What's new in Reliance 5

May 12, 2025

After five years of development, the new features and significant enhancements of Reliance 5 are now ready for you to explore. This new major release has already been implemented in an extremely complex project involving over 4 million tags, along with a lot of optimizations that greatly increase the speed of Reliance.

The latest version not only offers improvements for users but also adheres to the security requirements recommended by the National Cyber and Information Security Agency. Throughout the development process, a strong emphasis was placed on security, quality, and ease of use.

Additionally, Reliance 5 introduces a new licensing policy designed to simplify pricing calculations. This change allows licenses to be tailored to meet the specific needs of end customers, such as differentiating data points for communication drivers.

We had received numerous requests, ideas, and recommendations, though not all of them were implemented in this new version. Therefore, we will continue to enhance the Reliance 5 system with additional features and capabilities, just as we did with the previous version.

We will continue to support and provide the Reliance 4 system. However, its further development and expansion will no longer take place.

Projects created in Reliance 4 can be easily opened in the Reliance 5 Design development environment. The project is automatically converted upon opening – no changes are required.

Reliance 5 SCADA/HMI

Reliance 5 is a professional SCADA/HMI system designed for monitoring and controlling industrial processes and for building automation.

Learn More About Reliance 5

News and improvements

General

substantially increased the stability, security, and performance of all Reliance modules
many time-consuming operations are now performed in the background (in parallel), which results in faster completion
substantially accelerated searching for objects and components, especially by name
the system is already running on large-scale applications (millions of tags) in critical infrastructure where security, speed, and robustness are highly emphasized
updated the graphical user interface (new icons and graphics have been added, controls for selecting/specifying links have been simplified)

64-bit Reliance

allows utilizing all available computer memory (the 32-bit version uses a maximum of 3.7 GB)
has a separate installation program

New terminology

The following terms have been changed:

"Access rights" → "Permissions"
"Alarm/event" → "Alarm"

Alarms

revamped the alarm system
alarms are now defined via the Alarm Manager
an alarm is no longer linked to a tag; instead, the tag is linked to the alarm (so, the link direction is opposite to what it used to be)
an alarm can be common to any number of tags from various devices (multiple tags can be linked to the same alarm); defining a small number of alarms in an entire SCADA project is now sufficient
alarm evaluation is now performed based on tag value/quality change
added the ability to use custom variables for an alarm's text and description
added other variables that can be inserted into an alarm's text:

$(TagDescr) for a tag's "Description"
$(TagTechName) for a tag's "Technical name"

added the ability to hide an active acknowledged alarm, e.g., an alarm generated as a result of a sensor malfunction; after exchanging the sensor, the alarm ceases to exist if generated again, it will be shown without the necessity of manually restoring its display
the runtime software is equipped with a new tool for managing hidden alarms
introduced permissions for viewing alarms
introduced permissions for viewing internal alarms (they are defined for a computer via the Project Structure Manager)
added the ability to generate alarms using the RAlm.SetAlarm function from a script
the historical alarm viewer in the runtime software is now part of the main window (as well as the current alarm viewer)
improved inhibiting/suppressing alarms using a tag: it is now possible to suppress the generation of an alarm or its display, sounds, and requiring acknowledgment
an alarm's receipt time is now transferred between computers (servers and clients) when synchronizing alarms (it is the same on all computers)
added the ability to generate an alarm when failing to write a tag
removed playing the same sound for each alarm
an alarm's sound is now played only if the logged-on user is permitted to view the alarm
relocated defining alarm types and groups from the Project Options dialog to the Alarm Manager
added optional security for various operations (closing an alarm viewer, acknowledging all alarms, etc.)
supplemented the "Condition" property with the "Value out of range" option
added the "Allow use at runtime" option
added the ability to select a device type for alarms whose "Condition" property is set to "Event from device"
alarms generated as a result of changing a dynamic limit have now their start time determined by the time of this change
alarms generated by enabling/unblocking them have now their start time determined by the time they were enabled/unblocked
"Select Alarms" dialog: added the "Type" and "Condition" columns
added the ability to load unacknowledged internal alarms from a database to the list of current alarms (at project startup)
added the ability to transfer and synchronize internal alarms and alarms generated from a script between computers (servers and clients)
substantially accelerated synchronizing alarms between computers (servers and clients)
alarms in an SQL database:

accelerated searching for alarms
accelerated loading current alarms when starting a project

Data structures

added the ability to set up selected tag properties at the level of data structure fields (the "Optional" page)
all tags created according to data structure fields have the same value of these properties, which makes SCADA project management easier
added support for SMA and IEC62056 devices

Devices

Device Manager:

substantially accelerated synchronizing tags with data structures
added the ability to change a data structure type for a selected tag
added the ability to change a device type including a data structure type for all tags defined within the device
added the ability to enter permissions and alarm groups for a device

Actions

added new action types, for example:

Restart project
Show Startup Event Log
Select color
Select window layout
Edit window layouts

Scripts

added a number of new functions, for example:

RSys.CreateAutomationObject
RSys.GetProjectHash
RTag.SetTagValueEx
RTag.SetCustomHighlight
RAlm.CreateAlarmData
RAlm.CreateAlarmFromData
RAlm.SetAlarm
RAlm.AckTagAlarm
RAlm.AckTagAlarms
RSys.ShowTagDbTrends
RSys.SaveDbTrend
RSys.SaveTagDbTrend
RSys.SaveDbReport
RSys.SaveTagDbReport
RSys.SaveTagDbTrends
RSys.PrintTagDbReport
RSys.PrintTagDbTrends
the function for acquiring a specified tag's alarm list
functions for working with data overrides

functions working with the GUI (e.g., RSys.ActivateWindow) can now be also used for the thin clients (Web Client and Smart Client)
added detailed information on a script error to the error message (e.g., which project-defined tag was not found)
added new properties to the data object returned by the RScr.GetCurrentScriptDataEx function
added an optional parameter to the RSys.ActivateWindow function (it is now possible to open windows on a monitor regardless of the mouse cursor position)
substantially accelerated running a large number of scripts
added the ability to run a selected script when an error occurs in a script
altered the RSys.RelativePathToPath function: the name of an environment variable no longer needs to have a trailing backslash
added access to project-defined object (e.g., device) properties (there's a new function named GetProperty in an object retrieved by the RProj.GetObject or RProj.GetObjectList functions)
added new properties to the object RConst.ProjObjType (constants of the following object types: State list, State, State list folder, State folder)
added the ability to highlight components with a link to a specified tag (RTag.SetCustomHighlight)

Recipes

processing files (checking, reading, writing) is now performed in the background

Trends

revamped the trend viewer
added the ability to render lines and text with smoothing (antialiasing)
added the Navigation panel showing time periods (years, months, days) in the form of a tree structure
made editing and hiding series easier
added support for event-based historical data
added support for defined data qualities
added support for displaying data overrides
added the Area chart type
added the ability to draw series until the time of the last communication (this only applies to data from IEC104 devices)
added the ability to store the ruler's time stamp in a tag
added the ability to display a trend for a tag list created by successively selecting components with the mouse (supported in both the runtime software and thin clients)
Trend Manager: added the ability to link a trend series to a tag (instead of linking it to a data table field)

Reports

added the Legend panel
added the ability to automatically update data
added support for defined data qualities
added support for displaying data overrides
added commands for scrolling
added indicating turning on a filter to the status bar (including the names of active filters)
improved exporting reports to the XLS and XLSX formats (cell formatting is now performed according to a tag's properties; previously, cell formatting was set to "Text")
improved exporting reports to the CSV format (exporting displayed columns, adjusting the formatting of numerical values, etc.)

Windows

accelerated loading windows in the runtime software
added the ability to display a window instead of a different one from the same folder (Window Properties > Basic > "Replace window from same folder")
added the ability to display a window at the mouse cursor (Window Properties > Basic > Placement > At mouse cursor)
added the ability to show a visualization window on multiple monitors at a time (this only applies to the runtime software)
added the ability to save the window layout under a name and to load it later on
added the ability to control the visibility of a layer by a tag
the size of a window is also changed when changing the scale

Components

Display:

allows displaying other tag properties (quality, time stamp, name, alias, eng. units, etc.)

Container:

added filtering current and historical alarms by tag-controlled device list
added filtering historical alarms by tag-controlled alarm-type list
added the ability to change a template's size
added support for anchors in a template

BACnet – Calendar:

a new component that allows for displaying and editing a calendar within a BACnet device

BACnet – Exception Schedule:

a new component that allows for displaying and editing an exception schedule within a BACnet device

Domat – Schedule:

a new component that allows for displaying and editing a schedule within a Domat device

Domat – Exception Schedule:

a new component that allows for displaying and editing an exception schedule within a Domat device

Trend – Schedule:

a new component that allows for displaying and editing a schedule within a Trend device

Web Browser:

a new component based on WebView2 (Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge)

Tag-controlled object properties

many properties that could not be previously changed at runtime can now be controlled by a tag, for example:

action properties
SQL connections for the alarm database and event-based historical data
communication channel's IP address and port (only with the unlimited license)
blocking a communication channel
activating logging communication with a device (communication channel properties)
alarm groups specified for a device

Event-based historical data logging

data is logged to a database on selected events (a change in a tag's value, quality, or time stamp, receiving data from a communication driver)
added the ability to specify a deadband (so that minor value changes are not logged)
substantial space savings in a database
configured for a tag or a data structure field
added the ability to determine to which table data will be logged (Main common table, Another common table, Separate table)
there is no need to define data tables via the Data Table Manager
for relational (SQL) databases only

Limitations of the current version of Reliance 5:

event-based historical data cannot be synchronized between computers
reports do not support displaying multiple tags from event-based historical data at once

These features will be added in a future version.

Securing target objects

the "Secure target objects" option (Project Options > Security > Checking)
if the option is active, permissions will be specified and checked in a target object (e.g., a tag)

Two-factor authentication (2FA)

if active, a code generated by an authentication application (e.g., Google Authenticator) will be required to log on the user

Managers

added the ability to display object aliases in a tree view
added the ability to search for an object by ID
added the ability to copy a selected object's ID to the Windows clipboard
added the ability to connect objects (e.g., devices) to computers according to a pattern using the new Connect Objects to Computers Wizard (the "Connect Objects to Computers" command)
added the ability to disconnect objects (e.g., devices) from computers using the new Disconnect Objects from Computers Wizard (the "Disconnect Objects from Computers" command)
CSV import:

when an object which the imported object refers to cannot be found, an error message is added to the error list and the log file
accelerated searching for objects which the imported object refers to

the table of objects' highest IDs (ObjectTypes.rdt) is now saved only if necessary (i.e., if a change occurs)

Project Structure Manager

relocated turning on logging communication with a device from the Communication Driver Manager to the Project Structure Manager (device > channel)
relocated a communication channel's "Control" and "Status" options from the level of the channel to the level of the device
added the ability to link tags for communication channels' status (states: Inactive/Active/All right/Communication error/Main connection/Erroneous properties)
added the ability to link tags for controlling communication channels
added the "Automatically log on user" > "Windows user" option

Reliance Design development environment

revamped and improved the "Welcome" window (redesigned, recent and favorite projects, etc.)
Project Options: added the ability to define derived data
Project Options: added the ability to define tag qualities and their corresponding colors for display in trends and reports
Project Options: added the ability to specify the gradient colors of embedded windows' title bar in the runtime software
relocated defining permissions from the Project Options dialog to the User Manager
added a command for generating firewall configuration scripts (TCP port exceptions)
added a command for searching throughout a project folder and generating a list of non-project files
substantially accelerated project diagnostics, especially in projects with window templates
revamped and substantially accelerated enabling/disabling project encryption
project backup/restoration: added the ability to write a note when backing up a project; the backup's note and time stamp are available in the form of special internal tags
design window: altered the colors of the handles of the selected components
design window: added the ability to define the window's inner size (client area)
design window: added the ability to align components to the reference component (relevant, for example, to the commands "Space Equally, Vertically" and "Space Equally, Horizontally")
improved importing tags to selected devices from files generated by development environments by adding a dialog for selecting imported tags

Runtime software

communication between runtime software modules

substantially accelerated communication
substantially improved and accelerated some communication functions (e.g., if multiple alarms occur in quick succession, they are sent all at once)
introduced a common queue for current data and alarms (which results in the interleaving of current data and alarms)
substantially accelerated preparing current data to be sent (it is now performed in the background)
added the ability to run a script once the synchronization of current data is completed
changed the base for TCP port numbers (now 43500, before 50000)

derived and special internal tags:

added updates after project startup regardless of the specified update interval
removed changing a value's time stamp each time the value is changed

accelerated access to tag values in memory
logging data to files is now performed in the background
data tables: added logging/loading each table's last record to/from a common file
SQL data tables: accelerated logging/loading data to/from a database
data tables, real-time trends: accelerated logging data to temporary files (at project termination)
accelerated exporting a project for communication drivers
project export to an SQL database: divided the export of a table into multiple transactions (in case of a large number of records in one table)

Reliance Server, Reliance Control Server

data server redundancy: substantially accelerated synchronizing current data
data server redundancy: added processing data with a time stamp from a device in the primary server when synchronizing data tables
data server redundancy: added the ability to block the active role by a tag
added processing historical data received via a REST API
SQL data tables: accelerated logging data (difference tables) for clients to temporary files

Reliance View, Reliance Control, Reliance Control Server

the main window now uses the entire monitor area (removed transparent borders)
replaced the "System Information" window with a dialog where the Web server's diagnostics Web page is embedded
added support for a custom window layout
Project Manager: states (defined via the State Manager) are now used to display a tag value
removed the thick borders of embedded windows (e.g., the current alarm viewer)
current alarm viewer: added information on the number of hidden alarms to the status bar
current alarm viewer: added CSV export
historical alarm viewer:

improved exporting reports to the CSV format (exporting displayed columns, adjusting the formatting of numerical values, etc.)
after setting up a time filter, all alarms matching the filter will be displayed (without limiting the count)
increased the number of alarms loaded from an SQL database when opening the viewer and browsing the history

Web server and server Web page

a list of roles (e.g., Web Client, Smart Client, REST API, update server, OPC server) can be assigned to the Web server; the Project Structure Manager is used to assign roles
the Web server is now also available in Reliance View and Reliance Control (allows displaying a Web page for the purpose of diagnostics)
is started before project startup to display the startup progress
substantially expanded and improved program diagnostics (added a number of metrics to trends, added an overview of scripts, scripting threads, system threads, and other data)
added the ability to select the Web server's root directory (WebRoot is the default directory for new projects and ThinClients for existing projects)
added support for proxy servers
added support for CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)
added user administration
REST API: substantially improved the interface
REST API: added another method of security – via user authentication
REST API: added documentation via OpenAPI
improved the level of security based on thorough penetration testing performed on applications operating in critical infrastructure
substantially increased the Web server's performance

Automatic project update

substantially improved and accelerated
added updating/synchronizing user profiles
added the ability to use a backup update server
uploading a new version of a project, backing up a running project, and restarting a project can now be performed from a Web page
an overview of all update server clients with basic diagnostics in the form of a table and dashboard is now available on a Web page
the note and time stamp of the backup of a project deployed on the update server can be used by the server's clients in the form of special internal tags

Connection to relational databases

Microsoft SQL Server: added support for connecting via Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
added the ability to check the availability of an SQL connection

Reliance Web Client

added a number of functions that are new to the runtime software
updated Look & Feel (graphics theme)
Web Client Launcher

based on OpenJDK 21
added the ability to be run on macOS

Reliance Smart Client

added a number of functions that are new to the runtime software
added support for the right mouse button
some pages are now opened as dialog boxes (popup)
improved the responsive behavior of lists, such as the alarm viewer
components: added support for component blinking
components: added indicating invalid tag values by a yellow frame
Button component: added support for the momentary button
Button component: added support for a button icon

Communication drivers

new communication drivers:

Danfoss
Trend
SMA
Domat
ZZ044

added support for encrypted communication (TLS) with devices connected via a TCP port
substantially accelerated logging communications to files (it is now performed in the background)
Reliance Driver Server (R_DrvSrv.exe) replaced by Reliance Driver Host (R_DrvHost.exe)
Reliance Driver Host (R_DrvHost.exe) is not a Windows service
BACnet Driver: added reading alarms
AMiT Driver: added support for communication with second-generation models
M-Bus Driver: added support for secondary addressing

Utilities

Server Manager: a utility for managing servers and uploading a new version of a project to the update server(s)
R_DTMerge: basic support for VCS (Version Control Software), i.e., the possibility to conveniently use TortoiseSVN, TortoiseGit, etc. (including comparing and merging RDT files)
RDT File Editor: added quick filtering
RDT File Editor: added the ability to open a file using drag & drop

RDT format

a new, substantially improved file-format version for saving a project
increased the level of security
altered saving Boolean-type fields so that each field takes only one bit → decreasing project files
added data compression → the size of project files has substantially decreased

License policy

only one version of the Reliance Design development environment (with the same functions as those of the previous Reliance Design Enterprise)
only one version of Reliance Combi Package (with the same functions as those of the previous Reliance Combi Package Enterprise)
added the possibility of a different number of data points for different communication drivers (or device types) in one license key
the separate Reliance Server item has been removed from the price list (Reliance Server can be run using a Reliance Control Server license)
the Reliance Control Server license does not include a thin client license; thin clients must be ordered together with the Reliance Control Server license
common license for Reliance OPC Server and Reliance OPC UA Server

Other

changed the storage location for files that are not user-specific from C:\Users\PublicDocuments\GEOVAP to C:\ProgramData\GEOVAP
a new environment variable $(ProgramData) for working with relative paths has been introduced
added checking for duplicate IDs of objects of the same type
added checking for duplicate names of objects of the same type
selecting multiple items using check boxes (e.g., permissions, alarms, alarm types, alarm groups):

added the folder name before the object name
altered sorting an item list: checked items are now listed at the beginning (alphabetically), followed by the rest of the items (alphabetically)

Active Directory: added support for a backup AD server
logging: added a subsystem, level, and type to each log record for easier filtering and log record analysis
added the ability to not display the value of tags of type Date/DateTime and Array of Date/DateTime if it's older than 1900/1/1
accelerated acquiring the checksum (hash) of RDT files and the entire project
added sorting records in the main project file (.rp5)
a special character is now always used for substituting end-of-line characters
removed EurekaLog (support for sending bug reports); if an exception occurs, the call stack is now written to log files
updated the TeeChart library to version 2022.34.220125
updated the FastReport library to version 2024.2.5
replaced components for drawing SVG images (SVG Control Package 2.4.0)
the Sentinel LDK Licensing API is now used for license verification in HW keys

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