One screen can link to another in a variety of different methods:

• A screen can have a TPRI.HMI.Controls.CmdButton or TPRI.HMI.Controls.LinkLabel object on its display that specifies the ScreenID of the new screen in its LinkedScreen property.

• A screen can raise the ITscreen.ActivateScreen(..) event, which is passed a TPRI.Tscreen.ActivateScreenEventArgs object that specifies the ScreenID of the new screen.

The Texplore application internally has a TPRI.Tscreen.TscreenMgr object that manages navigation between screens.  In either of the cases above, this TscreenMgr object will use the ScreenID name to find the appropriate new screen as follows:

1. If a screen with this ScreenID is already registered in the HMI application configuration file in the AppConfig/ScreenConfig section of the application configuration file.

2. If there is no screen currently registered with the specified ScreenID, the TscreenMgr will check the assembly of the original screen to see if there is a class whose name matches the ScreenID in the same namespace as the original screen.

For instance, suppose the application configuration file has the following <ScreenConfig> section:

<ScreenConfig>
  <Screen ScreenID="MainMenu"
          ClassName="MyNamespace1.MainMenu,MyAssembly1"
          Default="True" />
  <Screen ScreenID="SubMenu"
          ClassName="MyNamespace2.SubMenu,MyAssembly2" />
</ScreenConfig>

When the application is started, a MyNamespace1.MainMenu object will be loaded from the MyAssembly1.dll assembly, assigned a ScreenID of “MainMenu”, and initially presented to the user.  This occurs because this screen is marked with the Default="True" attribute in the HMI configuration file.  At the same time, a MyNamespace2.SubMenu object from the MyAssembly2.dll assembly will be registered with Texplore and its TscreenMgr using the ScreenID of "SubMenu".

If the NtRtMenu screen has a CmdButton on it whose LinkedScreen property is set to “SubMenu”, the TscreenMgr will immediately find the SubMenu screen in its list of registered screens and activate it.

However, if the CmdButton on the MainMenu screen instead specifies “OtherScreen” in its LinkedScreen property, the TscreenMgr will find that there is no screen currently registered with that ScreenID.  Therefore it will check if the MyAssembly1.dll assembly contains a class by the name MyNamespace1.OtherScreen; if it finds one then that screen will be immediately registered, created and activated.  If this class does not exist then the navigation will be canceled.

Consequently, only top-level menus must be specified in the ScreenConfig section of the application configuration file as long as all classes corresponding to screens linked from those menus are located in the same namespace as the top-level menu.

The ProbeX screen is a diagnostic tool that allows the user to “peek and poke” at variables in shared memory.  Effectively, the user can enter the fully qualified name of a variable in global common, and the ProbeX screen will retrieve and periodically update its current value on the display.  In addition, if the user has the rights to do so he can modify the current value and submit it back to the TSENTRY system. 

Following is a screenshot of the ProbeX screen:

That bulk of the screen constitutes the display of the various variables loaded into the ProbeX screen.  This display is effectively a tree, where each root of the tree corresponds to a single variable.  In the case where the variable is actually an array, the value of each element in the array will be laid out in sub-branches of the tree.

For each variable the display is divided into several columns:

• Drag and Drop
  This column allows the user to drag and drop rows.

• Variable
  This field allows the user to specify the name of the variable.  Double clicking in this field lets the user to change the variable name, either directly by typing in the new name or via the data dictionary, which is accessible by clicking on the button displayed in the text editor when modifying the variable name.

• Type
  This field indicates to the user the type of the specified variable as returned by the TSENTRY host system.

• Value
  This field displays the current value of the variable or array element.  Normally, the value is displayed with a yellow background, which indicates that the value is being updated live from the host.  If the user has rights to modify variable values he can enter a new value into this field, in which case the background will turn orange to indicate that the value has been modified.  Modified variable values can be submitted to the host by clicking on the Send Data button in the lower-right-hand corner of the screen.

• Format
  This field indicates the current format of the variable value.  By default variables are displayed in their normal format, but certain variable types, such as integers, can be displayed in a number of different formats like binary, hexadecimal, unsigned, etc.  Simply clicking in this field allows the user to choose any available alternative formats.

• Description
  If the variable has a description associated with it in the data dictionary, that description will be displayed in this field.

• Notes
  This field displays user entered notes of a variable.

The order of the columns can be re-arranged by Drag and Drop. Notes: The first two columns (Row Drag and Drop column and variable name column) cannot be moved.

The column width can be resized by following the steps below:

• Mouse over column divider and wait for the resize cursor.

• Hold down left mouse key to move left or right to resize column width.

• Double click to auto resize column width.

The ProbeX screen has the ability to save the list of displayed variables and formats to a file stored on the TSENTRY host so that this list can be easily retrieved again at some later time.  The set of controls at the bottom center of the ProbeX screen allow the user to load, save, reset, and delete these files.

The drop down list at the left specifies the name of the ProbeSet file currently displayed, and allows the user to choose one to load into the display.  To the right of this field are a number of buttons (from left to right):

• Reset, which closes the currently displayed ProbeSet and clears the list of variables.

• Save, which saves the current list of variables under the specified ProbeSet name.

• Delete, which deletes the current ProbeSet from the TSENTRY host.

In the lower-right-hand corner of the screen is the Send Data button, which allows the user to submit modified variable values back to the host system.  Note that this button is only available if the currently logged in user has the appropriate rights in his security access key to write variable data back to the host.

Next to the Send Data button is a cancel button, which allows the user to cancel the modified variable value changes and display the live values.

The Probe display is based on a “tree view” display format.  The display is composed of branches and leafs.  The branches may be display as Expanded (“-“) or Collapsed (“+”).  If a branch contains a non-array variable it does not contain any leafs and it may not be Expanded or Collapsed.  If a branch contains an array variable it may be Expanded or Collapsed.  The variations are show here.

A short cut is available to expand or collapse the tree branches and leafs. Click the second column of grid header (1, 2, 3… or *) you can:

•  Collapse all the tree nodes to show variable names (root nodes) only and hide array elements (1).

• Expand tree nodes to show variable names and the first one layer of array elements (2).

• Expand tree nodes to show variable names and the first two layers of array elements (3).

• …

• Expand tree nodes to show variable names and all the array elements (all layers of the tree) (*).

One or several of the branches in the tree may be “selected”.  Branch selection is performed using the standard Windows Click, Shift Key with Click and Ctrl Key with Click method.  All of the “selected” branches will be changed when an appropriate option is selected from the popup menu.

To display the popup menu of interactive user options click the right mouse button after selecting one of several branches in the tree.  Note: The popup menu will display differently when at least one branch has been selected compare with none is selected.

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Selecting New Variable option will insert a new variable line at the selected location in the tree.

While pointing at the new line in the tree you may double left click the left mouse button to display the Data Dictionary Window.  You may also select the Data Dictionary Window from the menu.

Selecting the Edit New Variable will display the Data Dictionary Window.

You may also directly edit the variable name. 

The Data Dictionary Window may also be display by clicking on the button at the right side of the field name area.

The selected variable/branch will be copied into the paste buffer.  Note: The copy function will copy all of the details for the selected branches.  If the branch is assigned to an array variable all leafs will also be copied.

The selected variable/branch will be copied into the paste buffer and removed from the current position in the tree.

If there is a variable/branch in the paste buffer this option will be available.  Note: In the case of array variables all leaves of the branch will also be inserted. 

The selected variable/branch will be removed from the current position in the tree.

Add a selected prefix to the selected variable.

When the Graph Variable option is clicked the selected variable/branch will be displayed in a graphical format window.  Note: The graph option requires that only one variable/branch be selected.  You may select each variable/branch and generate a graph window as many times as you would like.  The only restriction is that you select a variable/branch one at a time.

Each graph window may be sized and positioned individually as shown here. It is not locked inside the Probe window. The graph format may be configured for each window.  If the same variable/branch is shown in multiple graph windows each window may have a different configuration.   

The graph window provides two user editable values for the upper and lower Y axis scale values.  The screen also provides a command button to “Rescale” the Y axis.  The rescale calculation is based on the currently display data.  You may press the button repeatedly to regenerate the Y axis scale values to fit the current data.

The graph area supports numerous interactive functions.  If you left click in the graph area you will trigger the option to zoom the graph.  After entering zoom mode the display provides a scroll bar at the bottom of the display area.  You may use the scroll bar to pan the graph display area.

To return to the normal non zoomed mode click the right mouse button to display the graph option menu.  Then click on the Undo Zoom option.  When the menu is displayed you may also use the short cut key “Z” to trigger the Undo Zoom option.

The graph option menu provides numerous interactive options. For example the option to display both a graph and a table of the current values is available. Selecting this option as shown below will modify the display format.

The option to select a Plotting Method is also very useful.

The default plotting method for array variables is Points + Line

The default plotting method for non-array variables is Bar

Click to show Find and Replace dialog box. Enter Find text and Replace with text. Click Replace All to find and replace the variables for all rows. Click Replace Selected to find and replace the variables for the selected rows

Selecting Set Values will display a prompt window.  You may then enter a value to be applied to all of the selected variables. 

Modified values will be show with a red background.

If changed values have NOT been sent to the host they may be “reloaded” with their original values. 

Selecting Set Formats will display a prompt window.  You may then select a format from the drop down list to be applied to all of the selected variables.

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All of the tree nodes will be opened.

All of the tree nodes will be closed

Details on the TrendX screen are provided in the section on the Trend System.

Details on the TriggerMgr screen are provided in the section on the Trend System.

Details on the TrendFileMgr screen are provided in the section on the Trend System.