How Objects Behave in Pictures
An object is anything that you create or import into an iFIX picture that has properties, methods, and events. In the next section we talk more about how objects work. After you have created an object in the iFIX WorkSpace's configuration environment, you can control its attributes and view its behavior in the run-time environment.
An object can be any of the following:
- Shapes – Shapes are integral to adding precise detail to your pictures. Shapes include rectangles, rounded rectangles, ovals, lines, polylines, polygons, arcs, chords, pies, and pipes.
- Text – Text added to an iFIX picture becomes an object, containing properties that allow you to format or control the text.
- Bitmaps – Bitmaps are images constructed of dot matrixes. They can be imported into an iFIX picture and controlled like any other object.
- Charts – Charts are compound objects made of lines, text, and rectangles that display real-time and historical trend data.
- Data links – Data links display text and values from process databases.
- Alarm Summaries – An Alarm Summary object displays real-time alarm status information based on your alarming and SCADA configuration. An Alarm Summary object is an iFIX OCX.
- Push Buttons – A push button is a tool that lets you execute an action easily with the click of a mouse. A push button is an OCX supplied Microsoft.
- Timers – Timers perform an action based on a specified time duration.
- Events– Events allow you to perform an operation based on a specific action.
- Variables – Variables allow you to specify different values that let you store and display process data in various ways.
- ActiveX Controls – compiled software components based on the component object model (COM). Any imported ActiveX control (OCX) becomes an iFIX object in the WorkSpace.
- Applications – Any OLE-compatible application, such as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, can be imported as a document object within the iFIX WorkSpace.
- Animations – When you animate an object's properties, iFIX adds animation objects to the object containing those properties.
An iFIX picture can contain many types of objects. The following figure illustrates the concept of objects inside an iFIX picture.
Example of Objects in an iFIX Picture
Objects consist of the following image attributes:
- Properties
- Methods
- Events
These attributes are described in the sections that follow.
Properties
All objects have properties. Properties are object attributes you can control, such as the foreground fill color or the object's size or position. These properties can be modified by animating the object or by writing a script.
Methods and Events
Objects also contain methods and events.
A method is a task that affects one or more objects. For example, a rectangle can be moved, rotated, and scaled, and these are all methods of the rectangle.
An event is a signal that an object generates that we respond to. For example, if you click the left mouse button or press a key on the keyboard, the object generates an event which you would respond to, typically by executing a script. Note that the action which triggers an event does not have to be a user action, it can be another script, an application, or the operating system.
Typically, when drawing pictures you work with properties more than methods and events. However, you may want to access an object's methods and events in order to write scripts for the objects you create. For more information on properties, refer to the Controlling Object Properties chapter.
