FactoryTalk View Studio ME Masked Numeric Entry

newguy937

Member
Join Date
Jun 2014
Location
Ohio
Posts
9
The title pretty much sums it up, but to elaborate I am using a PanelView Plus 700 and Machine Edition.

I want to have a numeric entry screen that pops up an on screen numeric keypad that will mask the entry.

I would settle for no on screen keypad with just a masked numeric entry and use the physical number pad

Our current method is to use the string entry but since the entry is entirely numeric I would prefer not to have an entire keyboard pop up.



If there is any way to achieve this I would love to know.

Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to offer.
 
Not sure if it will work for you, but several ways I've handled that are:

1: Set the entry text color to be the same as the background color

2: Set the font size for the entry text to be microscopic

3: (My general favorite) Set the font for the entry text to be something wierd, like a symbolic font, wingdings, emoticons, whatever.
 
On String Input Enable Object Select String Tab Then Under String Pop Up Select Scratchpad Then Check Box To Mask Scatchpad. The Scratchpad will require an external keyboard. The Entry's will show as #####. Then Use the Enter Button To Complete Entry.

To Use the Numeric Keypad Rdrast solution's sound cool. I like the (My General Favorite).
 
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Thanks for the suggestions guys.

rdrast- I am unable to change the font type, size or color though that would have worked out great if I could have.

cwal61- Thank you for this suggestion. It worked out quite well. The only difference between your suggestion and how we had been doing this was your suggestion is to only show the scrachpad. I am not sure why I hadn't thought of that before.


Thanks again for you fairly quick replys.
 
I am basically trying to do the same thing but we don't have an external keypad, we can only use the touchscreen on the HMI. I don't see any way to change the text or font size on the numeric entry. I assume things have changed in factorytalk in the last 5 years. My solution was to create my own keypad out of momentary push buttons and program everything in the PLC. My only problem is that if you try to hit the same number two times in a row it only registers the first one and you have to wait a second to hit it again, or if you hit it three times in a row quickly it only registers 2 entries. This is a mild annoyance so I'm still wondering if anyone has a solution to mask the numeric input enable. Like the original post, we have used string input enable before but we only want to show numbers since all the passwords are numbers and it is faster to type it in on a keypad than a keyboard. Any suggestions?
 
There is a hold time on momentary buttons. It defaults to 250ms. So maybe you're pressing more than once in that time frame. It lowest setting is 50ms.
 
I have it set at 50ms. I've tested with a stopwatch how fast I can start and stop it and lowest I've gotten is 120ms so I feel like the button should be able to handle it fine, but it doesn't. I don't suppose there is a better button for this task? I haven't found one.
 
How about the display settings. Screen update rate. It defaults to 1 sec. lowest is .01
 
I made subroutine and a keypad. If your interested. I was able to mask the keypad display. aka. (string display) using an expression. It converts the numbers to string using DTOS and indirect addressing to increment the keystroke into a string. Then converts it back to DINT. I limited it to 9 digits for the password the 10th will show "Invalid Entry"
Here's some pictures of the keypad. The Attached Zipped files are the logic and On Top Display. Both are exported files from the software. RS5000 and FTVME

Keypad.PNG Keypad 1.PNG Keypad 2.PNG
 
Does yours have the same problem as mine where you can't hit the same number two times a row quickly? If it doesn't then maybe my logic is slowing it down. I can't view your logic as it says "the specified l5x file does not contain a controller export"
 
I just exported the subroutine, I would think you should just unzip the file and import the subroutine. Import into a new project that way it will not add tags and the UDT string into your existing project. I did not notice any delays. Here is a picture of the logic in case you can't import. It's only 4 rungs.

keypad logic.PNG
 
That is much simpler than mine. I can't figure out how to import that factory talk xml to look at the keypad itself. Trying to figure out how you get the numbers from the keypad into the plc
 
I have never used interlocked pushbuttons before but I will try it. I think I understand it mostly. I will let you know how it goes
 
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the Keypad is interlock push buttons with values of 0-9. The Backspace and Enter are momentary BOOL tags.

Once you unzip the keypad, in the FTVME Explorer pane just right click on Displays and select import. Then navigate to the location to select.
 
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