OMRON NB-Designer OPERATION MANUAL (NB-series, 2020)

3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-13 Security Level

Security Level is used to set the access authority for different users to enhance the security of the

project. Only the user having the high-level password can access the high-level screen, thus enhancing

the security of the project significantly.

When setting Screen Property, we can see one column of “Security Level”. That’s to say, we can

specify the Security Level for any screen, as shown below:

The Security Level is only valid for the Base Screen. One project has 3 Security Levels, i.e. High

(2), Common (1) and Low (0) by default. The default security level is Low when creating a new screen.

You can set different passwords for each security level in the [PT Property]. The user with higher

security level can access the screen with the lower security level, while the user with the lower

security level can’t access the screen with the higher security level. Such kind of method is helpful

to the security management. For example, we can place the important switches into the screen with the

higher security level, so the user can’t access them after they enter this screen, and the contents can

be accessed only after the password for the higher security level is input.

Here is an example about security level usage: Firstly, select [File] / [New], and double-click PT in the

Project Work Space, then set The number of Security Levels to 3, 1-level Password to 1111 and 2-level

Password to 888888 in Security Levels Setting tab of PT Property dialog box, as shown below:

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Create one Function Key in Frame 0 with the Properties as follows:

Perform Save, Compile and Offline test operations, and the effect is as shown below:

Pressing the Function Key button can’t switch to Frame 10. It is because the current security level is 0

while the security level of Frame 10 is 1, so the screen with the higher security level can’t be accessed

from the screen with the lower security level. We can access the higher security level screen only after

inputting the password corresponding to the higher security level. LW9040 to LW9041 reserved by

the system are used to input the security level passwords. Then place another Number Input

component with the Storage Format of “password” in Frame 0, as shown below:

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

After the Save, Compile and Offline test operations are performed, the state is shown as below. After 1

is input at Switching Level, the current security level will not become 1 because the switching from

lower level to higher level is impossible, as the lower right graphics shows.

Then input the password 1111 to make the current security level become 1, as the lower left graphics

shows. At this time, pressing the Function Key button can realize the switching to Frame 10. But if 0 is

input at Switching Level, the current security level will be switched to 0, then the switching to Frame 10

will be impossible, as the lower right graphics shows.

Designing the project by using the level password properly and giving the users permission with

different level each allow the security of application enhanced.

z Switching to the lowest security level when screen closed

If the security level is set for one screen to realize the following function: 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 every time the screen is closed. The

settings are as shown below:

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3-14-2

Direct Online test

NB-Designer supports online test operation. The online test provides the result which is equivalent with

the operation executed after downloading to PT and it allows to test directly on PC. Using the online

test during debugging can save a lot of time taken by the repeated downloading. The online test is

classified into direct online test and indirect online test, which are described as follows:

Direct online test is a test method that directly connects the PLC with the serial port of PC to test the

operation. Obtaining the dynamic PLC data without need to connect the PT is its advantage but the

communication between the PC and the PLC can support only RS-232 communications. During

debugging of PLC with RS-485 port, the adaptor that can convert RS-232 to RS-485/422 must be used.

Note 1

The test time of direct online test is 15 minutes. When 15 minutes is exceeded, the following prompt infor-

mation “The test time is exceeded, please perform the test again.” will appear. Then, the window of the

test will be closed automatically.

The direct online test can be done only through the RS-232 communication method.

The wiring method of direct online test is the direct connection of the PLC programming cable with the

serial port of PC.

It does not support the direct connection with the PLC of Ethernet connection type.

It does not support the direct online test with the other PLC than that manufactured by OMRON.

After the screen data is compiled, press the

button, then the following dialog box will pop up:

Select the PT No. to be tested and the COM No. of PC to be connected to the PLC, then click the

“Start” button to start the direct online test.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-14-3

Indirect Online test

The indirect online test is a method to obtain the data from the PLC through the PT and to test the

operations of PT. The indirect online test can obtain the data from the PLC dynamically, and the

operating environment is the same as that after the downloading except that the inconvenience of

downloading each time is avoided, thus it is quick and convenient, but it can’t be used independently

without the PT.

After the screen data is compiled, press the

button, then the following dialog box will pop up:

Select the PT to be tested, and click the “Start” button to start the test. NB Unit performs the indirect

online test through the USB, Ethernet or serial port.

Caution It does not support the indirect online test with the other PLC than that manufactured by OMRON.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-15 Download

3-15-1

Transmission Setting

After the project is edited, it can be downloaded to the PT to perform the actual operations. NB-

Designer provides 3 download methods, i.e. USB, serial port, and Ethernet (The Ethernet is only

applicable to NB -TW01B.). Before the upload and download, you must set the communication

parameters firstly. You can select [Tools]-[Transmission Setting] menu to set the communication

parameters. After the [Project Option Setting] dialog box pops up, click the [Download Device] drop-

down list and select the required download way.

Download

via USB

Download via serial

port - used to select

the correct PC

Serial No.

Download via

Ethernet - used to

set the current IP

Address and Port

No. of PT

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

1. USB

When using the USB to perform download for the first time, you should install the driver manually.

For the installation of the driver, please refer to 2-4 Installation of USB Driver for NB (Page 2-5).

When you use USB, you just need to select “USB” as download device and click the “OK” button to

start the download.

Compressed Bitmap: When this size is larger than the specified size, compress way will be used to

perform the compilation and download, thus saving a lot of space. Compressed Bitmap is checked

by default.

Note1

Checking Compressed Bitmap can reduce the size of the edited project.

Removing the check in the Compressed Bitmap option allows the switching speed of PT faster.

In order to ensure the PT with a faster communication speed during the operation, it is recommended

not to use too many bitmaps during the project editing.

Use less raster fonts as far as possible. The raster fonts occupy the same size as the normal graphics.

When the “Enable Printer Function” option is checked in the System Setting Mode, the USB Slave port

can be used only for printing function rather than the download function in User Project Mode. For

details, refer to Section 7 PictBridge Printing (Page 7-1) in NB-Designer Operation Manual.

2.Serial Port

Note The download through the serial port is slower for the edited project being too large, therefore it is not

recommended to use the serial port.

3.Ethernet

z Precautions for download through Ethernet and setting methods of IP

address:

The IP address of PC and that of PT should locate in the same network segment with the first 3

parts being same and the last part not being overlapped. If the LAN is used, the IP address can’t be

modified to prevent the conflict with the other IP addresses in the network.

First, set the network IP address in the “Control Panel” for Windows to the same network segment

as that for PT Unit. The IP address of PT Unit can be checked from the PT in the System Setting

Mode (with the DIP switches SW1 and SW2 on the back side both set to ON).

Then, make various settings in the Project Option Setting dialog box:

In the NB-Designer, select “Ethernet” from the Download Device option in Project Option Setting

dialog box after clicking [Transmission Setting] option

in the [Tools] menu, and then set the IP

address to be same as that of PT Unit. At that time, the project created in NB-Designer can be

downloaded into the PT.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Changing Network Setting of PT Unit:

After confirming the download function, set the IP option in the [PT] tab in the [PT Property] dialog

box to the IP address and others, and then download it into PT after Compile operation is

performed. At that time, the IP address of PT is same as that set in the project. (If download through

Ethernet is performed again, please specify the modified IP address and port number in the Project

Option Setting dialog box.)

z Setting IP address in System Setting Mode:

For more details of Setting IP address in System Setting Mode, refer to the NB Series Setup Manual

(SBSA-550).

z Setting IP address by using [Set IP Address/Port] in NBManager:

For more details of Setting IP address by using [Set IP Address/Port] in NBManager, refer to 4-2-1

Communication Setting (Page 4-3).

After the settings mentioned above, click

icon to download the screen data.

The download method is shown as below:

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-15-2

Download via USB Memory

For more details of download via USB memory, refer to 3-2 Menus (Page 3-7) in NB-series Setup

Manual.

3-15-3

Download to USB1

When the project is too large, it can be directly downloaded to the external memory to operate. During

the download, check the [Download to USB1] in [Select Section] option in the [NBDownload] dialog

box, as shown below:

Click the [Download] button and then the project file will be downloaded to the external memory.

Note 1

If the project file is copied directly to the external memory without using Download, the project will not be

operated.

Do not remove the external memory during the operation of the NB. The project may not operate correctly.

Use the recommended device for the external memory.

3-15-4

Specification of Downloading Contents

In the [NBDownload] dialog box, check the required contents in the [Select Section] option to download

the required files.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Each function is described as follows:

Data File: It is used to download the current project.

Recipe File: The NB Series does not support this function. When downloading the Recipe

(.rcp), use NBManager.

LOGO File: Download the graphics used for LOGO screen. When the graphic is modified in

[LOGO Screen Edit], you need to check in the [LOGO file] option to download the modified

LOGO file to the PT.

Clear Recipe: If this check box is checked, the Recipe memory will be cleared to 0.

Clear Event History: Clears the saved events.

Clear Data History: Clears the saved sampling data.

Clear ERW Data: Clears the data in the ERW.

Clear FRW Data: Clears the data in the FRW.

Download to USB1: Download the project file to the external memory inserted to NB unit

(USB1). For the details of download to USB1, refer to 3-15-3 Download to USB1 (Page 3-366).

You can also select whether to clear the recipe data, FRW data, ERW data, data history, or event

history by using the Download Operate in NBManager.

Additional Information

To download the screen data of a different version, download the Kernel from NB Manger as

required.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

3-16 Other Functions

Editing component function

For the Copy and Paste operations, if a component is copied in the same screen, the copied

component will be placed in the position deviated 10-pixel away the original position. If the

component is copied in different screen, the copied component will be placed in the position of

the original position.

If multiple components are operated by the functions such as “Arrange Width”, “Arrange

Height”, and “Arrange Size”, the specific operation process is as follows: Select one

component as the reference, then perform “Width”, “Height”, or “Size” modifications. (If you use

the “Shift” key to select, then the component firstly selected should be as the reference, while

the component at the leftmost should be used as the reference during the selection made by

dragging the mouse. The selected mark for the reference is indicated by the solid rectangle,

while the selected mark for the other components is indicated by the hollow rectangle.)

Proportionally zoom multiple components simultaneously

When the multiple components in the editing screen are selected together, selected area will

appear, and the user resize the multiple components simultaneously dragging by mouse each

point on the corners.

Resize the multiple components simultaneously dragging by mouse each point on the corners.

Above, the selected area is pink.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Lock Component

NB-Designer provides one function of “Lock Position” as shown below. Right-click the

component and select the “Lock Position”, and the effect is as shown below.

When the user selects the multiple components including the locked component to perform the

operation of movement etc, this locked component will have no response to this operation.

Please note that there will be one lock-shape mark on its original icon, as shown above.

Multiple Copy of Component

Single Copy: When the user selects one component to perform single copy, he just needs to

click the component while pressing the Ctrl key, which is equivalent to the operation of “Copy +

Paste”.

Repeat: It is intended for the multiple copy of a certain component, and the software can

automatically increase or decrease the component address and set the interval after the

component copy operation. Right-click the component to be copied, and select “Repeat” from

the Context menu, then the following dialog box will pop up. The user can make settings

according to the requirement.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

z Find Range

Refers to the content of the edit screen in NB-Designer to be searched, and it is classified into 4

kinds, as shown below.

Descriptions of Find Range

Find Range

Current Project

All the Screens, Macros and background database in PT will be searched.

Background

Only the background components such as Event Setting, Alarm Setting and Data

Database

Log etc. will be searched.

All PT

Screens and

All the Screens and Macros in the current project will be

Macros

searched.

All Screens

All the Screens in the current project will be searched.

All Macros

All the Macros in the current project will be searched.

Current PT

Screens and

All the Screens and Macros in the selected PT will be

Macros

researched.

All Screens

All the components in all the Screens in the selected PT will

be searched.

Current Screens

All the components in the current Screen in the selected PT

will be searched.

All Macros

Only all Macro in the current PT will be searched.

z Find

Descriptions of Find Type

memory

memory Type

It means to find the device with Bit type or Word type.

Area/Variable

It represents the device type and device address in the controller where the

search is performed. Checking “Range” means the search will be performed in

the set range of address.

Message

Not checking “Match Case” and “Full Match” means the judgment of the case of the characters

and the consistency in the whole text will not be done during the search.

Case Sensitive

It means the match of the case of the characters in the text to be searched is

required.

Full Match

It means the match of the text to be searched in the whole text is required.

z Replace

After this option is set, the area and address found according to the set conditions will be replaced

by the specified area and address.

“Keep Offset” in the Replace part will take effect once the “Range” in Find part is checked. If “Keep

Offset” is not checked, the replace address is the same; while if “Keep Offset” is checked, the

replace address is the consecutive address which will automatically deviate by making the set

replace address as the start address.

When the above parameters are set, if the “Find” button in the dialog box is clicked, the search of

address meeting the condition will be performed the screen locating in the Find Range. If the

component is found, then No., Location, Name and Data will be displayed in the bottom white box.

When the components displayed in the search result is double-clicked, the window will be switched

to the screen placed the matched components and Property dialog box will be displayed.

Clicking “Replace” or “Replace All” means the found component meeting the conditions will be

replaced by the component with the address type and address set in the “Replace” part.

If the “Replace All” dialog box shown as below is clicked, the Write/Read Address of all component

which are specified to “MW0” in the current project, are replaced to “MW0”.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Example) The following project has Text 1 and Text 2. Language 1 is set in [Source], and

Language 2 is set in [Destination].

Before

After

Text 1

Language 1 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 1 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 2 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 2 Font

DFNB-EN

Text 2

Language 1 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 1 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 2 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 2 Font

DFNB-JP

As for Text 1, DFNB-EN set as Language 1 will be copied to Language 2. Thus, both Language

1 and Language 2 will be DFNB-EN.

As for Text 2, DFNB-JP set as Language 1 will be copied to Language 2. Thus, both Language

1 and Language 2 will be DFNB-JP.

The font attributes (Size, Position, Color, Italic, and Bold) will be copied as well.

Additional Information

To change the settings regardless of Source settings, execute [Change Destination Font].

When check box in [Change Destination Font] is checked, after settings are copied, the

specified settings are overwritten.

To designate overwriting items, check the [Font] box and the [Font attribute] box.

Example) The following project has Text 1 and Text 2. The [Font] box is checked and DFHEI5

is set as the font.

Before

After

Text 1

Language 1 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 1 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 2 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 2 Font

DFHEI5

Text 2

Language 1 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 1 Font

DFNB-JP

Language 2 Font

DFNB-EN

Language 2 Font

DFHEI5

First, Language 1 set as Text 1 and Text 2 will be copied to Language 2. Next, Language 2

Font set in [Destination] will be overwritten to the designated font. As a result, Language 2 Font

on both Text 1 and Text 2 will be DFHEI5.

Note

Copying and overwriting will not be performed if the part becomes larger than the screen size due to the

change in the font size. Please specify an appropriate size.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Check Missing Font

Click [Tool] - [Check Missing Font] in the menu to identify a font that not exist in your Windows

system and to replace it with the existing font collectively.

If your Windows system equips all the fonts, this function is not available.

About the overlay of component

Overlaying the multiple components together can realize many special functions. NB Unit

supports the overlay of multiple components. When these components are triggered, the

program will perform the corresponding operations according to the layer sequence, i.e. the

component on the top layer will be triggered firstly, then the component in the 2^nd layer will be

triggered and so on. For example, if 6 Bit Switch components are overlaid together to control

the Y0 (top layer) to Y5 (bottom layer), then when these components are triggered, the NB Unit

will execute the functions in the following order:

First, execute the command Y0

Command execution Y1

Finally, command execution Y5

The control process is as follows: Y0 ON/OFF˘ Y1 ON/OFF (Step 2) ˘ Y2 ON/OFF (Step 3), ...,

˘ Y5 ON/OFF (Step 6).

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

However, if the overlaid components include the function key of changing screen, the screen is

changed so that the other component behind the function key by are also unable to be

operated by the function. Therefore, the function key of the changing screen should be

arranged at the behind of all the component.

1^st layer

First, execute the command Y0

2^nd layer

Command execution Y1

3^rd layer

Change Screen

4^th layer

5^th layer

Ignore all

6^th layer

Pinyin Input Method

NB-Designer can be used to input common Chinese characters. Only Text Input component

and Not Book component support Pinyin Input method.

Chinese character

display screen

Touching a blank area

allows the component

moved.

Pinyin input text input

Touch characters, the

element as a carrier

completion of an operation

The memory related to the Pinyin input method is described as follows:

LB9100: Used for input method switching,

i.e. LB9100 = 1 for Pinyin input method, and LB9100 = 0 for English input method.

LW9150: Used for PageUp and PageDown operation to Chinese characters display screen.

Due to that 8 Chinese characters (max.) can be displayed in one Chinese character display

screen, the PageUp and PageDown functions are needed to display more Chinese characters.

The value of LW9150 is the No. of Chinese characters displayed in the current Chinese

character display screen. For example, it is assumed that the number of Chinese homophones

of Pinyin “wo” is M, when the value of LW9150 is N, then the N^th Chinese character and the

follow-up characters will be displayed in the Chinese character display screen.

LW9152 to LW9167: Used to display the Pinyin characters input currently.

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3 Functions of NB-Designer

Usage:

Firstly, switch to the Pinyin input method through LB9100 when the input is triggered by the Text

Input component (or Note Book component), and input the Pinyin characters (displayed in LW9152

to LW9167 later) correctly, and touch the corresponding Chinese character from the several

Chinese characters displayed on the Chinese character display screen, then the process of

inputting Chinese character is completed.

Triggering the blank area of the Chinese character display screen can realize the movement of this

screen, which is similar to the screen console of the function key.

If the Pinyin needs to be modified during the input, the function keys of “Back Space” or “Clear” can

be used to realize this operation.

“Back Space” and “Clear” functions of Function Key is prior to the input Pinyin characters, i.e. when

the Pinyin characters are input currently, the object operated by the “Back Space” and “Clear”

function is the Pinyin characters instead of the other characters in the text input area.

Note

When the font size is 8, 24, 48, 72 or 96, the Pinyin input method is invalid.

LSB Type

LSB type is applicable to the Command Button component, Word Lamp component, and Word

Neon Lamp component. If the Bit Button component is operated, the text string to display in

neon lamp and others can be controlled.

LSB is the acronym of Least Significant Bit. This encoding type first converts the data in the

buffer to binary data, and then determines the current state of the component based on the

number of consecutive “0” at the least significant bits of the binary data.

[Example] Take an example of the data with word address to be displayed:

Number of

Hexadecimal

Decimal

Binary

consecutive “0” at

State Number

least significant bits

0000

0000 0000 0000 0000

0001

0000 0000 0000 0001

0002

0000 0000 0000 0010

0003

0000 0000 0000 0011

0004

0000 0000 0000 0100

0005

0000 0000 0000 0101

0006

0000 0000 0000 0110

0007

0000 0000 0000 0111

0008

0000 0000 0000 1000

…

0010

0000 0000 0001 0000

0020

0000 0000 0010 0000

0040

0000 0000 0100 0000

0080

128

0000 0000 1000 0000

0100

256

0000 0001 0000 0000

0200

512

0000 0010 0000 0000

0400

1024

0000 0100 0000 0000

0800

2048

0000 1000 0000 0000

1000

4096

0001 0000 0000 0000

2000

8192

0010 0000 0000 0000

4000

16384

0100 0000 0000 0000

8000

32768

1000 0000 0000 0000

…

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11 Disconnected Host can be Masked of the Station No.

The disconnected Host can be masked with the communication error. If the settings are valid,

all the “PLC No Response” for the device behind can be masked.

12 Data Log, XY Graph and Oscillograph

Data Log/XY Graph/Oscillograph components have extended Properties, as shown below:

(a) Border, Grid and Background Color etc.

(b) Display Type of sampling point.

(d) The style of XY Graph are scatter plot and shaded plot.

(e) Sampling points can use the Indirect Reference.

(f) The Data Log can be saved to the PT and external memory simultaneously.

When the sampling cycle and the sampling points are specified indirectly, if the value of the

reference address cannot be obtained, the value obtained previously can be used.

The extended properties of the data log are as follows:

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OMRON NB-Designer OPERATION MANUAL (NB-series, 2020) - page 14