PC touch screen

[Bill Estey 0]

Hi Could anyone tell me the best way to operate a processor using a Personal computer that has its own touch screen monitor as I need to run another program on the PC but also would like to use the PC's touch screen to control my program. Thanks for any suggestions

[Nibroc 4]

... I suggest using Omron CX-Supervisor SCADA on your touch screen PC ... Or Omron NS-Runtime Nibroc

[moosty 0]

Hi You can find some PC to PLC communication software examples in this forum. Samples are written in VB and easy to understand. We have built our own communication library once, and using it with VB, it is very cost effective and works efficient, especially if you are planning to support your projects with database or barcode reading & searching applications. My preference is: find the samples, built your own library and use it many times in VB. Best regards

[Nathan 7]

It shouldn't be any different than a normal PC. The touchscreen driver is basically a mouse driver. You can use the windows on screen keyboard (osk.exe) to emulate keyboard input if you need to (most HMIs have some built in functionality to achieve this). You should be able to use any HMI package. I would recommend checking out FactoryPMI.

[Nibroc 4]

... Some further comment: This being an Omron forum I assume you intend to connect an Omron PLC to a PC? - and wish to use the the PC as an HMI to 'operate the processor'? I suggested using Omron CX-Supervisor software, or Omron NS-Runtime software because both of these PC packages are 'easy' to configure, and are designed to provide HMI functionality using a PC communicating with an Omron PLC. If you are using the CX-One software to program your PLC - you should consider NS-Runtime as the configuration package is included with CX-One. - CX-Supervisor does provide a higher level of functionality though. Both of the above packages will work fine on a touch screen PC and will run alongside other applications. As suggested by Nathan the touch screen will have a driver which effectively makes it a mouse. Both CX-Supervisor and NS-Runtime can display keypads to enable numeric / text data entry. Although third party applications exist and can be very good - if you purchase the PLC and the HMI software from the same vendor you will likely (although not always!) have a simpler job to implement a system, and perhaps better support. As Moosty has mentioned, it is also possible to write your own software application to make the PC communicate directly with the PLC. Nibroc

[Bill Estey 0]

[moosty 0]

Hi, I have published my ActiveX control for ethernet communication. It is using FINS commands over UDP. It is still in alpha version but working very efficiently. It is freeware and will be freeware. Reading and writing of DM and EM bank 0 through 7 is available at the moment. I am going to add HR and timers and available stuff where FINS permit. I am also planning to give RS 232 support in the same component. Unfortunately there is no documentation yet, I am planning to publish soon. A draft documentation is available now. Announcements and valid download addresses will be published at related blog post as a permanent link. Now project is hosted on Google Code . You can download the sample application + ActiveX controller from here And source codes of sample application from here I realised that a bad naming on source code folders. I have fixed it and it can be downloaded here You can also find samples for principles of PC - PLC communications in my related blog posts I am also planning to publish samples for usage of my ActiveX control with Excel and Power Point. I hope that it will be useful for many people. Edited 25 Nov 2008 by moosty