I have been using Push Button widgets with a Siemens S7-1200 and digital I/O tags. I assign the HMI button bit in the PLC to another bit in the PLC and immediately reset the HMI button bit. When pressing the button repeatedly, despite being 1 all of the time, the Siemens controller sees a change from zero to 1 each time.

Now using an OPC-DA connection with an ABB controller, pressing the button additional times after it is high does nothing. The output always stays high.

As I understand it, I can use a digital control tag with a timed pulse for this. However, as I also understand, digital control tags are being phased out for digital I/O tags.

There are lots of applications where a single button press should initiate an action, and shouldn't require a separate button to reset that tag. What is the correct way to use a push button widget in VTScada as if it were an actual pushbutton in real life (on while pressed or pulsed using a digital I/O tag and NOT permanently-latched)?

To reset the value SCADA-side, use a momentary pushbutton with a Digital I/O tag writing 1 on depress and 0 on release.

To reset the value Controller-side, use a set value button with a Digital I/O tag and then unlatch it in the PLC.

Using a momentary pushbutton works, but I like the look/dynamic image change of the pushbutton widgets. I've spent a few hours now trying to create a widget that mimics this behavior with no luck. Is there a way to simply swap out the momentary pushbutton box for an actual dynamic image that changes on button press?

Nothing that isn't a hack (ex. a multi-write which writes a 0 after a 1 written by the set value hotbox) that I know of.

You can sort of play with the properties of the button in source code, but nothing like making a custom button.

Hi Michael, thanks for your response. I received your initial non-edited response via Email.

I have used Siemens WinCC extensively and have to say that a lot of things that can be done very easily in WinCC are exceptionally complicated in VTScada. In WinCC, I can simply use "SetBitInTag", to set a pushbutton bit in an HMI Word tag. In VTScada, I need to use a complicated numerical calculation to perform the same. In VTScada to configure indicators where each bit in a word from the PLC turns on an indicator, I need to create separate bits and link them through a calculation to the parent tag. In WinCC I just open the widget, link the word and select the bit. And Alarming ... man.

A widget like the pushbutton I want is easy to configure from scratch in WinCC ... pick a graphic "button unpressed", pick a graphic "pressed", and set the property "SetWhilePressed". Simple. I spent hours trying to figure out a solution to change a simple widget image of a momentary pushbutton with no dice.

Maybe just venting here a little, but the Developers could really take a hint from some other Scada platforms and make their tag operations/widget modifications more user friendly.

Good points.

I'll take super-easy redundant IO and historians over easy buttons any day, though. =P