[Next] [Previous] [Up] [Top] [Contents] [Index] Chapter 6 Monitors 5. Text Update ObjectsEven though the option in the monitors' submenu says text, text monitors are known as text update monitors, and they are labeled as such in EDD. Text update monitors are different from the other monitors--indicators, bars, and meters -- in several ways.
The 'units modifier' property is a choice button, the choices being none and append. When set to append (left-click on append), at run-time the string in the EGU field is retrieved and appended to the displayed value of the channel that the text update is monitoring. Usually, EGU is a text string, like The 'text alignment' property determines where to display the information the text update object displays. There are six settings:
The three horizontal settings arrange the information horizontally, from left to right at run-time. The vertical settings arrange the information vertically, from top to bottom. The horizontal left setting aligns the leftmost character of the value string with the object's left edge; the horizontal right setting aligns the rightmost character of the value string with the object's right edge. The horizontal centered setting centers the value between the left and right edges. The horizontal settings always center the value vertically, between the top and bottom edges. Figure 6-13 shows the run-time appearance for each horizontal alignment setting. Horizontal Alignment Settings for Text Updates The vertical top setting aligns the first character of the value string with the object's top edge; the vertical top setting aligns the value string with the object's bottom edge. And the vertical centered setting centers the object vertically, between the top and bottom edges. Vertical Alignment Settings for Text Updates When the text alignment is horizontal, you must be sure that the object's horizontal size is sufficient to display the value string of the channel that the object is monitoring, especially if that string happens to be a long one because horizontal text is 'cut off' if it is too long to fit in the object. In a vertically aligned object if the value string is too long for the first column, it will carry over to the second, and if too long for the second, to the third; and so on until the object cannot fit any more columns due to its size. The similarities between the text arrangement in EDD and the run-time appearance of the value string in a text update object will help you anticipate the appearance of the text update object at run-time. The final property in the text update's property sheet that we will discuss is the 'text format' property. It has six settings that determine how numerical values are displayed:
Decimal -truncated notation basically displays the value without decimals. It does not round the number, just chops it off at the decimal point, displaying only the integral number. So with this setting if the channel's value is 524.987, the text update object will display 524, not 525. The hexadecimal setting displays the value of the channel in integer 16-based notation (1-9,A-F); and the octal setting displays the channel's value in integer eight-based notation.
EDD/DM User's Manual, 2.4 - 27 MARCH 1997 [Next] [Previous] [Up] [Top] [Contents] [Index]
|
L O S A L A M O S N A T I O N A L
L A B O R A T O R Y Copyright � 1996 UC Disclaimer
|