FAQ

Questions & Answers

Here you find the most frequently asked questions on different subjects.
Note: This page is under construction. So look and see from time to time if there is something new!
The questions are divided into the following groups:

General
Products
General technical questions
User's questions on WinFACT

Couldn't you find "your" question here? Please ask us via our contact form!

General

Do you carry out projects?

Of course we do! We'd naturally like best such projects that are somehow connected with our software...
Further information you find on the About Us page!

Do you also develop user specific software?

Naturally! That goes for user specific extensions of our software as well as for stand-alone software.

Which programming languages do you use?

We develop under WINDOWS in Borland Pascal, DELPHI and C resp. C++. Hardware-close software is programmed in Assembler.

What about trainings?

We offer trainings here or in our clients premises concerning our products or different subjects of automation and control! In additon to that we inform about new developments and offer short reports on different subjects once or twice a year (normally in the Technology Centre of Hamm HAMTEC). Participation is normally possible against a little fee or is even free of charge. You will be informed in time about the dates if you let us know that you are interested (see also the next question!).

Besides via internet how can I get information about new developments of your products?

Tell us (e.g. via our contact form) to include your address to the list of people who like to be informed!

We have created an interesting application with WinFACT and would like to present it to the public. Can you help us?

Please mail us a short description of the application, if available (at least) one graphic (BMP, GIF or JPEG) and if existing an internet link and/or email address to make further information accessible to interested persons. After having tested the application we'll then include it in our web presentations.

Before purchasing the BORIS AutoCode Generator we would like to check if the generated code runs on the target hardware. Is it possible?

Of course! Send us an example structure and we generate a test code for it, which you can test on the target platform. It's free of charge and absolutely without obligation.

Products

Why are there so many different software editions and package combinations? It's somehow confusing.

Because our customers are from very different lines of business or are private users (with different financial provisions), because we think that every user should only buy (and pay for it) what he really needs and because our software with its modular structure is predestined to it, we offer many different software packages.

Is it possible to get an updated version?

Anytime! You normally only have to pay the difference and a little handling charge.

Can you name companies/institutes where your products are in use?

Of course, it's no secret! You find many of them on our References page.

Do you offer hardware components as well?

We usually refer you to the supplier with the most reasonable price.

What kind of support may I as user of your software expect?

You as user of our software will get an extensive technical support, especially if you have concluded a software support agreement.

Is it possible to get extra manuals?

Of course! Please refer to our price lists for current prices...

We would like to give your software to our students, too, for using it on their PCs at home. Is it possible?

There are two ways:

You give the demo version of WinFACT to them which you are allowed to copy as many times as you want.
In addition to the education edition you purchase a copy license. In contrast to the demo version it has the full functionality of the education edition!

Such a copy license can, of course, be purchased afterwards as well

General technical questions

Are you using dongles with your software?

All education and student editions run without dongles. All full versions (industry editions) are protected by a dongle. We, of course, guarantee the trouble-free function of the dongle.

Does your software run on computer networks?

Of course. In most cases there are no problems with the network installation. If there should exceptionally arise problems with certain networks we make sure that they are quickly solved.

What are the system requirements for running your software?

Please refer to the page system requirements (WF98)!

User's questions on WinFACT

"Access denied" - A runnable BSY-file can't be opened in BORIS any longer.

This error message results from an access protection in BORIS based on the file date. Some mail programs (e. g. Outlook) change the date of a file which is sent as an attachment into the current date. So next time BORIS tries to open the file it finds an 'incorrect' file date and refuses opening. Therefore it is recommended to mail BORIS files as zipped files.
To start again an already affected file do as follows: load the file into an editor program (e. g. Notepad). In the second row after the [File-Access]-entry you see a high (mostly 5-digit) number. Replace it by the value -1 and save the file. Now BORIS should be able to load the file. The following rows show the corresponding part from a BORIS-file before and after the change. The row which is to be changed is marked in red resp. green.

Beispiel:

[Version]
6.1.1.273
[File Access]
0
38833
.
.
.

[Version]
6.1.1.273
[File Access]
0
-1
.
.
.

I want to use WinFACT for the acquisation of measured data or for online control purposes. Is it possible?

Of course. If it doesn't concern highly dynamic processes it is possible even directly out of the BORIS development environment. A sampling time down to ca. 1 ms can be realized depending on the measurement hardware. If faster solutions are required we recommend the use of our C-Code-Generator.

How fast is a simulation with BORIS?

Simulations with BORIS are normally much faster than other simulation environments (resp. MATLAB/SimuLink) because all BORIS system blocks are precompiled! It concretely depends on the simulation time, your computer, the size of the system structure and the used block types.

I have somehow destroyed a WinFACT system file. Do I now have to design the whole system once again?

No, you don't. Mail us the file; and we'll 'patch'.

I want to integrate own system blocks into BORIS. Is it possible?

Yes, by using the User-DLL interface. Depending on the type of the WinFACT edition (e.g. education edition) it may have to be purchased in additon! For details please refer to our editions resp. price lists!

How complicated is it to program own system blocks for the simulation environment BORIS?

If you have a little programming experience with PASCAL, C or BASIC the programming is no problem with the help of the documentation. Do you want to generate blocks with visualization function knowledge of programming under WINDOWS would be helpful, knowledge of programming under a visual development like DELPHI or Visual C++ would be best. Occasional programmers can get asistance from our User-DLL-Expert.

Is it possible to access own hardware out of BORIS?

It is no problem via the User-DLL interface. But it would be best to check first if we don't already offer hardware drivers for your target hardware because they normally are very inexpensive!

How can I communicate out of WinFACT with the program...?

There normally are various possibilities! A communication via DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) is almost always possible.

I want to export simulation results from BORIS to EXCEL. Is it possible?

It is possible either online via DDE or offline via the TABFILEOUTPUT block.

Depending on the simulation step size I get different results from a simulation with BORIS. Which result is the correct one?

To get "rational" results from a numerical simulation the simulation step size has to be adjusted to the dynamic of the simulated system; otherwise discretization errors occur. Rule of thumb: the simulation step size should not exceed 1/10 of the smallest time constant of the system. In praxis you should scale down the simulation step size until the simulation result doesn't visibly change any longer. The chosen step size should then be small enough.

The printouts of my printer are sometimes faulty (missing resp. too thin lines, wrong colors, incomplete printouts...). What could be the reason for that?

Such problems are mostly caused by the printer driver especially of ink-jet printers. We advise you to try different driver settings; in most cases the problem can be solved by that. Laser printers can also cause problems if there is not enough printer-RAM-memory.

When will there eventually be an undo option in BORIS?

We work on that...

How can I speed up the simulation under BORIS (e.g. for real time control)?

There are different options:

Don't use more display blocks like time responses etc. than necessary or minimize the display windows to symbol size
Deactivate the display of the simulation time in the status bar
Deactivate the "control output in the block title"
Choose the EULER method as integration method
Don't use more blocks than necessary which use the function parser
Replace complex subsystems (e.g. for the realization of if...then...else constructions) by your own User-DLLs

How can I force a WinFACT program to generate backup copies of old files?

You can make the corresponding setting via the setup program WFSETUP (register miscellaneous).

My User-DLL won't run. What can I do?

Such a problem (especially if programmed in C) is very often caused by a wrongly chosen compiler switch. Call us, we make your DLL run...

I would like to change some of the block bitmaps in BORIS. Is it possible?

Yes, it is. The block bitmaps are located in the files BOBIT???.DLL. They can be edited with various resource editors (e.g. the resource-workshop from BORLAND). You can also realize some blocks as superblocks or User-DLLs and then add user-defined bitmaps to them. Please refer also to the manual.

Is it possible to use superblocks within superblocks?

Yes, superblocks can be nested to any level.

How can I import BORIS system structures into other applications (e.g. my text processing program)?

It would be best to import them as a bitmap (BMP format, in color or b/w mode). Almost every Windows application supports the import of this format. If, however, you want to modify the graphic of the structure later (e.g. in vector graphic programs like CorelDraw) or considerably resize it we advise the export as WMF format, which is a Windows standard graphic format too.

I want to edit the graphics (e.g. step responses, Bode diagrams), which I created with LISA or other modules, afterwards (e.g. labelling curves etc.) to paste them in my documents in high quality. Is it possible?

To get graphics of high quality which can be edited afterwards, you should use the presentation module INGO. Save your results from the "calculating" modules (e.g. LISA or BORIS) and load them in INGO. There you can select from numerous setting options for scaling, shape and color of curves, legend etc. and save the whole graphic as WMF-file. This WMF graphic can later be inserted in e.g. your WORD-, PowerPoint- or CorelDraw-document. There you find further extensive options for editing because the WMF format is a standard graphic format of Windows, which allows the editing of single graphical objects (curves, texts etc.).

The User-DLL, which I have programmed, in principle seems to run, but there seem to be problems with the transfer of the parameters in some functions; sometimes the program even crashes. What could be the reason?

You probably use Visual C++ from Microsoft. The 10-byte floating point data type isn't correctly implemented in this compiler, but internally is only 8 bytes long. It would be best to load the Visual C++ User-DLL example project from our download area; it shows you how to do it correctly. If the problem can't just be solved email us your DLL-source code together with a description of the problem - we can surely help you.

Is there a BORIS version which allows only to "run" systems but not to display or modify their structures?

Yes, we offer an inexpensive BORIS runtime edition, which exactly has these features. For details please refer to the corresponding product information.

How can I prevent the unauthorized loading of superblocks, which I have designed?

BORIS offers different levels of access protection of files (system resp. superblock files) via password. For further details please refer to the online help resp. documentation.

Some of my BORIS files, which contain superblocks or User-DLLs, won't suddenly run any longer after the installation of WinFACT on my new computer. What could be the reason?

On your new computer the superblock resp. User-DLL files are probably located in other directories or on other drives than they were on your old one so that BORIS can't find them. The easiest way would be to specifiy the directories in which the files are located on the new computer as search directories (menu option Options /Customize...). After restart BORIS searches for all superblocks and DLLs in these search directories and automatically adjusts the paths when the files are saved.

One of my own User-DLLs, which runs on my computer without any problem, can't be loaded by BORIS on another computer. The message "Invalid file name resp. incorrect file in block xxx!" is displayed. What could be the reason?

Your User-DLL is probably linked to other DLLs, which exist on your computer but not on the other one. Therefore you have to deliver these DLLs together with your actual DLL. Further information you find in the documentation or online help of your compiler (but endurance is very often needed...). Projects created with Microsoft compilers often require DLLs with the Microsoft Foundation Classes (named e.g. MFC40xx.DLL or similar). To find out which DLLs are loaded by your User-DLL you can use software tools, which you find in the internet (at e.g. www.shareware.com) We use e.g. ShowDep and DLL Explorer. ShowDep you also find at our download area.

When I try to load a BORIS file the message "Access denied" is displayed. Why can't the file be loaded any longer?

You have probably edited the file with a text editor; this is normally not allowed and is checked by BORIS. Object of this "precaution" is to prevent unauthorized modifications of existing files. The file, of course, isn't lost - phone us or mail us the file; we then tell you how you can make it run again.

After a system crash BORIS seems to change all presettings (colors etc.) to some nonsensical values. How can I reset them?

To set the values of all WinFACT modules to their default settings you can delete the corresponding keys in the Windows registry. Start the Windows program REGEDIT.EXE (registry editor), look for the key "WinFACT 98" and delete all corresponding subkeys. But please be aware that changes to the registry should be only made very carefully!

I want to use German and English versions of WinfACT parallel on one computer. Is it possible?

Yes, it's no problem. The two packages have just to be installed into different target directories.

How can I load the English versions from your WinFACT CD if I use a German Windows version?

On the CD you find the start program (START.EXE), which you have to call with the parameter /E (it would be best via the start button of Windwos and then the menu option "Execute..."); by that you force the CD to start with the English user interface and you also get access to the English program versions.

I want to use several A/D-D/A card simultaneously under BORIS. Is it possible?

Yes, since the version WinFACT 98 it is possible. You can simultaneously use as many cards as you want (of the same or of different types) and also access them within the same BORIS simulation structure. BORIS automatically "takes care" that the drivers don't interfere with each other.

We have purchased a hardware driver for BORIS, have installed this driver as instructed, but the card doesn't seem to work. What could be the reason?

Most cards of later types require the installation of a kind of "kernel driver" before they are accessible at all. This kernel driver (in most cases DLLs) - on which also the BORIS drivers depend - is normally supplied by the manufacturer of the card. When we program our drivers we always use the latest card drivers, which can very often be downloaded via the web-site of the manufacturer.

We have purchased a WinFACT full version with dongle and want to run it under Windows NT. It seems like the dongle can't be found although we executed the dongle-setup program as instructed. What could be the reason?

You wasn't probably logged in as ADMIN when you executed the DONGLESETUP.EXE. This is absolutely necessary under Windows NT for a correct installation of the dongle driver.

There occur problems when we try to install a BORIS hardware driver under Windows NT. Is there something special about NT we have to observe?

Yes, there is. For the installation of any driver under Windows NT you have to be logged in as system administrator (ADMIN). Otherwise an installation will fail or won't be executed correctly