Accessing General Settings

Use the Settings page in the Backstage view to configure basic application settings, including the following:

• Settings
  • Settings folder — Click to open the folder where the Canvas settings files are stored
  • Object library — Click to open the Object Library configuration dialog box
  • Facility navigation — Click to open the Facility Navigation configuration dialog box
  • Map — Click to open the Map configuration dialog box
  • Relative facilities — Click to open the Relative Facilities configuration dialog box
  • Style sheets — Click to open the Style Sheets configuration dialog box
  • Color palettes — Click to open the Color Palettes configuration dialog box
• General
  • Default script language — Configure the default script language used for new screens
  • Default date format — Configure the default date and time format for timestamps displayed on screens
  • Canvas theme — Change the Canvas user interface to a different color theme
  • Canvas.View theme — Change the Canvas View and Canvas View Lite user interface to a different color theme
• Global settings
  • Path — Configure the path to the global settings file
  • Source — Configure the source of the global settings file
  • Create a new global settings file
• Blink interval
  • Blink rate — Configure the blink rate of unacknowledged alarm

These settings are saved in XML format as part of the global settings file (.gsf) for your Canvas application and applied to all instances of Canvas. If no global settings file is available, none of these settings will be configurable, but a message will provide a link to the Backstage view where you can configure one.

Settings

Several miscellaneous settings are grouped at the top of the page. Each setting is described below.

Settings

Settings folder

The Settings folder contains application files used by Canvas during each working session, which save information about global settings, control plugins, user settings, and workspace layouts, and are generated each time you close the application. If the current file is deleted, a new file will be generated upon closing Canvas. Note: If you want to remove the content of any currently saved settings file, close Canvas and then delete the current version of the saved file(s). The deleted file(s) will be generated anew upon the next close of the application.

Object library

An Object is a simple Canvas screen containing one or more controls, which can be used on one or many screens. The controls on an object might represent assets such as a well or compressor or device or facility. Once configured, you can drop an object onto many different screens. If you need to make a single edit to any one control on an object, you simply change the master object, save the object, and all screens containing that object will be automatically updated. Any change made to an object will affect all instances of that object on any Canvas screen where it is used. Objects are analogous to templated screens in CygNet Studio. An object and a screen share the same configuration properties, events, and methods. The object library is configured on the Backstage view, Settings page. Click Object library to configure the contents of the Canvas object library See Configuring Object Library for more information about configuring an object library

Facility navigation

Canvas supports navigation to a specific screen by selecting a CygNet facility. You can also specify optional facility record properties to be included when the navigation is triggered. This Navigation by Facility feature requires global configuration of the facility attribute that contains the path to the screen that will be displayed when the navigation via facility is requested. Click Facility navigation to configure the facility attribute that contains the associated screen See Configuring Facility Navigation for more information about configuring the facility attribute and other properties

Map

Canvas supports a Map control, which requires the configuration of some global settings: the name of the map provider, its API key, the facility attribute(s) where the associated latitude and longitude location coordinates are stored so that facilities can be identified on the map, and the delimiter character, if only one attribute is used. Click Map to configure the global map settings See Configuring Map Settings for more information about configuring global map settings

Relative facilities

For any given facility you can configure a relationship to define a path to another facility in your CygNet environment. Click Relative facilities to configure global relative facility definitions. These definitions are stored as XML but are encoded inside the global settings file (.gsf). See Using Relative Facilities for more information about relative facilities See Configuring Relative Facilities for more information about configuring relative facility definitions See the Relative Facility Tree for information about a control you can add to your screens to show a hierarchical tree of CygNet facilities based on the relative facility settings

Style sheets

A Canvas style consists of a set of properties with preconfigured property values for a particular control type. Style sheets allow you to quickly apply a predetermined style to any control added to a screen or object. By designing and using style sheets consistently you can make changes in one place and cascade those changes down to all Canvas screens in the CygNet environment. Style sheets allow for the creation of unique style guidelines for your enterprise, making screen design faster, easing the burden of screen maintenance, and improving operator experience. If you create more than one object with the same properties, it's a good idea to use styles to ensure consistency in design. The style sheets are configured on the Backstage view, Settings page. Click Style sheets to configure styles sheets for Canvas controls See Configuring Style Sheets for more information about creating and managing styles

Color palettes

Canvas supports custom color palettes, which can be configured in the Canvas settings and then applied to any screen containing CygNet-aware controls. CygNet supports a dual mode for point state color; that is, each point type allows both a background color and a foreground color to be set. The point state definition colors are configured in the CVS metadata file for each point scheme. In CygNet-aware controls the color configuration for point state supports either background color or foreground color: Typically background color is used for the closed space on a control, for example, the background area, borders and lines, grid cells, bars and rings, markers, and fills. The default background color for the standard point scheme is configured from one of the following colors: green, cyan, magenta, yellow, or red. Typically foreground color is the element on the face of control, usually the text. For most point states, the default foreground color for the standard point scheme is black. In Canvas you can create a custom color palette to override the default point state colors for any point type. If a custom color palette is selected for a screen, any CygNet-aware controls using point state for color will apply the selected color palette in run mode. The color palettes are configured on the Backstage view, Settings page. Click Color palettes to configure custom color palettes for use in CygNet-aware controls See Configuring Color Palettes for more information about creating and managing color for point states

General

Canvas has some general default settings that apply to all application and screens. Each setting is described below.

General settings

Default script language

Use the radio buttons to configure the Default script language used for new Canvas screens. A screen's scripting language cannot be changed after the screen is created. Options include:

• C# — By default, the Canvas application uses the C# script language
• VB.NET

Default date format

Configure the default date format used when displaying timestamps on Canvas screens. The default format is YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS.fff, which corresponds to 2019/01/01 10:20:30.0001. The format can be overwritten at the control level via the Date and time format property.

Canvas theme

You can customize the Canvas user interface to choose a color theme for the entire development environment, options include: dark, light, or blue. The theme can be changed at any time while Canvas is running in the Backstage view, Settings page, and is stored in the Canvas workspace settings. The default color theme is Dark.

• See Changing the Canvas Color Theme for more information.

Canvas.View and Canvas View Lite theme

You can customize the user interface to choose a color theme for the entire application, options include: dark, light, or blue. The theme is configured on the Canvas Backstage view, Settings page, and is stored in the Canvas workspace settings. The application must be restarted to pick up the new theme from the workspace settings. The default color theme is Dark.

• See Changing the Canvas View Color Theme for more information.

Global Settings

The Canvas Global Settings File is an XML-based file (<name>.gsf) containing a compilation of underlying configuration settings globally available to Canvas and Canvas View. Global settings apply to all screens and objects and are automatically associated with a screen when it is created. Global settings include, for example, relative facility definitions, object library location, style sheets (describing colors, fonts, etc. for controls), facility navigation settings, color palettes, default date format, and blink interval.

The Global settings is where you specify the path and source of this file. This is also where you can create a new global settings file.

Global settings

Path

The Path property specifies the path to the global settings file. Depending on the selection in the source property the type of path is different. Click to access either the:

• Open File dialog box — To access a local or network Windows file-system folder
• Select File dialog box — To access a CygNet APPS or BSS folder

Source

The Source property specifies the source of the global settings file. Select from the following options:

• BSS — Indicates that the file is stored in a CygNet APPS or BSS folder
• Local — Indicates that the file is stored in a local or network Windows file-system folder

The default value is BSS.

Create a new global settings file

To create a new, empty global settings file, perform the following steps. Note that all current global settings (relative facilities, object library location, style sheet, color palettes, blink interval, etc.) will be lost when you choose to use the new file. You can create as many global settings files as you wish.

1. Click Create a new global settings file to open the Save dialog box, so that you can navigate to a designated location, optionally add a new folder, provide a file name for the new file, and then save the file. You can save to a CygNet APPS or BSS folder or to a local or network Windows file-system folder. You do not need to specify the ".gsf" extension when naming the file, as Canvas will automatically add this when the file is created.
   • Saving to a CygNet APPS or BSS folder — In the Save dialog box, click BSS. Click the desired APPS or BSS. Find the desired folder location, type a File name, and click OK.
   • Saving to a Windows file-system folder — In the Save dialog box, click Local. Find the desired folder location, type a File name, and click OK. Right-click to view the context menu to make a New folder as necessary.
2. Tell Canvas where to find the new global settings file. Select the Source and Path of the new global settings file, as described above.
3. Close and reopen the Canvas application for the change to take effect.
4. Configure new global settings as necessary.

Blink Interval

You can specify the blink interval for any control that supports blinking to indicate the associated point is in alarm and unacknowledged.

• Move the slider to the right or left to change the interval.

The default value is 750 milliseconds (0.75 seconds). Canvas must be restarted to change the interval. Note that making the blink rate too fast may cause performance issues on your screens. The following controls (and elements) support blinking:

Control	Background	Border	Text
Alarm Grid cell
Button
CygNet Grid cell — Point column only
Text Tool

Blink interval