# About controller instruction faceplate global objects

Global object displays of RSLogix 5000® Controller Instruction Faceplates or Studio 5000 Logix Designer® Controller Instruction Faceplates are provided with FactoryTalk View Machine Edition for inclusion in your applications. Use of global objects in application where similar graphic components are needed will enhance the maintainability of your application, because changing a global object will impact all reference instances of that base object used in your displays.

RSLogix 5000 Controller Instruction Faceplates or Logix Designer Controller Instruction Faceplates distributed with FactoryTalk View Machine Edition are implemented using global objects. To use these faceplates in your application, you can do one of the following:

- Right-click the HMI Server name in the Explorer and select Add Controller Instruction Faceplates.
- Import the desired global objects (*.ggfx files) and reference faceplates (*.gfx files) from \Users\Public\Public Documents\RSView Enterprise\ME\Faceplates.

## Layout

Global object displays are organized into different files based on the functionality offered in each display. Each display is composed of the following components:

- Description Panel - This panel is intended for use in reference displays to provide an area for uniquely identifying the faceplate instance. For example, a tag label or other descriptive string display referencing the backing tag can be used with this panel on a reference display to provide an identifier for the particular instruction being monitored.
- Toolbar Group - Use of a global object toolbar in your displays will allow the related instruction faceplates to be opened as pop-ups at runtime.
- Content Group - The main view into the RSLogix 5000 or Logix Designer instruction.
- Faceplate Panel - A panel that provides a uniform background color for the global object display.

## Link

Your ability to individually customize the new reference displays that you create depends heavily upon the default global object link settings. These are applied at the time the global objects are imported onto new reference displays. With a global object display open in the editor, global object link settings are accessed by clicking Edit and selecting Global Object Defaults from the menu bar in FactoryTalk View Studio. Properties for link settings are: Link Animation, Link Connections, and Link Size.

The pre-made reference displays for the Controller Instruction Faceplates default to LinkAnimations = "With Expressions", LinkConnections = true, and LinkSize = true

Tip: | The panels, controls, and display elements in the content group of Controller Instruction Faceplate global object displays are grouped to allow easy importation of the entire faceplate or specific features into your reference displays. The intent is for a developer to be able to import the entire content group, a desired panel, or individual feature thereof. When creating a reference display that consists of global objects referencing different instructions, tag substitution can be used to replace all the tags for display components in a particular group providing the link settings allow such substitution. Tag substitution is performed by right-clicking on the desired group in the Object Explorer and selecting Tag Substitution. Most panel and display components of Controller Instruction Faceplate global objects have been made transparent, allowing inclusion on a display with any background color. It was, however, necessary for aesthetics to use a solid background on some text labels in order to obstruct background components. These labels can easily be blended with your display by changing the background color of the component properties to match the color of your display or panel's background.

## See also

About controller instruction faceplates

About controller instruction faceplate displays

Process faceplates display list

Object Explorer

Examples: Tag substitutions