Chapter 9: TIA Portal HMI Development Environment

This and the next few chapters explore the visualization side of Totally Integrated Automation Portal (TIA Portal), creating human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and connecting them to data in associated programmable logic controllers (PLCs). HMIs are important to the overall feel of a project as they are the mechanism by which people interact with the project.

Programmers that can both develop a PLC application and the associated HMI applications are expected in today's working environment. TIA Portal allows the two different program environments to fall under one application, making it much easier for programmers to write both the PLC and HMI with ease.

In this chapter, the following topics are covered:

• Adding an HMI to a project
• HMI development environment overview
• Screen objects
• Special objects

TIA Portal Comfort Panel

In TIA Portal Version 17 (V17), there are now two different types of Comfort Panel HMIs, as outlined here:

• SIMATIC Comfort Panel
• SIMATIC Unified Comfort Panel (new)

This chapter (and others that reference HMIs) will focus on the newest Unified Comfort Panel.

Adding an HMI to a project

Just as with a PLC, an HMI needs to be added as a device in a TIA Portal project. Once an HMI device has been added, different objects appear under the HMI object in the Project tree pane.

To add an HMI, the following steps will be used:

1. Double-click Add new device in the Project tree pane. This will open the Add new device window, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.1 – Add new device window

2. Selecting HMI from the options in the left column will display the available HMIs in TIA Portal V17. SIMATIC Unified Comfort Panel is the latest version of Siemens' HMIs.
3. Select a display size and open the corresponding folder. Inside will be the device that is to be added to the project, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.2 – Adding a 12" Unified Comfort Panel

At this point, different versions of the Unified Comfort Panel can be selected...

HMI development environment overview

HMI is made up of many different aspects and areas, and hence it is important to understand these key aspects and the tools that are offered to build an HMI.

Runtime settings

Runtime settings configures how the HMI behaves once downloaded to the hardware. It is necessary to access this and change the configuration once the HMI has been added to the project.

In TIA Portal V17, Unified Comfort Panels fail to compile when they are added to a project due to invalid security settings, and an invalid start screen configured, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.5 – Invalid runtime configuration

A password can be set for Encrypted transfer, or the activation of the option can be turned off by unchecking the Activate encrypted transfer option.

The start screen can be defined by clicking the button with the three dots (…), which will open the following window:

Figure...

Screen objects

Screen objects are items that are used to build up visuals on screens. There are many different types of screen objects, and each comes with its own properties and events.

Screen objects can be found in the Toolbox window to the right of TIA Portal when a screen object is open in the editor.

Screen objects can be placed by simply dragging and dropping the screen object into the Editor window.

Object properties

When an object is selected, the Properties tab at the bottom of TIA Portal contains the relevant properties of the object, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.10 – Example of object property configuration

These properties define how an object looks. Most can also be made dynamic by changing the Dynamization option to the right.

Note

When Dynamization is selected, additional options appear to the right of the Properties tab.

Object events

When an object is selected, the Properties window at...

Special objects

TIA Portal comes equipped with two types of special objects: Elements and Controls. Both types of object have a range of pre-built properties and events that relate to their designated purpose.

Both Elements and Controls can be found in the Toolbox window to the right in TIA Portal when a screen is open, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.12 – Elements and Controls in the Toolbox section

These objects have more specific roles than Basic objects. Elements are typically objects that a user may interact with, such as a button or slider. Controls are objects that allow a TIA Portal's Unified environment to make use of a particular function, such as displaying a faceplate or managing alarms.

Elements

Elements are essentially ready-made faceplates that programmers can drop into a project to enable quick visualization of data. You can see an example of an element in the following screenshot:

...

Summary

This chapter has given insight into TIA Portal HMI development and what the environment feels like to develop within. The areas explored only touch the surface of what can be configured, visualized, and actioned in runtime. The TIA Portal Unified environment is very powerful and designed well, providing all that is needed to help programmers create smart, efficient, and visually pleasing environments, with minimal work.

The next chapter continues the exploration of the TIA Portal Unified environment. The chapter discusses static and dynamic properties, raising events, and using scripting and dynamization of properties. These make up the basic principles of HMI development in TIA Portal.