Release Notes¶

v1.2.7 (2021/05/19)¶

Fixed not being able to save when 'Documents' folder is located at the drive root.
Fixed Pickaxe plugin.

Automgen node replaced with two new nodes, the Automgen 16D8A node, with 16 digital IO and 8 analog IO, and the Automgen 64D16A, with 64 digital IO and 16 analog IO
S7-PLCSIM BIT node from Siemens S7-PLCSIM plugin increased from 8 to 16 IO
Fixed Connect I/O freezing sporadically when using specific combinations of nodes
Other performance improvements

Siemens PLC and MHJ nodes allow negative offsets for analog inputs and outputs
Added PICAXE plugin: allows the usage of the PICAXE Editor 6 as a simulator of PICAXE microcontrollers
Ability to control the diagram execution state from outside the application, either through the buttons on the taskbar, or as command line arguments (/run, /pause, /reset and /step)
Links are now drawn behind nodes
Added Online Documentation option to the Help menu
Fixed bug: value of input sockets was not being reset when the links were removed by relinking to another socket

Registered file type association for the .CONNECTIO file extension
Ability to specify (as a command line argument) which diagram to load on startup
Added Slave ID property to the Modbus TCP/IP plugin
Destroy method of custom nodes were not being invoked when changing the active diagram
Fixed a bug when loading previous version save files containing OPC Client OutputBit nodest

Application window restores its state and position between sessions
Saved diagrams from previous versions containing MHJ and OPC nodes are not compatible with this release
Cycle time and diagram viewport are now restored from saved files
Memory and Output nodes now work correctly when used in feedback
Faster application initialization and plugin loading
Improved diagram performance on operations with a large number of nodes

Due to stability issues OPC plugin no longer supports UA
MHJ plugin supports now “virtually” any number of I/O points
New nodes added:
- Siemens S7-PLCSIM (v5.4/v5.5)
- Siemens S7-300 TCP/IP
- Siemens S7-400 TCP/IP
- Siemens S7-1200 TCP/IP
- Siemens S7-1500 TCP/IP
- Siemens Logo! 0BA7 TCP/IP
- Siemens Logo! 0BA8 TCP/IP
- Modbus TCP/IP server
- Modbus TCP/IP client
- Automgen TCP/IP server
Plugins loading state displayed in the logger
Fixed Initialize method not being called after an undo command
Fixed the behavior of asynchronous nodes - UpdateAsync method being called after the OnDestroy
Added new attribute to pluginImproved licensing system
Performance improvements
Added documentation attribute ([Documentation(”filename”)]) which allows to specify the documentation filename for each node
Nodes no longer support documentation in .rtf format, only plain .txt

Added OPC plugins (UA and DA clients)
Added MHJ plugin
Removed fade-in / fade-out animations from links and nodes’ sockets
Added update checker
Bit sources status are now saved
Added “Hide when minimized” checkbox that hides the application in the systray toolbar when minimized
Minor bug fixes

Added description to the plugin nodes
Fixed diagram bottom margin
Remove upper limit in string sources (NOTE: strings are still trimmed to 64 chars in the memory map)
The string sources description is equal to the string value by default
The extension of saved files changed to “.CONNECTIO”. The files with extension .xml can still be loaded for compatibility reasons

Added Clear Logger menu item
Fixed diagram print
Added plugin “Key Bindings” which allows binding keys events to boolean values
Menu “View” has now an option to show/hide the overview window
User guide no longer available with Connect I/O. Find documentation at www.realgames.pt
Added fade effect to links and sockets (boolean values)
Fixed several issues with the background grid
Default update rate of Advantech DAQ plugin changed to 16 ms
Connect I/O minimizes to the systray when closed. Must use menu item “Exit” to terminate the application

Added an overview window
NumericalToDateTime and DateTimeToNumerical nodes added
Automation.BDaq.dll no longer required
Improved the behaviour of the Advantech USB 4750 and Advantech USB 4704 nodes
Main panel can be scrolled with the mouse wheel
Logger capacity is now limited to prevent data overflow
Fixed memory addresses not being cleared when a new diagram is created or the application is closed
Improved navigation and zoom
Fixed undo/redo on numerical and string input ports
Date format is now “yyyy-MM-dd” on all DataTime type nodes
Fixed DateTime source returning incorrect output after changing time values
Comparison nodes only work if all input ports are connected
TOFF node renamed to TOF
Fixed TOF node not resetting if a FTRIG or RTRIG node is connected to the IN input port
Fixed SHL, SHR, ROL and ROR nodes not being calculated correctly for size 8 bits
Improved diagram update algorithm
Numerical source up limit set to 10000 by default

Added support for Plugins
Redesign of the user interface
Fix the undo/redo which broke the diagram logic
Diagram links are now correctly copied when performing copy and paste
Function Blocks nodes are now a plugin
Hardware nodes Advantech USB 4750 and Advantech USB 4704 are now a plugin
Logger automatically becomes visible when there is new information
Links become thicker on mouse hover
Connect I/O has now read only permissions over the memory positions used by external applications to ensure data integrity
Added grid to the diagram background
Node descriptions are now saved
LiveGraph plugin added for real-time data visualization, analysis and logging using the third-party application LiveGraph (download at www.live-graph.org)
Many bug fixes