Set up fill animation

Use the
Fill
 option on the
Animation
 menu to change the fill level in an object when an expression or tag value changes. The object's fill level is proportional to the minimum and maximum values specified for the expression. For example, if the value of the expression is halfway between its minimum and maximum values, the object will be half full.
You can attach fill animation to drawing objects only. The exceptions are the image and panel objects, which only support visibility animation.
To attach fill animation to an object
  1. Select the object.
  2. Choose
    Fill
     from the
    Animation
     menu, or click the
    Fill
    tab in the
    Animation
     dialog box.
  3. Create an expression that will evaluate to a number at runtime.
  4. Specify minimum and maximum values for percent fill.
  5. Indicate the fill direction and whether only the inside is to vary or not.
  6. Select the method to use to calculate the expression's minimum and maximum values.
  7. Specify a range of values for the expression.
    TIP:
    You can use the Object Explorer to search for objects on your display that have animation. Open the
    Highlight Settings
     box and select the kind of animation you want to highlight.
    If you add fill animation to a group as well as to individual objects within the group, the object's fill animation will be applied first and then the group fill animation will be added to it.
Options
  • Expression
    Type a tag name or an expression that will evaluate to numeric values at runtime. An expression is a mathematical or logical equation that returns a value. It can contain tag names, constants, and mathematical, relational, logical, and bitwise operators. A tag name can be used as an expression. When you use a tag name, the minimum and maximum expression values default to the tag's minimum and maximum values.
  • Expression range
    • Use tag's min and max property values
      If you have specified a tag in the
      Expression
       box, click this button to use the tag's minimum and maximum values to define the range of values for the expression. If your expression contains more than one tag, the minimum and maximum values for the first tag will be used for the animation.
    • Use constant
      To use constant numeric values to define a range of values, click this button and specify values for minimum and maximum.
    • Read from tags
      To define the range of values using one tag's value for the minimum and another tag's value for the maximum, click this button and then specify a tag for minimum and another for maximum. Using this option, when the display opens and animation for an object is started, the tags' values are read once to set the minimum and maximum values. The tags are not read again after the display is opened, nor are the minimum and maximum values for the animation changed, even if the tag values change.
  • Fill (Percent)
    The default values for this are 0 and 100, which means that when the expression returns the minimum value, the object will be empty and when it returns its maximum, the object will be completely full.
    • At Minimum
      Type the percent the object is to be filled when the expression evaluates to its minimum value. The default is 0.
    • At Maximum
      Type the percent the object is to be filled when the expression evaluates to its maximum value. The default is 100.
  • Fill Direction
    Select
    Left
    ,
    Right
    ,
    Up
     or
    Down
     for the fill direction. For example, if you choose Left, the object will fill from the right to the left side.
  • Inside Only
    When you check this box the outline of the object remains constant while the inside fill varies.
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