Test FactoryTalk View Client without PLC?

We may have to ship our PLC ahead of our PC and I'd like to keep working on the GUI. I found that FTView Studio has a place to point to an "offline tag file" under Communications. I copied the .ACD file locally and pointed there, and this seems to let me browse to the correct tags without the PLC connected (is this correct? The addresses are identical for online and offline tags as far as I can tell?) But when I run FTView Client without the PLC, none of the buttons work, and none of the fields populate. Can the client only reference online tags? Is there an easy way to test it offline? Thanks for any help! Sorry for what I assume is an obvious question; can't find any description in the Rockwell documentation.

Yes, the offline tag file is only for offline tag browsing and selection. It sounds like you want to look into purchasing the Logix 5000 Emulate package. That would simulate a running PLC so you can test your HMI.

OG

Thanks for confirming! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious. I'll look into that package.

That's where emulate really helps. Although I have found a few things don't work the same in emulate. Had some real timing problems with an SQO. But it's usually good enough for test the HMI.