Desktop.DASH Add Indicators
November 2012
Previously we setup the Desktop.DASH project and the target Mitsubishi PLC (FX or Alpha2) communications driver.
Home Desktop.DASH
Desktop.DASH provides a number of displayable controls, or widgets, from Main Menu > Dashboard or via the short-cut keys shown...
Dashboard Controls Summary
SLIDER - Provides a draggable slider that can send a value between upper and lower limits to a PLC data store
DISPLAY - Can display a PLC store value (numeric) in either formatted text, a bar graph or both; or display static text or Instant Messenger texts
BUTTON - Can be pressed to SET, RESET or PLS (hold for duration) a Binary store value
LAMP - Changes color according to the value state of the associated PLC store
TEXT - Provides "Text List" functionality, ie messages that can be assigned to the value of a numeric PLC store
IMAGE - Can display a static image or alternating images according to the value of a binary or numercial PLC store value
USER - Provides UserLevel LOGIN and LOGOUT functionality; for when the Dashboard is running in full screen mode
VALUE - Can be used to input a value to write to a PLC Store
Note
You can add up to 40 controls to the Dashboard. And only ONE dashboard page, PLC and background image are supported
In this section we'll add Indicators, that is, READ only type controls, that include Display, Lamp and Image, etc.
Display Control
Primarily the Display Control can be used to show formatted PLC values, as discussed here, but it can do much more, also new for V2 is the Gauge display, plus transparency.
Indicators provided by the Display Control
Add a new display control from the dashboard menu...
New Display Added
Essentially all the controls have the same configuration procedure; which should become intuitive once you have set one or two up.
Hover your mouse over the display form and right-click; then choose Setup...
Right-Click Menu
What you will see is a common set up form for all the dashboard controls (except for the USER control)...
Common Setup Form
Notable Points
The form will open and the relevant TAB for the chosen control will be will be selected.
Typically that one TAB will include all the configurable elements, on a couple controls it is possible to select options from other TABs, however, for the most part only the selected TAB values will be stored when you press the [Ok] button.
UserLabel - you can set any meaningful control title here eg Room Temperature, however, this can also be used to access the control via Instant Messenger, in which case you MUST use provide a label without SPACES, and to save your texting thumbs, keep it as short as possible eg RmTmp
DataPoint - choose the desired PLC store that this control will map to. Again, if using Instant Messenger then that point can be access by it's UserLabel, eg RmTmp. If you do not enter a valid DataPoint the driver system will ignore the display control during normal PLC device polling.
If the Display Mode is set to text then the Value Formatting #.# is applied. eg 1234 from D0 would be displayed as 12.34 if the format is #.##.
If the Display Mode includes "Bar" then the Maximum and Minimum displayable range can be set for the bar graph display.
When you press [Ok] the data entered will be validated before the form closes and the values are stored.
Display Gadget
The Display Gadget is intended for numerical values, and has a number of options:-
UserLabel Only displays the label with no other value
Value Only Fixed displays the value in a fixed font size only
Value Only Filled displays the value to the full size on the display form
Label/Value Fixed works as Mode 2, except for Mode 4 the Fixed Font Scale option becomes available to increase the size of the value font-size
Label/Value Filled works as Mode 3, where the label remains at the selected font-size, yet the value will fill the form
Bar Graph Only converts the value to a solid bar within the limits of the Maximum and Minumum Bar Values
Bar & Border is as Mode 6 plus a border around the whole bar area that could be filled
Value & Bar as Mode 6 plus the actual numerical value is displayed
Value & Bar & Border as Mode 6 and Mode 7 combined
Update! As of V2.104 Display supports Mode 10
10. Simple Gauge displays a dial type meter which will grow and shrink with the resizing of the form
Update! As of V2.110 Display supports Modes 11 and 12
11. Time HH:MM:SS will take any Integer or Double-integer value and convert it to the 24 Hours Time format (for example Seconds from midnight will convert to the actual time of day, or perhaps a count up or count down value could be used as a timer). Plus 24 hours to minus 24 hours can be accommodated, otherwise ">24h!" or "<24h!" will be displayed
12. Slightly different, the Timer Xd Xh Xm Xs mode will take any Integer or Double-integer value and convert it the corresponding Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds format (for example 999999 will convert to "11d 13h 46m 39s", and leading null values are omited, so 999 will display as "16m 39s". This could be used for a large display of any long running time to/from an event past or future. For example "Shift Ends in 2h 40m 35s", or "Big Sale starts in 3d 16h 55m 2s".
Other Options
An option for numerical values only is [ ] Fill with Zero's. Check this then dial in the number of leading zero's required.
Once done, the title bar of the control will display the PLC store address, and you can move and re-size the display control as required...
Basic Display Setup Complete
Demo & Run Modes
At this point if you are not connected to the target PLC then you can start in Demo Mode and the program will generate random numbers into the display control.
To start demo mode go to Main Menu > System > Demo Mode or hit SHIFT + F5.
If you are actually connected to the target PLC then you can start in Run Mode with Main Menu > System > Run or hit F5.
To exit either mode choose Main Menu > System > Stop or hit F6.
Hide & Show Borders
Regardless of run or demo modes, if the control borders are visible it is possible to move and resize each control; although it is not possible to edit any control.
In a kiosk or concourse situation it would be desirable to disable both the "move" and "re-size" features, and it would be useful to go full screen too.
To alternate the display of control borders hit F10.
Go Full Screen
To alternate full screen display hit F11. (Note you may have to hit F11 a couple of times to cycle the window to the point where it hides the Task Bar, and also set the Task Bar to auto-hide!)
Lamp Control
A lamp control can provide a 2 state colored beacon that can be static or flashing.
Choose a lamp from the dashboard menu...
New Lamp Added
Lamp controls have an automatic resizing feature to fit the control they are displayed on. You will need to experiment with this, just drag the bottom right hand corner of the form around until you get the result you are looking for...
Lamp Resized
Note
If you cannot get the lamp to fit inside the form borders then choose Main Menu > Admin > Options > Select the Display TAB and adjust the Graphics Fudge values!
Right-click the lamp and access the Setup Properties...
Lamp Properties
As usual, choose a meaningful UserLabel eg "Fire Alarm" and select a binary DataPoint to map the control to. Also, you can select a numerical DataPoint, if it's 0 or below the lamp will be deemed as OFF, and if at 1 or above, it will be deemed as being ON.
Use the [...] color picker buttons to choose your required colors for ON and OFF states.
You can check [ ] Blink when ON to have the lamp flash (note the flashing frequency is dependent upon the Polling Time MS set when you choose a communications driver.)
And finally, this is one of those controls that can have parameters selected from other TABs, in this case the Audio TAB.
If you want an audio file played when the lamp changes from an OFF to an ON state then select an audio file via the Audio TAB...
Opt. Lamp Audio Properties
Important Notes
Be very careful here!
If your lamp is blinking then the audio file will LOOP - so it must be shorter in duration than the overall polling time.
If your lamp is NOT blinking then your audio file gets played once on a state change from OFF to ON - so it can be longer than the overall polling time, but should be kept as short as possible anyway.
If more than one control has an audio file attached, then those files will play over each in the event that those controls become true at the same time. (Could be messy!)
You should experiment with this setting to ensure that you get the desired result.
Audio File
Use the [...] browse button to find the file you want played. It must be in .WAV format.
Press the [Play] button to make sure the file will work Ok (as not all WAV files are compatible!)
Like all other resources, when you select an audio file, or image file, etc, they are copied from the source folder to the local project folder.
Once one or more audio files have been added to the project they will appear in the pull down list shown above the buttons.
Press [Ok] on the set up form once you are done to store your lamp control settings.
Image Control
Add an Image control from the dashboard menu and choose it's properties...
Image Properties
The Image control has additional methods and options over other 2 state controls. You can use the image control to simply display a logo or mimic graphic on your dashboard, you can map 2 images to a value (binary or numerical) that changes between 0 and 1, and the associated OFF and ON images will be displayed, you can define an image that is rendered by some other process, perhaps a WebCam application that generates images on a time or demand basis, or you can select a single image from a range of images using a numerical index.
Update! As of V2.110 Image supports animated GIF's for both static and 2 State scenarios
Image Control Mode specifies how the Image control operates:-
Static Image - just a graphic that does not have any dynamic alteration
Dynamic (2 State) - in which case you must specify both an OFF image and an ON image, as well as a mapped DataPoint
AutoLoad - in which case you specify a folder and file name, and that image is loaded whenever it changes (the intention is to select a Web Cam image that updates periodically and display it)
Indexed - selects a single image from a range of images using an asterisk * placeholder in the filename. e.g. personnel*.jpg would select personnel10.jpg if the associated D Store had a value of 10
Image Display Mode specifies how the image is rendered within the area of the image control form dimensions:-
Normal Image - will display the image in it's original dimensions. If the control form is smaller then scroll bars will become visible
Centre Image - will place the image in the middle of the control form, again adding scroll bars if it's larger than the form
Stretch Image - will enlarge OR reduce the image to fit the dimensions of the image control form
Press [Ok] on the set up form once you are done to store your image control settings.
Demo Mode of Controls Added
From left to right, we've added Image, Lamp and Display controls and configured their basic settings.
In the next section we'll look at the Web and Text controls - these again are READ only and are immediately available for use.