Passing a word external tag to a faceplate

Hello,

I am converting an InTouch visualization into a WinCC Advanced V13 one, on a TP1200 Comfort panel.

I'm trying to use Faceplates to recreate Intouch popups used for displaying and controlling the status of certain control objects - valves, motors, etc. These popups are based on a universal template and called by clicking an object on the visualization, bringing up always the same popup window, but with variables mapped to the clicked object. All information about an object is stored in two words - a Status_Word and a Command_Word.

Herein lies my problem - I can't seem to find a way to pass a word-type tag to the faceplate. I can pass any type allowed for internal tags (bool, int, Wstring etc) using faceplate properties, but I can't seem to be able to use an external word tag in the faceplate. Specifically, all I really need is to display a few bits of the Status_Word and be able to change a few bits of the Command_Word using buttons.

The PLC code cannot be changed.

Am I missing something? If not, any ideas how to bypass this, preferably without creating multiple intermediary internal tags or resorting to scripting?

Hello Zivilin,

if in your words the MSB is not used, you can simply pass it as int.

regards

Thanks for the response, eisenpferdreiter!

Unfortunately, both MSB and LSB of the Status and Command Words are used. Also, I've tried passing the Words as Ints to the faceplate, but it doesn't seem to accept them - I suppose I would have to define the command/status words as Ints on the HMI level (As external tag ints instead of external tag words), and then pass them to the faceplate as int properties.

On a side note, what happens to a Word value when its defined as an Int? Why is the MSB a problem, I though they both had the same length?

Hello Zivilin,

the MSB of an integer is the sign bit. If sign bit is set then value would be a two's complement. Thus the bit setting would be interpreted wrong.

For a word this has no meaning, as a word will always hold only positive values.

regards

Ah, I was reading MSB as "Most Significant Byte", not "Bit", hence my confusion.

Inspired, I tried passing the WORD as an UINT and that worked like a charm. I had some problems extracting the relevant bits, but managed to solve that using a short extraction script within the faceplate, so my faceplate problems are (hopefully) solved.

Thanks!

Zivilin

Ah, I was reading MSB as "Most Significant Byte", not "Bit", hence my confusion.

Inspired, I tried passing the WORD as an UINT and that worked like a charm. I had some problems extracting the relevant bits, but managed to solve that using a short extraction script within the faceplate, so my faceplate problems are (hopefully) solved.

Thanks!

 Zivilin,

Could you please share your script.

I have the same exact requirement.

Thank you!