Panel View Plus 600

[joseph_e2]

Can you share the PLC program file here? You said you're online with the PLC; I assume you're connecting to the RS232 port on the PLC. Do you have a copy of the RSLogix file with symbols & comments?


I remember with some HMI/SLC combinations being able to transfer the file to/from the HMI by having RSLinx pass through the SLC processor. If you have (or can get) PanelBuilder32, that may be an option if you can't get a UIC cable, but the pass-thru may only work over DH485. It's been a long time since I had to do one of these.


If you had the HMI file, it might be easier to figure out the handshaking and diagnose what's going on.

 

[AlignPLC]

The handshake has nothing particularly to do with a cable, only bits.

I may have misunderstood your initial post -- what I understood you to be saying was that it shunted you to the main screen when you went to enter the passcode (that is, when you brought up the actual number entry).

Just to verify, is it instead the case that it happens as soon as you navigate to the password entry screen?

If so, then the numeric entry may be a red herring, and you should be looking at the logic for screen control instead. Are there other screens you can normally navigate to without putting in a passcode, and if so does that navigation work?

There may be up to two integers involved in screen control -- one written to by the Panelview that tells the PLC what screen it is currently on & one written to by the PLC that instructs the Panelview to go to a screen (annoyingly, both are called 'Screen Number' by the Panelview manual and software). If you can identify them, then when the Panelview is on the main screen make a note of what screen number that is and look for the logic that is writing that number to the Panelview.

So far the issue is that whatever screen I’m initially on after startup or whether I’ve forced a screen up through the plc if I try to navigate to another screen I’m kicked out immediately. And like I said I can force screens but it does me no good because any function on the screen itself won’t work because I assume there’s other parts to the logic that need to be true for that action to actually take place. I’m also looking at a database that gives me all the Bit addresses and their descriptions which is how I found out where to force certain screens on the PV on

 

[AlignPLC]

Can you share the PLC program file here? You said you're online with the PLC; I assume you're connecting to the RS232 port on the PLC. Do you have a copy of the RSLogix file with symbols & comments?


I remember with some HMI/SLC combinations being able to transfer the file to/from the HMI by having RSLinx pass through the SLC processor. If you have (or can get) PanelBuilder32, that may be an option if you can't get a UIC cable, but the pass-thru may only work over DH485. It's been a long time since I had to do one of these.


If you had the HMI file, it might be easier to figure out the handshaking and diagnose what's going on.

I will try to get those on here. As of yet I’m not too savvy with that. It asks for a url for my attachments I want to share. I don’t know how to get those on here. I’m working on getting another license for rs logix, rs linx, factory talk and panel builder. My understanding is I would need the uic connection and panel builder 32 correct?

 

[Ken Roach]

Let's take a little step back and talk about how screen navigation works in PanelBuilder32 / PanelView Standard.

PanelViews are a one-screen-at-a-time HMI. When you open a new screen, the old screen closes, rather than being an on-top or pop-up. Every screen has a number.

Most screen navigation is done with just three objects: Go To Screen, Return, and Screen Selector. Those just tell the PanelView OS which screen to open when you press a button.

But the PanelView also optionally writes the number of the currently displayed screen to the PLC register associated with the Screen Number Tag. That's on the Status Tags tab of the Application Settings window.

And the PanelView screen number can be controlled by configuring it to read a value from the Screen Number Tag configured on the Control Tags tab of the Application Settings window.

You may be able to find those tags addresses in your PLC program because of how they are labeled or used, or you can upload the PanelView application and look for them there.

Because there are no security features in the old PanelView platform, many users rolled their own screen navigation and security using those features. There were a lot of different ways to do it, but they all relied on the terminal reading the Screen Number Tag configured on the Control Tags tab and opening that screen.

VERY IMPORTANT: When the Screen Number Tag being read from the address configured in the Control Tags is zero, then the ordinary Go To and Return buttons work normally. When the value is nonzero, they don't.