Triggering bitmaps on external PC from RSView ME

[gravitar 3]

Hello! I was given a project that I am going to need some advice with. We have a ControlLogix system that is connected to a VersaView CE terminal (running RSView ME runtime) via ethernet. The terminal gets eight inputs from the CLX that, depending on which signal is high, we need to display a graphic image on a video projector. The Versaview terminal does not have an external VGA port. Because of that, we think we're going to have to add a PC to the cabinet to select the image and display it. The images can be in any format that is most convenient.. BMP, JPG, even powerpoint slides. So my question is, what would be the best way to go about triggering the images? Would it make more sense to upgrade the versaview to something with a VGA port? thanks!

[Clay B. 1]

Does the Virsa View have a free slot? I know most come with atleast one extra slot where you can add a video card, etc. Maybe you could just buy another card to output the video.

[TConnolly 13]

Is completely nixing the Versaview in favor of a full blown MS XP computer, screen, and RSView Standalone out of the question? Then it would be easy.

[Nathan 7]

I second the idea to use a computer. I think that plasma or LCD displays work better for marquees than projectors. You might also look into media converters/gateways that extend the signal over ethernet (typically either VGA or HDMI)

[gravitar 3]

Naturally I'm looking for the simplest/cheapest solution, which I'm going to assume is Clay's idea. If it turns out that this doesn't work well or at all, then we will have to look at a full blown PC. I forsee that adding quite a bit to the cost of the project though, as I'm sure that we can't transfer the runtime license from the versaview to the PC. I agree that a projector doesn't sound like the best choice. I think that's a battle for a different day though. Once I can give them a VGA signal, they'll be able to use it however works best. I'm not sure I'm at the point yet where I can use an ethernet-based media converter. I think you need to have a VGA signal to convert, first. If there were a software-only solution that works in CE, then we'd be in business.

[gravitar 3]

Update: I just called tech support at our local distributor and they said that WinCE doesn't have the drivers installed to recognize the second video card. and, there's no way to transfer the RSView ME runtime license to another computer. So I guess I'm back to wondering if I can trigger the image selection on a slave PC. This might be the perfect time for me to try to gain some Visual Basic skills!

[TConnolly 13]

Back in college my wife had to put together a lenghty AV presentation for one of her classes. This was before Powerpoint and computer video projectors. She had a rack built out of pipes that contained six slide projectors and I helped her program a projector controller to turn on/off the various projectors based on various cue signals recorded on a magnetic casette tape. (Dating myself here, alas, my first programming classes also used punch cards). I know thats not very helpful but it did occur to me that it is one possibility. If you have RSLinx running on the computer is probable that you can create some VBA in power point to select and display a particular graphic. I just looked and Power Point does have VBA.

[gravitar 3]

Another update: I went over to see one of these at the local distributor, and there's no PCI slot. Looks like the option slot the brochure mentioned is a PCMCIA slot! So I'm thinking the video card add-on is ruled out. And funny you should mention the slide show, it just so happens that Mac & Mac has a slideshow presentation using several coordinated projectors much like you describe, but it was done using "professional" equipment and surely cost a "professional" price. It's a bid dated today.. I think they did it in the late 80s. For this job though, I think they want to maintain the flexibility of a bitmapped graphic image. Which is a pity, because I'm sure slide projectors could be directly triggered using discrete I/O. Actually, right at this moment I'm leaning toward finding a discrete input board for a PC and using that to initiate the image selection. It would be more elegant to do it over ethernet, but I think discrete I/O might be the simplest and easiest way to do this.

[gravitar 3]

Well the customer replaced the HMI with a VersaView terminal running full-blown XP and sporting two PCI ports. (they must not have been impressed with my second-PC idea!) I installed a PCI video card into one of the slots, and now I've got the XP desktop spread across both screens. I've got RSView displaying on the LCD panel and powerpoint on the secondary display, and I think I've found a shareware utility to lock the two programs into these screen positions at bootup so now we're finally getting somewhere! The last piece of the puzzle is how to take an integer or group of bits from the CLX processor so that I can choose which image to display on the second screen. I was orignally thinking I would write a small VB program to do this.. Would the task be simpler if we keep powerpoint around, or should I just stick with my instincts and write the whole thing from scratch? What would be the best/cheapest/easiest way to get my data out of the processor? Is the version of RSLinx that comes with RSView sufficient for me to hot-link from VB to an integer value in the PLC? Or do we need to buy some other software to do this?

[Ryan_Poethke 0]

Gravitar, Since you have the use of a full XP machine, might I suggest using PowerPoint, and a program like SoftCOM32. Since PowerPoint can be controlled using the keyboard (ie. 1-RETURN, selects slide 1, 6-ENTER selects slide 6, etc...) using another program to control it is fairly easy. SoftCOM32 can help; it takes serial data from a selected COM port, and turns it into keystrokes. Couple that with a virtual COM port program, and you may have a solution. I must admit that I've never used VersaView. Can it output ASCII data to a COM port? It seems like a bit of a kludge, but I've used this setup before, or something similar, for theatrical projection setups, where reliability was very important :>) I hope this helps. Happy Holidays! Edited 24 Dec 2007 by Ryan_Poethke

[Nathan 7]

Your original request to display images based on the state of a Control Logix PLC register should be easy enough with any HMI package. That seems much less clunky than trying to externally control Powerpoint via automated keystrokes.