How do you open a Word, Excel or PDF document with a Comfort Panel?

Syntax of the "StartProgram" function

StartProgram Program name, Program parameter, Display, Wait for the end

Description of the parameters

• Program name
  For the "Program name" parameter you specify the path and name of the program to be started.
   
• Program parameter
  For the "Program parameter" parameter you specify the path and name of the document to be opened.
   
• Display
  Defines how the program window is displayed on the operator panel:
  hmiShowNormal = Normal
  hmiShowMinimized = Minimized
  hmiShowMaximized = Maximized
  hmiShowMinimizedAndInactive = Minimized and inactive
  
  Note
  The display on 7", 9" and 12" Comfort Panels depends on the display always being set as maximized, but not full screen.
   
• Wait for the end
  Defines whether there is to be return to the project after the called program has ended:
  hmiNo = No (there is no return to the project)
  hmiYes = Yes (there is return to the project)

Possible storage locations for the documents:

• Memory card: "\Storage Card SD\"
• USB stick: "\Storage Card USB\"
• Network release: "\\Network\" (example: "\\computer_name\release_name\...")

The following file formats are supported:

• .PDF
• .doc (Word 97-2003)
• .docx (Word 2007 and Word 2010)
• .rtf (Rich Text Format)
• .xls (Excel 97-2003)
• .xlsx (Excel 2007 and Excel 2010)

1. When using the system function "StartProgram" on a button on a Comfort Panel, you have the following options for opening a document

For this you enter the following parameters:
 

Note
MachineData_01.doc, MachineData_01.pdf and MachineData_01.xls are sample documents.

2. When using the system function "StartProgram" in a script on a Comfort Panel, you have the options below for opening a document

• Using the function list
  Select the "StartProgram" function from the function list and enter the parameters according to the table at the lowest table.
  In the Script Editor, you place the cursor on the required point and click "Apply".
• Manual input of the script
  Write the function directly in the Script Editor. Take the syntax from the lowest table.

You can predefine the parameters of the "StartProgram" function (as string) or provide them through tags (of the WString type).
The tags include the path specification. Make sure that the length of the tags is sufficient for the path specification. There are two types of path specification in the tags:

• Without quotation marks (for example: \Storage Card USB\Document_name.Document_ending) - this type is referred to in the following as the "FilePath" wildcard.
• With quotation marks (for example: "\Storage Card USB\Document_name.Document_ending") - this type is referred to in the following as the "FilePath_AZ" wildcard.
  
  An example for a path specification without quotation marks is the return value of the "OpenFileBrowser" function. This function saves the path of a selected file in a tag. To be able to use this path in the "StartProgram" function, the tag must be used like the "FilePath" wildcard.

If the path specification transferred to the "Program name" parameter includes spaces, the path specification has to be given in quotation marks.
This can be done before transfer to the designated tag or in the script itself. In the script, this is done by inserting the ASCII code character (34), which corresponds to a quotation mark, before and after the string.

With the "Program parameter" parameter it does not matter whether or not the path specification contains spaces.
 

Table 02
 
 

Table 03
 
 

Before calling the "StartProgram" function it is recommended to check whether there is a path specification:

If FilePath <> "" Then
StartProgram Program name, Program parameter, Display, Wait for the end
End If

Note
When upgrading to WinCC V13, you must change the path of the File Viewer accordingly. The compiler does not recognize incorrect paths.

Additional Keywords
Office, Viewer, File viewer, Adobe Reader, Acrobat Reader, Document viewer, File, Storage, Storage path