Basics on Encryption

The encryption of panels and CTRL scripts/libraries (in the following the term "scripts" is being used) allows encrypting your panels and scripts and protect your knowledge and work. Unauthorized persons have no access to your functions and cannot change panels by using the GEDI.

Easy Editing of Panels and Scripts and additional protection via a Hash Value

Project panels and scripts can be viewed, modified and saved in an uncomplicated manner at the plant without needing additional tools (USB stick, hard disc) or a network connection.

A hash value in a password protects encrypted panels and scripts. The hash value is queried when opening a panel or a script via the GEDI. If the hash values are identical, a panel or a script is opened for editing. A file that was opened by using hashing, can only be saved by using encryption.

A password must optionally only be entered once and allows you to open and save panels within the current session.

License Requirement for Encryption

If you do not want to provide your scripts or panels, for example, of a specific feature directly you can also encrypt the panels and scripts and set a license requirement. This means that a specified license keyword has to exist in a license container in order to use the specific feature (panels, scripts). This provides a profitable advantage when delivering WinCC OA extensions that were implemented with great effort and high costs.

The config entry "autoEncryption" can be used in the [httpServer] section. The entry is 1 by default. If the entry is 1, panels and scripts will be automatically encrypted on the server and stored in the WinCC_OA_Proj/cache as well as sent to the client and saved encrypted on the client.

There is a drawback in the autoEncryption: encrypted files can not be compressed to a smaller size than the original files. Therefore the transferred file size is larger than without encryption.

The encryption of panels is described in the chapter Encryption of Panels. For the encryption of CTRL scripts/libraries see Encryption of CONTROL scripts/libraries.

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