Toolbox and object library

The Toolbox in which the 2D objects that can be placed on a screen are grouped: expanding and collapsing groups, search, selecting objects, default sizes and object families.

What the Toolbox is

The Toolbox card on the right of the screen editor (the first button of the icon strip on the right edge) shows all objects that can be placed on a 2D screen in groups. The thumbnail of each object is drawn with the object's own drawing engine; that is, it is identical to the appearance you will see on the screen. The methods for adding objects (clicking and drawing, dragging, the Add menu) are described in 2D screen editor; here the box itself is covered. For the complete list of every object, see the Object catalog.

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1. Search box — filters by object name or group name.
2. View — large icons / list.
3. Group header — clicking it opens / closes the group; the number on the right is the object count.
4. Selected tool — click or drag on the canvas; Esc releases it.
5. Total — number of objects visible on this screen.

Browsing groups

• Clicking a group heading expands / collapses the group. The number in the heading is the number of objects in the group (including its subgroups, if any). The number above the card is the total number of objects visible on this screen (while a search is active, the number of matching objects). While the list scrolls, the heading of the open group stays fixed at the top of the card.
• Order: Basic objects, Elements and Controls at the top; the other groups are sorted alphabetically in the interface language.
• When the toolbox is first set up, only the first three groups (Basic objects, Elements, Controls) are expanded; the others come collapsed. The expanded / collapsed state of the first three groups is remembered on this computer; the other groups are collapsed each time Studio starts.
• The list button in the Options row switches the view between large icons and a list.
• When you click an object, the object becomes the drawing tool and a hint appears above the canvas (Pump: click the canvas or drag to set the size). Clicking the same object again, or Esc, releases the tool.
• Hovering over an object shows its full name as a tooltip; long names are shortened inside the tile.
• Right-click: Add to screen (center) places the object in the middle of the visible area; Select as drawing tool is the same as clicking.

Subgroups

Some groups contain subgroups: Panel Components has the ABB and Siemens subgroups (Siemens and ABB panel equipment).

• When a parent group is expanded, the headings of its subgroups appear directly below the parent group heading, in alphabetical order in the interface language; the parent group's own objects follow them.
• A subgroup header is indented and has its own expanded / collapsed state: clicking it expands / collapses only that subgroup. The number in the header is the number of objects in the subgroup. The number in the header of the parent group is the sum of its own objects and those of its subgroups.
• The search also covers the name of a subgroup: typing siemens lists all objects of the Siemens subgroup.
• The 3D Library card on a 3D screen uses the same layout.

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1. Parent group — the count includes the subgroups.
2. ABB — collapsed subgroup.
3. Siemens — expanded subgroup; with its own expanded / collapsed state.

Search

As you type in the Search objects... box above the card, only the objects whose name (or group name) contains the text you typed are shown. Groups that do not match are hidden; while a search is active, the expanded / collapsed state of the groups is ignored and all matches are visible. Esc clears the search.

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1. Search — groups that do not match are hidden; while a search is in progress, groups are expanded even if they are collapsed.
2. Group — the number of matching objects in the header.

The same groups are also in the Add menu (there in the library's own order): when you click a group, the menu lists the objects of that group with their thumbnails; when an object is selected, it becomes the drawing tool on the canvas. In a group that has subgroups, the list starts with one row marked › for each subgroup (Siemens, ABB); clicking the row opens the objects of the subgroup. The ‹ row at the top goes back one level (from a subgroup to its parent group, from a parent group to the group list).

Object families

In this version the 2D library contains 809 objects. On a normal screen 788 objects are visible: 31 groups and the two subgroups of Panel Components. The remaining 21 objects (two groups) are available only on design screens (see below).

In the Toolbox, the equipment groups are listed in this (alphabetical) order below the first three groups. The Add menu, however, uses the library's own order.

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1. Total — number of objects visible on this screen.
2. Panel Components — enclosures, rails, PLCs, protection, drives, door devices.
3. Plastics and Rubber — injection molding, calender, press, blow molding …

Recently added groups

New objects were also added to existing groups: to Food and packaging a CIP unit, pasteurization and UHT units, a homogenizer, ice cream and chocolate machines, a retort, bottle and crate washers, aseptic filling, a date coder, a shrink tunnel, X-ray inspection, a vision camera, cartoning, blister packing, a pallet labeler and a pallet magazine; to Vehicles and logistics an automated storage system (AS/RS) and storage objects, a locomotive, a railway track, a port container crane and a cargo ship; to Conveyors and transport a spiral conveyor, an overhead conveyor and a cross-belt sorter.

Default sizes

Each object type has its own default size; an object placed with a single click has this size. Examples (pixels):

You change the size by dragging while placing the object, or later in the Width and Height fields of the Layout category.

Realistic and classic appearance

Equipment objects can be drawn in two ways: Realistic (lit, volumetric, sitting on the ground) and Classic (flat). The default appearance comes from the Live settings card in the Object appearance section of the project; it can also be selected separately for a screen with Screen properties › Designs › 2D object appearance (Screen properties). The thumbnails of the toolbox are drawn with the appearance of the open screen.

2D and 3D library

3D objects are not in the 2D Toolbox. When a 3D screen is open, the card on the right becomes the 3D Library and the Add menu lists the groups of that library (3D screens). In this version the 3D library contains 755 objects: 31 groups and the two subgroups of Panel Components (as in 2D). 741 of them have a Realistic model in addition to the Standard model; the remaining 14 objects are basic shapes (rectangle, ellipse, arrow …) and are drawn only with the Standard model.

Limitations and points to note

• You cannot add your own object definition to the Toolbox; you can add the object group you use often to the Libraries card as a copy template (Layers, object list and library).
• The Recipe and Report objects in design screens do not work in other types of screens; Check project reports them as warnings.