Drag & Drop of DPTs and DPs

WinCC OA supports drag & drop of datapoint types and data points from the DP tree view (as you can see it, for example, in the PARA) to a panel. From a predefined set of standard symbols for a datapoint type, the user can decide which symbol should represent the datapoint on the panel. The definition of the standard symbols for a datapoint type takes place in the Symbols tab of the PARA - see Standard symbols for DPTs.

The following applies:

  • If a datapoint is added to a panel using drag & drop, this datapoint will be selected automatically in the panel for reference definition.

  • If a datapoint type is added to a panel, the datapoint must be selected in the panel for reference definition.

  • If a datapoint type is added to a panel using drag & drop with pressed CTRL key, automatically the predefined default symbol is used and the datapoint must be selected in the panel for reference definition.

Example of drag & drop of a datapoint type to a panel

  1. Open the WinCC OA PARA.

  2. Click on the datapoint type ANALOG1.

  3. Go to the Symbols tab.

  4. Click on the button. This loads the symbol ANALOG1.pnl from the file system.

  5. Click on the button and open the ANALOG2.pnl symbol from the WinCC OA installation directory \panels\objects\STD_OBJECTS.

  6. Repeat step 5 for the symbols ANALOG_BAR.pnl, ANALOG1_1.pnl and ANALOG2_1.pnl.

  7. Select ANALOG1.pnl as the default symbol. To do so, set an X in the Default column. The X marks the default symbol.

  8. Click on Apply.

  9. Open a WinCC OA panel.

  10. Add the datapoint type ANALOG1 (or directly a datapoint of the type ANALOG1) from the PARA tree view to the panel using drag & drop.

  11. This opens a pop-up window with a preview of the symbols defined before.

  12. The symbol in the center is always the symbol that is currently selected. Its name is shown in the label at the bottom left.

  13. Click the left symbol in the preview panel to move it to the middle and thus to select it. The same applies if you click the right symbol. This allows you to navigate freely in the preview panel.

  14. Once you have selected a symbol, click OK to place it in the following on the panel (or click Cancel to cancel the operation).

  15. Place the symbol on the panel using left mouse click.

  16. As a datapoint type was added to the panel using drag & drop, a datapoint must be selected in the panel for reference definition.

See also CTRL functions getPanelPreview(), imageToFile() and startPanelRefConstruct().