Introduction
A typical NA project contains many pages, there are two different types of page, Main and Popup. Main pages are the usual pages that take up the full screen of the NA HMI, these can also be used as background pages (for more information on using background pages, see the article on Using Background Pages on the NA)
For more general information on creating pages go to Getting Started With The NA Page Graphics Editor
This article explains how to use popup pages.
Setting the type and size
To create a popup page, create a page in the normal way by right clicking in the pages area of the multiview explorer and choosing to add a new page.
Once you have a page it is possible view the properties for the page (right click on the page and choose properties). The properties window will be on the right side of Sysmac Studio by default.
On the properties for the page you can choose to make this a popup page by opening the dropdown menu on ‘Page Type’:
Once you have selected the page type as popup, the page will become smaller on the display and the Layout options of Height and Width will become editable, you can set these manually or you can drag the edges of the popup page to get the size you want.
Using Popup pages in your application
Once a popup page has been created, it can be used in the same way as you use any other page. A popup page will appear in front of the previous page but smaller based on the size, the previous page is still visible around the edges. The close page action from inside the popup page closes the popup and returns to the previous page
When a popup page appears, it appears between the current page and the mouse pointer. This means that any mouse operations go to the new popup page. However, it is also worth remembering the any release of the mouse button will no longer happen on the button, this means that if button uses the press event to open a popup page, the click event will never happen.
There can only be one popup on screen at a time so when you close a popup it will always return to the previous full screen page.
Popup pages cannot use or be used as a background page as the size is variable making this impractical.
You can choose where you wish the popup to appear, the properties for the popup include the default position for the popup to appear on screen, this can be based on preset positions or a custom position. In addition, there is an action that allows the pop-up position to be decided by the action, if used in VB Code this can be changed at runtime.:
Popup pages also have the option to be modal or modeless, this means that you can choose whether the user is able to click on the visible page behind the popup page. This option is a checkbox in the page properties:
Finally there is a new setting that allows the user to move a popup with their finger on screen, this is perfect if they wish to see something the popup obscured without having to close the popup.
