Draw Workspace

Understanding the Draw Workspace

The Draw workspace integrates GUI design and programming tools to develop operational interfaces. It simplifies control interface creation, allowing users to design operator panels, control modules, and process monitoring screens. The Drawing tool lays out and customizes elements like buttons and graphs, while CodeBehind scripts input handling, data display, and hardware interaction.

Creating New Displays

To create a display on Draw:

1. Navigate to Displays/Draw.
2. Click the button at the top to open the 'New Display' popup window.
3. Define the Name and Description of the display.
4. Define the Rendering Engine. This configuration item has three options: Portable (available for WPF and HTML5), WPF Only, and HTML5 Only.
5. Define the Panel Type for the display. This configuration item has two options: Canvas and Dashboard.
   The Canvas option allows for manual positioning and sizing of elements.
   The Dashboard option automatically resizes and repositions elements, organizing the display into predefined regions. It provides a structured and uniform layout, ensuring that elements adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions without manual adjustments.
6. Optionally, choose a Template for the display. If you do not select a template, a blank page will be created by default.
7. Finally, press the OK button to finish the display creation and close the popup window.

Drawing

To access the interface for Drawing, on the Solution Explorer menu, go to Displays → Draw. Here, you design the interfaces for your application using the drawing features and tools. Beyond the main toolbar, for Drawing are available additional control bars and panels.

Toolbars

On Drawing, beyond of Solution toolbar, you have the additional following toolbars:

Document toolbar

The Displays Documents toolbar provides quick access to various display-related functions and tools, such as creating new displays, opening existing displays, and managing display properties. It simplifies the process of creating and organizing displays, making it easier for users to navigate their solutions and maintain a structured, organized workspace.

Drawing toolbar

The Drawing toolbar provides a set of tools for creating and modifying graphical elements within the display, such as shapes, lines, and text. Users can quickly access these tools to design custom visuals, ensuring that their displays accurately represent the automation processes and equipment they are monitoring. For more information about Toolbars and Properties, visit: Toolbars and Panels.

Object toolbar

The Object toolbar provides a set of tools for creating and modifying graphical elements within the display, such as shapes, lines, and text. Users can quickly access these tools to design custom visuals, ensuring that their displays accurately represent the automation processes and equipment they are monitoring. For more information about Toolbars and Properties, visit: Toolbars and Panels.

Panels

There are two Panels in the Drawing environment: the Components Panel on the left side and the Tags Panel on the right side. The usage of them is pretty simple: select the component or tag and drag and drop it into the Drawing area.

Components panel

This panel serves as a repository for visual elements. It offers a range of components that can be incorporated into their application interfaces. Users select a component and drag it into the Drawing area. The Components Panel simplifies the task of adding and arranging visual elements. It supports the creation of intuitive, functional interfaces tailored to the specific needs of each application. Configuration of these components occurs post-placement.

Tags panel

The Tag Panel is a critical tool for linking data to visual components. It contains a list of tags representing data points in the system. Users can drag and drop these tags onto components in the Drawing area, establishing a connection between the component and the underlying data. This process enables real-time data visualization and interaction within the application interface. The Tag Panel streamlines the task of data binding, promoting effective and efficient development of data-driven applications.

Drawing Properties

Users can modify properties and configure dynamic properties like animation settings and data bindings to tags. The Properties are a context-sensitive menu that appears when right-clicking on a graphical element within the Drawing Tools workspace.

Appearance

Users can customize the visual aspects of components. It provides options to adjust size, color, font, and visibility, enabling users to tailor the look of their application interfaces. By right-clicking on a component in the Drawing Tools workspace, users can access the context-sensitive menu and modify these properties. This feature enhances the flexibility of interface design, allowing for the creation of visually appealing and user-friendly applications.

Display Settings

Display Properties allow users to customize the appearance and behavior of their displays, including size, background color, and grid settings. Users can also set display modes to control how the display appears during runtime, such as full-screen, windowed, or embedded within another display.

Dynamics Popup

Dynamics popup is a context-sensitive menu that appears when double-clicking on a graphical element to open the configuration popup. It enables users to configure the Settings and Dynamics of the selected element quickly, without needing to navigate through multiple menus or panels. The Popup offers options for modifying appearance, behavior, and interactivity, as well as quick access to the relevant animation settings and data bindings. This streamlined approach ensures that users can efficiently customize graphical elements and create dynamic, interactive displays.

Components and User Controls

• Introduction to dynamic objects, smart symbols, and UI controls.

• Utilizing platform UI controls, Windows UI controls, and extensible components.

• Integrating external components in displays.

For more information about components and user controls, visit: Graphical Elements.

AlarmWindow

The Alarm Window component provides a dedicated display for managing and monitoring alarms. It can display alarm priority, status, and acknowledgment, allowing operators to effectively respond to alarms and maintain system safety. For further information refer the the child page Alarm Viewer.

DataGrid Table

The DataGrid Table component enables users to display and interact with tabular data in their solutions. It supports sorting, filtering, and editing capabilities, allowing operators to efficiently view and manage data within the automation process. For further information refer the the child page DataGrid Control.

TrendChart

The TrendChart component allows users to visualize time-based data in the form of line or bar charts. This makes it easy to monitor trends and analyze historical data, facilitating informed decision-making and process optimization. For further information refer the the child page TrendChart Window.

Map Components

Map Components provide users with the ability to integrate geospatial data into their solutions. They can display map layers, markers, and labels, enabling users to visualize and interact with geographically distributed assets and data points. For further information refer to each map component child page on ThirdParty User Controls.

Gantt Control

The Gantt Control component offers a visual representation of time-based activities and events, such as schedules and maintenance tasks. Users can manage and monitor these activities within their solutions, ensuring effective planning and resource allocation. For further information refer the the child page Gantt Control.

Gauges

Gauges are graphical elements that provide a visual representation of real-time data values. Users can choose from various gauge styles, such as radial, linear, or digital, to display process data in a clear and intuitive manner. For further information refer the the child page CircularGauge Legacy and LinearGauge Control

External Controls

External Controls allow users to integrate third-party components and libraries into their solutions, extending the functionality and capabilities of the software platform. This enables users to create customized solutions tailored to their unique solution requirements. These integrations can enhance the application's ability to process data, make predictions, and even automate certain tasks.

Additionally, there might be scenarios where specific industrial protocols or devices are not supported out of the box by software platform. In such cases, third-party libraries can be used to provide that support, extending the range of devices and systems that the application can interact with. For further information refer the the child page Third-party User Controls.

CodeBehind

We covered CodeBehind in development, which is used to define a set of functions connected to a display. Developers can write code in VB.Net, C# and JavaScript and switch between languages. CodeBehind can be used to define mouse input command handling methods and execute functions during opening, closing, or while the display is open.

For dialog displays, the DialogOnOK method is recommended, which is executed when the OK button is pressed. The CodeBehind section has predefined methods such as DisplayOpening(), DisplayIsOpen(), DisplayClosing(), and DialogOnOK(). Developers can also add their own .NET variables and methods to this section.

Developers should avoid using functions that do not allow partial trust execution or refer to physical file paths as displays are designed to run in distributed and web environments.

Finally, developers should keep in mind that when executing CodeBehind on the client side, the display will be locked while the code is running. To avoid prolonged locking, it is recommended to use scripts (tasks and classes) or JavaScript to reduce the display lock time. For more information on Code Behind, visit: Display Code Behind.

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