Lookout is a human machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software system that National Instruments provides. This file contains important last-minute information about Lookout 6.2, including installation and upgrade issues, compatibility issues, and changes from Lookout 6.1. Refer to the Lookout Release Notes for more information about upgrade and compatibility issues and for a complete list of new features in Lookout 6.2. You can access the Lookout Release Notes by selecting Help»Contents in Lookout and navigating to the Related Documentation topic on the Contents page.
Supported Platforms
Installation Instructions
Licensing
New Features
Known Issues
Supported Platforms
Lookout supports Windows Vista/XP/2000. Lookout does not support Windows Me/9x/NT. Refer to the Lookout Release Notes for a complete list of system requirements.
Installation Instructions
Refer to the Lookout Release Notes for detailed information about installing Lookout. This section describes additional installation considerations.
The Lookout software requires Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Express). This component is installed by default when you install Lookout. During the installation process, the Lookout installer creates an instance of SQL Express named CITADEL. To prevent unauthorized access to SQL Express, the installer also generates a password for the SQL Express administrator sa. The default password is the computer ID. Complete the following steps to find the computer ID using NI License Manager.
Launch NI License Manager by selecting Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI License Manager.
Click the Display Computer Information button in the toolbar.
The Lookout installer enables a mixed security mode on existing SQL Servers. If the target computer does not have an SQL Server installed, the Lookout installer installs SQL Express in the mixed security mode.
Use the following command line prompt to change the default password for the sa user:
If the mixed security mode is not acceptable, change both the SQL Express and Citadel login modes. You must set the registry DWORD values HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\MSSQLServer\LoginMode and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\National Instruments\Citadel\5.0\IntegratedSecurity to 1.
National Instruments recommends that you change the login mode immediately after you install Lookout. Otherwise, you must relink all existing Citadel databases. Restart the SQL Express and Citadel services in order for changes to take effect. If you use integrated NT security, you might need to configure the server machine and all clients explicitly.
Note: Lookout 6.0.2 and earlier use Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000), not SQL Express. If you upgrade Lookout 6.0.2 or earlier to Lookout 6.2, any existing databases continue to use MSDE 2000 for alarm logging, but new databases you create use SQL Express. If you detach an existing database from Lookout and then reattach the database, Lookout migrates the database to SQL Express.
You might want to uninstall MSDE 2000 after installing Lookout 6.2. Complete the following steps to uninstall MSDE 2000.
Exit Lookout if Lookout is running.
Open NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) and select My System»Historical Data»Citadel 5 Universe from the Configuration tree.
On the Databases page, detach all databases from the local computer.
Open the Windows Control Panel and uninstall MSDE 2000.
Restart the computer.
Open MAX and reattach all databases.
Licensing
Lookout relies on licensing activation. You must activate a valid Lookout license before you can run Lookout. To activate Lookout, use the serial number you received as part of your installation package.
Refer to the Lookout Release Notes for more information about licensing in Lookout.
New Features
Lookout 6.2 incorporates the following new features:
Controlling Lookout Expressions
Lookout 6.2 introduces controlled expressions. A controlled expression is an expression with a trigger. A trigger is a logical data member. Lookout calculates a controlled expression only when a trigger changes from FALSE to TRUE. Lookout does not calculate this controlled expression when the trigger changes from TRUE to FALSE.
Viewing and Locating Displays of Objects
Lookout 6.2 introduces the Find Displays window. Use this window to view and locate displays of objects. The Find Displays window lists the object name, source member name, and location information.
Viewing Connections between the Local Server and Clients
Lookout 6.2 introduces the Client Connection Monitor window. Use this window to view connections between the local Lookout server and clients.
NI OPC Servers Integration
Lookout 6.2 provides the NI OPC Servers application. Use this application to connect to OPC devices.
New Examples
Lookout 6.2 provides new examples. Refer to the Lookout 6.2\Examples directory to browse and launch these new examples.
Known Issues
The following are known issues in Lookout 6.2.
ID
Known Issue
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(Windows Vista) You cannot start and stop the following services from the command line on Windows Vista using the -start and -stop parameters or the Windows net start and net stop commands:
National Instruments PSP Server Locator
NI Lookout Citadel Server 4.x
Citadel 5.x Database
National Instruments Time Synchronization Service
National Instruments Domain Server
To start and stop these services, use the Services utility, available by selecting Start»Control Panel»Administrative Tools»Services. Also, NI applications no longer start these services automatically if these services are not running already.
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A Lookout control with a Local source and a direct connection does not change if something acts to alter the value or status of the PLC or object it is connected to. Instead, Lookout restores the control value to the PLC or object in the following circumstances:
When the driver object is modified or I/O is reconfigured
When the process is reloaded
When communication is restored after a communications failure
After 100 polls in some cases (this varies from driver to driver and might depend on .ini file settings)
If you operate a Lookout control with a Remote source connection, and the PLC register it is connected to cannot or does not change when Lookout writes the new value out to the PLC, the control snaps back to display the actual PLC register value or status. Whether or not this issue occurs depends on data transmission time between your Lookout computer and the field hardware. To prevent this issue, Lookout has built-in delays for most driver objects. The following driver objects do not have a built-in delay:
AdvantechPCL
DeltaTau
Dynamic
ProfibusDP
ProfibusL2
Reliance
Sixnet
Wizdom
The following two driver objects do not support remote source connections at all because the underlying protocols do not allow this sort of connection:
Aquatrol
DeviceNet
Another way to correct snap-back issues caused by slow communication is to adjust the SnapDelay setting that is available with some control objects. For Switch and Pushbutton objects, use the SnapDelay data member; for the Pot object, use the SnapDelay lookout.ini setting.
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To use the Lookout Web Client feature, you must have administrator privileges to install the Lookout Player component of the Web Client. After the Lookout Player is installed, administrator privileges are not required to use the Lookout Web Client successfully.
40069
Logging does not work when a specified user is set for NT service.
87351
Listbox ActiveX object in Lookout cannot be used correctly in an expression.
88133
Tool tips do not show up in Lookout Tools box unless Tools box is the current active window.
88278
Cannot export a web process if another running process has a missing graphic.
89017
Cannot read correct value from data members 'FromWhen' and 'ToWhen' of 'CitadelControl' Object after its property was revised.
91092
Lookout service cannot be stopped from control panel in Windows Vista.
91295
SquareD object may not work on Windows XP/Vista.
96668
Sequencer time resets incorrectly in some Lookout process when viewed through web client.
117905
Lookout FieldPoint object cannot import alias in .iak file for 180x, 22xx, 21xx modules.
122038
Uninstalling Lookout removes NI OPC Server Application of DSC.
124841
When you use the example links in Lookout online help, the help may prompt a warning dialog box for the ActiveX control. You need to click the Yes button to run the example.
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Patents
For patents covering the National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help» Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or ni.com/patents.