece of equipment.

There may be hundreds on the window.

It is made of many large detailed elements.

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Static CPU Utilization

Once a window has been rendered on the screen there are factors that can result in a greater CPU utilization.

When this occurs there can be other impacts:

• System becomes unresponsive

• Fewer Terminal Server Sessions can be run on the server as other sessions become unresponsive.

• There are many contributing factors


Render

Slide 39

Bitmaps

ArchestrA Graphics support multiple formats (BMP, GIF, JPG, TIF, PNG, ICO, EMF). Bitmaps are the most expensive but also most common.

Format Typical Compression Ratios

Description

GIF 4:1 - 10:1 Lossless for images <=256 colors. Works best for flat color, sharp-edged art. Horizontally oriented bands of color compress better than vertically oriented bands.

JPEG (High) 10:1 - 20:1 High quality - has little or no loss in image quality with continuous tone originals. Worse results for flat color and sharp-edge art.

JPEG (Medium)

30:1 - 50:1 Moderate quality - usually the best choice for the Web.

JPEG (Low) 60:1 - 100:1 Poor quality - suitable for thumbnails and previews. Visible blockiness (pixelation).

PNG 10-30% smaller than GIFs PNG's behave similarly to GIFs only better; they work best with flat-color, sharp-edged art. PNGs compress both horizontally and vertically, so solid blocks of color generally compress best.


Render

Slide 40

Bitmap Common Pitfalls

• Embed a large picture and resize to

a small one

• Both take the same size on disk

• Retake image at smaller size and

save as compressed format


Render

10 Mbytes picture

Slide 41

Custom Property Density

Custom Properties have been greatly optimized in InTouch 2012 which has resulted in better performance.

Some customers have ended up with 20,000 plus custom properties on a symbol.

Typically an impact of embedding many symbols at many levels.

Should consider necessity of the variables and consider if they should reside server side.

• Is it needed for graphic presentation?

• Is the value specific to only this workstation?


Render

Slide 42

Multi-Variable Expressions

Each variable must be subscribed, bound and published individually.

• Can the calculation be done server side?

• Is the value specific to this specific workstation?

Expressions are ad-hoc scripts and require execution.

• The AppEngine is better suited to executing volumes of scripts and should be used to handle load where possible.

Slide 43

Expressions: code efficiencyAvoid high number of Expressions with string operations like:

• Concatenations “+”

• String find

• String replace

If you cannot avoid, use the .NET system.string class functions.

ArchestrA strings functions are designed for automation and are general purpose, the built in functions are not Top Performance functions.

System.String.Concat

System.String.Contains

System.String.IndexOf


Render

Slide 44

Script Utilization

ArchestrA Graphics are extremely flexible in their ability to execute scripts (On Show, While Showing, On Close, Data Change, Condition). Carefully plan the usage of scripts that will cyclically execute.

• If you are setting a script to run every 50ms, why?

• Is every execution needed? Is the same result calculated over and over?

• How many scripts are in the symbol?

• How many instances of the symbol will be used?

• Can the script be server side?

– When large numbers of graphic elements (1000’s) using gradients are used the impact can be severe.

• This information consumes more memory than a solid fill.

• Be careful of a larger number of small graphic elements using gradients. The effect may be minimal visually but severe in terms of performance.

• Transparencies have a similar performance impact.


Render

Slide 45

Symbol Embedding

The implications of embedding symbols are often not considered.

• When embedding several layers of symbols, remember that the final symbol will have every custom property, script, and graphic element from all of the individual symbols.

• Layering/stacking and then resizing symbols is very easy to do but comes at a cost.

• Are there details on the symbols that are not visible at the size it is embedded?


Render

Slide 46

Symbol Embedding


Render

Name,X,Y,Width,Height,angle,absoluteorigin,transparency,locked,dynamicsizechange,anchorpoint

Symbol 1


Symbol 3

Graphic Element


Symbol 2

Nameicsizechange,anchorpoint

Symbol3

Graphic Element


Symbol 2


Symbol3

Graphic Element

Slide 47

Symbol Embedding


Render


Symbol 1


Symbol 3

Graphic Element


Symbol 2


Symbol3

Graphic Element


Symbol 2


Symbol3

Graphic Element

Definition of the Symbol cost 430 bytes

Slide 48

Symbol Embedding

430 BYTES !!!Common reaction

in the 3rd millennium.


Render

Slide 49

Symbol Embedding example


Render

430 bytes.


Final Valve Symbol

Graphic Elements

########

Intermediate Symbols

14 Intermediate Symbols, for the base valve symbol.

Slide 50

Symbol Embedding Impact on a huge Applications


Render

430 bytes * 15 Embeds levels

* 200 graphics *337 windows/popups

=434’730’000 bytes

Alias 434 MegaBytes

Alias 0.434 GigaBytes

Slide 51

Element Grouping

When using the Grouping mechanism in graphics there is an optimization done for groups with no animation. The group is handled as an image.

The Tank on the left opens in half the time with half the static CPU load of the tank on the right. Top Performance Configuration:• 1 Base Group

Animations• 1 Base Group Static

elements.


Render

Slide 52

Hardware Choices

What hardware choices can be made to give best results?

1. Fast CPU Clock – (WindowViewer only uses one processor/core, so a faster dual core is preferred over a slower quad core).

2. Available RAM – Have 3Gb available for each WindowViewer session

3. Fast Hard Drive – Solid State

4. FAST GPU


Render

Slide 53

Do Graphics Have to be Simple to Perform?

Call up time is under 1 sec

and static CPU load is ~1%.

DO SIMPLE GRAPHICS

ALWAYS PERFORM ?

Slide 54

Development Performance Considerations

Performance impact on IDE using ArchestrA Graphics:

$Template1.Graphic1

CustomProperty1/ Reference1

CustomPropertyN/ ReferenceN

..

.

Slide 55



$Template1.Graphic1

Instance1.Graphic1

CustomPropertyN/ ReferenceN

..

.

CustomProperty1/ Reference1

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$Template1.Graphic1

Instance1.Graphic1

Instance2.Graphic1

Instance3.Graphic1

Instance4.Graphic1

Instance5.Graphic1

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$Template1.Graphic1

Instance1.Graphic1

Instance2.Graphic1

Instance3.Graphic1

Instance4.Graphic1

$Template1.Graphic2

Instance1.Graphic2 Instance2.Graphic2

THIS IS NOT A BUG !

IT IS JUST A SPIDER

Slide 58


• Do not define 100 graphics in the base valve template if you are planning to have 5000 instances of the specific valve, propagation of a small change will take hours.

• ArchestrA System Platform 2012 has a lot of improvements to address

IDE performance.

• Invensys development is still working to improve in future versions

IDE performance.

Slide 59

1. Development Performance vs.. Runtime Performance

1.Never use the Development experience to evaluate the performance of your ArchestrA Graphic application. Short overview and description on the ArchestrA Graphics SQL storage layer and architecture.


Render


Slide 60

Bottleneck investigation

How to understand where the time is wasted; Parameters to monitor

• Measure the performance of a generic InTouch window with ArchestrA Graphics

• Measure the performance of a specific ArchestrA Graphic

– Example using ShowGraphic and log flags

• Log Flags for InTouch vs.. ArchestrA Graphics

• External tools: Process explorer

Slide 61

Bottleneck investigation [Case Studies]Dim graphicInfo as aaGraphic.GraphicInfo;Dim cpValues [2] as aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair;cpValues[1] = new aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair("CP1", 20, true);cpValues[2] = new aaGraphic.CustomPropertyValuePair("CP2", "Pump.PV.TagName", false);graphicInfo.Identity = "i1";graphicInfo.GraphicName = "S1";graphicInfo.OwningObject = "UserDefined_001";graphicInfo.WindowTitle = "ShowGraphic";graphicInfo.Resizable = false;graphicInfo.CustomProperties=cpValues;LogMessage(“ShowGraphic Start:”);ShowGraphic( graphicInfo );LogMessage(“ShowGraphic Stop:”);


Render

Slide 62

Bottleneck investigation [Case Studies]

Slide 63


Simple AAPKG to exercise all or a limited subset of the galaxy ArchestrA Graphics and log the loading time.

$WindowScanner.zip

Slide 64


SELECT visual_element_name FROM [dbo].[internal_visual_element_description_view]where [hierarchical_visual_element_name]

How to create the list of symbols to exercise:

Save the query result as a txt file with the same name of the instance

Slide 65


Configuration:

CreateLog: log an entry for each graphic slower than ‘CreateLog’ ms.

ExecutionRate: delay in seconds to open and close the graphic

FileLocation: File Path for the Symbols list and log file.

Slide 66

Visualization Stability Enhancements in InTouch 2012

Problems

• Windows based on A2 Graphics

– Render slow compared to native InTouch

– Consume more memory than comparable native InTouch

• InTouch runs on CPU-0 regardless of the number of cores

InTouch 2012 Approach

• Refactored various internal components of A2 Graphics to reduce memory

footprint in runtime (Removed design time data from runtime environment)

• Refactored Custom Property code and SetCustomPropertyValue function for

improved data binding performance

• Support binding to any core in the computer (still runs in a single core)

Slide 67

References

Tech Note 628

Advanced Communication Management for Application Server

Tech Note 644

Improving Application Performance with ArchestrA Graphics

https://wdnresource.wonderware.com/support/kbcd/html/1/t002391.htm

https://wdnresource.wonderware.com/support/kbcd/html/1/t002408.htm

Slide 68

Contributors

• Marilou Aguinaldo, Invensys Senior Technical Support Engineer

• John Krajewski, Invensys Director, Product Management, HMI/SCADA

• Ryan Van Slooten, Invensys ArchestrA Application Specialist

• Ken Cook, Invensys ArchestrA Applications Consultant

• Bruce Schultz, Invensys Principal Software Development Engineer

• TopoGigia

Slide 69

Questions?

THANK YOU

Documents

Slide 1 Session Description In this session we will discuss design considerations to achieve the best performance from your Wonderware ArchestrA Graphics