Display states with text and translations
The state display maps up to sixteen exact PLC values to messages. This exercise checks off, running, warning and fault, English translation and fallback text.
1. Insert the state display
In design mode choose Displays (Anzeigen) → Zustand, place the object on the process page and double-click it to open its properties. Use 210 × 50 pixels and Text / initial value Zustand. This field also supplies the fallback if no mapping matches.
2. Check text assignments and fallback
Click Edit 16 text assignments. Keep 0 = Aus (off), 1 = Betrieb (running), 2 = Warnung (warning) and 3 = Störung (fault). Preview value 2 and click Preview to see Warnung. Then preview 99: it has no row, so Zustand appears. Values are compared exactly; a mapping is not a numeric range.
3. Translate and select the project language
Select English above the right-hand column and enter Warning beside Warnung. Apply, change the project language to English in Settings, then reopen the assignments and preview 2: the result is Warning. The column selector chooses the translation you are editing; the project language chooses the output language. Leave the English translation for Betrieb empty and preview 1: Betrieb appears as the German base-text fallback. These are two different fallbacks: a missing translation uses the matching row’s base text, while an unmapped number uses Text / initial value.
Switching language does not automatically translate custom project text. Apply corresponds to Übernehmen in German.
4. Assign the process variable
In the object properties choose Process variable → Symbol → Anlage_Betriebsart. Check Modbus_Testserver, IP 127.0.0.1, physical address 40003, UINT16 and Holding Register / FC 03/06. Apply and save.
5. Test state output
In project settings select No communication driver – simulation only (Kein Kommunikationstreiber – nur Simulation). Save the symbol’s simulation value in the communication table and start test mode with F5. Since version 2.61.503, saved table values are loaded when Play starts in this mode. For each new test, leave test mode, edit and save the table value, then start Play again. No external Modbus server is needed. With a communication driver selected, the connected source supplies the value; editing a simulation value does not write to a PLC.
With value 2 and project language English, the display shows yellow Warning; the custom title Zustand remains unchanged. Leave Play, switch the project language to German and restart for yellow Warnung. Repeat with value 3 for red Störung, 1 for green Betrieb and 0 for gray Aus. Translation changes the output text; the same value retains the same state color.
Common questions
If the output remains German, check both project language and the matching translation; selecting English above the column is not sufficient. Value 99 uses Zustand because only 0–15 are mapped in this example. Preview tests text output and does not write to the PLC. State (Zustand) evaluates a process value’s content; Status monitors freshness of data reception for a connection.
Keyboard shortcuts
Apply or close property dialogs, select objects on the canvas and leave any active text field before using an object shortcut.
- Delete — delete selection
- Deletes selected simple objects without another confirmation. Check the selection first.
- Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y — undo / redo
- Undoes or restores an available object edit. This is not a recovery mechanism for deleted pages or files.
- Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V — copy / paste
- Copies the selection and inserts an offset copy. Check names and process assignments afterward.
- Ctrl+X — cut
- Copies objects to the internal object clipboard and removes them from the page. Paste with Ctrl+V.
- Ctrl+A — select all
- Selects unlocked objects on the current page.
- Arrow keys — move precisely
- Moves the selection one pixel in the chosen direction within the page bounds.
- Shift+Arrow — next grid position
- Moves the selection in the grid direction using the page grid spacing.
- Ctrl+L / Ctrl+Shift+L — lock / unlock
- Locks the selection; Ctrl+Shift+L unlocks all locked objects on the current page.
- Esc — end editor action
- Cancels an action such as placement or clears the current selection.
- Ctrl+S — save project
- Saves applied changes. Save again after deleting, moving or copying.
The fixed global alarm area cannot be deleted or copied. Structural objects with assigned contents can ask an additional question about those contents.