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CRIMSON 3
USER MANUAL

REVISION 2.1

Copyright © 2003-2010 Red Lion Controls Inc.

All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

The information contained herein is provided in good faith, but is subject to change without
notice. It is supplied with no warranty whatsoever, and does not represent a commitment on
the part of Red Lion Controls. Companies, names and data used as examples herein are
fictitious unless otherwise stated. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the express written
permission of Red Lion Controls Inc.

The Red Lion logo is a registered trademark of Red Lion Controls Inc.

Crimson and the Crimson logo are registered trademarks of Red Lion Controls Inc.

All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Written by Mike Granby and Jesse Benefiel.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GETTING STARTED ..........................................................................................1

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................... 1

INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE ............................................................................... 1

REGISTRATION ............................................................................................... 2

CHECKING FOR UPDATES ................................................................................... 2

INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS ........................................................................... 2

TROUBLESHOOTING ......................................................................................... 2

GETTING ASSISTANCE ...................................................................................... 4

BALLOON HELP ................................................................................................................................ 4

TECHNICAL SUPPORT......................................................................................................................... 4

ONLINE FORUMS .............................................................................................................................. 4

THE NEXT STEPS ............................................................................................ 4

CRIMSON BASICS ............................................................................................5

WINDOW LAYOUT ........................................................................................... 5

THE NAVIGATION PANE...................................................................................................................... 5

THE RESOURCE PANE ........................................................................................................................ 5

THE EDITING PANE ........................................................................................................................... 6

COLLAPSING PANES........................................................................................................................... 6

THE CATEGORIES ............................................................................................ 6

COMMUNICATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 6

DATA TAGS ..................................................................................................................................... 6

DISPLAY PAGES ................................................................................................................................ 6

PROGRAMS ..................................................................................................................................... 7

WEB SERVER ................................................................................................................................... 7

DATA LOGGER ................................................................................................................................. 7

SECURITY ....................................................................................................................................... 7

MODULES ....................................................................................................................................... 7

GETTING AROUND ........................................................................................... 8

BACK AND FORWARD ......................................................................................................................... 8

CATEGORY SHORTCUTS ...................................................................................................................... 8

ITEM SHORTCUTS ............................................................................................................................. 8

NAVIGATION LISTS .......................................................................................... 9

WORKING WITH FOLDERS ................................................................................................................... 9

SORTING LISTS AND FOLDERS ............................................................................................................. 9

DRAG AND DROP OPERATIONS .......................................................................................................... 10

SEARCHING IN LISTS ....................................................................................................................... 10

UNDO AND REDO ...........................................................................................10

GLOBAL SEARCHING ........................................................................................10

WORKING WITH DATABASES..............................................................................11

DATABASE IDENTIFIERS ................................................................................................................... 11

SAVING AN IMAGE .......................................................................................................................... 11

DATABASE PROTECTION ................................................................................................................... 12

CONVERTING A DATABASE ................................................................................................................ 12

REVISION 2.1 PAGE I

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

FINDING DATABASE ERRORS ............................................................................................................. 13

DOWNLOADING TO A DEVICE ............................................................................ 13

CONFIGURING THE LINK ................................................................................................................... 13

SENDING THE DATABASE .................................................................................................................. 14

EXTRACTING DATABASES .................................................................................................................. 15

SENDING THE TIME AND DATE ........................................................................................................... 15

THE COMPACTFLASH CARD .............................................................................. 15

MOUNTING THE CARD ..................................................................................................................... 15

FORMATTING THE CARD ................................................................................................................... 16

REMOTE MONITORING .................................................................................... 16

USING THE EMULATOR ................................................................................... 18

ENABLING THE EMULATOR ............................................................................... 18

PORT MAPPING ............................................................................................. 18

EMULATOR CONFIGURATION ............................................................................. 19

EMULATOR LIMITATIONS ................................................................................. 19

USING COMMUNICATIONS .............................................................................. 20

SERIAL PORT SELECTION ................................................................................. 20

SELECTING A PROTOCOL ................................................................................. 20

PROTOCOL OPTIONS ...................................................................................... 21

WORKING WITH DEVICES ................................................................................ 21

ADVANCED SETTINGS ..................................................................................... 22

CREATING TAGS ............................................................................................ 23

PORT AND DEVICE USAGE ................................................................................ 23

NETWORK CONFIGURATION .............................................................................. 23

ETHERNET SETTINGS ....................................................................................................................... 23

MULTIPLE PORTS............................................................................................................................ 24

ROUTING SETTINGS ........................................................................................................................ 25

DOWNLOAD SETTINGS ..................................................................................................................... 26

ADDING PORTS .............................................................................................................................. 26

PROTOCOL SELECTION ..................................................................................................................... 27

USING VIRTUAL PORTS .................................................................................................................... 27

USING EXPANSION CARDS ............................................................................... 27

SLAVE PROTOCOLS ........................................................................................ 28

SELECTING THE PROTOCOL ............................................................................................................... 29

ADDING GATEWAY BLOCKS ............................................................................................................... 29

ADDING ITEMS TO A BLOCK .............................................................................................................. 30

ACCESSING INDIVIDUAL BITS ............................................................................................................ 30

PROTOCOL CONVERSION ................................................................................. 31

MASTER AND SLAVE ........................................................................................................................ 31

MASTER AND MASTER ...................................................................................................................... 32

WHICH WAY AROUND? .................................................................................................................... 32

CONTROLLING MASTER BLOCKS ......................................................................................................... 32

DATA TRANSFORMATION ................................................................................. 33

DISABLING COMMUNICATIONS .......................................................................... 33

WORKING WITH TAGS ................................................................................... 35

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ALL ABOUT TAGS ...........................................................................................35

DATA SOURCES .............................................................................................................................. 35

TYPES OF TAGS .............................................................................................................................. 35

TAG ATTRIBUTES ........................................................................................................................... 36

ADVANTAGES OF TAGS .....................................................................................36

EDITING PROPERTIES ......................................................................................37

EXPRESSION PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................. 37

TRANSLATABLE STRINGS .................................................................................................................. 40

TWO-WAY PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................... 41

ACTION PROPERTIES ....................................................................................................................... 41

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 41

LOG PROPERTIES ...........................................................................................42

CREATING TAGS ............................................................................................42

DUPLICATING TAGS ........................................................................................43

EDITING MULTIPLE TAGS .................................................................................43

USING COPY FROM ......................................................................................................................... 43

USING PASTE SPECIAL ..................................................................................................................... 43

PROPERTY SELECTIONS .................................................................................................................... 44

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING .............................................................................45

FINDING TAG USAGE .......................................................................................45

NUMERIC TAGS ..............................................................................................46

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 46

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 49

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 50

ALARM PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 51

TRIGGER PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 53

PLOT PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 54

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 55

FLAG TAGS ...................................................................................................55

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 55

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 57

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 58

ALARM PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 58

TRIGGER PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 60

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 60

STRING TAGS ................................................................................................61

DATA PROPERTIES .......................................................................................................................... 61

FORMAT PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 63

COLOR PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 64

SECURITY PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................... 64

BASIC TAGS ..................................................................................................64

ADVANCED TOPICS .........................................................................................65

ARRAY PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 65

TAG DATA FLOW ............................................................................................................................ 65

USING ON WRITE........................................................................................................................... 66

USING FORMATS ........................................................................................... 69

FORMAT TYPES ..............................................................................................69

REVISION 2.1 PAGE III

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

GENERAL FORMAT ......................................................................................... 70

LINKED FORMAT ........................................................................................... 70

NUMERIC FORMAT ......................................................................................... 70

SCIENTIFIC FORMAT ....................................................................................... 71

TIME AND DATE FORMAT ................................................................................. 72

IP ADDRESS FORMAT ..................................................................................... 73

TWO-STATE FORMAT ..................................................................................... 73

THE MULTI-STATE FORMAT.............................................................................. 74

THE STRING FORMAT ..................................................................................... 75

USING COLORINGS ....................................................................................... 77

TYPES OF COLORING ...................................................................................... 77

GENERAL COLORING ...................................................................................... 77

LINKED COLORING ......................................................................................... 77

FIXED COLORING .......................................................................................... 78

TWO-STATE COLORING ................................................................................... 78

MULTI-STATE COLORING ................................................................................. 78

CREATING DISPLAY PAGES ............................................................................. 81

EDITOR BASICS ............................................................................................ 81

WORKING WITH PAGES .................................................................................................................... 81

CHANGING THE ZOOM LEVEL ............................................................................................................. 81

THE RESOURCE PANE ...................................................................................................................... 82

ADDING ITEMS TO A PAGE ................................................................................................................ 83

WORKING WITH PRIMITIVES ............................................................................. 83

SELECTING PRIMITIVES .................................................................................................................... 83

BURIED PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................................................ 84

USING THE QUICK BAR .................................................................................................................... 84

MOVING PRIMITIVES BETWEEN PAGES ................................................................................................. 84

MOVING PRIMITIVES BETWEEN DATABASES .......................................................................................... 84

CHANGING THE SIZE OF PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................... 84

USING LAYOUT HANDLES ................................................................................................................. 85

SMART ALIGNMENT ......................................................................................................................... 85

QUICK ALIGNMENT ......................................................................................................................... 86

USING THE GRID ............................................................................................................................ 86

ALIGNING PRIMITIVES ..................................................................................................................... 87

SPACING PRIMITIVES ....................................................................................................................... 87

REORDERING PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................. 87

DUPLICATING PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................ 88

EDITING MULTIPLE PRIMITIVES ......................................................................................................... 88

JUMPING TO OTHER ITEMS ............................................................................................................... 90

PRIMITIVE PROPERTIES ................................................................................... 90

SHOWING OR HIDING PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................................... 90

DEFINING PRIMITIVE COLORS ........................................................................................................... 91

DEFINING FLASHING COLORS ............................................................................................................ 92

DEFINING 2-STATE COLORS .............................................................................................................. 93

DEFINING 4-STATE COLORS .............................................................................................................. 93

DEFINING BLENDED COLORS ............................................................................................................. 93

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEFINING COLOR EXPRESSIONS ......................................................................................................... 94

DEFINING TANK FILLS ..................................................................................................................... 95

DEFINING FILL FORMATS .................................................................................................................. 96

DEFINING EDGE FORMATS ................................................................................................................ 96

USING GROUPS .............................................................................................97

MAKING AND BREAKING GROUPS ........................................................................................................ 97

EDITING WITHIN GROUPS ................................................................................................................ 97

NESTED GROUP EDITING .................................................................................................................. 98

EXPANDING GROUPS ....................................................................................................................... 98

ADDING MOVEMENT TO PRIMITIVES ....................................................................98

ADDING TEXT TO PRIMITIVES ............................................................................99

ADDING DATA TO PRIMITIVES.......................................................................... 101

ADDING ACTIONS TO PRIMITIVES ..................................................................... 106

PROTECTING ACTIONS ................................................................................................................... 106

ENABLING ACTIONS ...................................................................................................................... 106

THE GOTO PAGE ACTION ............................................................................................................... 107

THE USER DEFINED ACTION ........................................................................................................... 108

THE PUSH BUTTON ACTION ............................................................................................................ 109

THE CHANGE VALUE ACTION ........................................................................................................... 110

THE RAMP VALUE ACTION .............................................................................................................. 110

THE PLAY TUNE ACTION ................................................................................................................ 111

THE LOG ON USER ACTION ............................................................................................................ 111

THE LOG OFF USER ACTION ........................................................................................................... 111

ADDING ACTIONS TO KEYS ............................................................................. 112

EDITING PAGE PROPERTIES ............................................................................. 113

USER INTERFACE SETTINGS ............................................................................ 115

GLOBAL PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 115

ENTRY PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 116

IMAGES PROPERTIES ..................................................................................................................... 117

FONTS PROPERTIES ...................................................................................................................... 118

MANAGING IMAGES ....................................................................................... 118

MANAGING FONTS ........................................................................................ 120

PRIMITIVE TYPES ........................................................................................ 123

CORE PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................ 123

GEOMETRIC PRIMITIVES ................................................................................................................. 123

3D PRIMITIVES ............................................................................................................................ 124

BUTTON PRIMITIVES ..................................................................................................................... 124

TEXT AND DATA PRIMITIVES ........................................................................................................... 125

LINE PRIMITIVE ........................................................................................................................... 126

IMAGE PRIMITIVE ......................................................................................................................... 126

SCALE PRIMITIVE ......................................................................................................................... 128

ARROWS .................................................................................................... 130

POLYGONS AND STARS ................................................................................... 131

POLYGONS .................................................................................................................................. 131

STARS ....................................................................................................................................... 131

BALLOONS AND CALL-OUTS ............................................................................. 132

SEMI-TRIMMED FIGURES ................................................................................ 133

REVISION 2.1 PAGE V

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

ACTIONS BUTTONS ....................................................................................... 133

ILLUMINATED BUTTONS.................................................................................. 134

INDICATORS ............................................................................................... 135

2-STATE TOGGLES ........................................................................................ 136

3-STATE TOGGLES ........................................................................................ 138

2-STATE SELECTORS ..................................................................................... 139

3-STATE SELECTORS ..................................................................................... 139

LEGACY PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................... 140

ELLIPSE FRAGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 140

RICH SLIDERS ............................................................................................................................. 140

SYSTEM PRIMITIVES ...................................................................................... 142

VIEWER FORMAT .......................................................................................................................... 142

ALARM VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 143

EVENT VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 143

FILE VIEWER ............................................................................................................................... 145

USER MANAGER ........................................................................................................................... 145

TREND VIEWER ............................................................................................................................ 146

TOUCH CALIBRATION .................................................................................................................... 148

TOUCH TESTER ............................................................................................................................ 148

LOCALIZATION ........................................................................................... 149

SELECTING LANGUAGES .................................................................................. 149

CONFIGURING AUTO-TRANSLATION ................................................................... 150

TRANSLATING YOUR DATABASE ........................................................................ 150

ENTERING TRANSLATIONS .............................................................................................................. 151

GLOBAL AUTO-TRANSLATION .......................................................................................................... 151

EXPORTING AND IMPORTING ........................................................................................................... 151

APPLYING A LEXICON ..................................................................................................................... 151

PREVIEWING TRANSLATIONS ........................................................................... 152

SWITCHING LANGUAGES ................................................................................. 152

USING WIDGETS ........................................................................................ 153

CREATING A WIDGET .................................................................................... 153

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 157

WHY THIS MATTERS ..................................................................................................................... 158

DOWN TO DETAILS ....................................................................................................................... 158

WIDGET DATA DEFINITIONS ........................................................................... 158

FILING WIDGETS .......................................................................................... 160

FOLDER BINDING ......................................................................................... 160

ADVANCED BINDING ...................................................................................... 162

CLASS MATCHING ......................................................................................................................... 162

BINDING PREFIXES ....................................................................................................................... 162

USING BIND TO ........................................................................................................................... 163

DETAILS WIDGETS........................................................................................ 163

ENABLING DETAILS CREATION ......................................................................................................... 164

DEFINING DATA ITEMS .................................................................................................................. 164

RESULTS OF BINDING .................................................................................................................... 164

MULTIPLE DETAILS PAGES .............................................................................................................. 165

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

USING THE DATA LOGGER ............................................................................. 167

CREATING DATA LOGS ................................................................................... 167

BATCH LOGGING .......................................................................................... 168

CONTROLLING A BATCH ................................................................................................................. 168

LOG FILE STORAGE ....................................................................................... 169

THE LOGGING PROCESS ................................................................................. 169

ACCESSING LOG FILES ................................................................................... 170

USING THE WEB SERVER .............................................................................. 171

IMPORTANT NOTE ........................................................................................ 171

WEB SERVER PROPERTIES .............................................................................. 171

ADDING WEB PAGES ..................................................................................... 173

USING A CUSTOM WEB SITE ........................................................................... 174

CREATING THE SITE ...................................................................................................................... 174

EMBEDDING DATA ........................................................................................................................ 174

DEPLOYING THE SITE .................................................................................................................... 174

USING THE SECURITY SYSTEM ....................................................................... 175

SECURITY BASICS ......................................................................................... 175

OBJECT-BASED SECURITY ............................................................................................................... 175

NAMED USERS ............................................................................................................................. 175

USER RIGHTS .............................................................................................................................. 176

ACCESS CONTROL ......................................................................................................................... 176

WRITE LOGGING .......................................................................................................................... 176

DEFAULT ACCESS ......................................................................................................................... 177

ON-DEMAND LOGON ..................................................................................................................... 177

MAINTENANCE ACCESS .................................................................................................................. 177

CHECK BEFORE OPERATE ............................................................................................................... 177

SECURITY SETTINGS ..................................................................................... 178

CREATING USERS ......................................................................................... 179

SPECIFYING TAG SECURITY ............................................................................. 179

SPECIFYING PAGE SECURITY ............................................................................ 180

SECURITY RELATED FUNCTIONS ....................................................................... 180

USING SERVICES......................................................................................... 181

USING TIME MANAGEMENT ............................................................................. 181

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 181

CHOOSING AN SNTP SERVER .......................................................................................................... 183

TIME-ZONE CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................................... 183

USING THE FTP SERVER ................................................................................ 184

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 184

FTP SECURITY............................................................................................................................. 184

USING FILE SYNCHRONIZATION ........................................................................ 185

CONFIGURING THE SERVICE ............................................................................................................ 185

USING ELECTRONIC MAIL ............................................................................... 187

ADDING CONTACTS ....................................................................................................................... 187

CONFIGURING SMTP .................................................................................................................... 187

CONFIGURING SMS ...................................................................................................................... 189

REVISION 2.1 PAGE VII

TABLE OF CONTENTS CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

SHARING PORTS ......................................................................................... 192

ENABLING TCP/IP ........................................................................................ 192

SHARING THE REQUIRED PORT ........................................................................ 192

CONNECTING VIA ANOTHER PORT ..................................................................... 193

CONNECTING VIA ETHERNET ............................................................................ 193

PURE VIRTUAL PORTS .................................................................................... 195

LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................. 195

USING MODEMS ......................................................................................... 197

ADDING A DIAL-IN CONNECTION ...................................................................... 197

ADDING A DIAL-OUT CONNECTION ................................................................... 199

ADDING AN SMS CONNECTION ........................................................................ 201

SMS MESSAGE PROCESSING ............................................................................ 201

CHECKING THE MODEM STATUS ....................................................................... 202

TROUBLESHOOTING MODEM COMMUNICATION...................................................... 203

USING MULTIPLE INTERFACES .......................................................................... 203

USING THE USB HOST ................................................................................. 205

MEMORY STICK SUPPORT ............................................................................... 205

GENERAL PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................... 205

TRANSFER PROPERTIES .................................................................................................................. 206

KEYBOARD SUPPORT ..................................................................................... 206

USING PROGRAMS ...................................................................................... 207

THE PROGRAM LIST ...................................................................................... 207

FINDING PROGRAM USAGE .............................................................................. 207

EDITING PROGRAMS ...................................................................................... 207

GETTING HELP ............................................................................................ 208

THE RESOURCE PANE .................................................................................... 208

PROGRAM DATA TYPES .................................................................................. 209

PROGRAM PROPERTIES .................................................................................. 209

ADDING COMMENTS ...................................................................................... 211

RETURNING VALUES ...................................................................................... 211

HERE BE DRAGONS! ...................................................................................................................... 211

PASSING ARGUMENTS .................................................................................... 212

PROGRAMMING TIPS ..................................................................................... 212

MULTIPLE ACTIONS ....................................................................................................................... 212

IF STATEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 212

SWITCH STATEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 213

LOCAL VARIABLES ......................................................................................................................... 214

LOOP CONSTRUCTS ....................................................................................................................... 214

WRITING EXPRESSIONS ............................................................................... 217

DATA VALUES .............................................................................................. 217

CONSTANTS ................................................................................................................................ 217

TAG VALUES................................................................................................................................ 219

TAG PROPERTIES.......................................................................................................................... 219

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................................ 219

COMMS REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 219

SIMPLE MATH ............................................................................................. 220

OPERATOR PRIORITY .................................................................................... 220

TYPE CONVERSION ....................................................................................... 220

COMPARING VALUES ..................................................................................... 221

TESTING BITS ............................................................................................. 221

MULTIPLE CONDITIONS .................................................................................. 222

CHOOSING VALUES ....................................................................................... 222

MANIPULATING BITS ..................................................................................... 222

AND, OR AND XOR ....................................................................................................................... 223

SHIFT OPERATORS ........................................................................................................................ 223

BITWISE NOT ............................................................................................................................. 223

INDEXING ARRAYS ........................................................................................ 223

INDEXING STRINGS ....................................................................................... 224

ADDING STRINGS ......................................................................................... 224

CALLING PROGRAMS ..................................................................................... 224

USING FUNCTIONS ....................................................................................... 224

PRIORITY SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 224

WRITING ACTIONS ...................................................................................... 227

CHANGING PAGE .......................................................................................... 227

CHANGING NUMERIC VALUES ........................................................................... 227

SIMPLE ASSIGNMENT ..................................................................................................................... 227

COMPOUND ASSIGNMENT ............................................................................................................... 227

INCREMENT AND DECREMENT .......................................................................................................... 227

CHANGING BIT VALUES .................................................................................. 227

RUNNING PROGRAMS .................................................................................... 228

USING FUNCTIONS ....................................................................................... 228

OPERATOR PRIORITY .................................................................................... 228

REVISION 2.1 PAGE IX

CRIMSON 3
USER MANUAL

GETTING STARTED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

GETTING STARTED

Welcome to Crimson 3—the latest version of Red Lion’s widely-acclaimed operator interface
configuration software. If you have used an earlier version of Crimson, you will soon notice
that Crimson 3 provides a huge number of improvements—while retaining all of the power
that you have grown used to. If you are new to Crimson, be sure to read at least the first few
chapters of this manual to get an introduction to how the software works. Either way, you will
soon find out how Crimson 3 makes it easier and quicker for you to design powerful and
attractive operator interface solutions.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Crimson 3 is designed to run on any version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 2000
onwards. Memory requirements are modest, and any system that meets the minimum system
requirements for its operating system will be capable of running Crimson without any
problems. About 150MB of free disk space will be needed for installation, and you should
ideally have a display with sufficient resolution to allow the editing of display pages without
having to scroll too much. For a VGA target device, an XGVA PC is recommended.

INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE

Crimson 3 is supplied as a Microsoft Installer package or an msi file. You will typically have
downloaded this file from Red Lion’s website, but if you have downloaded it from another
source, please check that Windows is satisfied with the package’s digital signature so that you
are assured of receiving genuine Red Lion software…

As shown above, the publisher should show as Red Lion Controls Inc, and you should be able
to click on the publisher’s name to verify the integrity of the digital signature. Once you are
happy with the package, press the Run button to start the installation.

The installation process is fairly standard, and ought to proceed without much interaction
beyond your specifying the target directory. One the process complete, look at your Start
Menu and find the Red Lion Controls folder. Click the Crimson 3 icon to start the software.

REVISION 2.1 PAGE 1

REGISTRATION CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

REGISTRATION

When you first run Crimson 3, you will be offered a chance to register your software…

While registration is optional, we strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to
provide us with your contact details so that we can inform you of Crimson updates and of
associated products. Since registration requires an Internet connection, you may skip the
process if so do not have such a connection available. Crimson will periodically remind you if
you are running an unregistered copy of the software.

CHECKING FOR UPDATES

If you have an Internet connection, you can use the Check for Update command in the Help
menu to scan Red Lion’s web site for a new version of Crimson 3. If a later version than the
one you are using is found, Crimson will ask if it should download the upgrade and update
your software automatically. You may also manually download the upgrade from Red Lion’s
website by visiting the Downloads page within the Support section.

INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS

If you’ve followed the instructions that came with your target hardware, you will not yet have
connected the hardware to your PC. Now that you have completed the Crimson 3 installation,
you may safely connect the device using a standard USB cable. After some churning,
Windows should indicate that it has found the drivers for the new hardware and that it is
ready for operation. No further user intervention should be required.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you connected the target device to your PC before installing Crimson 3, it is possible that
an aborted installation has made it impossible for you to install the drivers correctly. To check
for this, open the Windows Device Manager by finding the My Computer icon, right-clicking
and selecting the Manage command. A window similar to the one below should appear…

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GETTING STARTED TROUBLESHOOTING

Incorrectly Installed Device

The exact process for getting to this point will vary from one operating system to another, but
the basic idea is the same: Find the My Computer icon—either on the desktop or on your start
menu—right-click it and select Manage. If that doesn’t work, select the System option from
the Control Panel, and activate the Device Manager from the Hardware tab.

If you have a problem with your USB drivers, you will see a yellow icon carrying an
exclamation point under the Universal Serial Bus controllers category. The name of the icon
may be HMI or Loader or something similar. The broken driver is shown in close-up below…

To fix the problem, right-click on the broken device and select Uninstall from the menu…

After asking for confirmation, Windows will remove the device from your system. You can
now power the Crimson target device off. After a couple of seconds, reapply power and
Windows will start the driver installation process once again.

As mentioned above, Crimson actually uses distinct device drivers for the boot loader and for
the Crimson runtime. You may thus have to repeat this repair process for each driver,
although it is unlikely that things got beyond the boot loader if that install failed.

REVISION 2.1 PAGE 3

GETTING ASSISTANCE CRIMSON 3 USER MANUAL

GETTING ASSISTANCE

If you hit a problem or need assistance, several resources are available.

ALLOON HELP

B

Crimson contains a very useful feature called Balloon Help…

This facility allows you to see help information for each item within Crimson. It is controlled
via the icon at the right-hand edge of the toolbar or via options on the Help menu. The default
mode allows the help text to be displayed by pressing the
getting information if you are unsure of the settings for a given field. Keep this in mind, and
your life will be a lot easier!

ECHNICAL SUPPORT

T

Technical assistance is available on the web at…

F1 key, providing a quick way of

http://www.redlion.net/support.html

Or, we can be contacted via email at…

[email protected]

You may also call [phone] and ask for the HMI Support Team.

O

NLINE FORUMS

A number of online forums exist to support users of PLCs and HMIs. Red Lion recommends
the Q&A forum at http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/

. The discussion board is populated by many
experts who are willing to help, and Red Lion’s own technical support staff also keep an eye
out for questions relating to our products.

THE NEXT STEPS

Since Crimson 3 has a completely new user interface, we suggest that existing Crimson users
at least give the next chapter a cursory reading. We also suggest that you look at the chapters
on tags and display page configuration, as some of the concepts used by Crimson 2 have been
simplified, and many things can be achieved through easier methods. If you are completely
new to Crimson, please try to read at least as far as the start of the chapter on Widgets.

Good luck, and have fun!

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