Nicholas Christian

Programming a HMI to revert to Home Screen

4 posts in this topic

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here could explain to me how I can program my human-machine interface (HMI) to revert to a Home Screen after a period of inactivity. If the user has to leave at any time, and leaves the HMI on the last screen he/she was working on, I want the HMI to revert back to my Home Screen after 60 seconds inactivity. Has anyone here done anything similar to this before?

Do you think it's worth the trouble of having such a function built into the HMI?

Thank you for your time and for reading.

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I would generally do this with PLC code using a timer. You didn't mention the HMI you are using. If it is an NS then you would write the screen number into the first WORD of the $SW Allocation Address. See the PT System Settings.

If it makes running the machine easier then it's worth the effort. My opinion.

EDIT:  I didn't mention the inactivity detection. Have a look at the $SB Allocation Address, bit 9. I'm not sure how it behaves if you have the screen saver set. Alternatively you could monitor all of the HMI's push buttons and/or Screen Switch Strobe ($SB Allocation Address, bit 2).

Edited by IO_Rack

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Thank you for the help! We are indeed using an NS5 HMI module.

By PLC code do you mean using ladder logic in CX-Programmer? Or doing it from CX-Designer? 

Is there an example/tutorial out there that you know of? Thank you again.

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10 hours ago, Nicholas Christian said:

By PLC code do you mean using ladder logic in CX-Programmer? Or doing it from CX-Designer? 

Ladder in CX Programmer. In CX Designer you'll need to set  $SW Allocation Address to a PLC address. For example D0100. Then in ladder if you wish to switch to screen number 3, you'll MOV, &3, D0100.

10 hours ago, Nicholas Christian said:

Is there an example/tutorial out there that you know of? Thank you again.

Only what I mentioned above. Start with switching screens only then add a timer and other conditions once you understand. The simulator works really well and it's quick and easy. With CX Programmer and CX Designer open, click 'Simulation' then 'Start PLC-PT Integrated Simulation' from CX Programmer.

Post back with specific questions. 

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