Multi-Color Drawing Method
Available in all applications
Used by: Allen Bradley driver, Analog Input, Analog Status, Analog Output, Analog Control, Calculation, Counter, Data Flow RTU, DataRadio Diagnostic driver, DDE Driver, Deadband Control, DNP3 driver, Driver Multiplexer, Function, MDS driver, Modem, Modicon driver, Omron driver, OPC Client, Polling Driver, Script, Selector Switch, Serial Port, Siemens S7 driver, SQL Logger, Totalizer.
The Multi-color tag drawing method is used to display a variety of rectangular color swatches in response to changing conditions within the application.
You can create up to 16 colors using the Color 1 through Color 16 tabs. The Color 1 swatch is the default to be shown when no user-defined conditions have been met for any of the other colors.
In the following example, a Multi-color drawing method has been used to create a background for a Meter 13 drawing method. As the associated tag’s value increases, the multi-color serves as a visual warning.
The Multi-color is configured by creating a series of increasing trigger points and assigning a color to be displayed as each point is reached. The trigger points can be given constant values, or can take their value from either a tag or parameter.
The initial color, color 0, does not have a trigger point since it will be the color in effect until the tag’s value reaches the first assigned value. Two versions of the graphic editor for this drawing method are shown:
What happens if the set point for Color 3 is reached before that of Color 2?
If using constant values, you cannot assign a lower trigger point for a higher color number. This situation can occur if the trigger point for each color is provided by different tags.
The multi-color drawing method will display each defined color in order from Color 1 through to Color 16. The swatch for Color 1 will be displayed until the comparison condition for Color 2 has been reached. Until the set point for Color 2 has been reached, it does not matter whether any other comparison condition has been exceeded.
After the comparison for Color 2 has been passed, the multi-color will go on to check the comparison for Color 3. If it has already been passed, then the swatch for Color 2 will be skipped in favor of the swatch for Color 3.
The same comparison order is used whether the Tag's value is rising or falling.
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The Tag field displays the name and description of the tag that is currently associated with this drawing method. You can use this to select a different tag or parameter to use as the data source for this drawing method.
The Tag field is only present when editing a completed drawing method object
Select each tab in turn, up to the number of colors you wish to display. Each after Color 1 allows you to set a trigger point using a constant, tag or parameter, and a color to be displayed when that point is passed.
Opens the Select Color Dialog from which you can select a color from the VTS palette to be displayed when the matching trigger point has been reached.
Sets the trigger point, above which the set color will be displayed (until the next trigger point is reached). The value for this point may be provide by any of a user-defined constant, an expression another tag or a parameter.
Note: If you would prefer to portray the value of the tag being drawn using different text strings, rather than colors, please refer to Multi-text Drawing Method.