Concatenated Text

Introduction

Hello and welcome to a new guide on how to best use Movicon.NExT™.

In this technote we are going to show you how to concatenate text strings.

Concatenating strings

Movicon.NExT offers the user the possibility to concatenate several String IDs by using the {StringID1}{StringID2}...{StringIDN} syntax, where StringID1, StringID2, and StringIDN indicate the String ID inserted in the table contained in the Texts Resource.
The objects that currently support string concatenation are:

• Text
• Alarm Banners
• Dynamic Texts
• Check Boxes
• Option Buttons
• Data Analysis Trend
• DB Connectors
• Display
• Simple graphical lines
• Gauges
• Advanced Gauges
• Potentiometers
• XML System Event Debug
• Bargraphs
• Advanced Bargraphs
• State Bar Chart
• RealTime Trend
• XY Chart
• Sparkline Chart
• OPC UA Data Grid
• ComboBox object
• ListBox object
• Alarm Window

We will now show you how to concatenate two strings in a Text object's Text property by using the following example.

Example

In this example we will create a screen with a Text object whose Text property will be set with the {ID1}{ID2} string.
The ID1 and ID 2 will be set with the Yes and No texts in the Text Resource table.
When the project is run, the graphical Text object will show the concatenated YesNo string.

Creating the Screen

First open the Movicon.NExT platform in design mode, and create, or load, a project and then create a screen in the following way:

• Go to the project tree in the Project Explorer window and select the Screen module.
• Right-click it and select the New option from the menu that appears.
• A popup will show allowing you to configure the screen’s general properties. Configure the screen as follows:
• • Width: 1920
  • Height: 1080
  • Name: Main
• Click the OK button to confirm.

Now that you have created the screen, change the project’s properties by inserting the screen we have just created as the project’s startup screen. To do this:

• Select the name of the project from the project tree.
• Open its Properties window.
• Change the following properties:
• • Startup Page Type: Main Screen
  • Startup Screen Name: Main

Once you have finished, click on the Save button on the toolbar to save the project.

Check that the Main screen is open, click on the Toolbox tab on the far right next to the properties window to open the Toolbox library offered by Movicon.NExT.
Select the Text box from the Texts folder and drag it onto the screen. With the object selected, open its properties window and go to the Text property and enter the {ID1}{ID2} string.

Configuring the text table

Now we shall configure the texts table.
Select and double-click the Texts Resource on project tree to open it.
Add two languages. for example English (United States) and Italian in this way:

• Right-click on the Texts Resource workspace and select the Add New Language option from the menu that opens.
• A popup will display showing which languages you can choose from. Select the English (United States) language and click OK to confirm.
• Repeat the same procedure for the Italian language.

Now add the two String ID:

• Right-click on the Texts table workspace and select the Add New String option from the menu that appears. 
• Double-click on the New Text ID field and change the string by inserting ID1.
• Insert Yes in the English (United States) column and Si in the Italian column.

Repeat this procedure to insert ID2:

• Right-click on the Texts table workspace and select the Add New String option from the menu that appears.
• Double-click on the New Text ID field and change the string by inserting ID2.
• Insert No in the English (United States) column and No in the Italian column.

Creating change language buttons

Open the Main screen and then open the Toolbox library again. Go to the Buttons folder and then the Standard folder and drag and drop a Standard Metro Style button on the screen.
With the button selected, open it properties window and enter the ENG string in the Text property field.
Still with the ENG button selected, click on the Commands tab at the bottom of the editor.
Open the commands panel and select to add the Languages command to the button’s associated command list.
Configure the command in the tab’s far right by selecting the en-US option in the Language (Culture Name) property field.

Make a duplicate of the ENG button by using the copy and paste operations with the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keys. Move the new button by dragging it to new position within the screen so that it does not overlap the other one.
With the new button selected, open its properties window. Go to the Text property and change the string from ENG to ITA.
With the ITA button still selected, click on the Commands tab at the bottom of the editor.
Open the Commands panel, configure the command on the tab’s far right by selecting the it-IT option in the Language (Culture Name) property.

Save the project by clicking on the Save All icon on the Movicon.NExT editor’s Toolbar and start runtime to try out what we have created.

Runtime Test

With the application running, the Main screen should display the Text object valued with the YesNo string by concatenating the two IDs inserted in the Texts table.
When you click on the ITA button, the YesNo text will be translated into SiNo by switching from the English (United States) to the Italian language.
When you click on the ENG button instead, the SiNo text will be translated into YesNo by switching from the Italian to the English (United States) language reinvoking the concatenation while doing so.