Panelview Plus English Metric Swap

Panelview Plus

I wrote a program for an OEM machine that I orinally did with all distance and velocity parameters in English.

New customer wants all units to be Metric.

Since this is a machine that constantly reproduced, I would like to make it so that I can easily just change units via a button press on some setup screen somewhere.

I used all Numeric inputs with a text field to the right or left describing what the parameter is and what it's range is.

Ideally, It would be nice if I could just have the text boxes enumerated such that when the units change its switches from one set of fixed text strings to another. I don't as yet see a way to do this.

Right now the only thing I see to do is embed variables inside the text fields and create tags for all the ranges such that the units change text and all the range numbers are modified accordingly.

Does anyone have a more clever or efficient method of handling this?

On each Text Object - Animation - Visibility.

Two texts for each object, one visible if 'Metric', the other if 'English' (or 'Metric' = 0)

Hi Bernie,
I like that idea. Do you have any tricks regarding how to make it easier to handle the texts in developement mode? Since this effectively requires me to superimpose two text fields over one another it seems like it might get tricky trying to select them. Are you just working from the object explorer?

Thanks,
Damian

You could also use a HMI internal scalar (for the english-metric conversion) that is assigned based on another internal tag flag indicating the display units of choice - it could also drive the list box for the units displayed (inch or millimeters, etc). There are a number of creative ways to skin that cat.

jstolaruk said:

it could also drive the list box for the units displayed (inch or millimeters, etc)

Click to expand...

Can you please clarify exactly what you meant by "drive the list box"?

Well, maybe a multistate indicator would be more appropriate here but the idea is the same.

For example, when the aforementioned internal tag is 0 (say representing inches, the PLC's native units), the indicator displays state 0 and in it's caption you put the PLC's value (see embedded variable). When the state is 1. the caption is the PLC's value * 25.4 (or another internal defined scalar). It also gives you the ability of changing the number of digits to the right of the decimal point.

Again, just an example. The internal tag can be just as easily a PLC tag.

A couple of thoughts.

1. Make 2 screens one metric one English. Make two goto buttons. Create two parameter files with one tag ie:#1. In Metric Parameter File #1=TRUE in English Parameter File #1=False. On Goto Buttons open Screen and load English or Metric File. Put Visibility on Goto Buttons. {#1} is true then the English Goto Button would be visible because metric file loaded. {#1} is false then the Metric Button would be visible because the English File is loaded.
You create True and False Tags in System folder and give then intial value of 1 and 0.
(which by the way comes in handy in more ways than this)

2.Create a parameter file for all text display's on same screen and create Metric tag folder and English tag folder. Numeric Display would stay the same and place parameter {#2} in String Display. You still load corresponding Parameter File with goto button or Display List. You just have to type all those intial values in for text but even if stacked you still have to type them in.
I prefer number 2

Metric Parameter >>>>>>>>>>>English Parameter
#2={Metric\text1}>>>>>>>>>>#2={English\text1}
#3={Metric\text2}>>>>>>>>>>#3={English\text2}