DeltaV Operate provides you with a performance-oriented picture development tool that is open and easy to use. Because it is an event-driven system, DeltaV Operate does not allocate memory or use processor speed when it is not necessary. When an event occurs, only then does the system access the CPU. This makes the drawing environment of DeltaV Operate more efficient. You can draw a shape and link it to a live I/O source in a matter of seconds. And, using the design considerations outlined in the previous section, you can save even more time in your development and implementation.
Still, external to DeltaV Operate, there are some guidelines that you should abide by to make DeltaV Operate perform more effectively for your specific needs.
The two easiest ways to optimize the performance of your pictures are to make your pictures open faster and update faster. Common to both attributes are:
Processor Speed - The faster the machine's processor, the faster your applications perform.
RAM - To avoid disk swapping, your computer must have enough memory to contain all applications, databases, and cached pictures. If the computer does not have enough memory, Windows swaps the applications to disk.
To optimize the speed at which DeltaV Operate initially displays pictures, DeltaV Operate includes a Resolve feature, described later in this topic. To further optimize the speed at which your pictures are dynamically updated based on changes in process conditions, try doing one or more of the following:
Use computers that have a localbus video.
Update to a faster graphics card, if necessary.
Avoid blinking alarms.
Use exception-based processing in your database.
Change the refresh rate.
Database information for each data source in a picture is saved as part of the picture file on disk. When a picture is displayed in the run-time environment, and the database information is not up-to-date, DeltaV Operate queries the database and resolves the tag definitions. This can be a time-consuming process which slows the opening of the picture.
Resolving pictures removes the need for DeltaV Operate to query the database. Therefore, resolved pictures open faster in the run-time environment. The Resolve feature is available for both pictures and schedules, and can be accessed using the Resolve Files button on the Utilities toolbar or by selecting the Resolve Files expert in the Picture category of the Task Wizard.
When you resolve a picture that requires autoscaling, the Resolve Files expert now opens the picture while resolving.
If you delete tags from the process database after you resolve a picture, you need to run Resolve again.
Instead of using blinking alarms, use a color-by alarm or color-by value strategy to indicate alarm status. Blinking is a very time-intensive operation because the blinking object and the surrounding objects need to be redrawn each time the picture is refreshed at the specified picture refresh rate, even though the information in the object has not changed.