About Presentation XML (Px)

This document describes the graphical tools, presentation concepts, architecture and basic procedures for creating and configuring graphics in the Workbench Px Editor.

The Px graphics environment provides the tools for you to build new applications, and you do not need to be a Java developer to create them.

To visually display the control logic that you develop in Workbench (for operations or for engineering purposes), you need to understand the basic principles, capabilities and limitations of Px target media. Obviously, graphics and text look different and have limitations when displayed on a mobile device rather than in a PC web browser. It is important to develop Px files with the primary target media types in mind and to test your Px views in the target media as you develop them.

Usually, it is easier to complete the engineering of your control logic using the Wire Sheet and other views before beginning to design the presentation of that logic. There are features and tools in the Px Editor, such as the Make Widget wizard, that allow you to drag components from the Nav tree to various panes in the Px Editor. If you have already built the logic, it should be visible in the Nav tree and available for drag-and-drop.

The general process of creating presentation views for control logic can follow many different paths. The major steps generally go as follows:

  1. Create your view

    When you create a view, you are creating a relationship between a Px file and a component. The Px file defines the view to associate with one or more components of various types, such as folders and points.

  2. Add widgets

    After creating a view, you add graphic visualizations (called widgets) to the canvas.

  3. Bind your data to the widgets

    To pass data to the widgets, you use data binding. The bound data from the control objects animates and updates the widgets.

  4. Create a nav file

    To easily find and navigate among views, you can create a customizable navigation tree using a special file type: .nav file. You edit the .nav file using the Nav File Editor and assign a particular nav file to a user in the user’s profile (using the User Manager view).

  5. Create and distribute a report

    The reporting function helps you design, display, and deliver data to online views, printed pages, and to distribute via email.