Tips aligning things in FactoryTalk Studio

I've got FactoryTalk View Studio v7.0 and I'm finding the behavior of the alignment commands (align left, right, center, top, bottom, middle) very frustrating. In every other platform I've ever worked on, either the first or last control you select is the anchor and all the other controls align to it; a sensible way to do things. However, FactoryTalk seems to align to the one farthest in the alignment direction (alight left always chooses the control farthest to the left, for example). Center and Middle alignment seems to either choose a random control for the anchor (possibly always the longest/tallest control) or a random point that is almost but not quite the average center position with all controls moving to it. There also seems to be no way to align to the display (centering a header seems to always require me to manually calculate the left offset).

Given the far flung and limited documentation, I'm wondering if some of you guys have some tips. Ideally, I'd like a way to use a control of my choosing as the anchor and align the other controls to it like every other HMI creation tool on the planet. At the moment, I'm using snap to grid or manually calculating positions. Also, there seems to be no function for setting a selection of controls to the same height or width, is that hidden somewhere?

I have managed to discover I can hold shift and use the arrow keys to move controls 1 pixel at a time. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to shrink/grow a control 1 pixel at a time.

Well. I for one will be watching this space. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this is annoying and unpredictable!

I've gotten used to the alignment tool and I am actually pretty happy with it.

As for setting controls to the same height and width, open the property panel and just leave that window open on the side of your screen. Then go select each object you want to change (using the CTRL key) and make your changes in the Property Panel.

Unfortunately Rockwell has been reluctant to change something they have done one way for twenty years. You see it in the Logix software as well as in FactoryTalk View (previously RSView32, which was previously ControlView). That consistency is nice in some ways, and frustrating in others.

Although I do wish there was a Center on Page, Center Horizontally/Vertically on Page. I will often draw a horizontal line off the usable screen across the top and a vertical on the edge to which I can align objects on the screen.

Keep in mind that "Snap to Grid" will potentially throw off some of the center type alignments.

It definitely needs a nudge type option with the keyboard arrow keys. What passes for a nudge is not terribly useful.

OG

One way to "align to page" workaround that I've found is to create a panel that's the exact size as your page (located at 0,0 of course). Align to center and middle of this panel as needed. Having the panel the full size of the screen "forces" other objects to align to it. You can always delete the background panel when finished if necessary.
You're absolutely right, though, the alignment tools leave much to be desired. After 5 years of working with FT View, I'm no more fond of them now than I was when I started out. In contrast, the controls in Crimson are intuitive and effective. Very shallow learning curve.

Also, there seems to be no function for setting a selection of controls to the same height or width, is that hidden somewhere?

Click to expand...

Select all the objects you want to change the properties of on the screen but holding ctrl key and the mouse.Then with multiple objects selected Go to View- Property Panel scroll down to the property you want height for example and change for all objects selected.

I think what I'm about to say is similar to what the others have said...

if you open the property panel and select a horizontal "line" of misaligned numeric displays, there will likely be no entry on the "top" property.

If you click on that property, a number will appear... I don't know exactly what it is... an average "top" or what... but anyway, once you leave that entry, they will all be aligned to that number... which you can alter, of course

left, and other properties work similarly.

I think that once you become acclimated its not bad at all. Sometimes when working in office programs I wish I could align things using the same tools that FactoryTalk gives you

I've wished that sometimes in PowerPoint!

Another item people should be aware of is the Object Explorer. It's not related to alignment, but I think it is one of the best tools in the graphics editor.

OG

Operaghost said:

I've wished that sometimes in PowerPoint!

Another item people should be aware of is the Object Explorer. It's not related to alignment, but I think it is one of the best tools in the graphics editor.

OG

Click to expand...

Especially if the developer has gone to the trouble of logically grouping and naming things. It's slightly less helpful if you've got a list of "Text57" and "Line512" and "Group36"

When you are trying to see which object has visibility animation or which object is using tag XYZ (or both) I find it to be a great tool. I find it handy when dealing with grouped objects, even if they are using the default names. You can right-click on any object in the explorer window and get all the same options as right-clicking on the display object.

But certainly better naming is always good!

OG

Trying to make a line bigger or smaller drives me nuts. You drag it and its never straight!

Trying to make a line bigger or smaller drives me nuts. You drag it and its never straight!

Click to expand...

Left click the gripping point and use the arrow on your keyboard

JPTech said:

Left click the gripping point and use the arrow on your keyboard

Click to expand...

You can also hold either CTRL or Shift while stretching it and it'll stay aligned to 0/90/180/270 degrees, like Ortho mode in AutoCAD. Can't remember which button it is because I don't have access to a machine with studio on it at the moment.

mylespetro said:

You can also hold either CTRL or Shift while stretching it and it'll stay aligned to 0/90/180/270 degrees, like Ortho mode in AutoCAD. Can't remember which button it is because I don't have access to a machine with studio on it at the moment.

Click to expand...

Yep CTRL

The first thing I do is create all of my similar objects to the same sizes, so if I have a round button I'll do a 100x100 box and insert my button image(s).

Click one and then cntrl+click the other ones. You can set the "top" property in the property panel so they are all the same height.
The left/right part needs to be done with good ol' math depending on how many objects, their sizes, and the workspace size.

When aligning - you are correct in that it always picks the furthest point. Sometimes you'll have to do two actions to get the desired result.
If you want to to align two objects to their top and object A (100x100) is at 100 down while object B (100x50) is at 200, click A first, then B, and then Align Top. Now they are both at 100.
If you want the bottom of both of those objects to be at 200 (to match object A), do the same procedure above, but then do an additional Align Bottom.
Aligning the top of both objects first makes the bottom of object A the furthest point for the next alignment.

Keep this all in mind if you are dragging stacked objects off of each other. I drag them all to the same quadrant (like up and to the right). Then you can do a group align left and bottom to put them all back on top of each other. If you drag one object up and to the left and one to the bottom right, you wouldn't be able to select them all and align back to the original location.