RSView32 Editable Information Pop-Up

I have a SCADA HMI, that needs an Information pop-up with the data on the motors at individual sites. I have the screens set up so they display how I want, but the text boxes I am having trouble with. The properties I need them to have are as follows
-Editable while in Run mode
-Save the input data when computer reboots

So I was making it work with the activex control - MSForms 2.0 Text Box, but it would'nt save the information after the computer was restarted(or when the Project was reloaded).

Any help on either setting this up or perhaps a different method would be great.

Someone told me about linking it to a Notepad file but I dont see anything online, or in my knowledgebase that points in that direction.

Thanks for anything.
Daniel

I believe that in RSView32 you can edit the text that appears as a "tool tip" when the mouse cursor gives focus to a graphic object. It has been many years since I used RSView32 so i cannot be more specific...

it gives me something else to fiddle with until I figure it out or get a detailed answer. Thanks Very Much

Perhaps linking a string display to a tag (but the tag would be linked to something like the notepad file. I dunno...

Well, I DO have RSView32 on this machine although I have no applications other than the sample to work with.


Right click on a graphic object and select "Object Name/Tooltip...". It will bring up a dailog box with the Tooltip data for you to edit.

Next thing I did was add a tooltip to the sample display and test it. I got a warning that, "Tooltips will only appear on objects with touch, slider or object key animation, or on buttons, data entry fields, and ActiveX controls."

Okay, so I added touch animation to the object. I put True in the touch animation field. True is an invalid macro, but I am just playing around...

So I go to Test mode again, and no tooltip. I do however get a warning in the activity bar about the invalid Macro I added...

So I add some tooltips to other objects and none seem to work.

Finally, I add the fourth one to an exisitng functioning button on the screen.

Then they all worked.

After several other experiments with tooltips, It seems sometimes they work and other times they don't...at first I was seiously puzzled, but finally figured out that they don't seem to work until the window that they are a part of has been given focus (by clicking on the background for example). Then they seem to work [EDIT: ALMOST] every time. When I clicked over to my windows explorer screen, then clicked back on the RSView32 Works app on the taskbar, the tooltips don't work, but the highlighted bordersr do work. Once I have clicked on the screen anywhere, then the tool tips work again.

Hope this helps,
Paul

EDIT: There is still some weirdness happening with them, I think it has to do with whether or not the parent window has received any input, and may also be affected by the speed of the mouse. It seems to matter how quickly I move the mouse over the object...I dunno for sure...

Im sure it will... let me just try to pull my brain off the frying pan

would you happen to have a screenshot of what you did?

Here ya go!

One more...Note that my mouse cursor does not appear in the captures but it really was there.

Im trying to do something more like a seperate little pop up display file, that uses retentative tags.

-I know AB has a tag retent program somewhere... trying to find it on their site and on my discs
-That will allow me to load seperate tags using a String input that will display the value as well as save the data on shut down.

Anyone know what program Im talking about?

I know what you need, but not what you're talking about (tag retent program?). You need to base the tooltip on a tag value, but RSView only lets you enter static text. I was wondering why Wonderware was making such a big deal about "dynamic tooltips" in some 9.x or 10.x release - it seems like such a trivial feature to implement, but can be so valuable at providing good info for operators.

You could probably modify the value via VBA script, but that'll be pretty knarly. I don't think there's a well defined event to base updates off of (unless you just need to update when the window opens, etc), so you'll end up polling.

SocialDeviat said:

Im trying to do something more like a seperate little pop up display file, that uses retentative tags.

-I know AB has a tag retent program somewhere... trying to find it on their site and on my discs
-That will allow me to load seperate tags using a String input that will display the value as well as save the data on shut down.

Anyone know what program Im talking about?

Click to expand...

I figured it out... RSView32 has a program that installs with it, which will allow me to save a value that was input into a tag, so My data pop-up will auto save info on close and restart of RSView, as well as allow me to add and edit during run mode using string inputs. I will post a screenshot when I finish the first one.

The program is called TagRetent.exe

If you put a search for it im sure you'll find it

Came to this discussion late, but yes, the TagRetentive program is what you need. However, use it with caution. It is an applet that runs outside of RSView32 (why they didn't embed it like Wonderware, I'll never know), and runs in the task bar as a minimized icon. I've used it for about 8 years in various applications and almost invariably, over time, the database file it generates becomes corrupt and will show a 0 byte size. I think it has to do with an abnormal shutdown of RSView32 (ie. power failure). I even shutdown TagRetent in the Shutdown macro of RSView32 and that still doesn't prevent corruption (of course in a power failure event, you can't do anything).


So, long story short, if you want to save your work and not lose it, it is imperitive that you back up the TagRetentive file (*.csr) periodically so that you can recover it. You can even put an action object on your HMI to copy the backup over to the active directory when a corruption occurs.

Cool, Thanks - Please do post a screenshot. I didn't get any hits on a search here or Google for TagRetent. Weird - I don't understand why Rockwell's so weird about stuff like that. It sounds pretty hacky.

So I'm guessing that it allows some sort of substitution string or expression in "any ol'" static text area in View?

SocialDeviat said:

I figured it out... RSView32 has a program that installs with it, which will allow me to save a value that was input into a tag, so My data pop-up will auto save info on close and restart of RSView, as well as allow me to add and edit during run mode using string inputs. I will post a screenshot when I finish the first one.

The program is called TagRetent.exe

If you put a search for it im sure you'll find it

Click to expand...

OMFG! You've got to be kidding! Hopefully it's not running anything important . No wonder they're not advertising it.

Out of curiosity, how do you detect "when a corruption occurs"? Or are you just periodically copying a file on top of the active one?

robertmee said:

Came to this discussion late, but yes, the TagRetentive program is what you need. However, use it with caution. It is an applet that runs outside of RSView32 (why they didn't embed it like Wonderware, I'll never know), and runs in the task bar as a minimized icon. I've used it for about 8 years in various applications and almost invariably, over time, the database file it generates becomes corrupt and will show a 0 byte size. I think it has to do with an abnormal shutdown of RSView32 (ie. power failure). I even shutdown TagRetent in the Shutdown macro of RSView32 and that still doesn't prevent corruption (of course in a power failure event, you can't do anything).

So, long story short, if you want to save your work and not lose it, it is imperitive that you back up the TagRetentive file (*.csr) periodically so that you can recover it. You can even put an action object on your HMI to copy the backup over to the active directory when a corruption occurs.

Click to expand...