Unistream Enhancement Suggestion

[YINGD]

When troubleshooting a subroutine or a region in Unilogic which has an MB or other register appearing several times in a ladder, I find myself scanning around a trying to recall everywhere that each tag is used and how it is used. To help make this process easier, I would like to suggest that there be an option where a temporary color can be applied to a tag so that everywhere it appears in the program, it has that color assigned to it. Perhaps if a user were to right click on a register in the ladder and then assign a color, it would color all instances. This way a user could scan down through a subroutine and see their MB's or  registers highlighted the designated color and easily identify their tags without needing to read the tag or notes. When I think of it, we have region colors that we can assign, why not add teh ability to color tags as well?

[YINGD]

1 minute ago, YINGD said:

color

I should add that once colors are assigned, there could also be an option to right-click on the assigned color and have options to "clear color" or "clear all colors". These options could also be added to the toolbar as well instead of or in addition to the right-click menu options.

[Rivka]

Hi,

You have a search option available.

And starting from next UniLogic version, you will be able to remember previous searches so you can navigate between different searches.

Is that answering your needs?

[YINGD]

Rivka,

I realize there is a search feature Unilogic but what I am referring to is a way to scan down through a ladder and get a better visual on what each item is doing without having to do a search for each instance.  Attached is an example of what I am referring to. I used a Visilogic screen in the attachment simply because Visilogic prints a bit better and the memory tags are easier to see but I am suggesting that this feature be added to Unilogic. Basically, if the user were to assign a (temporary) color, each instance where it appears would be colored; similar to teh purpose of a "Watch" folder 

 

 

[Rivka]

I understand.

I will pass the suggestion to R&D and they will decide whether to implement it or not.

Have a good day!

Rivka

  

[Saragani]

@YINGD Why does it have to be a temporary color? Won't it be easier if the color will be defined in the Tags grid (where the default will be Transparent or White), and will be saved with the project?

A suggestion (tell me what you think of it): The colors will also affect the row color inside the tags grid

You will be able to set color to a struct (or array) instance (which will automatically set the color to all of its members with the same color). And if you enter inside a the struct instance then you can give a different color to its members.

(Now it also have to be decided what happens if you now go and change the color of the struct instance again. Would it affect all children color, or would it affect only the ones that had the same color as the parent before the change.... Tell me what you think).

Thanks

[Saragani]

@YINGD
We've implemented this feature request.

Setting colors will be done from the tags grid, and it will affect the color of the row in the grid, and also in any place that this tag is being used in the ladder, HMI, etc.

The color is saved within the project (not temporary).

[YINGD]

Hi Saragani,

Glad to hear that this will be implemented in some form! My thinking about the colors is that they could be temporary or at least the user would have a way to clear them easily if desired but I guess that would be easy enough to do manually even if it meant going into the struct or array and manually clearing them if desired.

I see the most benefit in being able to focus a color on a particular operand and not a group of operands though having the option of applying to a group of operand may be handy as well.  I see this as a way to fix a small problem  that left when Visilogic was replaced with Unilogic. Since Visilogic had fixed memory, it was easy to look at a tag and know its unique tag number simply by looking at it. For example, there is only one MB23 in a Visilogic project and you can see that from the Ladder without having to hover over it in Unilogic to see if you have the same operand. With Unilogic, the unique tag number is too long to fit in the operand banner so when looking at a section of code, it is difficult to do a visual scan down through the ladder and see where that particular operand is within the code. Though a user can execute a Find command to search the whole project, it is not the same as being able to do a visual search and see how the rest of a particular subroutine is effected by that Bit or but using several different colors, a group of bits can be traced.

If I understand the proposed solution, the colors would be applied to a group of operands which if this group of operands (struct or array) were used in the same subroutine, it would be difficult to tell them apart when they are all in the same ladder together. Though the user could then go into the group of operands and change colors individually, it would be nice if it were not required that a color be applied to the whole group without being able to simply go straight to a single operand and apply a color to only one of them if this is what the user wants to do.

I like the idea of being able to apply the colors to the grid as well assuming that these colors will transfer to the Ladder and be visible everywhere that operand is used. This will provide a nice visual reference for the users wherever they look in the program. If possible, it would be very handy to be able to right click on an operand in the ladder and apply a color from there as well as in the the grid but that would simply be a convenience factor.

Since colors will be visible in the grid, would they also be visible anywhere that a particular operand is shown such as within the "Tag: Link boxes" and anywhere in the ladder where that operand appears?

Please let me know your thoughts on this approach or whether this is about what you had in mind.

In your previous comment you had stated:

"You will be able to set color to a struct (or array) instance (which will automatically set the color to all of its members with the same color). And if you enter inside a the struct instance then you can give a different color to its members.

(Now it also have to be decided what happens if you now go and change the color of the struct instance again. Would it affect all children color, or would it affect only the ones that had the same color as the parent before the change.... Tell me what you think)."

I think that if the members of an array or Struct had their own colors assigned and then a different color were assigned to the Array or Struct, that the colors of the members should remain the same. This would be similar to the behavior of a struct when the name of an array is changed after the members have custom names assigned.

Thank you very much for considering this request.

 

[Saragani]

Yes, you could set a color to a group or tags (struct or array), and set a color to a specific tag inside it.

The color will appear in any place the tag is being used, and the context menu for changing or clearing the color will appear on both Grid and places where tag is being used.

 

[YINGD]

Excellent. Do you know when this version will be released?

[YINGD]

I have another suggestion on a completely different subject. I think that a lot of us go to the forum for ideas and answers to questions but I think there everyone would benefit tremendously if there were a section of the forum dedicated to HMI design. This section could have sections which include:

- HMI Design Inspiration - Perhaps users can upload screenshots of their projects where one or more screens were made to support a project. Those who share a project may even have the option to share any custom graphics that may have been used to create the project. If Animations are used, perhaps there could be links where a user can upload a short video of their graphics. For example, if I wanted to share the Image below to represent a screen

I could share the Binary Images used for the Knife Gate Valve, the Level Sensor, the Solenoid Valves, the 3-way Solenoid Valve, and the Trapped Key Safety Switch along with the images used for the Rotary Valve which is actually a List of Variables image that makes the rotary valve appear to spin when the motor is running. If these shared uploads were also automatically added to the image library for searching, this then add to the Graphics Library.

 

- Graphics Library - where users can upload their custom graphics to share with other users users. If there were a way for users to create a .gif through the browser, that would be an added benefit. I am envisioning a way where a user could define the image type they are sharing along with its intended use. If options were then provided to create an example .gif which changes on the screen while searching the library, that would be very nice.  For example:

•  If I wanted to share 2 images for the knife gate valve above and defined it as a binary image and then uploaded the 2 images for open and closed, a .gif would automatically      generated and would cycle in the preview screen.
• If I wanted to share the List of Variables image from the HMI Screen above that makes the rotary valve appear to spin when the motor is running, I could define define that it is  for a List of Variables type graphic, upload the images with their files names as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then upload and the preview .gif would then generate.
• If I wanted to share a library of multiple solenoid valves which shows different coil and valve combinations which are intended to be used in binary image applications, I could upload them and the preview would show them all cycling through all the images but the searcher would see a description that they are for binary image applications
• Or if a user simply wants to share their library, there would be a simple way to upload them to a specific category.

An example of this type of data base is https://grabcad.com/    or https://www.traceparts.com/en or https://www.3dcontentcentral.com/

                         

 

[Flex727]

@Cara Bereck Levy, this is a great idea. Please consider.

[Cara Bereck Levy]

@YINGD, Thanks for the suggestion and @Flex727, thanks for pinging me.

Sometimes I really enjoy playing Forum Goddess 🤪

Here it is:
https://forum.unitronics.com/forum/90-everything-hmi/

@YINGDyour Graphics library idea is excellent, but would take some doing--I have submitted it for consideration.

[YINGD]

I would like to make another suggestion for the next version. When copying and pasting, the Find and Replace option is very useful but it only gives you the options to limit the scope options to either the "entire solution" or the "Ladder Function". It would be very nice to have an option to limit the scope to Region as well. I find myself needing to have a separate ladder function that acts as a temporary holding space where I essentially copy a region to this temporary ladder function just to do the find replace and then copy it back to the Ladder Function in its own region where I want it to be.

[YINGD]

I was checking out the new version of Unilogic (1.33.200) and saw that the color  feature was implemented! Thank you so much for adding this, I think it will be very helpful! At first, I thought it was cancelled though because the "Version Changes" list that includes new features did not show this. Perhaps the document should amended so that users know that it is there

https://unitronicsplc.com/Download/SoftwareVersions/UniLogic/UniLogic_1.33.200_September_2022.pdf

[Saragani]

@YINGD

Thank you for your feedback.

I was able to find the bug that you have reported, and it will be fixed on our next UniLogic release.

 

And here is a preview of a usability feature for our next big release (1.34): Grouping tags by adding "hash tags"

@Ivgeny  Your comments on this feature are welcome...

 

[ORSO2001]

Quote

And here is a preview of a usability feature for our next big release (1.34): Grouping tags by adding "hash tags"

Good afternoon Saragani

from my side this is really appreciated!

thanks

 

[Flex727]

2 hours ago, Saragani said:

And here is a preview of a usability feature for our next big release (1.34): Grouping tags by adding "hash tags"

Pure genius! I love this feature.