NB-series Programmable Terminals. NB-Designer OPERATION MANUAL (2026)

3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-3

NB-Designer Software Window

NB-Designer has quite a few windows, which will be illustrated in this part.

3-3-1

Project Library Window

When starting the NB-Designer, you will see Project Library Window, Project File Window, and Project

Work Space shown as below. For the concept of the “screen”, the brief will be provided in 3-4 Screen

Concept (Page 3-47).

Project File Window

Project Library Window

Project Work Space

The Project Library Window contains: Connector, PT, PLC, Parts, Function Parts and Project Database.

Connector: Serial Port, Ethernet

PT: NB3Q-TW00B(-V1), NB3Q-TW01B(-V1), NB5Q-TW00B(-V1), NB5Q-TW01B(-V1)...

PLC: OMRON, SIEMENS, MITSUBISHI, Schneider…

Parts: Bit Button, Bit Switch, Word Lamp, Data Log, XY Graph, Number Input, Text Input…

Function Parts: Scale, Function Key, Alarm Display, Timer…

Project Database: Text Library, Variable Table, PLC Control…

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Directions:

Connector

Just click “Serial Port”, and drag it to the Project Work Space.

Check your PT type, find and drag the PT with the same type in the “PT” to the Project Work

Space.

PLC

Check your PLC type, find and drag the PLC with the same type in the “PLC” to the Project

Work Space.

After finishing selection of the PLC, PT and Connector, carry out connection. The connection

method is as follows: move the locations of PT and PLC accordingly, or click one end of the

connection line and drag it to the vicinity of the COM port of the PLC or the PT, then bring the

connection port close to either end of the connection line, and a successful connection can be

completed.

Note If the PLC or PT is not dragged into the “Project Work Space”, both of the “Project File Window” and “Project

Work Space” will be empty, as shown below.

PT and Graphics

are empty

PT and PLC

is empty

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3-3-2

Project File Window

The Project File Window is intended for displaying information about the PT, Macro, Recipe and Vector

Graphic, etc. contained in a project. If this project uses 1 PT, only one “HMI0.whe” will appear below the

[PT]. if 3 PTs are involved, “HMI0.whe, HMI1.whe, HMI2.whe” will appear accordingly. The rest can be

deducted from this. See the following diagram.

By clicking the “+” or “-” symbol on the left of the icon, the folder tree can be unfolded or folded.

By double-clicking a specific file, the editing state can be entered.

Note The recipe file (.RCP) can only be imported and deleted, but not be edited in the Edit Window.

Graphics

The Graphics mainly indicates this project contains how many Vector Graphics and bitmaps. If a new

Vector Graphics or bitmap is created in this project, it will show up immediately here. If a created Vector

Graphics or bitmap is double-clicked, the screen will be switched to the graphics edit window

immediately. For Vector Graphics and bitmaps, refer to 3-5-5 Vector Graphic (Page 3-60) and 3-5-6

Bitmap (Page 3-65).

3-3-3

Project Work Space

The Project Work Space is mainly intended for displaying the structure of the project, and contains two

parts: PT and PLC, as shown below.

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And the schematic diagram is shown as below.

Part 0

Project Name

Screen 0

Part 1

HMI

HMI 0

Screen 1

Part n

PLC 0

Screen n

PLC

PLC 1

PLC n

 PT

It mainly displays (stores) the PT used in the project, each of which also has a subfolder. Every

folder stores its own structure.

 PLC

It mainly displays (stores) the number of PLC, PLC No. and Station No. addresses used in the

project.

Note Creating a new project for each PT is recommended.

 Tree View

All the components contained in each screen will be displayed here, and if there is no component in

a screen, nothing will appear below it.

By clicking the “+” or “-” symbol on the left of icon, the folder tree can be unfolded or folded. Directly

double-click the Screen or the component No. in the Screen to skip to the edit page involving the

component. When a Screen or component is selected, pressing the DELETE button can delete the

related screen or component.

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Explanation about the characters on the top of the PLC Property window.

The first digit indicates the PLC No. currently used.

The second digit indicates the Station No. of PLC currently used.

 Screens Preview

Click [Screens Preview] in the [Project Work Space] to display the preview of the corresponding

screen. This makes browsing the thumbnails quite conveniently.

 PLC and PT replacement

• Supporting PLC Model Replacement

Note PLC replacement must be carried out through the [Change PLC Model] option. If you do not use this

function and delete all the settings of PLC to reconnect with the new PLC, the PLC area is replaced with

all the local addresses of PT.

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It provides a parameter setting dialog box for the PLC to be replaced and other PLCs in the

navigation mode for the user to make replacement operation. Select a PLC and right-click it in the

Configuration and Setup Window to make the pull-down menu popup, and then click “Change PLC

Model”.

Then, the Change PLC Model dialog box will pop up, as shown below.

A dialog box as shown above will pop up automatically, and all the supported PLC names are

included in the pull-down list of the PLC names. When the user select a PLC, the memory address

types supported by this PLC will be added to the address type box. The default selections are LB &

LW, but the user can select different address types according to the specific PLC. After being

confirmed by the user, the PLC will be replaced, and the corresponding PLC memory address in the

project will also be replaced at the same time.

Note Unit replacement between units employing Ethernet connection and serial connection is impossible.

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An example of setting addresses for [Current PLC] and [New PLC] are as follows.

• Supporting PT Model Replacement

Note 1

PT replacement must be carried out through the [Change PT Model] option. If you do not use this

function and delete all the settings of PLC to reconnect with the new PLC, the PLC area is replaced

with all the local addresses of PT.

NB-TWB can be replaced with NB-TWB-V1.

NB-TWB-V1 cannot be replaced with NB-TWB.

NB-TWB-V1 does not support the creation of projects containing multiple PTs. Therefore,

NB-TWB projects that include multiple PTs cannot be replaced with NB-TWB-V1.

NB-TWB and NB-TWB-V1 support different PLC models. Therefore, projects that

include PLC models not supported by NB-TWB-V1 cannot be changed to NB-TWB-

V1. Refer to A-5 Lists for Supported OMRON PLC (Page A-17) for the types of OMRON PLCs com-

patible with the NB Series. Refer to the NB-series Programmable Terminals Host Connection Manual

(Cat. No. V108) for the types of third-party PLCs compatible with the NB Series.

When the PT needs to be replaced, you can select the PT by right-clicking it in the Configuration

and Setup Window, and select “Change PT Model” in the pop-up menu.

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The following dialog box will pop up automatically.

Here, the name and descriptions of the Current PT cannot be altered, while the pull-down box of the

New PT lists all the supported [PT type], and the descriptions displayed at the lower part will be

updated automatically according to the type selected by the user. After being confirmed, the PT will be

replaced, and all the size of graphics in the PT will zoom automatically according to the resolution of the

screen.

After the PT is replaced, the original user edit screen will be adjusted by related scales according to the

difference of the resolution of various types. All the components with screen display will adjust

automatically. For example, all the components (such as the bitmaps, Vector Graphics, button and

lamp, etc.) with location and size adjustments can all change their sizes automatically. However, note

that there are a few exceptions: as the font size of text strings and label can’t be changed, the

components using text strings and label will be restricted to mainly display the text in the minimum

display area when size changes, especially when it becomes smaller as square components like the

Analog Meter change sizes in a “square” way, the changed sizes may disrupt the proportion among the

component sizes, therefore it requires a second fine-adjustment by the user.

By the [Special screen settings] in the dialog box, the special screen which will be replaced to Replace

PT is set. If the [Special screen settings] is not used, the special screen of the Current PT will continue

to be used.

If the resolutions of the Current PT and New PT are the same, no adjustment is required. But on the

contrary, if they are different, it will require the user to adjust the fonts and pictures to appropriate sizes.

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3-3-4

Output Window

The Output Window mainly displays compilation information of the project so that the user can precisely

pinpoint where errors lie, as shown below.

When the project is opened, the Output Window will display the loaded information of the project. when

the project is compiled, the Output Window will display the compilation process and error information.

 Clearance/Export of Message

The compiled information can be cleared or exported in the Output Window. Right-click the mouse in

the [Output Window], the following menu will pop up.

Clear Message: All the information in the Output Window will be removed.

Export Message: All the contents in the Output Window are exported to the folder which contains the

current project, forming a file named “log.txt”.

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3-4

Screen Concept

3-4-1

Screen Types

The project of the NB-Designer is composed of multiple screens. There are 3 types of screen, i.e. Base

Screen, Common Sheet and Menu Screen. The Base Screen after its size is changed can also be used

as Pop-up Screen. All the screen can be used as the Sheet Screen.

 Base Screen

This is the common-type screen. When Base Screen is switched by using “Screen switching”

command, the current screen will be cleared (All the screen rather than Common Sheet and Menu

Screen will be cleared.), and Base Screen to be switched to will be displayed in the current screen.

When the component in Base Screen calls the pop-up screens out, the original information in Base

Screen will be reserved, and the called pop-up screen will be attached to the current Base Screen.

The master-slave relationship is between Base Screen and all of related pop-up screens. When

Base Screen N is switched to Base Screen M, all of the sub-screens of Base Screen N will be

closed while Base Screen M and its sub-screens will be displayed. Base Screen must cover the

whole screen.

 Menu Screen

Menu Screen is the screen called by pressing the button of Menu Screen while the task-bar is

displayed, and it will be always displayed in the screen until the operation button makes it hidden.

Therefore, it can be used to put screen-switching button or some other common components. The

default Menu Screen is Frame 2. When the other screen is set as Menu Screen, the size of that

screen must be same as that of Menu Screen.

 Common Sheet

Common Sheet will always be displayed in the screen, and the components to be displayed forever

can be put in Common Sheet. In this way, you can see the state of this component or operate this

component at any time. The default Common Sheet is Frame 1. You can use [Change Common

Sheet] function key to switch the other screen as the current Common Sheet, but only one screen

can be used as the current Common Sheet.

 Sheet Screen

3 Sheet Screens (max.) can be set for the screen in [Screen Property] dialog box. Sheet Screen is

generally used to put some common components such as backg1round graphics, charts and titles

and so on for the multiple components. Each screen can be set as Sheet Screen.

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As shown above, Sheet Screen can be selected directly from the [Sheet Screen] option. Sheet

Screen is different from the general screen. The components in Sheet Screen will be inserted into

the general screen during the running, and in fact Sheet Screen isn’t displayed at all, but the display

and control of its components are similar to that of the components in the general screen.

 The Relationship of Screen

One screen can include Common Sheet, Base Screen and Menu Screen while one Common Sheet

or Base Screen can include many pop-up screens. And the relationship between them is shown as

below.

Screen

Base Screen

Menu Screen

Common Sheet

When the screen-switching command is executed, the PT will clear the current screen (the pop-up

screen attached on the current screen etc included) and switch to the screen to be displayed, but

Common Sheet will always be displayed in the screen. The original contents of Base Screen can’t

be changed by the pop-up screen that called by the direct screen or indirect screen, and the pop-up

screen is just attached to Base Screen. In addition, up to 3 sheet screens can be set for each screen

in screen property setup.

When one Base Screen (Screen No. is 0 or ranges from 10 to 32767) is called out, all the

components in this screen will be displayed in the PT. If Base Screen has the Sheet Screen, all the

components defined in its Sheet Screen will be displayed. All of the Touch Trigger components

(such as Bit Button, Function Key etc.) defined in the Sheet Screen are valid in the current screen. If

there are display components in Common Sheet, they will be displayed in the current screen. And all

the Touch Trigger components defined in Common Sheet are valid.

Each project includes 32768 screens (max.) (Base Screen, Common Sheet and Menu Screen etc

included), and only one screen can be used as Menu Screen. But you can use [Change Menu

Screen] function key to make the screen switch to the specified screen as Menu Screen. For details,

refer to 3-7-2 Function Key (Page 3-201).

Each new project has a default initial screen, and the default screen No. is 0 (If you want to change

it, you just need to make changes in [PT Property] in project editing screen.). The valid screen No.

ranges from 0 to 32767.

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The default Common Sheet and Menu Screen for the project are Frame 1 and Frame 2. If you want to

change the default Menu Screen and Common Sheet, you just need to double click PT to modify [PT

Extended Property], as shown below:

Note 1

16 pop-up screens can be opened simultaneously.

If you call two or more of the same screen simultaneously from one screen, the display and notifications

may not work correctly. The following operations are prohibited: opening two same screens on the base

screen using Direct Screen or Indirect Screen, and setting the base screen and common sheet on the

same screen.

The screens closed by the function keys can’t close the Direct Screen or Indirect Screen, because the

opening or closing of Direct Screen is related to the ON/OFF status of bit address that controls the Direct

Screen, while the opening and closing of Indirect Screen is just related to the data content of the word

address that controls the Indirect screen. The screen closed by the function keys can’t change the values

of these bits (words) addresses, so it can’t close these screens mentioned above.

All the Pop-up Screens are attached to the current Base Screen, so when the current screen is closed (or

switched to the other Base Screen), the attached Pop-up Screen will be closed. In this case, if the screen

is switched back to this Base Screen, you will find that the Pop-up Screens originally attached to this Base

Screen still exist (Otherwise there are commands sent to close them.)

Base Screen must cover the whole screen.

Every Pop-up Screen belongs to the screen where the component ejecting them locates, and master-

slave relationship is between them. Therefore, the screen opened by the component in Common Sheet

will always be displayed until Common Sheet closes it again.

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3-4-2

Screen Property

The methods to change the screen property:

• Double-click the area in which no components are arranged in the screen.

• Do not click the components in the screen and click the

icons of tool bar.

 Title

Assign the unique name for each screen for convenient differentiation. Of course, the screen title

can be changed.

 Screen No.

Screen No. range is from 0 to 32767. When a new screen is created, automatically is assigned a

Screen No.

Screens from 0 to 10 are fixed. The screen No. of the other screens can be changed by the user.

Screen No. can be not consecutive.

 Position

When the screen is the screen ejected by using “Pop-up Screen” function of the function key, the

vertex in the upper-left of the screen will be displayed in this position.

 Width and Height

Width and height can be set for the Pop-up Screen, and if it is the Base Screen, it must be set to the

default size (i.e. the size of the full screen).

 Screen Attribute

Keyboard page determines whether to set the screen as Keyboard Screen. Print page can be used

to set the size of this screen regardless of the limitation of the actual resolution of the PT. The NB

Series does not support [Print page].

 Protect key mapping on common sheet screen

The NB Series does not support this function.

 Switching to the lowest security level when screen closed

If the security level is set for one screen to realize the function, i.e. the password will be cleared

automatically when the screen is closed, and the password needs to be input again when the screen

is entered again, the security level will become 0 only if the screen is closed.

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 Background Color

If the filling effects for the screen are needed, select this option.

 Pattern Color and Background Color

The selected [Pattern Color] is applied as outline color and the selected [Background Color] is

applied as ground color. (For details, refer to the descriptions of “Fill Style Toolbar” in 3-2-3 View

Menu (Page 3-16)). In the default settings, the [Pattern style] is set to 0 so that only the backg1round

color is displayed by this setting.

 Pop-up Screen Type

The types are “Tracking”, “Modal”, “Clipping” and “Fixed”.

The above parameters show the relationship between one Pop-up Screen and its adjacent screen. If

one Pop-up Screen features “Modal”, the location of parent screen will be frozen after it pops up,

and the pop-up screen will always be displayed in the Top layer. If one Pop-up Screen features

“Clipping”, the border of this screen will be restricted by its parent screen, i.e. the part displayed out

of the border of its parent screen will be cut off. If one Pop-up Screen features “Tracking”, it will

move together when its parent screen moves.

Note If “Clipping” is selected, “Tracking” must be selected simultaneously.

The following Screen A and Screen B are both attached to the Base Screen. Generally, Screen A

will be displayed in the Top layer when it is touched. But if “Fixed” is selected for Screen A, it will not

be displayed in the Top layer even if it is touched, but it will always be attached to its parent screen.

Note The screen No. can’t be changed once it is created, but the name, frame and backg1round can be changed

still.

 Security Level

Set the corresponding security level for the screen. For details, refer to 3-13 Security Level (Page 3-

353).

 Sheet Screen

Set the corresponding Sheet Screens for the current screen. The screen to be set as the Sheet

Screen must be the created screen, where the components used by the multiple screens together

can be put.

 Frame

Refers to the frame recommended to be used by the Pop-up Screen. The width of the frame can be

any number from 0 to 16. If the width is not 0, the color can be selected for the frame.

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3-4-5

Screen Deletion

In Project Work Space, select the screen No. to be deleted, and press the “Delete” key in the keyboard

or click the

icon in [Screen Toolbar]. When the Confirm Screen pops up, select “Yes” to delete this

screen, and all the components in this screen will be deleted and can’t be restored. Please be careful

when you use this function.

Note Frame 0, Frame 1 to Frame 9 are all the default screens for the system, and they are not allowed to be

deleted.

3-4-6

Components Related to Screen

The function keys which are directly related to the screen operations include: Change Screen,

Backward, Change Common Screen, Pop-up Screen and Change Menu Screen. Components which

are directly related to the screen operations include: Direct Screen and Indirect Screen. For the

contents of these components, refer to 3-6-16 Indirect Screen (Page 3-147) and 3-6-17 Direct Screen

(Page 3-150).

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3-5

Basic Design Method

3-5-1

Designing Components

Generally speaking, one screen includes various kinds of components such as switches, lamps,

number input and shapes. It is simple to add one component to the screen, and it is basically divided

into 3 procedures as shown below.

 Component Addition

Drag the component icon from [Project Library Window]-[Parts] to the Edit Window.

When the Property dialog box of this component appears, set the various Properties for this

component such as PLC Read/Write Address, Vector Graphics or Bitmap, Label and Position

etc.

After the various Properties of this component are set, click the [OK] button. And you can see

this component has been placed in the screen after exiting from this dialog box. If required, you

can adjust the size of the component by changing settings in “Position” in “Display Setting” tab

or drag it to the desired position.

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3-5-2

About ID No.

ID No. is the number automatically assigned to the component for differentiating the components on the

PT. The designer cannot change component ID number artificially.

The contents represented by ID No. are as follows:

BL0

0: Component No,

BL: Bit

Lamp

Parts:

SB: Bit Button

BL: Bit Lamp

SW: Bit Switch

DW: Direct Screen

SWD: Command Button

WL: Word Lamp

MSW: Word Switch

SCR: Scroll Bar

MV: Moving Component

ANI: Animation

AD: Alarm

TR: Data Log

XY: XY Graph

BR: Level Meter

MT: Analog Meter

RCP: Recipe

ED: Event

IDW: Indirect Screen

ND: Number Display

TD: Text Display

NI: Number Input

TI: Text Input

OS: Oscillograph

NB: Note Book

NL: Word Neon Lamp

BNL: Bit Neon Lamp

TT: Touch Trigger

GR: Table

HDD: Data History

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Function Parts:

SC: Scale

FK: Function Key

AB: Alarm Display

TM: Timer

BG: Bitmap

VG: Vector Graphic

NP: Notepad

DT: Data Transmission

VM: Freeplotting

DTM: Date/Time Display

DG: Indirect Shape

UID: User Information

CO: Multifunction

EB: Event Display

3-5-3

Additional Comments (Descriptions)

If necessary, you can add comments to each component. The comments are used for entering remarks

or descriptions of the program on creation. Therefore, the descriptions entered as the comments will be

referred in future or the text entered will be used to describe when the text is printing. The entered

comments will not cause any effects to the program. (The NB-Designer does not support comment

printing.)

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The internal memory can be also selected, And the descriptions of internal memory are as follows:

Type

Device Name

Range

Descriptions

Bit

0~9999

The address of the local memory

Bit

RBI

0.0~261000.F(*1)

The index address of the recipe memory that is

stored in the flash memory in D.H. format and H

ranges from 0 to 15.

Bit

0.0~261000.F(*1)

The absolute address of the recipe memory that

is stored in the flash memory in D.H. format and

H ranges from 0 to 15.

Bit

FRB

0.0~134217727.F

The absolute address of the flash memory in

D.H. format and H ranges from 0 to 15.

Bit

FRBI

0.0~134217727.F

The index address of the flash memory in D.H.

format and H ranges from 0 to 15.

Bit

LW.B

0.0~10255.F

The address of the local memory in D.H. format

and H ranges from 0 to 15.

Word

0~10255

The address of the local memory

Word

RWI

0~261000(*2)

The index address of the recipe memory that is

stored in the flash memory

Word

0~261000(*2)

The absolute address of the recipe memory that

is stored in the flash memory

Word

FRW

0~134217727

The absolute address of the flash memory

Word

FRWI

0~134217727

The index address of the flash memory

Word

ERW0~ERW2

0~2147483647

External Recipe Word Memory is available by

connection with the external memory.

RB and RW point to the same area. For example, RB5.0~RB5.15 and RW5 map the same area, i.e.

RB5.0 is the Bit0 of RW5. But the addresses pointed by LB and LW in the memory are different,

because they map the different areas.

The memory addresses of LB9000~LB9999 in LB, LW.B9000.0~LW.B10255.F in LW.B, and

LW9000~LW10255 in LW are reserved by the system internally for some special purposes, and the

users can’t use them as the addresses for the common devices, but should use their special functions

according to the related manuals. For details, refer to 3-11 Address of System Memory (Page 3-327).

When the recipe memory is accessed by the index address, the index address will begin to search from the address

of the offset of the address displayed by LW9000. For example: If LW9000 is 50, the index address RWI100 will

access the data in the address of RW150 (100+50). (For details, refer to 3-12 Recipe Data (Page 3-342).)

When using NB3Q-TWB(-V1) or NB5Q-TWB(-V1), the range of addresses is 0.0 to 130500.F.

When using NB3Q-TWB(-V1) or NB5Q-TWB(-V1), the range of addresses is 0 to 130500.

3-5-5

Vector Graphic

NB-Designer provides the powerful Vector Graphics and bitmap library, and you can create any desired

graphics (such as switch, lamp, piping etc.) in the library and even you can add your own pictures to the

library. The graphics can be 256-color bitmap, 16-color bitmap, 32-color bitmap or in JPG, BMP, GIF

and PNG format. Every vector graphics or bitmap can create 256 statuses. The created Vector

Graphics and bitmap are in [Graphics] in [Project File Window], as shown below:

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Of course, you can use the graphics library provided by the system. When you click the

[Import

Graphics] icon in the toolbar, the following dialog box will pop up:

The system graphics library is located in bg_vg_lib\VG directory in which the NB-Designer was installed

and all the graphics are stored in the folders for each item. Select the Vector Graphics to be imported,

and click “Import”, then the Vector Graphics will be copied into the “vg” file of the current project.

Importing multiple Vector Graphics or bitmaps simultaneously is not supported and only one graphics in

the same folder can be selected at a time before “Import” is clicked. All the imported or created Vector

Graphics or bitmaps by the user in the whole project will be displayed in the [Vector Graphic] in [Project

File Window] to facilitate the user to view and use them.

The vector graphics can be used as static images or the images representing the status of various

components.

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 Procedure of Vector Graphics addition

Select [Add Graphics] in the [Draw] menu or click

icon in the toolbar, and then the

following dialog box will appear.

Input the Name, State No. and Description for the Vector Graphics (For example: To create a

Vector Graphics with the name of “Middle” and the state No. of “2”), and click “OK”, then the

following dialog box will appear:

If you think the Vector Graphics states added just now are not enough, you can use the following

methods to make addition:

Drag the mouse into State Preview Window of the Vector Graphics, select one state such as “state0”,

then click

icon in the toolbar to create a new state. And the states that can be created are up to

256 kinds.

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Click the [OK] button to exit from this dialog box, and this component will be displayed as the

selected Vector Graphics and placed in the screen.

All the Vector Graphics imported into the project will be displayed in the [Project File Window].

If you want to modify any Vector Graphics or bitmap, you just need to find the graphics to be modified in

the Vector Graphic in the Project File Window, and double-click it to open the Edit Window of this

graphics, where you can modify the graphics drawn by yourself.

Note 1

When the new graphics was created, the project should be saved to keep the contents. Otherwise the con-

tent will be lost.

No text can be added to the Vector Graphics.

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3-5-6

Bitmap

One bitmap includes 256 kinds of states and the created bitmap can be used in the Edit Window. The

bitmap is mainly applicable to graphic area, i.e. external graphics addition.

Note The operations (such as line-drawing, drawing, text addition etc.) for the bitmaps can’t be made in the

Graphics Edit Window, and only the external graphics addition can be done.

 Procedure of bitmap addition

Select [Add Graphics] in the [Draw] menu or click

icon, and then the following dialog box

will appear.

Select [Bitmap] in the “Type”, and input “State No.” and “Name”, then click “OK”.

If you think the bitmap state added just now is not enough, you can use the following methods to make

addition:

Drag the mouse into State Preview Window of the bitmap, select one state such as “state0”, then

click

icon in the toolbar to create a new state. And the states that can be created are up to 256

kinds.

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 Use of Bitmap

Double-click the component where the bitmap will be used and then enter “Graphics” tab.

Check “Bitmap” option, and select the bitmap you want to use, then click “OK” button to close

the dialog box.

 Import of Bitmap

You can import the bitmap just like importing the Vector Graphics. Click “Import Graphics”

icon

, and select “Bitmap image (*.bg)” in the “Type” in the pop-up dialog box. You can

also import the bitmap used in the other project or the System Graphics Library. The system

graphics library is located in bg_vg_lib\VG directory in which the NB-Designer was installed

and all the graphics are stored in the folders for each item.

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In the same project, the bitmap and the Vector Graphics are placed in the same location, i.e.

“VG” folder under “Project File” folder. And all the imported bitmaps are stored in

“project\<project file name>\image” folder. Don’t delete these pictures; otherwise the graphics

library will not be displayed normally.

Note There is no limitations for the size of the graphics imported (BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG), and the graphics will be

compressed according to the maximum used size (The maximum used size = Maximum length × Maximum

Width in the project) during the compilation.

3-5-7

Creating Label

Label refers to the text displayed in the surface of the components such as switch, lamp or the other

components.

 Label Addition

Select [Label] in the Property page of the selected component.

Check “Transport Font”.

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As shown below, write the contents to be displayed for the label in [Message].

Set the display Properties such as the alignment method, font size and color etc.

Press the [OK] button to complete the setup.

 State Number

State number is only effective for the component with multiple states. The text for every state can be

displayed independently. The text, font, color and alignment method for the corresponding state can

be set after the state is selected.

 Message

Input the text to be displayed in the component surface here. If there are several lines, you can use

“Enter” key to break them.

 Font Size

The size of Bitmap Font is as follows: 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 72, 96, 120 and 144 pixels.

 Position

When the input text for the label is 2 lines or more, Left, Right or Center can be selected for the

alignment between the upper line and the lower line.

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 Color

You can select color among 40 colors (65536 colors, which include supplementary colors). “Default

Color” palette contains the most commonly-used colors. “Custom Color…” palette allows the users

to customize the palette (65536 kinds of colors available).

3-5-8

Task Bar and Operation Buttons

NB-Designer provides a simple method (i.e. the Task Bar) to make the screen pop up or be minimized,

to change the display of the screen and fast switch the screen display etc.

Task Bar has 2 operation buttons, one of which is used to control the Menu Screen, and the other is

used to control the Task Bar.

You can set the Properties such as the Task Bar, whether to use the Menu Screen, color and position

and so on in the [PT Property] in the Configuration and Setup Window. (By default, all the options in the

Display Task Bar are checked.)

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If “Menu Screen” is checked, one Menu Screen will pop up when the Menu Screen button at the left

side is pressed. Function keys put in the Menu Screen allow the different screen switched. Because the

Menu Screen is always displayed on all of the screens, therefore it can be operated at any time. If you

want to switch to a certain screen, it just needs to press the function key pointing to the destination

screen once, thus avoiding the boring process of looking for the screen.

In the task bar, 16 icons can be arranged at the same time. The functions keys of [Minimize] or [Title

Bar in Pop-up Screen] included in Pop-up Screen allow the screens to minimize in the task bar. For

details, refer to 3-7-2 Function Key (Page 3-201).

 Process of Operation Button Setup

Double click PT in the Configuration and Setup Window. Then the PT Property dialog box will appear,

and set [Display Task Bar], whether the operation button will locate in the left side or right side of the

screen, the backg1round color and the text position method of the taskbar in [Task Bar] tab. If the label

isn’t displayed completely, you can adjust the width or the height of the button area and the font size of

the label to solve this problem.

Note The Menu Screen is displayed on the left side or the right side of the panel during the operation. In edit

window state, the Menu Screen is an independent screen, and it is Frame 2 by default. For details, refer to 3-

10-2 Task Bar (Page 3-293).

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3-5-9

Fonts

 Type and Characteristics of Font

NB-Designer provides 3 available fonts, i.e. Bitmap Font, graphic font and vector font. The

characteristics of these three fonts will be described as follows:

Bitmap Font :

One bitmap font is prepared for each character. But this method has obvious disadvantages:

(a) Only SimSun is supported.

(b) The scaling effect is poor. For each character, 3 kinds of bitmaps (i.e. 8×8, 16×8, 24×16(height ×

width)) are reserved respectively, so the effect is very poor when the larger font is displayed, as

shown below:

byte character, but the other character are converted to double-byte character in the software.

Therefore, a character varies in its width for each character (such as Russian) cannot be displayed

correctly.

Therefore, this method has the obvious disadvantages for the project with multiple languages.

Graphic Font:

Graphic font is converted to one bitmap and stored in the project. This method can make full use of the

fonts installed in Windows and the display effect is good.

(a) The capacity of the project becomes greater. There are 2 reasons for the large space needed for

saving the character string as bitmap. First, bitmap format itself needs a large space. For example:

Four characters “

” displayed in Zero SimSun needs 1824 bytes, as shown below:

In addition, the bitmap font should be intercepted again if the content, size or colors vary slightly,

thus causing a linear increase in the occupied space.

When a character is converted as a bitmap, it is converted as the unit of character string, not the

unit of the character. Even if a similar character is different with its content, font size, color, the

character is converted as an individual bitmap. As the converted bitmaps are stored in the NB

project file for each character string with different properties as above, the capacity occupied with

the fonts should be increased in the project.

(b) Text library or some component labels do not support the graphic font.

Vector Font:

The characters used for labels or supposed to be used in future are abstracted through specified fonts

by NB-Designer. Only the abstracted characters are stored as True Type font (ttf style) and can be used

by the NB-Designer units.

Using vector font in NB-Designer can avoid the disadvantages of Bitmap Font and graphic font.

Vector font has the following advantages:

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(a) It supports a large variety of vector fonts. The TrueType font (only the font in ttf format) installed in

the operating system can be used.

(b) You can save the capacity of project file. It adopts the method of intercepting the matrix from the

font file, thus reducing the capacity of the font file. For the same character in the same font, only

one matrix needs to be intercepted regardless of the size, color, bold/italic styles.

(d) The font size can be set freely without any deformation. You can set the consecutive font sizes

without any projections.

(e) It supports powerful multiple languages. You can use it to set fonts for each state and each kind of

language of the text.

(f) The vector font can be used in the text library.

 Use of Vector Font

The functions and components related to the vector font are as follows:

Text Library

Using the text library can realize the reuse of the text and the multi-language project.

The operation instructions related to the font:

(a)

Maximum language number setup

The maximum language number can be set up to 32. If smaller capacity of project file is preferable,

set the maximum language number to the least necessary number.

(b)

Default font setup for each language

The user can set the default font for each language, and when the user uses the text library, he

doesn’t need to reselect the font each time.

Text Component

Text component can display the character information statically. And the user can use the multi-

language text when the text library is used.

(a)

The text component can use 3 kinds of fonts, i.e. Bitmap Font , graphic font and vector font.

(b)

In the text library mode, the text component can reset the font for each language by changing the

language displayed currently.

Label

Most of the components can use the label. The text string can be directly input and the text library

can also be used in the component label.

(a)

When the text library isn’t used, different fonts can be set for text string in each state.

(b)

When the text library is used, fonts can be set for the text string of each language and in each

state.

Component dealing with numbers

Number components include number input component and number display component.

After the vector font is set for the number input component, the content of the number input

component will be displayed as vector font to realize the better display effect.

Component dealing with text strings

Text components include text string input component, text display component and note book

component.

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(a) Limitations to ASCII codes for the vector font: The text contents used for the component dealing

with text string often can’t be decided during the compilation of the project, and due to the

limitations to the storage capacity, all the characters that may be used can’t be downloaded to the

PT. Therefore, these components can only use ASCII characters (The matrix information

supporting all the ASCII characters for this font have been downloaded to the PT by the software.)

when using the vector font.

(b) Unicode character encoding. When the Bitmap Font and the Unicode are selected simultaneously,

you can use the function key to input Unicode character to the text input component.

6 Time Component

Time component can display the information such as year, month, day, hour, minute, second and

week etc. of the current system in the simplest way.

When the vector font is selected, the time will be displayed according to the set vector font.

7 List and Drop-down List

List and drop-down list options are available for selection in the Word Switch component, and in

such state, the label for the component is listed as the list. Similarly, fonts can be set for each

language and each state.

8 Alarm and Event Information

Alarm and event information component can also set different vector fonts for each piece of alarm

information and for each language (When the text library is used.) respectively.

 Use of Font Toolbar

The software provides the toolbar for convenient font operation. When you select one or more

components, you can use the font toolbar to change the font Properties of the related components.

Please pay attention to the following conditions:

(a) The font attributes set through the toolbar for the current state and current language. If the

attributes of other states and languages need to be changed, you can do it through the component

dialog box or by changing the current state or the current language of the project, as shown below:

(b) When multiple components are selected, if the component doesn’t support a certain font attribute,

the attribute of this component will not be affected by using the font toolbar to set the font attribute.

 Notes for Using Vector Font

Based on the special realizing method for the vector font, the following conditions should be paid

attention to when the vector font is used:

1 If the font which is not supported for text to be displayed is used, the font cannot be displayed

correctly.

For example, if you want to display four characters “

” using Arial font, but because these

four characters are not included in the Arial character set, so four square boxes will be displayed in

this case, as shown below. Therefore, you must select the fonts supporting text to be displayed.

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2 Use the vector font as much as possible if the smaller capacity of project file is preferable.

Because the Bitmap Font and graphic font have many disadvantages in the storage space and

resizing etc, therefore, use the vector font as much as possible.

3 The types of the vector font can be reduced when the screen can meet the requirements.

If too many types of vector fonts (e.g. dozens or more) are used by the user, the number of font

files will be too many, thus affecting the compilation speed, downloading speed and screen

switching speed.

4 Install the same fonts for all the PC environments to edit text strings.

If a certain project uses “Microsoft Elegant Black” font when it is edited on PC, and when it is

transferred to another PC where no “Microsoft Elegant Black” font exists for editing, then all the

“Microsoft Elegant Black” characters used in the project will be changed to arbitrary font which is

decided as optimal by the operation system.

Note When the font installed with Windows is used, use it only after confirming the font will not give rise to

3-5-10

Basic Properties of Component

Priority

It is pre-reserved for the function.

Write

If the component supports read only, you cannot set to writing addresses. The status of the components will

Address

be displayed based on the reading addresses.

Number of the controlled PT. The numbers are allocated automatically when the PT is

placed on [Configuration and Setup Window].

PLC No.

Number of the controlled PLC. The numbers are allocated automatically when the PLC

is placed on [Configuration and Setup Window].

Change Station

This option can be used to access the specific PLC during the communication with

Number

multiple PLCs. This option is applicable when editing only one PLC in the case one PT

is connected with multiple devices or multiple PTs are connected with multiple devices.

Area/Variable

Refers to the memory of PLC device to be controlled or the internal memory of the PT.

For the internal address type of PT, refer to 3-5-4 Read/Write Address for PLC (Page 3-

59).

Address

Specifies address to be written to.

Data Format

The code type includes BIN, BCD, and LSB. When BIN or BCD code is used, it allows

to display 256 of statuses at maximum and when LSB code is used, it allows to display

17 of statuses at maximum. (Refer to 10 LSB Type (Page 3-378) in the section 3-16).

Word Length

Refers to the number of the occupied memories. The default number is 1, and it varies

with the different component or area/variable.

System memory

Refers to the internal memories provided by the PT for some special purposes. For

details, refer to 3-11 Address of System Memory (Page 3-327).

Format (Range)

Refers to the formats of the address types of the PLC memories or the internal memory

address of the PT.

Use Variable

Determines whether to use the addresses registered in the variables. For details, refer

to 3-8-2 Variable Table (Page 3-244).

Use the index

Determines whether to use the specified memory as the index memory for the control

memory

memory of the current component. The new [Read/Write Address] = the specified

[Read/Write Address] + [Index Address]. For example, when the specified written

address is D100 and the index memory address is LW0, if LW0=10, the new write

address is D100+10=D110.

Read

If the component supports write only, you cannot set to reading addresses. The status of the components

Address

will be displayed based on the writing addresses.

Description

Refers to the reference name assigned to the current component (not displayed).

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3-5-11

Control Setting of Component

Option

Descriptions

Touch

Enable

Checking this option means the state value can be written into the controller by triggering the

Enabling

Input

effective area for the current component.

Setting

Disable

Checking this option means the state value cannot be written into the controller even when

Input

triggering the effective touching area for the current component.

Conditional

Security Level: Checking this option means only when the security level of the operator is

Enabling

higher than the minimum security level already set, the current component can be touched,

and the state value can be written into the controller.

User Permission Control: Checking this option means the operator must have the permission

to touch the current component and write the state value into the controller.

Indirect reference: Checking this option means only when the state of the specified bit memory

or word memory meets the set conditions, the current component can be touched, and the

state value can be written into the controller.

Auto show

Checking this option means the Password Input Screen Frame 9 (Login

screen) will pop up automatically for the user to login when the security level

or the permission of the current user doesn’t meet the requirement of the set

level or authority.

Show

Checking this option allows Unable-to-Input figure will be displayed when the component is in

Unable-to-

invalid to input. This function is optional only when [Enable Input] or [Conditional Enabling] is

Input

checked; and touching invalid color can be set in [PT Property]-[PT Extended Properties].

Security

ON Delay

When the current component is pressed consecutively for this set time, the state value can be

Setting

written only to the controller. The minimum unit is 100 ms. When this option is 0, this function is

invalid.

Confirm

Checking this option means the Confirmation Screen will pop up automatically when the

Operation

current component is touched, and the state value can be written into the controller when

“YES” is clicked, while the operation will be cancelled automatically when the user have clicked

“Cancel” or haven’t confirmed “YES” after the set “wait[s]” is exceeded.

Operation

Checking this option means the operation event will be recorded, and displayed through the

Log

operation log element and the file in CSV format will be saved into the external memory.

Min Inteval

Refers to the minimum interval between 2 operations for the same component or different

components. The minimum unit is second. When this option is 0, the minimum interval is

invalid.

Triggering

Macro

Checking this check box allows the macro which was specified before the current operation

action

was completed will be triggered and executed. *

Write

Word

Notice Before

Writes the write-value into the specified address before the

Notice

Written

current operation is performed successfully.

Notice After

Writes the write-value into the specified address after the

Written

current operation is performed successfully.

Bit

Notice Before

Writes ON/OFF signal into the specified address before

Written

the current operation is performed successfully.

Notice After

Writes ON/OFF signal into the specified address after the

Written

current operation is performed successfully.

* Please refer to 3-9-3 Macro Triggering (Page 3-273).

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Perform the offline test. And when no data is written into the number input component LW0, LB10 is

“Off”, as shown in the following left graphics.

When the data is written into the number input component, LB10 is “On”, as shown in the following

right graphics.

3-5-12

Display Setting of Component

Display Setting for Component

Lock Position

Checking this option means the component is locked. Once the component is locked, it can’t

be moved by the mouse or the moving keys in the keyboard.

X/Y

Refers to the coordinate value of the vertex in the upper-left of the component.

Width/Height

Refers to the width and height of the component (The unit is pixel point).

Display

Checking this option means the current component is always in displayed state.

Not Display

Checking this option means the current component is always in “hide state” and the touching is

[Touching is invalid]

invalid when the component is hidden.

Conditional Display

Security Level Control: Checking this option means the current component can be displayed

only when the security level of the operator is higher than the minimum security level already

set.

User Permission Control: Checking this option means the current component can be displayed

only when the operator has the set permission.

Indirect Reference: Checking this option means the current component can be displayed only

when the state of the specified bit memory or word memory meets the set conditions.

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3-6

Parts

Parts are designed to meet specific needs. Generally speaking, one component can realize one

function, but some components should be combined with the related components or PLC to realize

some specific functions, as shown below.

Components

Related Components

Descriptions

Number Input

Function Key

To create the keyboard by “Function Key”

Text Input

Function Key

To create the keyboard by “Function Key”

Indirect Screen

Screen

The created “screen”

Direct Screen

Screen

The created “screen”

Alarm Setting

Alarm, Alarm Display

To display the registered alarm information by “Alarm”

or “Alarm Display”

Alarm

Alarm Setting

To display the alarm information registered by “Alarm

Setting” component

Alarm Display

Alarm Setting

To display the alarm information registered by “Alarm

Setting” component

Event Setting

Event

To display the registered event by “Event” component

Event

Event Setting

To display the event registered by “Event Setting”

component

PLC Control

PLC

To make PLC program control the operations of the

functions

Most of the PLC part support “bit” or “word” addresses (“Double-word” operation can be performed by

some components such as Number Input and Scroll Bar etc. Due to some PLCs have “double-word”

addresses, so some PLC drivers will make conversion between “double-word” and “word”, and the user

must pay special attentions to the instructions of PLC driver.

3-6-1

Bit Button

Bit Button component defines one touching area. When this area is activated, the bit

address inside the PT or in the PLC can be switched to “On” or “Off” forcefully.

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 Process of adding one Bit Button component

Drag the Bit Button component after it is pressed will make the [Basic Properties] of Bit Button

component pop up.

Write Address:Refers to the bit address corresponding to “On” or “Off” state controlled by the

Bit Button component.

Switch to the [Bit Button] tab.

Types and Functions of Bit Button Component

Type

Descriptions

Set

The specified bit address will turn On when the Bit Button component is

pressed. This state will continue even if the button is released.

Reset

The specified bit address will turn Off when the Bit Button component is

pressed. This state will continue even if the button is released.

Alternate

The specified bit address will change once (OnOff, OffOn) (Switched

back and forth) when the Bit Button component is pressed each time.

Momentary

The specified bit address will turn On only when the Bit Button component is

being pressed. Similarly, the bit address will turn Off when the component is

released.

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Type

Descriptions

Set On when Screen Open

The specified bit address will turn On when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is opened.

Set Off when Screen Open

The specified bit address will turn Off when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is opened.

Set On when Screen Close

The specified bit address will turn On when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is closed.

Set Off when Screen Close

The specified bit address will turn Off when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is closed.

Set On when Screen Maximized

The specified bit address will turn On when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is maximized.

Set Off when Screen Maximized

The specified bit address will turn Off when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is maximized.

Set On when Screen Minimized

The specified bit address will turn On when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is minimized.

Set Off when Screen Minimized

The specified bit address will turn Off when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is minimized.

Set On when Backlight Off

The specified bit address will turn On when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is displayed in the screen and the backlight is Off.

Set Off when Backlight Off

The specified bit address will turn Off when the screen containing the Bit

Button component is displayed in the screen and the backlight is Off.

Set On when Input Success

The specified bit address will turn On when the input using one Number Input

component in the screen containing the Bit Button component is successful.

Set Off when Input Success

The specified bit address will turn Off when the input using one Number Input

component in the screen containing the Bit Button component is successful.

Switch to the [Label] and add the text corresponding to the state.

Switch to [Graphics] tab and select the Vector Graphics or bitmap representing the touching

area and touching state.

Switch to the [Control Setting] tab and make the Security Setting and set the Triggering action.

Min Interval (seconds): Refers to the interval between 2 valid touching operations for the same

component, and the default is 0 s.

Switch to the [Display Setting] tab and adjust the position and size for the Bit Button

component.

Press the [OK] button to complete the setup of Bit Button component.

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3-6-2

Bit Lamp

Bit Lamp displays the On/Off state of bit address inside a specified PT or of PLC device. If the

state is 0, the graphics with state of 0 will be displayed; If the state is 1, the graphics with state of 1 will

be displayed. If “Transport Font” is checked, the Label values corresponding to the different states can

be set and displayed.

 Process of adding one Bit Lamp

Drag the Bit Lamp icon after it is pressed, then the [Basic Properties] dialog box for Bit Lamp

component will pop up.

Read Address: Refers to the bit address controlling the displayed information (such as the state,

graphics, label and so on) of the lamp.

Address: Refers to the bit address corresponding to the lamp.

Switch to the [Bit Lamp] tab.

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Function:

Blinking rate is set in “Cycle” box with the unit of 100 ms (If the rate is set to 500 ms, both ON time and

OFF time of the Bit Lamp are 500 ms.).

Address State of Bit to Be Read

ON (value 1)

OFF (value 0)

Function

Display

State No.

(Blink/Not Blink)

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Switching between 0 and 1

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Switching between 0 and 1

Blink

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Switching between 0 and 1

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Blink

Not Blink

Switching between 0 and 1

Switch to the [Label] tab and add the texts corresponding to the On and Off states.

State: Off will be displayed when the lamp state is 0; while On will be displayed when the state is 1.

Alignment: Three methods are available, as shown below:

Left: The input content is put in the left side of the graphics.

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Read Address: Bit address controls the display information of Bit Switch such as the status,

graphic, and label.

Write Address: Bit address writes the status of On or Off controlled by the Bit Switch.

Address: Refers to the Read/Write Address corresponding to the switch.

Switch to the [Bit Switch] tab and set switch type.

Types and Functions of Switch

Type

Descriptions

Set

The specified bit address will turn On when the component is pressed. The state

remains even if the component is released.

Reset

The specified bit address will turn Off when the component is pressed. The state

remains even if the component is released.

Alternate

The state of the specified bit address will change once (OnOffOn) when the

component is pressed each time.

Momentary

The specified bit address state will turn On or Off when the component is pressed or

released respectively.

Switch to the [Label] and add the text corresponding to the state.

Switch to the [Graphics] tab, and select Vector Graphics or bitmap to display the bit address

state and represent the touching area.

Switch to the [Control Setting] tab and make the Security Setting and set the Triggering action.

Press the [OK] button to complete the setup of the Bit Switch component.

3-6-4

Command Button

Command Button component also defines a touching area and the state value will be input

into the specified word address when the area is enabled.

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Switch to the [Command Button] tab and set the “Type” for the Command Button component.

Setting Mode is as follows.

Type

Descriptions

Set Values

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when this component is

pressed. *

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when one screen is

screen is loading

opened. *

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when one screen is

screen is unloading

closed. *

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when the screen is

screen is

maximized. *

maximized

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when the screen is

screen is

minimized. *

minimized

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when the backlight is Off. *

backlight is OFF

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when the number or text is

input suceeded

input successfully. (Input the constant to be set in “Set Value”.)*

Set values when

The preset constant will be written to the specified word address when the number or text is

input failed

not input successfully. *

Add value

Each time this component is pressed, the value of the specified word address will be

increased by the “Addend” once, and its result will not exceed the “Upper”.*

Subtract value

Each time this component is pressed, the value of the specified word address will subtract

the “Subtrahend” and its result will not be less than the “Upper”.*

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Type

Descriptions

JOG++

Everytime command button is pressed for the time longer than the time to be specified

“Delay Time”, the value * set to “Addend” is added to the value of the write address with the

interval set to “JOG Speed”.

The result will not exceed the “Upper”. When [Ignore Delay Time] is checked, the “Addend”

will be added to the value of the specified word address immediately each time the

component is pressed. If this component is pressed for a long time, the “Addend” will be

added to the value of the specified word address at the interval of “JOG Speed” time until

the “Upper” is reached.

JOG--

Everytime command button is pressed for the time longer than the time to be specified

“Delay Time”, the value set to “Subtrahend” * is subtracted from the value of the write

address with the interval set to “JOG Speed”.

The result will not be less than the “Lower”. When [Ignore Delay Time] is checked, the

“Subtrahend” will be added to the value of the specified word address immediately each

time the component is pressed. If this component is pressed for a long time, the

“Subtrahend” will be added to the value of the specified word address at the interval of

“JOG Speed” time until the “Lower” is reached.

JOG++ (Circle)

Everytime command button is pressed for the time longer than the time to be specified

“Delay Time”, the value * set to “Addend” is added to the value of the write address with the

interval set to “JOG Speed”.

Until the “Upper” is reached, and then it will increase from the “Lower” again.

JOG--(Circle)

Everytime command button is pressed for the time longer than the time to be specified

“Delay Time”, the value * set to “Subtrahend” is subtracted from the value of the write

address with the interval set to “JOG Speed”.

Until the “Lower” is reached, and then it will decrease from the “Upper” again.

*Indirect Reference: Refers to the variables that can be used by the setting or the upper/lower limit etc.

For example:

(a) When Setting Mode is “Set Value”.

Assuming the write address of the Command Button component is LW0 with the “Type” of “Set Value”,

check [Indirect Reference] and select “LW10” as the address of variable parameter.

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(b) When Setting Mode is “Add value”.

Assuming the write address of the Command Button component is LW5 with “Type” of “Add value”,

check [Indirect Reference] and select “LW15” and “2” as the first address of variable parameter and the

default word length respectively. The Addend address and the Upper Limit address are set by LW15

and LW16 respectively.

In addition, place 2 Number Input components with the addresses of LW15 and LW16 respectively as

well as 1 Number Display component with the address of LW5.

When LW15 is 10 and LW16 is 100, LW5 will increase by 10 each time when “Set” is pressed until the

upper limit (i.e. 100) is reached and then stop increase.

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3-6-5

Word Lamp

Word Lamp is the component which will switch the display information according to the

value of the specified word address.

 Process of adding one Word Lamp component

Drag the Word Lamp component icon after it is pressed will make the [Basic Properties] of

Word Lamp component pop up.

Read Address: Refers to the PLC address controlling the displayed information (such as the

state, graphics, label and so on) of the Word Lamp component.

Address: The first address of word address corresponding to the Word Lamp component.

Word Length: Displays the data length of the Read Address, and 1 and 2 are available (i.e.

word or double-word).

Switch to the [Word Lamp] tab and set the state for the Word Lamp component. You can set

the state from 1 to 256 in the dropdown box corresponding to “State No.”.

Map Value: Refers to the value corresponding to each state. When the value of read address

is equal to the map value, the state number corresponding to this value will be displayed.

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Word Switch

Word Switch is the component which changes the status value of the value specified for

each status value and send the value to the specified address. The status value is changed by

increasing or decreasing for each touch operation or by selecting from the list. When changing the

status, the mapping value specified for each status will be sent to the specified memory. The statuses

can be set up to 256.

 Process of adding one Word Switch component

Drag the Word Switch icon after it is pressed will make the [Basic Properties] of Word Switch

component pop up.

Switch to the [Word Switch] tab and set the State No. and the value corresponding to each

state for the component. You can set the state from 1 to 256 in the dropdown box

corresponding to “State No.”.

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Functions of Word Switch:

Type

Descriptions

Add

Each time this component is pressed, 1 will be added to the state number, and the map

value of the corresponding state will be written into the specified write address, and the

graphics corresponding to the state will be displayed according to the specified read

address at the same time.

Unloop: When it is checked, and the value of the memory for write address is equal to the

value mapped by the set maximum state number, the component doesn’t act when

the switch is pressed again. When it isn’t checked and the value of the memory of

write address is equal to the value mapped by the set maximum state number, the

value of the memory for write address is equal to the value mapped by the

minimum state number.

Sub

Each time this component is pressed, 1 will be subtracted from the state number, and the

map value of the corresponding state will be written into the specified write address, and

the graphics corresponding to the state will be displayed according to the specified read

address at the same time.

Unloop: When it is checked, and the value of the memory for write address is equal to the

value mapped by the minimum state number, the component doesn’t act when the

switch is pressed again. When it isn’t checked and the value of the memory of

write address is equal to the value mapped by the minimum state number, the

value of the memory for write address is equal to the value mapped by the set

maximum state number.

List

All the set states will be displayed in the list form, and the current state is differentiated by

the specified color.

Dropdown List

All the set states will be displayed in the dropdown list form, and the current state is

differentiated by the specified color and the first information displayed in the dropdown list

represents the current state.

For the control modes of Add and Sub, [Unloop] is not checked by default.

State No.: All 256 statuses can be set at maximum. (When BIN or BCD code and LSB code are used,

or when LSB code is used, the status of 256 (at maximum) and the status of 17 (at

maximum) will be displayed, respectively. Refer to 10 LSB Type (Page 3-378) in the section

3-16).

The line spacing for the list and the dropdown list can be set:

Map Value: When the value read by the read address is equal to a certain value in the Map Value, the

Word Switch component will display the label and the graphics corresponding to the state number of

this value. When a certain state number is switched to, the value corresponding to this value will be

written into the write address.

Switch to the [Label] tab and add the text corresponding to the state.

Switch to [Graphics] tab, and select Vector Graphics or bitmap to display the memory state and

represent the touching area.

Switch to the [Control Setting] tab and make the Security Setting and set the Triggering action.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Press the [OK] button to complete the setup of the Word Switch component.

 List and Dropdown List

List: Refers to the value of the specified memory corresponding to the state of each option. By

default, the value of specified memory corresponding to the first option is “0”, and the value of

specified memory corresponding to the second option is “1”, and so on.

For example:

(1) Create a Word Switch in which read address and write address are LW0 and a number

display component in which address is LW0.

(2) Set the Control Mode and State No. to “List” and “6” respectively.

(3) Create the labels with the contents as shown below.

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NB-series Programmable Terminals. NB-Designer OPERATION MANUAL (2026) - page 2