Working with docked displays
At runtime, graphic displays can be opened and fixed to an edge of the FactoryTalk View SE Client window. This is called
docking
a display.When a display is docked, the area of the SE Client window that is available for other displays is reduced by the height or width of the docked display. If the display is docked on the top or bottom, the height of the available window is reduced. If it is docked to the right or left side, the width is reduced.
Docked displays are intended to be used to provide information or operations to those who interact with the application at runtime. Typical uses are:
- To display alarm information without having to open a display, and have portions of the information available at all times
- To provide continuous access to certain functions, such as language switching
- To provide navigation tools for viewing various aspects of plant operation
Display settings for docked displays
Certain display settings are ignored when a display is docked. For example, regardless of what is specified in the Display Settings dialog box, a docked display:
- Does not have borders
- Does not have a title bar (and therefore no minimize, maximize, or close buttons)
- Cannot be undocked or moved
- Cannot be resized, except when the size of the client window changes, in which case, if the width of the window changes the width of the top or bottom docked displays will change, and if the height of the window change the height of left and right docked displays changes
Pan and scale settings still apply to a display if it is docked. However, panned displays that are too large for the display width will be truncated. Also, any unused area in a docked window for panned displays will appear the same as the background color of the display.
For displays that are set to scale, the aspect ratio is not maintained. Displays docked top or bottom will be stretched horizontally, and those docked left or right will be stretched vertically.
The best practice is to know the target screen size and use pan.
Stacking docked displays
Overlay and On Top displays that are opened with the docking parameter will be
stacked
in place. For example, the first display to be opened using the /DT parameter will be attached to the top edge of the window. The second one will be attached to the edge of the first docked display so that both are visible, and so on.If a Replace display is opened to the same location as other docked displays, it will close all visible displays for that location.
You can use the display setting,
Allow multiple running copies
, to stack several copies of a single display.For more information about the behavior of docked displays, refer to that section in the
FactoryTalk View Site Edition User's Guide
.
TIP:
Docked displays support VBA, with read-only restrictions on certain properties and methods that would change the size or position of the displays (Width, Height, Left, Top, Move, PushBack, PullForward, and WindowState).
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