The visualization system integrated in Automation Studio is an effective tool that can be used to create line displays or control integrated or remote XGA displays with keys and/or touch screens.
Integration of the visualization system in the control means that the communication times that are normally required for remote visualization systems are no longer an issue.
Visual Components
- Creating process diagrams WYSIWYG
- Displaying process diagrams on the target system
- Common management of both the visualization and controller projects
- Supporting displays from 2x20 characters to XGA resolution
- True color support for color displays
- Interactions via keys and touch screen
- Flexible key assignments for hardware keys and touch buttons
- Structured arrangement of visualization components in the project
- Standard controls for designing process images
- Language switching with Unicode support
- Management and display of current and past alarms
- Display of trend data
- Style sheets for managing the properties of objects (GUI template)
- Uniform management of and access to process data
- Unit switching, scaling and limiting process data
- Open user interface (API)
- Remote operation in terminal mode or as VNC visualization system
- Scalable runtime system
Controls
- Lines and shapes
- Touch keys with bitmaps and text whose appearance and responses can be configured
- Hotspots for defining touch fields on touch screens
- Text input and output fields, Unicode-capable with language switching and format options
- Bitmaps that can be animated by overlapping and connecting with groups
- Flexible bar graphs with color switching
- Numeric input and output with touch screen support
- ListBox control for input and output
- Drop down control
- Date and time formats, display can be configured (depending on language)
- Flexible alarm control with colors and symbols to differentiate between alarms
- Flexible trend control element for displaying trend curves
- Edit control element for entering texts (similar to Notepad)
- HTML control element for displaying HTML pages
- Password entry
- Pie chart
- Media control element for playing audio and video files (Windows®-based visualization systems)
Representation on graphic displays
- Support of TrueColor (32-bit) graphics in the editor and during runtime
- Management of all image files used in a project (BMP, PNG, GIF)
- Transparent colors for 8-bit and 32-bit graphic files (alpha channel)
- Preset images for alarm system and numeric/alphanumeric touchpads
- Symbol library with over 6000 graphics
- Color mapping tables for indexing the foreground and background colors of control elements using Boolean variables
Scalable runtime system
- Automation Runtime or Windows runtime system
- Terminal mode - multiple visualization systems can be configured on a controller
- Remote operation of the visualization system via VNC using a modem, Intranet or Internet connection
- Parallel access to multiple visualization systems
- Visualization, drive and control programs and an operating system on a CompactFlash
Language switching with Unicode support
- International configuration with scalable Unicode True Type fonts
- Language switching during runtime and during development
- Unlimited number of languages
- Text translation with export/import formats
- External language import using a command line tool