User supplied text in PanelView 550

I am currently working on a project for a RailCar Unloader to 4 silos. I am using a MicroLogix 1200 w/ a PanelView 550 as it's HMI for the user to select which Silo to pull from and which Source(s) to load to. This program and HMI have been in place for several months and has been working great with references to the Silos by number (ex. Silo 1; Silo 2; etc.); however, the customer is now wanting to be able to change the Silo tag name as it is displayed on the HMI to a user-defined name that can be changed. (Ex. wants to be able to rename "Silo 1" to be "Regrind" or "Virgin", etc.) A simple approach I know would be to write the name choices in for them and let them choose from a drop down menu; however the customer would prefer to be able to change and define the name as needed.

Does anyone have an idea as to how this could be accomplished? To me it sounds like I would have to create a whole screen in PanelBuilder with the coding for text input (that would be a nightmare); but before I say it can't be done (at least at a nominal cost) I wanted to ask the "minds of Know".

Thanks,
Erik(dot)Ritzman(at)Unadyn(dot)com

Look into the Embedded Variable option on indicators. You can display variables, like strings, in the text fields.

It's not as difficult as you may think. You will probably have to create an extra screen where the user can enter custom names for each silo, but the text entry is all handled in the Panelview. If you use an ASCII Entry object in Panelbuilder, a text keyboard will pop up on the Panelview so the text can be changed by the user. It will need to reference a String register in your PLC, so you'll have to make a string data file if you don't have one already. If you have specific questions about using strings in a Panelview, post them here and I'm sure you'll get multiple responses.

Going into more detail, create a file of type String, and then you can address it in your panelview text entry objects.

The format for string tags in the PanelView will be:
STn:e.1

Where n is your file number and e is the element number. The ".1" tells the panelview to skip over the first byte of the string which is its length.

The data type will be "character array", and the "array size" will determine the maximum length of the string.

OkiePC said:

Going into more detail, create a file of type String, and then you can address it in your panelview text entry objects.

The format for string tags in the PanelView will be:
STn:e.1

Where n is your file number and e is the element number. The ".1" tells the panelview to skip over the first byte of the string which is its length.

The data type will be "character array", and the "array size" will determine the maximum length of the string.

Click to expand...

Would I do this for each silo, so that each one could be named differently? (ie: Silo1, Silo2, = Virgin, Regrind, etc?)

Yes, I would create the ST file with enough elements for at least as many silos as you have.

Each element in the ST file is up to a 82 character string, so in the PLC:

ST20:0 = "Silo 1 Name"
ST20:1 = "Silo 2 Name"
etc.

Then on your PV550, you can display the names with ASCII entry objects so that the names would be editable. On screens where you don't want the names to be editable, use text objects.