Hotboxes and Buttons

A dynamic navigation feature used on VTS application pages is the hotbox. A hotbox is a hidden, rectangular area on a page that has been configured to reveal itself when the mouse pointer moves over it. A button performs the same function, but is always visible.

Clicking on a hotbox or button will open another page.

A page change hotbox may open either a new full-sized page, or a control panel or dialog-sized page when it is clicked. The choice depends on how the destination page was configured to open, not on the configuration of the hotbox or button.

 

Some pages have small bitmaps that represent a complex arrangement of equipment. A page change hotbox is often defined around these small bitmaps. When such a hotbox is clicked, it can take you to another page that illustrates the complex system in much more detail. This is a space saving approach often used when large and complex systems are represented in VTS.

Another common use of page change hotboxes is to open a pop-up control panel or dialog box for a specific piece of equipment. A hotbox may be configured around a piece of equipment. When you click the hotbox, a control panel or dialog with controls for that equipment open. Page change hotboxes like these provide a convenient way of opening the control panel or dialog box associated with a piece of equipment, so that the control panel or dialog box can be used when needed and hidden when not in use. For example, clicking on the bitmap of a motor that has been assigned a hotbox could open a control panel that could be used to turn the motor on or off. The control panel can then be closed until it is needed again.

An example of a hotbox on a page is shown below.

Hotboxes are typically shown as yellow rectangles, although they can be configured in any color your VTS developer chooses.

 

A different type of hotbox is Set Value hotbox.  Such a hotbox may also be configured around a piece of equipment however, when you click this type of hotbox, a signal is sent to the equipment.

If there are both page change and set value hotboxes in your application, they are likely be represented in two distinct colors. Ask your VTS developer what colors have been configured for the hotboxes in your application.