2 Visual Components Manuals

4.3.1 Resource Types
The resources in the editor are divided into the following elements which are grouped in the tree view on the left
side.
• Pictures
• Variables
• Text Groups
• Bitmap
• Fonts
• Alarms
• Languages
All of the items listed above are managed in the Visual Components editor. These resources are located in file
format in the directory structure of the project to be edited. All of these resources can be inserted, deleted, and
edited using the editor. There is a specific editor for each resource type.
4.3.2 Creating a Visual Components Project
A Visual Components project is part of an Automation Studio project. Visual Components projects can be
created by adding either hardware suitable for visualization or by adding a panel object and connecting it to the
hardware.
4.3.2.1 Creating a Visual Components Project
There are two ways to create a project. The usual method begins by inserting visualization hardware. This
automatically opens a Wizard which creates a visualization object and connects it to the hardware.
This procedure is described in detail in the Getting Started section.
Introduction to Visual Components 2.3
The second possibility works by creating a software object. This can be assigned to a suitable hardware device.
See Inserting a Panel Object on a PP21 Power Panel.
A software object must be connected to a hardware object (display). This allows the hardware properties to be
accepted by the Visual Components project.
As shown above, the hardware object (panel '5D2210.0C') is assigned to the software object ('vis_al'). Any
panel object in the AS project can be assigned in the 'Object Name' column. The first 6 characters of a panel
object name must be unique in the project. Assignments should only be changed if there are several objects for
this hardware in the project.
Note:
The software object (VC object) is automatically converted for the new hardware if the assignment is changed.
Information may be lost when changing from VGA to 1/4 VGA! This data cannot be recovered.
The Visual Components runtime module version is entered in the 'Version' column. All versions are displayed in
this column. The highest version number indicates the most current state. Whenever a selection is made here,
the required VC project drivers and system modules are updated.
The 'Key Matrix Priority' column specifies the priority of the key driver in the system. In this way, the priority of
jog key matrix updates can be determined by requesting them with the VISAPI interface. Therefore, the key
driver can possibly interrupt cyclic tasks. Higher loads can negatively affect the runtime system (=cycle time
274 4.3.1 Resource Types