SysCAD Tag Changes

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SysCAD Project Upgrade	Project Upgrade Procedure	Upgrade Tag Changes	Changes that Affect Results	Discontinued Models and DLLs

Latest SysCAD Version: 25 October 2024 - SysCAD 9.3 Build 139.36522

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SysCAD Tag Changes for Project Upgrade from SysCAD 9.3 Build 138 to Build 139

• Audit - The Audit table has been updated and layout re-organised.
  • Some tags names have been changed and some have been removed, please see Audit and Audit in 138 for comparison.
  • Please check reports and/or PGM files and change any old tags that may no longer work.
• Links Table - The links table has been updated and layout re-organised.
  • Some tags names have been changed and some have been removed, please see Links Table and Links Table 138 for comparison.
  • Please check reports and/or PGM files and change any old tags that may no longer work.
• Some miscellaneous tag changes have been made in various unit models to achieve consistency in use and naming across SysCAD models. In almost all cases Tags will automatically update.
• Heating Values - Renamed Heats of Combustion. Tags will automatically update. Can no longer report on basis of normal volume flow.
• More checking of user calculation variable names and project save names, most of the SysCAD model tag naming rules also apply to these. Please see Model Tags for list of the illegal characters. If any existing user calculations contain illegal characters, a warning will be given in the message window on project load.

SysCAD Tag Changes for Project Upgrade from SysCAD 9.3 Build 137 to Build 138

• Thermocompressor tag changes:

  Method is now Model

  Entrainment.Method is no longer a valid tag. Similar new tag is Method.

  Prm.DemandConnection is no longer a valid tag. Similar new tag is Demand.Connection.

  EntRatioReqd, AreaRatio, EntRatio, ExpRatio and CompRatio are now dimensionless (previously were fractions).

• Makeup Block changes:
  • Selection of elements is now limited to elements which are present in species in the project (instead of complete list). If some elements were previously selected which are not present in the project, the user will receive a warning on load and it will appear as a blank selection in the makeup block configuration.
  • Tag changes:

    For Product Concentration @25 Model: All tags ending in Conc now end in Conc25.

    For Product Molar Concentration Model: All tags ending in ConcMl now end in MlConc.

    For Product Molar Concentration @25 Model: All tags ending in ConcMl now end in MlConc25.

• Project will be auto-upgraded to use the new "Tear" formats.

SysCAD Tag Changes for Project Upgrade from SysCAD 9.3 Build 136 to Build 137

• The method of programmatically activating or deactivating flowsheets via the Plant Model - Flowsheets tab has changed.
  • Previously, one field (Active CheckBox) was used to activate or deactivate the flowsheet. Now, there are separate fields, or buttons, for activation or deactivation.

  (For full documentation, please see Plant Model - Flowsheets tab)

  • If you have used the functionality on this tab to activate or deactivate flowsheets in pgms or from Excel, then please be aware that you will need to change the field tags.

  See Trigger Subroutines for an example.

• PGM and MP has a few more restricted variable names such as "Filename". If these were used PGM load errors occur. While upgrading, first change these in PGM file before first project save.
• Some more hardwired conversions have been added to the Conversions Database. If the user had previously defined these in their Project Database and the user definition (scale and offset) is not exactly the same as the hardwired definition, then the user conversion will be discarded on load (with an appropriate message). If this occurs, then for the user to (still) have this conversion available to them, they will have to tick Show in the Conversions Defaults and Displays list next to the desired conversion unit.
• There are now two different tags for HoR override value, one for mass basis and one for mole basis. Previously one tag (Rqd_dH) was used for both. Users will be warned to change tags when using the old tags, but they will continue to work.
• The standard heat of formation (H25), standard entropy (S25) and heat capacity (Cp) of H+(aq) are all expected to be zero. Projects with H+(aq) which use non-zero values will not load.
• Stricter tag naming rules have been implemented in build 137.21617. These characters are no longer allowed in tag names. Note that existing projects with tags containing these characters will load with warning, the warnings can be removed by changing the SysCAD Tag name to remove the illegal characters.
• Reaction extent tag change, for example:
  • syntax in 136: ["xxxxx.RB.R1.Extent (%)"], New syntax in 137: ["xxxxx.RB.R1.Extent.Required (%)"].
  • Please note the old syntax would still work in 137 or later, however, the cross-reference indicators would not work properly unless the 137 syntax is used.

SysCAD Tag Changes for Project Upgrade from SysCAD 9.2 Build 135 to SysCAD 9.3 Build 136

Changes affecting various types of tags and tag management new to SysCAD 9.3 Build 136.

Model Tags		Stricter rules for naming of Model Tags. You can no longer use '{', '}', ' | ' and ':' when creating or changing model tags. The maximum length of Model Tags has been reduced from 62 to 50. If either of these issues are encountered at project upgrade they are listed as problem tags. You are not forced to change these immediately, they continue to be allowed. It is recommended that the tags are changed. In some cases if these tags are referenced or used in controllers they can cause errors. It can be better to fix the tags in the original model before upgrading to avoid any of these issues.
Species	Require QM, MF and M in some full species tags	Stream (e.g. Qo, Qi, QProd) species mass flow tags now need a QM as part of the tag. For example 'P_001.Qo.H2O(l)' is now 'P_001.Qo.QM.H2O(l)'. Composition Image (e.g. DSp page on Feeders) species mass fraction tags now need a MF as part of the tag. For example 'XPG_001.Content.H2O(l) (%)' is now 'XPG_001.Content.MF.H2O(l) (%)'. Content, in for dynamic projects, (e.g. Content page on Tank) species mass tags now need a M as part of the tag.
	Main Species tags Case Sensitive	The species part of tags used in a Stream, Image or Content are now case sensitive. You can now reference P_001.Qo.QM.Co(l) and P_001.Qo.QM.CO(l) separately.
	Stricter Species Tag Names	Species tag naming is stricter. Key changes include (see Species Tags for full details): Additional special characters are not allowed as part of species tag (i.e. compound name) and phase label. The use of '+' and '-' are only allowed at the end of the compound part of a species tag. Spaces are not allowed in species names. These will automatically be replaced with underscores as part of the upgrade process. If there are any problem species tags in your project, these need to be corrected in the species database; in the cfg file listing the species used; and any tag references to the species in the project. It is recommended that these changes are made in Build 135, prior to upgrading of the project.
	Species tag conversion	Species tag conversion (%) may require a more specific conversion unit. You may get a warning such as: (%) no longer allowed change to (%Sol). For example the unit (%) is no longer an option for some species properties and should be replaced with more specific units of measurement such as (%Sol) or (%Liq) or (%Vap). An example of a full tag is component mass fraction in the liquid phase "My_Pipe.Qo.CMF:LPh.H2O (%)" is now "My_Pipe.Qo.CMF.LPh.H2O (%Liq)".
Full Tag Changes	Changed Tags	Many tags have been renamed either to achieve consistency across different models or to provide a better description of the tag. Both short and long tags have been improved. The use of _ has been reduced. Begun applying consistent use of abbreviations (e.g. "Reqd" rather than "Rqd" for "Required"). Where "Reqd" is used, generally use this at end of full tag. Some common examples include: Qm_Rqd --> QmReqd Qv_Rqd --> QvReqd T_Rqd --> T_Reqd P_Rqd --> P_Reqd FinalTRqd --> FinalT_Reqd OperatingP.Reqd --> OperatingP.P_Reqd Other general tag changes include: Nett.Qm.H2O(l) --> Links.Nett.Qm.H2O(l) RqdUFSolids --> UFSolidFracReqd CakeSolConc25 --> Cake.SolidConc25 UFSolConc25 --> UF.SolidConc25 OFSolids --> OF.Sf QmAve --> QmAvg
	Discontinued Tags	A few tags that were rarely used or are from very old versions have been removed. In this case a new tag does not exist and these are reported as unknown tags. The user will need to delete these tags or find an alternative tag.
	Pipe 'Fxd_dP' pressure boost/drop tag	In Build 135 the tag 'Fxd_dP' used for pressure drop and boost depending on the pressure change method selected. In Build 136 there are now separate tags 'PDropReqd' and 'PBoostReqd'. So any use of 'Fxd_dP' needs to be manually changed to the correct tag. A warning message is given by the pipe model whenever the old tag is used to set a value, however the source is unknown. This could be by controllers, Excel, etc.
	PlantModel Activate/Deactivate Flowsheet Tags	Activate/Deactivate Flowsheet Tags have changed in SysCAD 9.3. These tags on Plant Model - Flowsheets tab are numbered differently and sorted alphabetically by name. If these tags are used to activate or deactivate flowsheets via external packages (such as MS Excel) their use needs to be reviewed and updated before use.
	UnitType rather than ClassId	On the Info tab page for all models, the tag "ClassId" has been changed to "UnitType". And "ClassGroup" has been changed to "UnitGroup". Where these are used in TagSelect statements in Excel these will need updating.
	$SDB Tag Changes	$SDB tags with parameters no longer work. Due to changes on Species Properties page, the tags have changed and can no longer include a temperature and pressure specification. For example "$SDB.H2O(l).msSf(550.00,200.00) (kJ/kg.C)" will give "tag not found" error. In PGMs use the Species Database Class instead.
	Audit and Links pages Tag Changes	Almost all models have a Links and Audit tab page. Some tags have been updated but importantly the grouping of tags into sections has changed resulting in many 9.2 full tags for these pages no longer being recognised or auto-upgraded. If these tags are used in your project or reports they will not be recognised as valid tags and will need to be corrected.
Managing Tag Changes		Messages: The reporting of where an old tag is being used has been improved significantly. This helps user with finding and fixing where an invalid tag is being used. Auto Tag Change: When an old tag is entered directly in the SysCAD project (such as a PID, Set Tag Controller or Trend page) then these tags are automatically changed during project upgrade and the user is notified of the change in the message window. Changing PGM/MP Tags: When an old tag is referenced in an external PGM or MP, then at solve time SysCAD will generate a warning message that the tag has changed and use the new tag. The messages will continue to be generated until the user changes the reference to the new tag. If an old tag is used then the tag reference indicator triangles are not shown. The controller has a new field called 'TryFixTags' (Found in the TagRefs Tab page of the General Controller, button name is Change Old Tags) that will try to upgrade old tags to new tags in the MP or PGM file. Note that because of how some full tags are built in the code (such as dynamic tags created by string concatenation), this may not upgrade all tags contained in the text file. You may still need to manually fix some tags. Changing Excel File Tags: For Excel files, from the Excel Automation Dialogue box, there is a new button called "Check Tags". For each Excel file, user can click on this button and choose "Check Tags" to allow SysCAD to go through all the tags in that Excel file, searching all Get/Set reports and list any old tags that are recognised as needing upgrading. You can then use the new option "Check Tags - Check and Fix Tags" which will go further and actually change the tags. Other reference files: When an old tag is referenced in another type of external file (such as taglist csv), then the user is required to fix these tags. Historian: If the historian is using old tags, the best approach is to clear the historian. To clear this list (and prevent ongoing warning messages), go to Project-Settings, Historian tab page, and press the Delete button which removes all tags from the Historian.