Buttons & Indicators Module

Optional Purchase Necessary: To use MachineApps, you must purchase the necessary licenses. For more information, refer to Automation1 MachineApps.

Add the Buttons & Indicators module to a MachineApp to provide customized functionality to users who operate an Automation1 controller.

The customizable buttons and indicators are organized into pages so that you can group your custom buttons and indicators how you want. Each page can hold a maximum of 20 buttons or indicators, and you can create an unlimited number of pages. Use the page name drop-down or the arrow buttons to navigate through your pages.

The Buttons & Indicators module is a Secondary module, so it can only be added to a Secondary module region (Left, Right, Top, or Bottom). When you add the Buttons & Indicators module to the Left or Right region, buttons and indicators show vertically in one or two columns. When you add the Buttons & Indicators module to the Top or Bottom region, buttons and indicators show horizontally in one or two rows.

When the Use Auto Row Wrapping or Use Auto Column Wrapping toggle for a page is off, the module automatically shows the buttons and indicators in one or two rows or columns based on the size of the application window. Also, when these toggles are off, the location of the row or column break has an effect on how buttons and indicators show.

Buttons

Each button must have a name and a default state. The display text and custom colors show on the button. Buttons can have many additional states. Only one state is active at a time for each button. The active state of a button is the first defined state for which its condition is satisfied. If no condition is satisfied, then the default state of the button is the active state. For each button state, you can change the display text and specify what AeroScript function executes when the button is clicked when that state is active.

You can also define Inhibited States for buttons. When an inhibited state is active, the button is disabled.

Indicators

Each indicator must have a name and an off state. The display text and custom colors show on the indicator. You can control the indicator states with AeroScript or with conditions that you can configure.

AeroScript Indicators

Indicators that have their states controlled with AeroScript have an Indicator ID that you can configure by clicking the Edit… button next to the assigned ID. When you click Edit, a dialog comes into view that shows the currently assigned IDs of all AeroScript indicators in the current MachineApp. Indicators can share the same ID if you want them each to show the same state.

By default, these indicators are initialized to their off state. To turn on the indicator use the AppIndicatorOn() AeroScript function with the indicator ID that you want it to have and specified arguments to configure the display text, colors, and animation. To turn off the indicator use the AppIndicatorOff() function with the indicator ID.

Conditional Indicators

Indicators that do not have their states controlled with AeroScript can define many additional on states. Only one state is active at a time for each indicator. The active state of an indicator is the first defined state for which its condition is satisfied. If no condition is satisfied, then the off state of the indicator is the active state.

You can create, edit, and delete pages, buttons, and indicators with the Edit Module Configuration dialog.

Use the MachineApps workspace in Automation1 Studio to:

  • Add the Buttons & Indicators module to a MachineApp.
  • Configure the Buttons & Indicators module.

Use the Automation1 MachineApps application to:

  • Operate an Automation1 controller with customizable buttons and indicators in a MachineApp.

To add the Buttons & Indicators module to a MachineApp

  1. Open Automation1 Studio and select the MachineApps workspace tab.
  2. Use the procedure on the MachineApps Workspace page to create or edit a MachineApp. The MachineApp must have an empty Secondary module region to add buttons to.
  3. Select the Modules tab in the Design drawer. Click and drag Buttons & Indicators into one of the Secondary module regions.

To Configure the Buttons & Indicators Module

  1. Open Automation1 Studio and select the MachineApps workspace tab.
  2. Use the procedure on the MachineApps Workspace page to create or edit a MachineApp.
  3. Click the Pencil icon to open the Edit Module Configuration dialog. It shows the pages, buttons, and indicators that are configured for the module.
  4. To add a page for buttons and indicators, click the +Page button.
  5. To add a button or indicator, select the page to which you want to add to and click +Button or +Indicator.
  6. To edit buttons and indicators, see the To Edit Buttons and Indicators procedure on this page.
  7. To change the order that pages, button, or indicators show in the module, select the item that you want to move, and use the Reorder arrow buttons.
  8. To duplicate a page, button, indicator, or state, click the Duplicate button next to the item that you want to duplicate. A copy of the item will show.
  9. To delete a page, button, indicator, or state that you added to a button, click the trash can icon next to the item that you want to delete.
  10. To change how buttons and indicators in a page are shown, select the page and toggle off Use Auto Row Wrapping or Use Auto Column Wrapping. A Row Break or a Column Break shows in the list.
    1. Use the Reorder arrow buttons to move the Row Break or Column Break. All buttons and indicators above the break will show in the first row or column of the page, and all below the break will show in the second row or column of the page.
    2. To use auto wrapping, select the page and toggle on Use Auto Row Wrapping or Use Auto Column Wrapping. The break is now removed from the page.
  11. Click OK after you configure the module to close the dialog.

To Edit Buttons and Indicators

  1. Select the button or indicator that you want to edit. The fields to configure the button or indicator show in the editor.

    1. Each button has a default state that has display text and an AeroScript function that executes when the button is clicked.

    2. Each indicator has an off state with display text and custom background and foreground colors.

  2. To add a new state to a button or indicator, click the +State button.

    1. Each state that you add to a button has display text, custom background and foreground colors, an AeroScript function that executes when the button is clicked during the active state, and a condition that makes that state active.

    2. Each state that you add to an indicator has display text, custom background and foreground colors, an animation, and a condition that makes that state active.

  3. To add a new inhibited state to a button, click the +Inhibited State button. Because buttons are disabled when an inhibited state is active, custom colors and commands for inhibited states are not applicable and cannot be defined.

  4. To change the order of states, use the arrow buttons next to the states.

    1. For buttons, states are evaluated from top to bottom, with inhibited states first, then other states, and then the default if no other state is active.

    2. For indicators, states are evaluated from top to bottom, and then the default if no other state is active.

  5. To edit the condition for a state, use the steps that follow: 

    1. Click the Edit… link to open the Edit Condition editor.
    2. Configure the Left Operand and the Right Operand. Each operand can be a status signal (such as a global variable, digital input, axis status, or Industrial Ethernet mapping) or a constant value. When you select Context, the other options for the operand change based on what you select.
    3. Configure the operator. The operator is a standard relational operator (such as =, <, and >).
    4. Click OK to set the condition and close the editor.

You can create a condition based on one or more bits of a status signal by selecting the bits that you want and then selecting a constant value for the other operand. For example, to create a condition that tests that the X axis is enabled, make the selections that follow:

  1. Left Operand

    • Context: Axis

    • Axis: X

    • Signal: Drive Status

    • Bits: Enabled

    • Use Word: Off

  2. Operator: ==

  3. Right Operand

    • Context: Constant

    • Constant Value: 1

  4. Click OK to close the editor.

To Create a Shortcut for a Button

  1. Select the button and click the Pencil icon to the right of the Shortcut label. The Edit Shortcuts dialog comes into view. The dialog lists the shortcuts assigned within the MachineApp.

  2. Click the drop-down arrow for the button that you want to add a shortcut for.

  3. After the key is assigned, use the Ctrl and Shift checkboxes to assign the modifiers for the shortcut.

  4. To remove the assigned shortcut for a button, select None in the key drop-down.

    1. Button shortcuts cannot be the same as shortcuts already assigned within other modules in the same MachineApp. A button shortcut can be used more than once within the same Buttons & Indicators module but not more than once per page.

  5. Click Save to close the dialog.

  6. To remove an assigned keyboard shortcut for a button, select the button and click the trashcan icon to the right of the Shortcut label.

To Operate an Automation1 Controller Using Buttons & Indicators in a MachineApp

  1. Open Automation1 MachineApps and select an Automation1 controller.
  2. Select the MachineApp that you configured to include the Buttons & Indicators module. The customized user interface comes into view.
  3. Click a custom button or press its assigned shortcut key to execute the associated AeroScript function.
  4. Click the left and right arrow buttons to navigate through the configured pages of buttons or use the page name drop-down to select a page.

Related Topics 

Automation1 MachineApps

Application Indicator Functions