Late last week Rockwell Automation released version 8.1 of their FactoryTalk ViewPoint software.

ViewPoint Featured ImageIf you’re not familiar with ViewPoint, it’s an add-on to FactoryTalk View software which publishes graphic displays as interactive webpages.
This latest version is said to work with Internet Explorer 11.0, Chrome 39+, Chrome on Android 4.4, and Safari on IOS 8.
While it’s nice to see official support for mobile browsers, it’s curios Rockwell didn’t test Firefox on pc?

New features in ViewPoint 8.1

The biggest news is that FactoryTalk ViewPoint no longer publishes graphic displays as Microsoft Silverlight webpages.
While I never had an issue with Silverlight myself, like Adobe Flash it was not supported on most Tablets and Smart phones, forcing ViewPoint clients to use a PC.
So after several months of redesign, with the release of version 8.1 ViewPoint now publishes graphic displays as HTML 5 webpages instead of Silverlight webpages
And since most mobile devices support HTML 5, you’ll now be able to interact with your ViewPoint system using your favorite smart phone or tablet.
Rockwell also states that most all of the objects published using FactoryTalk ViewPoint v8.1 still look like their version 8.0 counterparts, and will behave the same unless otherwise noted.

New in ViewPoint 8.1 for View SE

In addition to HTML 5 support, View SE users also get what most would call a “responsive” client view.
This means that ViewPoint will automatically adjust to your devices screen size and orientation like a modern website.
To access the mobile version of ViewPoint in a View SE system, just add a trailing /m after the standard viewpoint url as shown below:

For more information

To find out more about Rockwell’s ViewPoint 8.1 release, head over to Rockwell’s software versions page HERE and search on ViewPoint.
After selecting Viewpoint, click on the small PDF icon shown below and select “Custom Release Notes”
ViewPoint-8.1-Release-Notes


So, what do you think of the new features in ViewPoint 8.1? Have you been waiting for the HTML 5 and Mobile Device support?
Share your thoughts and opinions using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

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Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

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1 COMMENT

  3. I’ve had the same speed problems as David, Vincent and Jonathan. I was hoping the HTML5 would fix my slow network issues (remote site running over mobile phone network) but I couldn’t even get it to load in the field. Ended up rolling back to 8.0.

  4. I have also the same problem. View Point 8.1 works much slower that ver 8.0. Also it’s working different on different web browsers. Some pages load and work on IE11 some don’t but work on Chrome. I noticed graphic conversion problems in some pages labels are not aligned with buttons which make them unreadable. Some fonts looks like they have different size on View Point screens also make them unreadable.

  5. Vincent, I also have the same issue. Using on an android tablet with the instantfizz sample it just isn’t usable it is that slow! It is just as bad on my iPhone. I was looking forward to using this in a mobile application and unless I can get a solution I’m going to have to return the licence and use something such as vnc which is not what I want to do. I’m going to have a word with my vendor and see if I can get some help there.

  6. My company recently upgraded to FTView SE 8.1 and ViewPoint 8.1 along with it. After we did this, the ViewPoint graphics became slow to the point of being unusable. The graphics run quickly on View SE, but are slow as molasses on ViewPoint. Are there any known issues that can cause ViewPoint to be this slow?