01 Observability

10 new System Tags for device state, diagnostics, and configuration.

v5.3.0 exposes 10 aspects of runtime state as native System Tags: brightness, network configuration, system metrics, and so on. Because they behave like any other tag in CIMON Canvas, you can bind one to a screen object, use it in an alarm condition, log it to a historian, or push it through OPC UA or MQTT to whatever SCADA you're running. There's no separate diagnostic protocol to enable and no parallel polling code to maintain.

What this enables:

Asset dashboards

Surface CPU load, memory usage, and network state directly in HMI screens, or push them upstream to SCADA. No separate diagnostic protocol or polling code.

Predictive maintenance

Trigger alarms when system metrics cross thresholds. Combine current tag values with historical logging for trend-based maintenance decisions.

Remote diagnostics

Inspect OS version, software version, and network configuration from a centralized SCADA dashboard. Useful when you have dozens of panels across multiple sites and you'd rather see fleet state in one place than open a remote session per panel.

Multi-panel fleets

Build dashboards that aggregate health and configuration tags across dozens of panels, so drift shows up in one view instead of one panel at a time.

Why this is outstanding

Native tags, not diagnostic widgets.

v5.3.0 exposes device state as ordinary tags. Anywhere CIMON Canvas accepts a tag — screens, alarm conditions, script expressions, data log columns, recipes — a System Tag works without extra plumbing. No separate diagnostic widgets to configure, natively access every device metric as a tag — right where you need it.

02 Programmability

Runtime control, now scriptable in JavaScript.

v5.3.0 introduces script functions for runtime maintenance operations that previously required someone to navigate the Settings menu by hand — at the panel or via a remote session. These can now be triggered from any JavaScript context: on a schedule, in response to an alarm condition, or as a step inside a longer workflow.

New script functions

• Restart the runtime — programmatically reboot the runtime engine, useful for recovery flows or post-update sequences.
• Run touch calibration — invoke calibration on demand without operator intervention.
• Change Ethernet settings — modify network configuration from script for deployments that need dynamic IP assignments or VLAN switching.
• Start and stop VNC Server — toggle remote access on a schedule, conditionally, or in response to alarm states.
• Enable and disable notifications — control panel notification behavior based on runtime conditions.

For integrators, this changes who does the work. Operators can run permission-controlled maintenance from screens you design, or the runtime can handle it automatically — restart on schedule, recover on a specific alarm condition. JavaScript is also more familiar to most engineering teams than vendor-specific scripting languages.

What this changes

The runtime stops being an opaque box.

Restarting the runtime engine after a config update used to mean someone navigating the Settings menu — at the panel or via a remote session. In v5.3.0 it's a JavaScript function call inside whatever workflow needs it. The same applies to touch calibration, Ethernet configuration, and toggling the VNC server. Operations that used to require Settings menu access now have a programmatic interface.

03 Scale

Validated up to 20,000 tags.

v5.3.0 has been validated on projects up to 20,000 tags. Compilation stays fast, runtime tag synchronization stays consistent, and large projects load without the slowdown some integrators reported on prior versions.

The performance work in this release touches every stage of the pipeline: compilation, deployment, runtime sync, and page transitions. Projects that previously felt sluggish at scale now run smoothly through the full lifecycle.

04 Compliance

Audit logging for 21 CFR Part 11.

v5.3.0 extends CIMON Canvas's audit log to capture changes made inside the Settings app: network configuration, time settings, user management, and similar. Each entry records who made the change, when, and what changed. Operator and administrator actions continue to be logged as before.

Combined with CIMON Canvas's existing security and access controls, this completes a meaningful piece of the 21 CFR Part 11 workflow for food and beverage, pharma, and life sciences manufacturers. It's also useful outside regulated environments. Water utilities, critical infrastructure operators, and anyone who needs to know what changed and who did it benefits from the same record.

05 Connectivity

Driver and protocol updates.

v5.3.0 ships updates across the protocol stack:

• Mitsubishi Melsec ENET — Expanded address range across the Mitsubishi family.
• Omron — 64-bit tag processing and FINS TC/CC memory area handling.
• OPC UA Client — Expanded datatype support for production deployments.
• MQTT — JSON payload parsing including nested structures, plus SSL/TLS to Mosquitto.
• Codesys V3 — End-to-end multi-vendor authentication.
• Modbus — Read-only tag handling for RTU and TCP.
• ATIVA Serial — Driver initialization handling.

06 Experience

Designer and operator upgrades.

Designer

Quality-of-life improvements for the people who build the screens.

• Page sorting in Project Tree
• Match width and height of grouped objects
• Word wrap on Text, Switch/Lamp, and buttons
• DataLog Table playback controls (Up/Down/Play/Pause)
• Various sizes for popup keypads and keyboards
• Improved error messages in Tag Editor for address configuration issues
• Easier object grouping behavior
• Selection bounding box around selected objects

Operator

On-panel UX for the people who use the screens.

• Faster page transitions
• Pinch-and-pan gestures on capacitive panels
• Network configuration dialog in System Menu

Try v5.3.0 on your PC. Free.

Free download. Run the built-in online simulator on your PC, build a real project, and try every v5.3.0 feature at your own pace. Deploy to CIMON HMI hardware whenever you're ready.

Real support from real engineers.

You get direct access to the team that built CIMON Canvas, with same-day turnaround on most questions and a real engineer reading every request. Support is what we compete on.

Have a question? Get in touch

Already a CIMON Canvas user? v5.3.0 is your upgrade.

Full changelog

For engineers consulting v5.3.0 features in detail. Organized by area.

Designer — Added

• New System Tags: Brightness, Buzzer Status, Project Name, Alarms, Network Settings, OS and Software versions, System Metrics, System Time
• Script function to enable and disable notifications
• Script function to restart the runtime
• Script function to run touch calibration
• Script functions to change Ethernet settings
• Script functions to start and stop VNC Server
• Clear key as an option to the Press Key command
• Page sorting in the Project Tree
• Up/Down/Play/Pause buttons to the DataLog Table
• Various sizes of popup keypads and keyboards
• Option to disable object rotation handles
• Word Wrap on Text Display, Text Entry, Switch/Lamp, and buttons (Momentary, Action, Toggle); Date/Time objects now always use word wrap
• Match width and height of grouped and multi-selected objects
• Support for setting Momentary Values when configuring Object Actions

Designer — Changed

• Image and GIF objects support changing the assigned image
• Image and GIF resources in libraries display file extension
• Improved error messages for Address configuration errors in Tag Editor and Edit Tag Window
• Expanded address range of the Melsec Ethernet driver
• Selection bounding box around each selected object
• Project saving prevented with a warning when invalid tag bindings are detected
• Equivalent addresses unified when creating address tags
• Easier object grouping behavior, with direct editing of objects, groups, and indices in the Object Tree View

Designer — Fixed

• Open project becoming locked when downloading a locked project to a device
• Some saved layouts not loading correctly
• OS version display during application update
• Extra single quote character when copying Tags or Alarms from Excel
• Project Tree horizontal scroll position retention when scrolling vertically
• Certificates and Project Library resources saving
• Cross Reference tag type handling in some places
• Resources adding to libraries with uppercase extensions
• Values in expressions when reopening a project
• Performance when opening long scripts
• Translation in keyboard/keypad size and data log table button position settings

Runtime — Added

• Network Configuration dialog in the System Menu
• Script functions: Restart, VNC, Touch Calibration, Change Ethernet Settings
• Clear function in the list of keystroke keys
• Option to specify the path to save screen captures in script function
• Pinch and pan gestures on page (capacitive touch only)
• Settings app changes captured in CIMON Canvas's audit log
• Different size options for popup keypad and keyboard
• Buttons for the DataLog table
• Word wrap in text objects

Runtime — Changed

• Updated popup title bar design

Runtime — Fixed

• Performance and stability for projects with 20,000 tags
• Alarm banner display behavior with runtime settings
• Runtime handling of invalid file from file browser
• page.isOpen behavior for closed pages with long-running scripts
• Numeric Display suffix when decimal places are increased
• Input object focus when clicking the mouse in VNC
• RDP/VNC tab handling in ext04
• Admin password change for other users via Settings app
• Acknowledged alarm display in alarm summary object in Korean
• Communication consistency at high tag counts
• Page switching performance
• Input range validation for Watchdog delay

Gateway — Fixed

• Error code handling for Omron drivers
• Expanded datatype support on OPC UA client driver
• Reading Omron FINS TC and CC memory areas
• Read-only tag handling on Modbus drivers
• ATIVA Serial driver initialization
• SSL/TLS connection between MQTT JSON Publisher and Mosquitto brokers
• User authentication on Codesys V3 driver
• Melsec ENET driver access to expanded address ranges
• Omron drivers correctly supporting 64-bit tag processing
• Performance and stability for projects with 20,000 tags

Platform — Fixed

• eXT2 15-inch display jittering
• Application update reboot during import

Looking for a previous version? View the full CIMON Canvas release history.

Questions?

We'd love your thoughts on this release. For technical questions, write to support@cimon.com. You'll reach the team that built CIMON Canvas, and we typically reply same day.