Book Contents

Unsupported PanelBuilder32 Objects and Features

PanelBuilder32 Settings and Controls not converted to Machine Edition

  • Remote Ack All Handshake Tag control
  • Remote Clear All Alarm Tag control
  • Remote Clear All Alarm Handshake Tag control
  • Message to Remote Device Notification Tag control
  • Message to Remote Device Handshake Tag control
  • PanelBuilder screen security settings
  • Ack setting for alarm messages; in FactoryTalk View, all alarms can be acknowledged
  • Bit alarm acknowledgment
  • Handshaking when alarm messages are sent to a remote device
  • Time and date formats
  • External fonts

PanelBuilder32 communications conversion

PanelBuilder nodes are converted to FactoryTalk Linx topics in the conversion process, and a FactoryTalk Linx data server is added to the imported application. Topics are then converted into device shortcuts, to run with FactoryTalk Linx. You must have both RSLinx Classic and FactoryTalk Linx installed to make this two-step conversion.

Tags are converted to HMI tags within the RSLinx topics.

Tip:

If you import an application more than once, delete the topics in RSLinx before re-importing. Otherwise, RSLinx will contain multiple unused topics.

  • Unsupported communication protocols

    These communication protocols are not supported in FactoryTalk View:

    • ControlNet™ scheduled communications
    • Modbus communications
    • Profibus DP communications
    • DeviceNet™ communications
    • DH+™ nodes that use the AutoMax node type
    • Invalid PanelBuilder node types and non-existent node names that are saved with the PanelBuilder application

      Tags that use these protocols are converted to memory tags. Once you have set up communications for your converted application, change the memory tags to device tags that point to the correct addresses.

  • Bit array tags

    You can monitor bit arrays for alarm conditions in FactoryTalk View, but you can’t assign bit arrays to graphic objects or write to bit arrays. Therefore, all bit array tags in your PanelBuilder application are converted to memory tags.

  • String tags

    At runtime, the maximum string length supported by Machine Edition is 82 characters. Because some PanelBuilder32 protocols support longer strings, some PanelBuilder32 alarm messages may be truncated after conversion.

  • Unsupported characters in tag names
    • Semicolons (;) in tag addresses are supported in PanelBuilder32, but not in FactoryTalk View Studio. Before importing the PanelBuilder application, in the PanelBuilder32 Tag Editor, change the semicolons to colons (:).
    • Dashes (-) in tag names are supported in PanelBuilder32, but not in FactoryTalk View Studio. Before importing the PanelBuilder application, in the PanelBuilder32 Tag Editor, locate any tags whose names contain dashes and duplicate the tags. Then rename the tags without the dash, or replace the dash with an underscore (_). Once the tags have been renamed, use the Tag Search feature to find the graphic objects using the original tag names and edit the object to replace the old tag name with the new one.

PanelBuilder32 Objects not converted to Machine Edition

  • Print Only Object
  • Goto Config Screen Button
  • Circular Scale
  • Scrolling Text
  • Print Alarm Button
  • Horn Silence Button
  • Lamp/Horn Test Button
  • Select Operator Button
  • Enable/Disable Security Button
  • New Password Button
  • Verify Password Button

PanelBuilder32 Graphic Object Features not converted to Machine Edition

Unsupported feature

Object

Notes

Blink

Text, arc, ellipse, line, panel, rectangle, wedge

In FactoryTalk View, all of the listed objects use color animation to blink.

Blink

Image

Color images do not blink. Monochrome images use the Blink property to blink.

Allow Home/End

Allow Wrap

Ramping by coarse steps

Increment/Decrement Entry Button (converted to numeric input enable button)

 

Print setting

Multistate Indicator, Message Display

 

Initial state values

Maintained Push Button, Multistate Push Button, Standard Control List Selector

If you want to set these objects’ states on application startup, create a macro to set the appropriate tag values for the objects’ controls. Assign the macro in the Startup editor.

Least Significant Bit data format

Multistate Indicator, Message Display, List Indicator, Standard Control List Selector

Bit triggered states are not supported. Modify the state values and read tag, or else assign an expression to return the value of the least significant bit.

Inner text and inner graphic

Bar Graph, Gauge

Converted to a separate text object and image object

Scale clipping

Gauge

If the scale doesn’t fit within the height or width of the gauge, it is not clipped. Check the position of the scale to ensure it doesn’t overlap other objects.

Needle

Gauge

Converted to a separate gauge object; if the gauge had 2 needles, each needle is converted to a separate gauge object.

No Acknowledgment

Alarm List

All alarms can be acknowledged.

Turn Object View On property

All objects

If this property is set to False, the converted object does not appear.

Caption and image placement

All objects

Some image captions may be truncated, clipped or may overlap images.

See also

Import and conversion of an application

PanelBuilder32 to Machine Edition object mappings

Create array HMI tags