Resolving WinCC V13 Faceplate Animation Failures in TIA Portal

Problem Overview

When configuring HMI faceplates in SIMATIC WinCC Comfort/Advanced/Professional V13 inside TIA Portal V13, the Appearance animation driven by a faceplate property fails to update on the HMI Runtime even though the bound PLC tag changes value. The faceplate renders correctly in the engineering graphics view and the WinCC Runtime simulation (RT Simulation), but the dynamic color, blink, or visibility state never changes once the project is loaded onto a real Panel, Comfort Panel, or PC Runtime.

The typical indicator reported by integrators is a compilation or download warning in the inspector window:

• Faceplate Appearance tag missing — the compiler cannot resolve the internal tag that backs the property.
• Faceplate property 'state' is not linked to a valid tag — the property exists in the faceplate type but the instance is not bound.
• 0x80040xxx HMI Runtime warnings about unresolved HMI tags when the screen is opened.

Affected Versions and Symptom Matrix

Root Cause Analysis

The Appearance animation in a WinCC faceplate is driven by an internal HMI tag that is generated automatically from the faceplate's interface property. The compiler must:

1. Detect the faceplate property (e.g., state : DInt) at the faceplate-type level.
2. Create a backing internal HMI tag of the matching data type inside the faceplate container.
3. Propagate the property to every instance, including the connection point to the animation engine.

In TIA Portal V13 base release and again in V14 SP1 (a regression), step 2 silently fails for the Appearance animation when the property is configured as an enumeration (e.g., 0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = error) and bound to a multistate graphic list. The compiler does not raise a hard error; it only issues a non-blocking warning, so the project compiles and downloads. At runtime, the HMI tag exists, but the link between the tag and the animation table inside the faceplate instance is missing — hence the dialog Faceplate Appearance tag missing.

This is purely a tool-side defect in the cross-reference generation between the faceplate container and the faceplate instance. The PLC tag, the HMI tag, and the property interface are all correctly defined; the broken link is internal to the WinCC project database.

Resolution Path

Primary Fix — Update the Engineering Software

Siemens has addressed this defect in the following updates:

• V13 SP1 — fix for the original V13 issue. Download from the Siemens Support Portal entry TIA Portal V13 SP1 Update 4.
• V14 SP1 UPD3 — fix for the regression introduced in V14 SP1. See the TIA Portal V14 SP1 Update 3 readme.

After installing the update, recompile the HMI station fully (Project tree → HMI_1 → Compile → Software (rebuild all)). Re-download the entire runtime, not just delta, because the faceplate container XML is regenerated.

Workaround for V14 SP1 Without UPD3

If updating the engineering tool is not immediately possible, the following manual workaround restores the link:

1. Open the faceplate type in the editor.
2. Delete the Appearance animation on the affected object (e.g., the circle).
3. Add a temporary intermediate property (e.g., colorAux : Int) and bind Appearance to that property.
4. Map colorAux to the original state property through a script or through an additional animation on the faceplate interface.
5. Compile and download.

This forces the compiler to re-create the internal cross-reference.

Prerequisites for a Healthy Faceplate Animation

Before applying the patch or the workaround, confirm that the basic configuration of the faceplate is correct. Most "non-working" reports are caused by configuration drift rather than the compiler bug.

PLC Tag Definition

• The PLC tag (e.g., DB1.HMI_State) must be defined in the PLC data block with the same data type as the faceplate property (typically DInt or Int).
• The HMI connection must be compiled so that the tag is reachable from the HMI. Trigger with Compile → Software (rebuild all) on the PLC station first, then on the HMI.

Faceplate Property Interface

• Open HMI → Faceplates → [Type name] and confirm the property is listed in the Interface column.
• Set Type to DInt (or the same as PLC) and Name to the value used in the script (e.g., state).
• Tick Plc-relevant only if the value must be read back from PLC; otherwise leave clear to keep the tag internal to the HMI.

Animation Configuration

1. Select the graphic object inside the faceplate (e.g., the circle).
2. In Properties → Animations add Appearance.
3. For Variable choose the faceplate property, not an external HMI tag. The drop-down lists every property declared on the faceplate interface — if state is missing, the interface is not properly published.
4. Define the value ranges in the appearance table. Example mapping for the three-state indicator:

   Property value	Range type	Background color	Blink
   0	Single value	White (0xFFFFFF)	Off
   1	Single value	Green (0x00C000)	Off
   2	Single value	Red (0xC00000)	On, 250 ms / 250 ms

Step-by-Step: Building the Faceplate from Scratch

1. Create a new faceplate type: Project tree → HMI_1 → Faceplates → Add new faceplate. Name it FP_StatusIndicator.
2. In the faceplate editor, draw a circle (radius 60 px) and a text field. Add a property state : DInt in the Interface column.
3. Select the circle → Properties → Animations → Appearance. Bind the variable to the state property. Add the three value ranges from the table above.
4. Save the faceplate type. The compiler auto-generates the internal HMI tag ::FP_StatusIndicator::state.
5. On the process screen, drag the faceplate from the Toolbox → Faceplates panel onto the canvas.
6. In the faceplate instance configuration panel, set the state property to the PLC tag "DB_HMI".HMI_State (HMI tag pointer, not raw name).
7. Compile the HMI station with Software (rebuild all) and start the Runtime simulation. The circle should turn green when the PLC writes 1, red blinking when the PLC writes 2.
8. If the simulation passes but the on-device Runtime does not, the project has the V13 / V14 SP1 defect. Apply the update and re-deploy.

Working with SiVArc and Generated Faceplates

When faceplates are generated automatically through SIMATIC Visualization Architect (SiVArc), the property-to-animation binding is driven by the generation template, not the manual drag-and-drop flow. The official Siemens documentation explains that to generate animations for faceplates with SiVArc, the dynamic properties for the animation must be configured in the faceplate type that serves as the generation template. See the example Generating faceplates with animations - SiVArc for the exact workflow in TIA Portal V20 (the same principle applies to V14 onward).

SiVArc-Specific Pitfalls

• Template mismatch: The generation template must contain the Appearance animation in the faceplate type itself, not in an overlay. SiVArc only copies bindings that are baked into the type.
• Property propagation: If the SiVArc rule assigns the state property from a UDT instance, the data type must match exactly (DInt → DInt). A mismatch silently nulls the internal tag at generation time.
• Regeneration: After updating TIA Portal (V13 SP1 or V14 SP1 UPD3), regenerate all SiVArc outputs with Generate → Regenerate all visualization. Do not rely on incremental generation; the faceplate container XML must be re-emitted.

Verification Procedure

After applying the patch and re-downloading, validate the fix on the actual target (Panel or PC Runtime):

1. Open the project on the HMI. The faceplate should render in its default state (white).
2. From the PLC, write 1 to DB_HMI.HMI_State (e.g., from a watch table in TIA Portal). The circle should turn green within one polling cycle (default 1 s for cyclic acquisition, 100 ms for "On change").
3. Write 2. The circle should turn red and begin blinking at the configured period (250 ms in this example).
4. Write 0. The circle should return to white and stop blinking.
5. Open the HMI diagnosis view (Diagnostics → Runtime diagnostics) and confirm that no Faceplate Appearance tag missing warning is logged for the faceplate container.

Reading the HMI Logs

Activate extended logging in Runtime settings → Services → Diagnostics and reproduce the animation. The generated *.log file in the runtime directory contains entries such as:

[HmiRt] Faceplate 'FP_StatusIndicator' instance 1: appearance tag 'state' linked
[HmiRt] Animation 'Appearance' on object 'Circle_1' updated value=1

Absence of the first line after a tag write indicates the cross-reference is still broken.

Performance and Polling Considerations

For the three-state indicator in this article, set acquisition to Cyclic in operation at 500 ms. This gives sub-second response without flooding the HMI–PLC link when the value is steady.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Notes on Long-Term Maintenance

Once the project is moved to V15 or later, the legacy Appearance animation can be migrated to the newer Styles property in WinCC Unified. The new styles engine handles state changes through CSS-like attribute selectors and is not subject to the cross-reference defect that affected V13 and V14 SP1. For new projects, prefer WinCC Unified (V16+) where the platform is supported. Existing Comfort/Advanced projects should remain on a patched V14 SP1 UPD3 (or V15.1) baseline for the rest of their lifecycle.

FAQ