Factory Talk View Studio Question

I'm pretty sure the answer is no but I'll ask anyhow. I (we) use multistate indicators to display sequence steps as a machine gets to them. Normally I have a good idea of what I want to do before I start.

But this time at the beginning of the sequence I want to prompt the operator to do something (load part) and then press start. So the muiltistate would display "Load Part Then Press Start" at step zero. Now to my question, is there any way to add visibility to the "Load Part Then" text so that after the part is sensed step zero just reads "Press Start" or am I dreaming? I understand I could do this totally outside the indicator but space is limited on a 7" PV.

More of a curiosity at this point but I want to ask the group.

Thanks

I would have the PLC make that decision and set bits, then use those bits for visibility of various messages as appropriate.

I_Automation said:

I would have the PLC make that decision and set bits, then use those bits for visibility of various messages as appropriate.

Click to expand...

The only way I see is to have step zero load the part. Then sneak a step 1 in to press start. Then I'd need a little logic to move a zero back into the register if the part were removed before starting.

I have programmed step values that at the end of the main routine I overwrite if needed.

On one line Step 5 is "Moving To Load Station" but that is after the operator presses a Load Confirm pushbutton. If the PLC is waiting for the button I change the step value to 99 and show "Waiting For Load Confirm"

On another machine (that I built for a friends shop - not a paying customer) when they press Cycle Start it usually shows "Closing Doors" but every 13 times it shows "OMG! WTF Did You Do?" by changing the step to 99, for 30 seconds when the 13 count is done, at the end of the main routine.

On that one he didn't notice that for 2 years of running it.

Maybe if each major step is +10, and the minor steps are 1 e.g.


Step 0 is "Load part and press start"
Step 1 (or 5) is arrived at after the part is loaded and "Press Start" is displayed
Step 10 is arrived at after the press start.


Maybe step 6 is for when Start was pressed but no part was detected yet, and it should display "Ready, please load part but be careful your arm is not pulled into the machine."

drbitboy said:

Maybe if each major step is +10, and the minor steps are 1 e.g.


Step 0 is "Load part and press start"
Step 1 (or 5) is arrived at after the part is loaded and "Press Start" is displayed
Step 10 is arrived at after the press start.


Maybe step 6 is for when Start was pressed but no part was detected yet, and it should display "Ready, please load part but be careful your arm is not pulled into the machine."

Click to expand...

Yes, my major steps jump by 10. It wouldn't be hard to do it this way. I was just curious if I could add visibility to certain text inside state 1 of a Multistate Indicator when I know in my heart that the whole indicator is what the visibility would change.

77nomad said:

Yes, my major steps jump by 10. It wouldn't be hard to do it this way. I was just curious if I could add visibility to certain text inside state 1 of a Multistate Indicator when I know in my heart that the whole indicator is what the visibility would change.

Click to expand...

If the indicator has an Alternate Text tag.