Messages

16

Support Questions / Re: Read String From Holding Registers

« on: March 26, 2018, 07:35:02 AM »

When I try to download the file from reply #11, I get an "Internal Server Error" and a message to "contact the server administrator, webmaster@downloads.advancedhmi.com and inform them of the time the error occurred".

17

Support Questions / Re: Using the Recipe.ini file

« on: March 23, 2018, 03:09:31 PM »

Archie,

When I replaced the file and built, I got two errors:

BC30456 'GetComComponent" is not a member of 'Utilities'.
BC30456 ' ListSettings' is not a member of 'InParser'.

Both reference the RecipeButton.vb, lines 96 and 151, respectively.

I am downloading the latest version of AdvancedHMI now and will try again.  My version was v399w and the latest is v399x.

Update:  Same error after downloading latest and replacing the file.

18

Support Questions / Re: Using the Recipe.ini file

« on: March 23, 2018, 12:02:44 PM »

Yes, the value showed up.  No errors.  The recipe button either continued to use the value in the IniFileSection field or, if nothing was in that field, it just didn't do anything.  I verified the STRING value in the referenced PLC tag "should" have been right.

19

Support Questions / Re: Using the Recipe.ini file

« on: March 22, 2018, 02:43:42 PM »

Here is how to link that to the PLC.

- In Solution Explorer, expand down the AdvancedHMIControl project
- Expand down the Controls folder
- Right click RecipeButton.vb and select View Code
- Go to line 53 and insert this code just above the #End Region

Code: [Select]

    Public Property PLCAddressIniFileSection As String
-Build the Solution

You will now have a property for the Recipe button named PLCAddressIniFileSection that can be used to link to a tag in the PLC

I tried this (and just about every other variation I could think of) and couldn't make the Section dynamic.  I sure would appreciate some help 

20

Support Questions / Re: Using the Recipe.ini file

« on: March 12, 2018, 03:53:44 PM »

Ok.  So it appears that the RecipeButton was designed to have fixed values set for the IniFileName and IniFileSection fields.  I hope those can be set dynamically.

Because I have upwards of 200 recipes on some machines, I would like to have a single screen with maybe 20 recipe selections and buttons so the operators can go to multiple pages.  Each time the operator presses "Next Page" or "Previous Page", the associated recipes for those 20 buttons would change.  I do that today within my PLC, so that part is known.  For the HMI, however, I'm thinking to use a single button (hidden away somewhere) and to then indirectly address the IniFileSection field to the effect of (Please forgive that the coding is incorrect and incomplete.  I'm not in the application right now and it's not my second language yet):

RecipeRead1.Click()
RecipeButton1.IniFileSection = EthernetIPforCLXCom.Read("ProductName1", 1)
Call RecipeButton1.Click()

RecipeRead2.Click()
RecipeButton1.IniFileSection = EthernetIPforCLXCom.Read("ProductName2", 1)
Call RecipeButton1.Click()

and so on.

21

Support Questions / Using the Recipe.ini file

« on: March 12, 2018, 02:51:31 PM »

Is there an example or tutorial out there of how someone is using the recipe.ini file?  I haven't found anything in my searches.

Thanks in advance.
Steve

22

Support Questions / Re: Date & Time to PLC

« on: November 03, 2017, 11:04:50 AM »

AB CompactLogix.

Ok.  This method seems to work well.  Because the Timer.Interval is an integer, the max setting is 65,536 or (65.536 seconds), I chose to set my updates for every 65 seconds.  This should be plenty often for my needs and allows the clock to cycle all the way through so that I should never miss a "minute" of timing has passed.

23

Support Questions / Re: Date & Time to PLC

« on: November 03, 2017, 07:25:27 AM »

I will give this a try.

There are two reasons I want to do this from the HMI to the PLC rather than the other way around.  First, I am using this HMI to control two completely separate but mirror-imaged machining cells.  Each cell has its own PLC and, with a couple of minor exceptions, the two PLC programs a virtually identical.  One feature the HMI then has is production monitoring which, in turn, is time based and uses each of the PLC's internal clocks.  Since both show up on the same HMI page, discrepancies in the two clocks become obvious.  Second, the time tracking of a PLC is notably less accurate than a PC based HMI.  Operations uses these clocks pretty faithfully and I'm frequently having to update clocks on other similar systems where there the PLC clock is the master.  I'd like to begin eliminating that issue.

Hope that makes sense.

24

Support Questions / Date & Time to PLC

« on: November 02, 2017, 04:08:14 PM »

Is there an easy way to send the Date and Time data from the HMI application to the PLC?  I figure I can scratch out some code and a timebased update routine if I have to, but I imagine someone is already doing this.  Thanks in advance.

25

Support Questions / Re: Transparent FormChangeButton

« on: October 31, 2017, 11:28:31 AM »

Well, after some scouring of the web, it appears I have my solution.  The problem was that I was trying to place the FormChangeButton on top of a PictureBox.

This is not allowed.  In fact, as I understand it, no two controls can be placed on top of each other with the lower of the two showing through the upper.  The only way for a control to be transparent and display what is below it is for the control to be directly on the page.

So, my solution is to place my cell image on the page itself (Form.BackgroundImage=>image.jpg) and then adjust my FormChangeButton to be transparent

FormChangeButton.Appearance.Backcolor => Transparent
FormChangeButton.FlatAppearance.Bordersize => 0
FormChangeButton.FlatAppearance.MouseDownBackColor => Transparent
FormChangeButton.FlatAppearance.MouseOverBackColor => Transparent
FormChangeButton.FlatAppearance.Bordersize => 0
FormChangeButton.FlatStyle => Flat
FormChangeButton.Font.Text => (Blank)

26

Support Questions / Transparent FormChangeButton

« on: October 31, 2017, 08:15:09 AM »

I'm trying create formchange buttons that are active but transparent.  Basically I have a page with a cell layout and the operator will touch the one of several machines and the HMI will then switch to display a machine-specific page.  I can't seem to find a way to make the buttons transparent though.