FabGuard APC v5.00.03 Release

Christopher Bode – Semiconductor Application Engineer, FabGuard Applications and Controls Engineering, Austin TX

We are pleased to announce the availability of FabGuard APC v5.00.03, which is the latest in a sequence of releases that demonstrate investment into the core framework architecture. The product roadmap over the past year has focused on key updates to, or migration of, framework components to be compatible with generally available and supported third-party software. Later releases also have updated GUI access outside the browser, as it is increasingly difficult to support capabilities as browser security restrictions evolve.

The latest releases of FabGuard APC include significant updates to become compatible with later releases of Java and related packages.

• Upgrade from Java 1.7 to Java 1.8
• Upgrade from Jboss 7.1.1 to Wildfly 9.0.2
• Upgrade from J2EE 6 to J2EE 7
• Upgrade from EJB 3.1 to EJB 3.2
• Upgrade from Servlet 3.0 to Servlet 3.1

Client support outside browser-based solutions was added in recent releases. While the web GUI is still available, and fully supports interaction with the APC framework, functionality has been increasingly restricted in most modern browsers. To alleviate future challenges to browser support and prevent a loss in capability, standalone client development has been a priority.

• Sequencer GUI running in JNLP: Ladder-logic development is supported through a Java applet, including cut-and-paste of text and configured blocks between jobs
• Operator Client: Log, State and Parameter Database view from a standalone JNLP client application
• Migration to Sencha from JSF for easier, more capable user interface development
• Improved custom block support: Custom blocks are automatically integrated, removing the requirement to maintain them separately

Extensions to management and control capabilities within the framework were also improved. While the framework is extensible through custom blocks, core capability continues to be extended.

• R: Added R block to support R statistical computing language
• Additional XPath capabilities, including rename node and set leaf value
• Test parsing: Split string and regular expression matching on text strings
• Request retrieval: Download a copy of a previous request for resubmission or troubleshooting
• Traceability: Additional information within change logs with improved revision management
• Additional Security roles: Further role definition for systems administration functions

Development is ongoing with FabGuard APC to remain aligned with customer requirements and requests including:

• Additional database support beyond Oracle
• LDAP support for identity management