Scaling composite shapes for a graphical human-machine interface
Parameters associated with sub-elements of a composite shape may determine how the sub-element is scaled during resizing of the composite shape. A graphical display editor may use the scaling parameters to calculate various scaling factors that are then applied to the sub-elements of each composite shape during resizing. The editor may apply the scaling parameters to the sub-elements for resizing in one or more axes (e.g., the length, width, and height or X, Y, and Z axes, etc.) to adjust the composite shape for a particular graphical display. The editor may apply the scaling parameters directly to each sub-element to prevent any distortion of those sub-elements. The configured scaling parameters may then be linked to the composite shape so that, at runtime, the parameters are applied to the composite shape and its sub-elements. The scaling parameters may be applied to both composite shapes and animations associated with the composite shapes.
1. A computer program comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for scaling composite shapes for an operator display in a process control system for use in a process plant, the method comprising:
displaying a composite shape that graphically illustrates an entity within the process plant, the composite shape including a sub-element having an unscaled parameter and a scaling parameter, wherein each scaling parameter includes values that each correspond to a dimension of the sub-element and define a resizing behavior of a corresponding sub-element;
resizing the composite shape and the composite shape sub-element in one or more dimensions;
calculating a scaling factor for each resized dimension of the composite shape, wherein the scaling factor for each resized dimension of the composite shape is a ratio between the unscaled parameter of the sub-element corresponding to the resized dimension of the composite shape and the resized dimension of the composite shape;
determining the resizing behavior for the sub-element based on the values of the sub-element scaling parameter; and
applying the calculated scaling factor to each sub-element unscaled parameter according to the determined resizing behavior, wherein each resizing behavior determines how the calculated scaling factor is applied directly to each sub-element to prevent distortion of the sub-element resulting from resizing the composite shape and the sub-element in one or more dimensions, and the unscaled parameter corresponds to the resized dimension.
2. The program of claim 1 , wherein displaying the composite shape includes displaying the sub-element within a scaling canvas.
3. The program of claim 2 , wherein resizing the composite shape in one or more dimensions includes resizing the scaling canvas that contains the sub-element.
4. The program of claim 3 , wherein the class includes a Canvas class.
5. The program of claim 2 , wherein the scaling canvas includes an extension of a Windows Presentation Foundation class.
6. The program of claim 1 , wherein each scaling parameter controls a scaling behavior of a corresponding sub-element.
7. The program of claim 1 , wherein the unscaled parameter includes one or more of a font size, an edge width, a corner radius, a width, a height, and a position.
8. The program of claim 1 , wherein the unscaled parameter includes a baseline value for applying the scaling parameter.
9. The program of claim 1 , wherein the scaling canvas includes the one or more scaling parameters.
10. The program of claim 1 , further comprising, at configuration time, configuring each composite shape and scaling parameter and, at runtime, binding each configured composite shape to a configured scaling parameter.
11. The program of claim 1 , wherein resizing the composite shape in one or more dimensions occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
12. The program of claim 1 , wherein calculating the scaling factor for each resized dimension occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
13. The program of claim 1 , wherein applying one or more scaling factors to each unscaled parameter occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
14. A graphic display editor for use in a process plant to resize a composite shape that represents one or more of an operation and an entity within the process plant, the graphic display editor comprising:
a memory and a processor;
a library of composite shapes stored in the memory, wherein each of the composite shapes includes a different visual representation of a physical or a logical entity within the process control plant, a sub-element having an unscaled parameter, and a scaling parameter;
a graphically based editor canvas routine including instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor that enable a user to define an executable graphic display, wherein a first instruction places indications of one or more composite graphic objects from the library of composite graphic objects onto an edit canvas to define a manner in which visual representations of the composite graphic objects will be displayed on a display device to a user during execution of the graphic display, and a second instruction controls a scale behavior of each of the component objects of the composite graphic object;
a scaling canvas routine including instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor to associate a scaling parameter with a sub-element of a composite shape, wherein each sub-element of the composite shape is contained within a scaling canvas object and each scaling parameter includes values that each correspond to a dimension of the sub-element and define a scaling behavior of a sub-element associated with the composite shape; and
a composite shape resizing routine including instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor to:
modify one or more dimensions of the composite shape and the composite shape sub-element within the editor canvas,
calculate a scaling factor for each modified dimension of the composite shape, wherein the scaling factor for each modified dimension of the composite shape is a ratio between the unscaled parameter of the sub-element corresponding to the modified dimension of the composite shape and the modified dimension of the composite shape,
determine the scaling behavior for the sub-element based on the values of the sub-element scaling parameter, and
apply the calculated scaling factor to each sub-element unscaled parameter of the composite shape according to the associated scaling parameter, wherein each determined scaling behavior determines how the calculated scaling factor is directly applied to each sub-element to prevent distortion of the sub-element resulting from modification of one or more dimensions of the composite shape and the composite shape sub-element within the editor canvas, and the unscaled parameter corresponds to the modified dimension.
15. The graphic display object of claim 14 , wherein the scaling canvas object includes the scaling parameters.
16. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the scaling behavior of each of the sub-elements defines a degree to which the modification is applied to a corresponding dimension of a sub-element.
17. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the scaling parameter includes one or more of a text font, a sub-element border thickness, a position of the sub-element within the composite shape, a size of the sub-element, and a corner radius of the sub-element.
18. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the scaling parameter eliminates distortion of the sub-element upon execution of the composite shape resizing routine.
19. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the scaling parameter enables a text box sub-element of the composite shape to remain a consistent font size and position relative to another sub-element of the composite shape during execution of the composite shape resizing routine.
20. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the scaling parameter enables a sub-element border thickness of the composite shape to remain a consistent thickness and position relative to another sub-element of the composite shape during execution of the composite shape resizing routine.
21. The graphic display editor of claim 14 , wherein the composite shape resizing routine includes a further instruction to enable the scaling canvas object to calculate a scaling factor that includes a ratio of one or more resized dimensions of the scaling canvas to one or more corresponding unscaled parameters.
22. The graphic display editor of claim 21 , wherein the corresponding unscaled parameters include original parameters of the composite shape including one or more of a text object font size, a sub-element edge width, a sub-element corner radius, a sub-element width, a sub-element height, and a sub-element position relative to other sub-elements of the composite shape.
23. The graphic display editor of claim 21 , wherein the composite shape resizing routine includes further instructions to enable the scaling canvas object to apply the scaling factor to one or more dimensions of one or more sub-elements of the composite shape and each of the sub-elements includes one or more scaling parameters.
24. A computer system for use in a process control plant including a memory for storing computer-executable instructions, a processor for executing the instructions, and a display for displaying composite shapes in a graphical representation of the process control plant, each composite shape representing one or more of an operation and an entity within the process plant, the system comprising:
a database including composite shapes each having a sub-element within a scaling canvas object, wherein each sub-element includes an unscaled parameter and a scaling parameter; and
a graphical human-machine interface for displaying the graphical representation of the process plant, the interface including a composite shape resizing module having computer-executable instructions for:
configuring, at configuration time, a composite shape and a scaling parameter corresponding to a sub-element of the composite shape and, at runtime, binding the configured composite shape to the configured scaling parameter, wherein the configured scaling parameter includes values that each correspond to a dimension of the sub-element and define a resizing behavior of the sub-element of the composite shape;
displaying a resized scaling canvas object of the composite shape, the resized scaling canvas object including one or more changed dimensions of the sub-element of the composite shape;
calculating a scaling factor for each changed dimension of the resized scaling canvas object, wherein the scaling factor includes a ratio of one or more changed dimensions of the scaling canvas object to one or more corresponding unscaled parameters of the sub-elements;
determining the resizing behavior for the sub-element based on the values of the sub-element scaling parameter; and
applying the calculated scaling factor to each sub-element unscaled parameter according to the determined resizing behavior, wherein each resizing behavior determines how the calculated scaling factor is applied directly to each sub-element to prevent distortion of the sub-element resulting the one or more changed dimensions of the sub-element of the composite shape, and the unscaled parameter corresponds to the changed dimension.
25. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the scaling canvas object includes an extension of a Windows Presentation Foundation Canvas class.
26. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the composite shape resizing module further includes computer-executable instructions for controlling a scaling behavior of a corresponding sub-element of the composite shape using the scaling parameter.
27. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the unscaled parameter includes a baseline value corresponding to one or more dimensions of each sub-element.
28. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the scaling parameter corresponds to one or more of a text object font size, a sub-element edge width, a sub-element corner radius, a sub-element width, a sub-element height, and a sub-element position relative to one or more other sub-elements of the composite shape.
29. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the composite shape resizing module includes computer-executable instructions for applying the scaling factor at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
30. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the scaling canvas object includes the scaling parameter.
31. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein a sub-element of the scaling canvas object includes the scaling parameter.
32. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein the sub-elements of the composite shapes include the one or more scaling parameters.
33. The computer system of claim 24 , wherein displaying the resized scaling canvas object of the composite shape occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
34. The computer program of claim 24 , wherein calculating the scaling factor for each changed dimension occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.
35. The computer program of claim 24 , wherein applying the calculated scaling factor to each sub-element unscaled parameter occurs at one or more of a configuration time and a runtime.