Common methods

Common Methods

• ReadAttribute - This is used to read the value of a standard Phase attribute or user defined attribute. It takes two parameters, a string containing the attribute name and a variant in which the value is returned.

• WriteAttribute - This is used to write the value of a standard Phase attribute or user defined attribute. It takes two parameters, a string containing the attribute name and a variant that contains the value to write.

• DebugMessage - This is used to send progress or debug messages to the Soft Phase Server. These messages can be viewed from the DeltaV Application Manager or the Soft Phase Tester. It takes one parameter that is the string to be displayed.

• GetPhaseState - This returns the current state of the soft phase, mainly used in Visual Basic soft phases to determine whether to exit the run logic.

• SetRestartMode - Sets the restart mode which controls whether the run logic is restarted or resumed following a restart.

• GetRestartMode - Gets the current restart mode. This is used mainly by Visual Basic soft phases to control how the run logic is restarted as the DLL cannot do anything due to the single threaded nature of Visual Basic version 6 and prior (Visual Basic .NET is multi-threaded).

• SetWatchdogTimeout - Sets the period of the communications watchdog. This is the period in seconds that communication must have failed to cause the soft phase to HOLD. A value of 0 is used to disable the watchdog.

  Note:

  When the watchdog is disabled and if communication to the Batch Executive or Soft Phase Server is lost (and the phase has run through to completion), you will need to select the phase and click the Hold button to make the phase go to complete.