TreeView

The TreeView is a control object that displays data as a branched list within a parent-child hierarchy.

This object allows the operator to easily navigate complex structures (facility hierarchy, menu trees, recipe categories) and select an item (node) from them.

Common Use Cases

• Navigation Menu: Creating a multi-level menu such as “Alarms,” “Reports” (with sub-items like “Daily Report,” “Weekly Report”), and “Settings.”
• Facility Hierarchy: Visually branching a facility structure, e.g., Facility -> Production Area 1 -> Machine A -> Motor 1.
• Categorization: Listing recipes or products by separating them into categories (e.g., “Product Type A,” “Product Type B”).

Basic Configuration and Operation

The TreeView object works with a collection of items called Nodes.

1. Defining Nodes (Static Method – Advanced Panel)

• Go to the object’s Advanced panel.
• Open the Nodes (Collection) property. Here, you manually add main nodes and their child nodes at design time.

2. Managing Interaction (Properties Panel)

• Which node the operator has selected is captured via the Index and Index Changed properties in the Properties panel.

Properties Panel – Key Properties

The Value section of this object generally focuses on managing the event triggered by a selection or the selection index, rather than the node object itself.

Value

• Index:
  • Used to identify the currently selected node.
  • If the index value is bound to a tag, the index of the node clicked by the operator can be sent to the PLC.
  • Conversely, if the PLC changes this index, the TreeView automatically selects the corresponding node at runtime.
• Node Tags:
  • When the CheckBoxes property in the Advanced panel is active, a new field appears under the Value category for each defined Node.
  • Function: You can bind the checked status (Checked / Unchecked) of each individual node directly to a BOOL tag.
  • Screen -> PLC: When the operator checks the box, the connected tag becomes True (or 1). When unchecked, it becomes False (or 0).
  • PLC -> Screen: If the tag is set to True by the PLC, the corresponding box in the tree is automatically checked.

Events

• Index Changed:
  • The defined function is triggered whenever the selected node changes.
  • Use Case: Changing the screen page based on the selected node or displaying status information for the selected machine in a side panel.

Advanced Panel – Key Properties

• Nodes (Collection)
  • The place where you build the static hierarchy of the tree. Each node has sub-properties such as Text, Name, and Tag.
• CheckBoxes
  • If set to True, a checkbox appears next to each node. This allows for multiple selections, similar to a CheckedListBox. Tags can be defined for these nodes in the properties screen.
• ShowLines
  • If True (Recommended), draws connecting lines between parent and child nodes to visually indicate the hierarchy.
• ShowPlusMinus
  • If True (Recommended), displays expand/collapse (+/-) icons next to nodes that have child nodes (branches).
• ShowRootLines
  • If True, displays connecting lines for the top-level (root) nodes as well.
• ImageList
  • Allows you to assign icons (e.g., closed folder, open folder, machine icon) to nodes in the tree by connecting to an ImageList component.
• ImageIndex / SelectedImageIndex
  • Determines which icon from the ImageList (based on index number) is used for the normal state (ImageIndex) and the selected state (SelectedImageIndex).

Common Usage Example

Example: Category Selection for Reporting (Using CheckBoxes)

1. Go to the Advanced panel and set the CheckBoxes property to True.
2. Statically populate the Nodes collection (e.g., “Report 1”, “Report 2”, “Report 3”).
3. In the Properties screen, define a BOOL tag for each Node.
4. Add a “Get Report” button to the screen.
5. Add a script execution function to the Mouse Down event of the “Get Report” button.
   • Logic: The script checks the tags associated with the nodes.
   • It generates reports based on the checked nodes.

Result: The operator checks the desired areas from the tree to include in the report and presses the “Get Report” button to generate the specific data.