Service Tool V12.1.8

[acmall]

I have been playing with the V12 Service tool (I am still using Guide and Service Tool v11 for reasons mentioned in other threads) and noticed a few things that I consider as problems with the new version. Is it just me or is anyone else seeing this?

• Change of behaviour downloading parameters. Previously changing a value and selecting download while the cursor was still in the value box accepted the new value and downloaded to the controller. Now if you don't exit the value box before selecting download it discards the new value and reverts to the old value before downloading. I am finding this really annoying as the muscle memory has built up over a number of years.
  
  
• Whole page redrawing when downloading parameters. In previous versions when you downloaded parameters it was fairly quick, the parameters download and the values of all parameters were refreshed. Now the whole parameter page goes blank, redraws and then the parameters are refreshed. This takes 3 to 4 times longer to complete. If you want to change a parameter and observe the result for example on an oscilloscope component you miss a lot more of the effect of the change due to the time it takes for the whole page to reload. Even clicking a Set Pulse component is slower (although the page does not reload) than in V11 .
  
  
• Parameters being downloaded twice when using the F4 key. I reported this to support for V12.1.7 but they could not reproduce it. I am still getting it happen on both my laptop and the desktop in V12.1.8. Anyone else seeing this.
  
  
• Cannot type a decimal point in a parameter that is has a multiplier applied, the tooltip says an invalid character was entered.
  
  

 

[Tor]

Hi acmall,

Change of behavior downloading parameters:
I believe that this is changed due to that you wouldn't like to download parameters by mistake. This can be dangerous.

Whole page redrawing when downloading parameters:
I haven't seen this, but is this something you see in all your service tool pages and all you GUIDE projects? I have not been working with large Service Tool projects in a while.

Parameters being downloaded twice when using the F4 key:
Me and a colleague tried this, and we didn't see it downloaded twice? I'm not really sure how you can tell that it's downloaded twice? Are you able to record a small film or screen shots so we can see what you mean?

Cannot type a decimal point in a parameter:
This is most certain a bug!
If you have the multiplier set, and press enter, you get the decimal. Then you can alter the value before and after the decimal sign. But if you delete the decimal sign, you are not able to add it again by yourself by pressing the decimal on the keyboard.
I hope I understood it correct, even if my explanation is a bit fuzzy.  I will add this as a bug to the developers.

Thanks for letting us know.

Have a nice day.

[acmall]

Change of behavior downloading parameters:
I believe that this is changed due to that you wouldn't like to download parameters by mistake. This can be dangerous.

Ok, I can see the logic in this.

Whole page redrawing when downloading parameters:
I haven't seen this, but is this something you see in all your service tool pages and all you GUIDE projects? I have not been working with large Service Tool projects in a while.

I see this on all parameter pages simple or complex on both laptop and desktop. It is easy to spot as the whole page goes blank when downloading parameters.

Parameters being downloaded twice when using the F4 key:
Me and a colleague tried this, and we didn't see it downloaded twice? I'm not really sure how you can tell that it's downloaded twice? Are you able to record a small film or screen shots so we can see what you mean?

See attached video (.zip as not video formats are supported for attachments). You can see the uploading parameters message box appearing twice. This happens for me about 80% of the time using F4. It never happens when using the toolbar icon or menu. It may be related to the amount of parameters on the page as it does not appear to happen as often on pages with only a couple of parameters.

Cannot type a decimal point in a parameter:
This is most certain a bug!
If you have the multiplier set, and press enter, you get the decimal. Then you can alter the value before and after the decimal sign. But if you delete the decimal sign, you are not able to add it again by yourself by pressing the decimal on the keyboard.
I hope I understood it correct, even if my explanation is a bit fuzzy.  I will add this as a bug to the developers.

Yes, this is correct.

Thanks for the reply.

[Tor]

Hi acmall,

Thanks for the video, it helps a lot to understand the issue.  I will see if I can reproduce some of this as soon as I can.

Some good news as well?
Just as I added the "Decimal sign" bug I read the release notes for the new beta version of the Service Tool:
[P100005440] It was not possible to type in decimal point parameter values when using multiplier.

So this issue will be fixed in the next release.

Thanks