How to run an application from a Movicon push button

Many times in an HMI or SCADA project it is necessary to open 3rd party software.  For example it could be necessary to open a web browser to access some diagnostics web page of a Variable Frequency Motor Drive (VFD) or maybe to open the programming software for the PLC for troubleshoot purposes.

Movicon has some built-in and commands that can be utilized for such a situation.  These commands function identically to the command line used in the Windows operating system.

To start, add a push-button or other object to the screen in development.  Once the object is placed on the screen you can access the properties from the Property Window, specifically Execution>Command Type.  Make sure to set this property to Execute Commands (1) to be permitted to add a command to the press or release action of the button.  Next click on the ellipse (2) to the right side of the property Command On Release or Command On Pressed.

Doing so will open the Command List window, in which you can add a New Command..., Edit... an existing command, or Remove a command. After selecting New Command... the Command Type window will appear.  Navigate to the System tab (1) and click into the Action field to see the various action to be configured.  Selecting Launch Application (2)  is very similar to using the Windows cmd.exe application.  In the Command Line (3) property you can insert the same string or syntax used in the cmd program.  This example opens Internet Explorer to the Google page with the following command line: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"  http://www.google.com/.

Subsequently if you use an image or simple drawing object you can add the same command through the objects property Execution>Advanced>Commands On Click and following the steps above.

Please find attached to this article (link at bottom) an example project that highlights this feature.  Simply download the example and extract the project from the zipped folder.  You can see the configuration on a Movicon push button on Screen1 of this example.