How can I make a navigation bar that is a screen within a screen?

AutomationNewbie

Member
A
Join Date
Sep 2014
Location
nc
Posts
60
I am interested in making a navigation bar that allows me to change from screen to screen. My whole goal is to have a bar that is displayed on multiple screens and be able to edit it from only one location. Currently, if I make one change to the navigation bar then I have go to each screen and make the same changes there also.

How can I make a navigation bar that is a screen within a screen?

Please help me out on this idea.

Thanks
 
This is easy. You make the navigation bar a separate display. It stays in place all the time, the rest of the monitor area is covered by a different display that gets replaced as you move from screen to screen.

For example:
Main HMI screen is from 0,0 to 1920,1000.
Menu bar is from 0,1001 to 1920, 1079.
 
Last edited:
Rookie mistake....You don't put navigation buttons on individual screens. As a previous poster said, build one display that has the buttons on it and position it at the bottom, top, whatever your preference. We always build a common header display with recent alarms and other pertinent information, and a footer with the navigation buttons and status. The dynamic displays that change are positioned in between the two.
 
robertmee said:
Rookie mistake....You don't put navigation buttons on individual screens.
Click to expand...

What if you have more screens than you can feasibly fit on just the header or footer? I mean granted, we have a header or footer that displays alarms, has navigation buttons, log in buttons, etc., but the navigation buttons just go to different areas of the plant. From those overview screens, we have navigation buttons that move between different processes or storage units (silos, etc). It's silly to assume that all applications will only have 10 screens, or however many you can fit on the header/footer.
 
SandwichMagic said:
What if you have more screens than you can feasibly fit on just the header or footer? I mean granted, we have a header or footer that displays alarms, has navigation buttons, log in buttons, etc., but the navigation buttons just go to different areas of the plant. From those overview screens, we have navigation buttons that move between different processes or storage units (silos, etc). It's silly to assume that all applications will only have 10 screens, or however many you can fit on the header/footer.
Click to expand...

That's easily accomplished by multiple menu bars that are context sensitive to the area being viewed. I think you missed the point. You don't put navigation buttons on displays. You allocate them to menu bars.
 
I just think that taking a hardline stance like that is a little draconic. Why is it so bad that the operators click the silo they are trying to view in order to go to the more detailed page to view it? If your screens are laid out like P&ID's (which I don't think is that uncommon) what is so bad about having a button that says "From CIP tank #2" or whatever on the screen so that they can follow the flow of a process? I believe that we are in an age in which the ideas of what is intuitive has changed, and I think that having menu navigation more along the lines of a phone app or the like is just the way that things will go. Granted, this is my opinion, but I suppose I just don't understand why putting menu navigation on the screens themselves is such a "rookie mistake" as you put it. I simply don't think it is a mistake.
 
I'm talking about the OP's method of putting redundant buttons that navigate to the same pages multiple times on each display page....those should be on a static menu bar somewhere not replicated on each page....surely you can see where that's a mistake. I never said that all navigation had to be enforced on a menu bar. I do exactly what you suggest when moving through a tank farm or from a storage facility to the use point.
 
robertmee said:
I'm talking about the OP's method of putting redundant buttons that navigate to the same pages multiple times on each display page....those should be on a static menu bar somewhere not replicated on each page....surely you can see where that's a mistake. I never said that all navigation had to be enforced on a menu bar. I do exactly what you suggest when moving through a tank farm or from a storage facility to the use point.
Click to expand...

I apologize, I misunderstood.
 
If it's functional it's not really a mistake. The OP wants to learn how to do it better which is why he asked and there is a solution. Some of the smaller screens don't allow for a lot of navigation. In those cases I do just link back to the main menu or have an arrow to the next page and last page.
 
I also have a header and footer that are called at project start and never get covered up. The header has system status and reset/login/logout etc controls, and the footer has all the main navigation controls. Then all the other displays fit between the header and footer.

This also has the advantage of having an always-present display to attach VBA code to.

The other alternative is global objects, as Bob O mentioned. These can be defined once and used in multiple places. You could also use a combination of both if you had a lot of displays - have a navigation pane that's always open, and on that display have a variety of context sensitive global objects, to show controls relevant to your currently defined screen. Depends on how simple or complex your application is!
 

Similar Topics

J
PanelView Navigation Bar
We have an existing PanelView application that utilizes a navigation bar. The navigation bar is a global object containing seven GoTo Display...
Replies
7
Views
2,031
jrsnydley
J
J
PvP 7 Win10 Screen Navigation
Greetings! I have had the extreme pleasure of being introduced to Rockwell's Win10-based PanelView Plus 7 and after having an extraordinarily...
2
Replies
15
Views
2,377
dmroeder
dmroeder
S
How to Reference A Navigation History Screen Name
Hello, I am using FactoryTalk View SE and would like to reference the Navigation History Screen Name to change visibility on some buttons. But I...
Replies
0
Views
1,372
shebang
S
P
FTView Key Navigation
I'm using Control List Selectors to select a source & destination. I have up/down buttons for each and this is how the operators will make their...
Replies
0
Views
952
phuz
P
I
How to create footer for navigation in factory talk studio me
Hi Friends, How can I create footer for Screen Navigation in Factory Talk please?
Replies
2
Views
1,617
OkiePC
OkiePC
Back
Top Bottom