Visilogic Next Generation

[Damian]

Some more "Next Generation" requests .............

Give the product line a different name than "Vision". It gets confused because people thinking we are talking about "Vision Systems" (i.e. Cognex, Keyence, etc.) instead of an HMI/PLC.

Make it so that you can open screens and subroutines in their own windows. It is nice to be able to have one window open with say an HMI page while the other maybe has the ladder for that page.

Allow the windows that hold the screen and ladder subroutines to be scaled and zoomed at will.

Make an additional Properties/Colors tab just for Ladder. Allow us to choose to different colors for the background/text of comments, variables, function blocks and such.

Build the functionality of "Remote Operator" into the development software.

or

At the very least, allow the battery backed values of the operands to be uploaded, saved, and downloaded to the PLC using the developement software.

Allow us to customize the toolbar with our most used elements.

Do away with the current Copy/Paste behavior that virtually everyone dislikes.

As an option, allow elements to be moved around with the mouse while the connections automatically reform to fit.

As an option, allow connections between elements/function block to be made by simply choosing the two nodes you wish to connect and having the software automatically generate the wires.

As an option, allow an insert mode that will shift ladder elements over and down automatically to accomodate the new elements.

NEVER make me have to perform more than 3 clicks to get to a property I need to change. Especially in a copy/paste scenario where I'm maybe just changing the operand.

Allow me to type my operands in directly into the pertinent fields rather than invoking another layer of windows to select the operand.

Add most of the HMI element setup properties to the properties window (i.e. Link, Hide, View, Max, Min, Format, etc.)

When I am doing a copy and paste of several HMI data entry variables, Usually all I want to change are the Linked variable, the Min range and the Max range. If these were in the properties window it would speed that process up tremendously.

Don't make me have to hit "zoom out" to find the page linking.

Allow me to use an indirect variable to jump to a label. Or in other words, allow me to jump to a numbered step and not execute and code in between. If JumpTo value is invalid or out of range either just jump to the last RET statement, or allow for an "out of range" or "Other" label that gets all jumps to undefined numbered steps.

Allow me to have a floating watch window for operands while online.

Allow me to make online changes.

Don't limit me to only 9 colors on 3D buttons.

Give me an option to default timers to units of milliseconds.

Give me an HMI scratch pad off to the right that allows me to develop and size HMI elements off to the right and just drag them over to the actual screen once they are the way I want them.

Scrutinize everything with the questions (Could this be made easier or more intuitive? Does this arrangement maximize the speed of development (both ladder and HMI)? Are we forcing the code developer to perform operations that could more easily be automated?

And most importantly, keep up the good work on what is undoubtedly the best "free of charge" development software on the market.

[Cara Bereck Levy]

Hey Damian

Thanks for taking the time to give us your suggestions.

And to everyone else in our community: we take note of everything that is sent to the forum--so please, do send us your ideas and feature requests.

[tmoulder]

Hi guys,

I've said elsewhere that Visilogic's growth has been pretty organic, and could use some pruning. I second Damian's ideas, it's a pretty comprehensive list for improving the IDE.

Also, I'll rehash one of my own: Add jump to HMI function to the button object as an option, and eliminate the links tab entirely. The Jump to HMI ladder function can handle jumps from within the program.

[linxchas]

Is any plans to move to ARM processor?

[HigHTech]

Hi guys. I have some special requests:

I need in the meter graph the option for transparent.

I need a new bar graph (stacked).

I will wait and see if you can include this new options in the next version.

Thanks