Implementing Pop-Up Screens in TIA Portal WinCC v11 SCADA

Overview

Operator-driven parameter changes (for example, adjusting a pump's speed setpoint directly from a process overview) are a common requirement in WinCC v11 SCADA projects. The standard approach is to overlay a temporary pop-up screen on top of the active process screen when the operator clicks the equipment symbol, then dismiss the pop-up after the change is acknowledged or canceled. WinCC v11 (part of the TIA Portal engineering framework) provides three viable mechanisms for pop-up screens, each tied to a specific WinCC runtime edition and a specific graphical object model.

This reference covers the three production methods, the HMI tag wiring required to drive them, the differences between WinCC Professional Runtime and WinCC Advanced Runtime, and field-proven verification steps. It targets WinCC V11 SP2 Update 5 (the last V11 maintenance release) and the matching TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 5 engineering environment; later TIA Portal V13/V15/V16/V17 versions keep the same object model and the same screen-window API, so the configuration is forward-compatible.

Prerequisites

• Installed: TIA Portal V11 SP2 with WinCC Professional or WinCC Advanced, build 11.0 SP2 Update 5 or later. See the SIMATIC TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 5 readme for installation prerequisites.
• A configured HMI device (Comfort Panel, WinCC Runtime Advanced, or WinCC Runtime Professional) with an active HMI connection to the PLC.
• A PLC tag (for example, Pump1_Speed_SP REAL) bound to the HMI via the project's HMI tag table.
• A process screen containing the pump symbol that will act as the click trigger.
• An HMI-side Boolean tag (for example, Pump1_Popup_Vis) of internal HMI scope, used to drive the pop-up visibility without disturbing the PLC scan.

Runtime Edition Comparison

The two runtime editions bundled with TIA Portal V11 ship with different graphical object sets. The pop-up method must be selected accordingly.

Reference: SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - Differences between WinCC Runtime Advanced and WinCC Runtime Professional (entry ID 48653336).

Method 1 — Screen Window (WinCC Runtime Professional)

The Screen Window object is the cleanest method for WinCC Runtime Professional. The screen window is a frame placed on the process screen; its Screen Name property is bound to an HMI string tag. Setting the tag to a target screen name displays the pop-up; setting it to an empty string closes the pop-up.

Configuration steps

1. Create a new screen named Pump1_Speed_Popup in the HMI project. Add an I/O field bound to Pump1_Speed_SP, an OK button, and a Cancel button.
2. On the process screen, insert a Screen Window object from the toolbox (palette: Controls > Windows).
3. Resize the screen window to match the pop-up dimensions and position it over the pump symbol.
4. In the screen window properties, open Properties > General > Screen Name and bind it to an HMI string tag Pump1_Popup_Screen.
5. Bind Properties > Display > Visible to the same string tag using a script: Visible = (Len(Pump1_Popup_Screen) > 0), or use the visibility animation with a comparator.
6. On the pump symbol, configure the Click event: set Pump1_Popup_Screen = "Pump1_Speed_Popup".
7. On the OK button of the pop-up: write the I/O field value to Pump1_Speed_SP and set Pump1_Popup_Screen = "".
8. On the Cancel button: set Pump1_Popup_Screen = "".

For full object documentation, see the SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - Working with Screen Windows manual (entry ID 40263542) and the WinCC V11 Screen Window help topic.

Method 2 — Faceplate (WinCC Runtime Advanced)

WinCC Runtime Advanced does not include the Screen Window object. The recommended approach is a faceplate with a configurable visibility property. A faceplate is a reusable screen object created once in the faceplate editor and instanced on the process screen with tag interface properties.

Configuration steps

1. In the project tree, right-click HMI Tags > Faceplates and create a new faceplate named PumpSpeedPopup.fpt.
2. Inside the faceplate, add a numeric I/O field linked to a faceplate tag Speed_SP (type REAL), an OK button, and a Cancel button.
3. Expose Speed_SP, Visible (BOOL), and Result (BOOL) as faceplate interface tags. Map Speed_SP to the PLC tag Pump1_Speed_SP at instance level.
4. Add the faceplate instance to the process screen. Set its Visible property to FALSE at startup.
5. On the pump symbol Click event: set the faceplate's Visible property to TRUE via a tag connection on the instance interface.
6. On the OK button: write the local value back to Speed_SP (which propagates to the PLC tag), set Result = TRUE, set Visible = FALSE.
7. On the Cancel button: set Result = FALSE and Visible = FALSE.

For object documentation, see the SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - Faceplates manual (entry ID 40628066) and the TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 5 readme.

Method 3 — Group Visibility Animation (Both Runtimes)

The simplest, runtime-agnostic method uses a group of objects on the same screen, with the visibility of each object driven by an HMI tag. The group has no inherent visibility property; the individual member objects are animated.

Configuration steps

1. On the process screen, draw the pop-up rectangle, label, I/O field, and buttons. Select all pop-up objects and group them with Format > Group.
2. For every object inside the group, open Properties > Animations > Visibility and bind it to the HMI tag Pump1_Popup_Vis (BOOL). Configure: Tag value = 0 → Invisible; Tag value = 1 → Visible.
3. On the pump symbol Click event: set Pump1_Popup_Vis = TRUE.
4. On the OK button Click: write the speed to Pump1_Speed_SP and set Pump1_Popup_Vis = FALSE.
5. On the Cancel button Click: set Pump1_Popup_Vis = FALSE.

HMI Tag Wiring

All three methods rely on HMI-side tags. Use the following table as a starting template; rename tags to match your project's naming convention.

Tags marked Internal HMI are not synchronized to the PLC and incur zero PLC scan load. Tag configuration procedure: open HMI Tags in the project tree, double-click the table, add a new entry, set Connection to <Internal tag>, and set the data type. See SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - Configuring HMI Tags.

Event Script for Click Trigger (VBScript)

The click event on the pump symbol can use a VBScript function. In the property view, Events > Click, add a VBScript action:

' Pump1_Pump_Click - show pop-up
If SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Vis") = False Then
    SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Vis") = True
    SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Screen") = "Pump1_Speed_Popup"
End If

The pop-up dismiss button uses:

' Pump1_Popup_OK_Click
SmartTags("Pump1_Speed_SP") = CDbl(SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Value"))
SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Result") = True
SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Vis") = False
SmartTags("Pump1_Popup_Screen") = ""

VBScript reference: SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - VBScript reference.

Verification Procedure

1. Compile check: In TIA Portal, right-click the HMI device and choose Compile > Software (rebuild all). Resolve every entry in the Messages pane. Common error 190001 indicates an object not supported by the selected runtime — verify the runtime edition in the HMI device properties.
2. Tag consistency: Right-click the HMI tag table and choose Check consistency. Confirm every internal HMI tag exists and is typed correctly.
3. Simulation: Use the Start simulation toolbar button (WinCC Runtime Professional only) or transfer the project to a Comfort Panel and use the Online > Watch & force tool to force the popup tag on.
4. Click test: Click the pump symbol. The pop-up must appear above the process graphic and acquire focus. Type a new speed setpoint and press OK. The pop-up must close and the value at the PLC must update — verify with a watch table or HMI tag monitoring.
5. Cancel test: Click the pump symbol, type a new value, press Cancel. The pop-up must close and the PLC value must remain unchanged.
6. Multiple-instance test: Duplicate the pop-up pattern for a second pump and verify that the two pop-up tags are independent (a click on Pump 2 must not toggle Pump 1's pop-up).

Troubleshooting Matrix

Field-Commissioning Notes

• For operator permissions, attach the click event to a user-group check. In the security settings of the HMI device, add the popup-triggering action to the Operator group, and the OK-button write to the Engineer group. The pump click will then be allowed for operators, but the value commit will require an engineer login. See SIMATIC HMI WinCC V11 - User Administration.
• For audit trail compliance (21 CFR Part 11 style), enable the Audit Trail option in the HMI runtime settings; the speed setpoint change via the OK button will be logged with operator, timestamp, old value, and new value.
• For modal behavior (block the underlying screen while the pop-up is open), use the Modal property of the Screen Window in WinCC Runtime Professional. On Advanced, the modal effect is achieved implicitly because faceplate I/O fields consume focus.
• For multi-language deployments, configure the pop-up screen text via the text list of the HMI project rather than hard-coded labels.

Performance and Resource Notes

Screen Windows in WinCC Runtime Professional are cached after the first instantiation and reused on subsequent calls; switching the screen name triggers a frame buffer redraw. The group-visibility method is the cheapest at runtime but the most verbose at engineering time. Faceplates scale best across many similar pop-ups because the faceplate body is compiled once and instanced per pump — a 10-pump overview screen with a pop-up per pump costs roughly the same as a 1-pump project in faceplate mode, but grows linearly in object count for the group method.

For Comfort Panel targets, prefer the faceplate method; Comfort Panel firmware versions V11.0.2.0 and later include the faceplate visibility property. The exact firmware matrix is published in the TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 5 readme.

FAQ