Mobile multi-touch

big things would be:

the use of the multi-touch actions, for example for the zoom of some graphs…
the ability to scroll and zoom a page into a smartphone
a faster way to activate the default keyboards or the numerical keypad of the smartphone when it is required, such as with a box to enter text or only numbers :thumb_right: :thumb_left: :scratch:

It will be great to get multi-touch capabilities in Ignition

Please read this article:

designnews.com/author.asp?se … s_element&

Multi-Touch Industrial HMIs

The industrial HMI is continuing to evolve with the addition of multi-touch capabilities that are now standard on smartphones and tablets. With multi-touch functionality, HMI operation is simplified and enhanced, but the biggest question is how quickly these more sophisticated interfaces may be adopted by machinery builders and users.

At the recent MD&M East show in Philadelphia, we visited with Marc Ostertag, president of B&R Industrial Automation. He showed us application examples of the new multi-touch HMIs. The demonstration was very impressive visually, and this technology definitely enables a user interface that is similar to tablets with touch-to-open menus and the ability to monitor key system parameters easily.

AIS industrial multi-touch screen-panel PC computers or panel-mount HMI panels combine an Intel Atom dual core processor with projected capacitive touch technology in an industrial-grade flat panel.
(Source: American Industrial Systems)
Multi-touch panels open up new dimensions for innovative HMI design. There are numerous gestures that might be used in an application: zooming in and out and rotating objects with two fingers, scrolling lists (panning), and switching to the next screen with a quick swipe (flick). A key main advantage of multi-touch technology is how it makes operation more intuitive. But it also provides an effective method of preventing operating errors by requiring two-hand gestures for critical or potentially dangerous operations.

To enhance the efficiency of processes, better and more effective use of information is a first requirement, which is the main reason the manufacturing management is emphasizing visualization tools. With its growing importance, more technologies are imported in HMI, and it’s being applied, not only to the production process, but also to intelligent buildings, ships, and others significant applications.

Jonney Chang, a director in Advantech’s Industrial Automation Group, wrote in a recent blog post that HMIs are moving toward computing, control, and communication. By integrating these three functions, the HMI is incorporating a new different look. In the past, HMIs only had simple keys. Today they provide more comprehensive screen visualizations. Chang wrote that HMI design will not only include hardware, but also will be integrated with software that will become a key concept in the next-generation HMI.

To envision the future development of HMIs separately from software and hardware, Chang wrote that the panel and sophisticated semiconductor technologies are facilitating the invention of thin HMI panels. Multi-touch technology and applications are becoming mature, and with these technologies, HMIs now appear to be an oversized smartphone. In the future, they will operate intuitively and easily by clicking and dragging. The HMI specification used to depend on screen frames; more frames meant more power and flexibility. But with multi-touch technology, users can tap options on the screen, shrink and enlarge, or even use more sophisticated 3D displays.

The ultimate promise of multi-touch technology is that it will make workers more productive. American Industrial Systems has a whitepaper that might be interesting if you want to learn more about the evolution of this technology and the specific advantages it offers for industrial control. A Beckhoff video might also be interesting as an introduction to the technology. It provides a visual demonstration of how multi-touch technology is being implemented for industrial control.

2 Likes

+1

This would really be nice. I had to give up on making our app work on an iPad for our gas control guys to use after hours because there are so many things you can’t do. One of the major problems is scroll bars. Unless I am mistaken, there is no way to grab the scroll bar and pull it down or up. The only thing I can get it to do is hold the up or down arrow and wait for it to scroll up or down one line at a time. Try doing that wth over 1000 lines.

yeah the mobile module is almost unusable IMHO. no ability to scroll just cripples doing much of anything.

+1

While I’m really enjoying working with Ignition, the mobile module has been very disappointing. Scrolling, moving, sizing and rotating the screen is very difficult if working at all. The time range component is unusable too. An html5/xthml5 based architecture would be very nice.

++++1
we suffer a lot with mobile module. auto size, rotate …ect
waiting update in V7.7