Topics

1

Support Questions / List of tags...

« on: September 29, 2023, 09:48:02 AM »

Hi folks, when using EthernetIPforCLX.GetTagList - I get a lot of things which are not visible in the PLC tag list, and things which are the top level of an array, and not the members of the array. (MyFLoat[100] just comes out as MyFloat)

I only have controller-scoped tags and no program scoped ones, there are also lots of things like _DEFVAL_0000DEE etc, what are these and why do they show up when they aren't visible in the controller tag list in Studio?

2

Support Questions / VS 2022

« on: March 09, 2023, 05:58:56 AM »

Hi all, when I copy my project over to another (new) computer with VS 2022 on it instead of VS 2019, I can open the default AHMI project SLN but when I open my one (with created HMI) it has a blank toolbox and complains there are lots of components missing which are referenced in my main form. This is true, since the toolbox is empty but no idea why?

If I open my project in VS 2019, all works as expected, so why can VS 2022 not open my project copy with a working toolbox but yet can open the default SLN from the AHMI zip and the toolbox populates as expected?

toolbox > reset does not work.

3

Support Questions / Standard labels disappear in simplewebserver view

« on: April 27, 2021, 09:13:06 AM »

I've used the SimpleWebServer component and it works perfectly, really great addition to the components. I built a dashboard showing various plant metrics and using only AHMI components on the main form, all good.

Next, I built an app to use the standard Chart component from Windows to chart a rolling value from a PLC tag (controllogix) again it works perfectly in the HMI, I then added two standard Windows labels to display the value of the tag in one label, with a timestamp below the value in another label.

When the app is running, it is perfect but when viewed on a browser (using SimpleWebServer) then all of the standard Windows labels disappear? Only the chart works, and since there are only the CLX comms component, a VBTimer and the SimpleWebServer on the form with the chart and 3 labels (the 3rd one shows if my comms are ok using try...catch) then I can't understand why the label components all become invisible but the chart works.

This is the same in IE11 and Chrome (up to date) on a Win 7 / 64 machine.

Any ideas? Thanks. (VS2019 and 3.99 AHMI)

EDIT: further info, the chart object seems to be hiding all of the other components even if they are set to be in front of it. I am going to investigate that - it works perfectly as an application but only the web view is like this. Even if I add AHMI visual components on top of the border area of the chart, they are fine in the running app but invisible on the web server view.
 

4

Open Discussion / Label text is ugly at runtime

« on: April 20, 2021, 04:48:43 AM »

Hi folks,

I have a basic label (windows forms control) with white text on a black background (though the backcolour isnt the issue) and it looks fine at design time but when the application runs, the text looks multicoloured and "bitty" as if you can see through the letters.

Any ideas? Looks rubbish on screen especially on a large display. Not sure if this VS issue or AHMI.

5

Open Discussion / Checking the returned tag value against a preset

« on: April 15, 2021, 07:50:48 AM »

Hi all - I'm using AHMI for a great dashboard reading our CLX PLC's along with other things, and hit a problem I can't seem to solve yet (experienced in VB6, new to .NET)

I pull a string tag into a BevelButtonDisplay to show a production run code, so when the machine is running the production ID is entered by them on the local HMI at the console, and appears in my AHMI dashboard as it should.

When the machine is not running, no code is entered so I want to change the text in the BBD to "PLANNED DOWNTIME" lets say, however I seem to have issues finding the right property to check if the PLC is returning a blank string tag. I have tried the TextChanged property of the BBD so that as it changes to blank, I try to check if the .text = "" and initially that is true when no string is displayed (the PLC returned an empty string from that tag) - so I set the .text value of the BBD to "PLANNED DOWNTIME" but it gets over-written a second later as the tag refreshes - this time the TextChanged property never fires again??

I need a straightforward way to detect the PLC tag returning a blank string and then substitute my string into the control. I tried the DataSubscriber control but double clicking it does not take me to its events.

I have AHMI V3.99 and VS 2019. The data I am reading from the PLC works flawlessly, just need a method or property that is only true when the returned tag data matches a value. Seems like it should be easy, maybe I'm not seeing the solution.


EDIT I had to reboot VS as it had stopped letting me double click into a controls' code - weird. Anyway, I am using a timer to check the .text values and that works, so of course the EthernetIPforCLX overwrites the .text with the blank tag value every 500ms, and the timer puts the string back, so I guess I will have to read the tag value into an intermediate variable, check if it's blank and then write the default string to the DBB control if it is, and the proper data if not. I think the timer will be best for that function. This is instead of using the direct tag link in the DBB properties.

I think I answered my own question........!

Is there a standard VB style label control in VS? I can only seem to find ones that can't be resized at design time...