Web Content

Plant SCADA allows you to natively incorporate web-based content into your runtime system. This is achieved by adding a Web Content object to a page in Graphics Builder (see Add a Web Content Object).

Each instance of a Web Content object has a URL property that allows you to specify the content that is displayed when the host graphics page is launched. If required, you can update the URL at runtime using the Cicode function DspWebContentSetURL.

Note: Before you implement the Web Content control as part of your runtime system, you should carefully consider the security implications of the content that will be accessible. If using an internet-based website or application, you will be externally exposing your SCADA system and network.

When open at runtime, the Web Content browser operates in the same way as a typical web browser. However, the following functionality is not supported:

• Signing in to Google sites is not supported.

• A current Windows user login cannot be used for Single Sign-On support.

• Links that launch a popup window or a new tab will open the destination in the current browser window.

• Download links will not work.

• Upload links will not work (including drag-and-drop uploads).

• Javascript functions that open prompt or confirm dialogs (window.alert, window.prompt and window.confirm) will not work.

• Dialogs that prompt a user to confirm if they want to leave a page (specifically those generated by the Javascript window.onbeforeunload event handler) will not appear. Navigation will proceed immediately.

• HTTP Basic Authentication is not supported (the login dialog does not display).

• DRM-protected video streams are not supported.

• You cannot choose to accept the risks and continue to a site that has certificate issues (for example, if a certificate has expired). This means you cannot connect to an Industrial Graphics page using the server's IP address instead of a hostname.

When a Web Content control is displayed, any user-specific data (such as cookies, storage and browsing history) is stored in the profile folder for the current Windows user (for example, C:\Users\<Windows User Name>). The following sub-directory is used:

\AppData\Local\AVEVA Plant SCADA\WebContent\Profiles\<User>\

Where <User> is the name of the user that is currently logged in to Plant SCADA. Some changes to the user name may be required to create a valid path.

If no one is currently logged in to Plant SCADA, this directory changes to:

\AppData\Local\AVEVA Plant SCADA\WebContent\Profiles\$ViewOnly\

Any data that is not user-specific is stored in the following directory:

\AppData\Local\AVEVA Plant SCADA\WebContent\CommonData

If you want to automatically delete the application data associated with a Web Content user when they log out, you can use the parameter [Security]DeleteWebContentProfile.

The current browser session will be closed when you navigate away from a graphics page that hosts a web content object.

Note: If a second (or subsequent) instance of the Plant SCADA runtime client is launched on a computer by the same user, the process ID (PID) of the client process will be included in the path used by the Web Content objects in the second (or subsequent) instances of the client. For example:
\AppData\Local\AVEVA Plant SCADA\WebContent.<PID>
When this occurs, all browser instances will use incognito mode. The Profiles sub-directory will not be created, and any user-specific data will not be stored. The PID folder will be deleted when the client process exits.

You can use the INI parameter [Debug]ChromiumDevToolsPort to enable debugging for a Web Content browser.

Note: You need to consider which users will be logging in to the runtime system and if they need their Web Content user data protected. For more information, see Securing Web Content User Data.

See Also

Graphics Objects

Graphics Object Types