How Keypad Entry Variables Work

Keypad Entry Variables enable a user to enter values via the Vision keypad.

In order to enable the user to enter values, the variable must be active.

When a variable is active, pressing Enter 'locks' the variable, and writes whatever value has been entered from the keypad into the variable. The next variable becomes active.

Keypad Entry Variable 'Tab' Order

Variable Tab Order enables you to determine the order in which Keypad Entry Variables will be activated, regardless of their location on the LCD screen.

Note ♦

If Variable Tab order is not set, when the application is downloaded the variables will be activated in the order in which they were created. This may create the false impression that the variables are being activated 'randomly'.

Clicking the Variable Tab Order button displays all of the keypad entry variables in a Display.

When a Display contains more than 1 variable, using the right arrow key enables the user to tab from one active variable to the next. Pressing Enter 'locks' the variable, excluding it from the tab order.

Displays containing Keypad Entry Variables

A Display with Keypad Entry Variables may be in one of two states:

Active
The variables are active, marked by a blinking cursor. A Display loads into this state by default; the first variable, as set in Variable Tab Order, will be active.

System Status

#	Description	Value
SB 30	HMI keypad entries completed	OFF
SB 32	HMI keypad entry in progress	ON
SI 250	Currently active keypad entry	Number of currently active variable

Locked
When variables are locked, no cursor is present on the LCD.

System Status

#	Description	Value
SB 30	HMI keypad entries completed	ON
SB 32	HMI keypad entry in progress	OFF
SI 250	Currently active keypad entry	-1

You can load all Displays in a project in the locked state via SB 27, Disable all keypad automation. If SB 27 is ON when a Display is shown, the user cannot navigate through the variable using the keypad keys and no cursor is present on-screen.. V280 users may, in order to enable variables to be activated only through 'touch', turn SB 27 ON as a power-up task.

Note ♦

When V290 is selected in Hardware Configuration, SB 27 is ON by default. When SB 27 is ON, no cursor is present on-screen. This enables the V290 user to activate any Keypad Entry Variable by touching it.

You can also load a specific Display with all variables locked via SB 30, by building a net as shown below. Note that SB 30 should not be used to lock variables after a Display has been loaded.

After a Display loads, you can enable the user to skip keying in data for all of the variables on-screen, by turning SB 29 ON after data is keyed into any variable. When a specific Display is on-screen, turning SB 29 ON, locks all of the remaining variables.

Notes ♦

Regardless of the variable tab order, the user can activate variables by:

Touch, if the project is based on a touch-screen controller and if the touch property has been assigned to the variable. If this property is assigned, touching the variable activates it, causing it to be marked by the blinking cursor.
By writing the variable ID # into SI 250, either via Ladder program, Information or Online mode.

These methods can also activate 'locked" variables, in which values have already been entered, or that have been locked via SBs 27, 29, or 30.

Relevant HMI SBs and SIs

To see the variable ID numbers, open HMI Information from the View menu and click the Variables tab.

Touchscreen models (V290V280)

There are 2 types of Vision touch-screen models:

Models which comprise only a virtual keypad (V290). In these models, the virtual keypad opens whenever the user touches a keypad entry variable that is currently displayed on the screen.
Models which comprise both an HMI function keypad and a virtual keypad (V280). However, in these models, the virtual keypad must be activated by turning SB 22 Enable Virtual Keypad ON (Note: SB22 is relevant only to Standard Vision + Touchscreen, not Enhanced) This must be done at power-up, or before the Display containing the keypad variable is entered. In addition, the Keypad entry variable must be assigned a Touch Property.

After a keypad entry variable is touched on the screen, the keyboard is automatically displayed, enabling the value to be entered. Note that you can set a font for variable display in Font Handler.

Note ♦	When an HMI keypad entry variable is active, and the Enter key is pressed on the controller keypad, SB 30 HMI Keypad Entries Completed turns ON. This can be used as a Jump condition.
♦	SB 250, Keypad Entry within Limits, turns ON when a legal value is entered; SB 251, Keypad entry exceeds limits, turns ON when a value is out of range. You can use the status of these bits, for example, to provide a jump condition to another Display. When either of these SBs turns ON, the index number of the active variable is stored in SI 249.

System Bits, non touch-screen and touch-screen Vision PLCs

Certain SBs are only relevant to certain controller models, those with touch screens and those without. Note that the V280 contains both touch-screen and keypad.

Note that the V280 keyboard is enabled by default. The information here is relevant when keypad entry variables are not assigned touch properties.

Which variable is active? Models with keypads

In these controllers, a blinking cursor marks the active keypad entry variable. This cursor indicates that the user can begin to enter a value via keypad.

The user navigates through the variables by using the directional arrows on the keypad.

Controlling the cursor via SBs

SB 30 HMI keypad entries complete

Use SB 30 to run ladder tasks that require data entered via keypad.
Note that when a variable is active, pressing the Enter button on the keypad signals that the user has finished entering the value.
After the Enter button has been pressed for all of the variables in the current display, SB 30 turns ON.

SB 31 Refresh current LCD screen display variables

Use SB 31 to immediately re-enable data entry.
Turning SB 31 ON restores the cursor, and re-activates all keypad entry variables in the current display.

SB 29 Current keypad entry sets SB 30

Turn SB 29 ON after data is keyed into any variable, to enable the user to skip keying in data for the remaining variables in the current display.
After SB 29 turns ON, SB 30 turns ON as well.

SB 76 Keypad Entry: Focus (V130 only)

If SB 76 is OFF after Keypad Entry, the user must use the arrow keys to move to the next variable. Turning SB 76 on causes the next variable set in Variable Tab Order to automatically become active.

Touch-screen only ( V290)

The V290 does not have a physical keypad. When V290 is selected in Hardware Configuration, keypad entry variables must be assigned a Touch property. Then, when a keypad entry variable is touched, a virtual keypad is displayed on screen.

Note that in a display that contains keypad entry variables, the variables are not marked by a blinking cursor. The programmer must include a clue to inform the user as to what part of the screen must be touched.

In V290, SB 22 Enable Virtual Keypad, and SB 27 Enter Display without active Keypad Entry Variables are ON by default.

Touch-screen and keypad (V280)
The V280 has both a physical keypad and a virtual keypad.

Physical Keypad mode
If you include keypad entry variables in your displays, by default, the V280 functions like other Vision models with physical keypads. A cursor indicated keypad entry variables, and the user enters data via the physical keypad.

Physical Keypad mode + Touch
If you give Touch properties to keypad entry variables, a cursor still indicates active variables; however, you can page through these variable by touching them on the screen. The user enters data via the physical keypad.

Physical Keypad mode + Touch + 'No Cursor"
You can cancel the blinking cursor by turning SB 27 ON. This also means that the user can only page through the keypad entry variables by touching them. Pressing the physical keypad arrows will not page through the variables.

Virtual Keypad (V290) mode
Turn SB 22 ON. When this is done, the V280 will function just like the V290 describe in the section above,.