Hey Everyone!
This is piggybacking on Jan’s excellent post about Status Indicators, so check out that page if you haven’t already.
Summary:
This is a way to make widgets change styles at the rate of a Session Timer, causing them to blink. Since it is completely done using MappView features, it does not require code to be written in a task.
Create the Session Timer:
In the Configuration View in Automation Studio, open the mapp View Configuration file. In the Session Timer section, give your timer a name and a default interval. Make sure the Timer Mode is set to “repetitive”.
Create the Styles:
In this example, I want to use an ellipse as a blinking status indicator with the following state:
- State0 (default) = Gray
- State1 = Red
- State2 = Green
I create styles with generic names. Using generic names, I will be able to apply the blinking to other widget types if I want.
Create the Session Variables:
I create four session variables: 3 for the blink states, which are set to the names of their corresponding styles, and 1 for BlinkStateSelector, which I will use to select the current style for the widget.
Bind the Style List:
I create a list binding for the style property of the ellipse I want to blink. I choose the BlinkStateSelector session variable I created for the Selector, and I add the BlinkState session variables to the binding list, with their keys matching their state number.
Create the Event Bindings:
The event binding file is split into 3 parts:
Step 1: I start the system timer as soon as the content is loaded. This way, I can use the same system timer for multiple widgets.
Step 2: I create an event binding for when the blink timer has elapsed. I create an operand for the BlinkStateSelector variables, so that I can read its value. If the BlinkStateSelector = 1, I set its value to 2; similarly, if it equals 2 when the timer has elapsed, I set it to 1.
Step 3: I create an event binding for the PLC variable I want to monitor, exposed over OPCUA. In this case, I am monitoring a variable called AlarmActive for any change. If its value turns false, I set the BlinkStateSelector to 0 (the default blink state). If its value turns true, I set the BlinkStateSelector to 1, and the event binding from Step 2 takes over.
There are several ways to get widgets to blink, but with this one, you can use the same timer and selector variable across multiple widgets.
Happy Automating! 
, great post!