Bring back the HMI panel resolution choice prompt

What the resolution prompt is for

The software asks its question in two documented situations. The first is a panel size change: when the model you select has a resolution different from the project's current one, the prompt appears and asks how to handle the difference. The software's help page describes Panel Manager as the place where you select the panel model the project uses, and notes that changing the panel type may require adjusting the project. The second situation is a download mismatch: the prompt also appears when the project file's panel type differs from the actual panel the project is being downloaded into.

Both prompts ask the same underlying question, whether to keep the layout on the pixel grid it was drawn for or to re-map it to the panel's own pixel count. The vendor's manual adds the fact that decides how you recover: the project's Panel Manager settings override the HMI's internal setting at the first download, so the answer travels with the project file. Correct the project once and every later download inherits the correction. Two sizes that share one pixel layout count as the same resolution, which is why some size changes pass without a question; that behaviour is laid out in why two HMI panel sizes can share one layout in pixels.

Symptoms and what each points to

Match what you saw against this list before changing any setting:

• The prompt appeared while editing, right after a size change: expected behaviour. It fires whenever the new size has a different resolution.
• The prompt appeared during a download: the project's panel type differs from the panel on the other end of the cable. Compare the two before accepting anything.
• The finished screen looks stretched or shrunk: a layout was re-mapped to a panel with a different pixel count.
• Screen edges are blank or objects are missing: the project kept its drawn pixel grid on a panel with fewer pixels available.
• Text renders larger or smaller than you drew it: scaling from a resolution change, or the separate editor and panel text size mismatch, which has its own causes and fixes.
• The same question returns at every download: the saved project still names the wrong panel model, so correct it once in Panel Manager and save.

On shop-floor screens these symptoms usually follow a panel swap or a spare-panel substitution, where the replacement model is close to the old one but not identical.

Bring the resolution choices back

1. Open the project in the panel programming software and open Setup > Panel Manager, the screen where the project's panel model is selected.
2. Write down the selected model name and its resolution.
3. Walk to the physical panel and read its model from the nameplate, or match the unit against the model list in Panel Manager.
4. If the two differ, select the model of the physical panel. Because its resolution differs from what the project had, the prompt reappears. Read both options in the dialog and answer for the panel that is actually installed.
5. If the model already matches and you only want to answer the old question again, change the size to any other model with a different resolution, answer the prompt, then change back to the correct model and answer it again. Every change that crosses resolutions raises the question.
6. Save the project before downloading.

The download route reaches the same prompt from the other direction. Confirm which panel you are connected to, start the download, and when the software reports that the project file's panel type differs from the actual panel, it offers the resolution question. Treat that as a diagnosis: the mismatch means the saved project names the wrong panel, and the fix that lasts is the one made in Panel Manager.

One safety rule for a screen that operators are using: do not click through the prompt experimentally. A download replaces the project on a panel the line may be relying on, so work at a shift change or on a spare panel.

Worked example: an 800 x 480 project sent to a 1024 x 600 panel

Say a project was drawn for a panel with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels and the panel now connected runs 1024 x 600 pixels. The pixel counts show the size of the change: 800 x 480 is 384,000 pixels and 1024 x 600 is 614,400 pixels, so the larger panel offers 230,400 more pixels, 1.6 times the drawing area. The screen shapes differ too: 800 divided by 480 gives an aspect ratio of 1.67, and 1024 divided by 600 gives 1.71.

If the answer re-maps the layout to the panel's pixels, every object scales, horizontally by 1024 / 800 = 1.28 and vertically by 600 / 480 = 1.25. A pushbutton drawn 100 x 40 pixels becomes about 128 x 50 pixels, and 20-pixel text ends up around 25 pixels tall. The layout fills the screen, but because 1.28 and 1.25 differ, circles come out slightly oval and the distortion grows with object size.

If the answer keeps the project's own pixel grid, nothing scales: the drawing occupies the left 800 columns and the top 480 rows, leaving a strip 224 pixels wide (1024 - 800) down the right side and a band 120 pixels deep (600 - 480) along the bottom. Nothing is lost, but the screen reads as a small window on large glass, and touch zones sit where the old grid put them.

The decision follows from the pairing: set Panel Manager to the model that is physically installed, answer the prompt for that pairing, and keep the scaled layout only where every touch target still lands under the operator's finger. On these numbers the scaled result suits large glove-operated buttons; a dense numeric keypad drawn for the old grid is worth redrawing at 1024 x 600.

Checks after the download

• Panel Manager shows the model printed on the physical panel.
• The layout fills the glass: no 224-pixel dead strip down the right side and no 120-pixel band along the bottom if your project moved up in resolution.
• Pushbuttons line up with the machine features or printed overlays they refer to, and a test press acts on the intended object.
• Text is readable from the distance the operator actually stands at, and values on screen match what the machine is doing.

Then save. Keep the corrected project under a file name that carries the panel model, and follow the safe way to back up and restore an HMI panel project so every future download starts from a known-good file.

When the prompt still does not appear

• The size you selected has the same resolution as the project's current one. The documented trigger is a resolution difference, so a change between sizes that share a pixel layout passes silently.
• The project already names the panel receiving the download, so there is no mismatch for the download check to raise.
• The panel is misreporting itself. The panel family's published firmware history lists fixes for target panel resolution information being incorrect, so a unit on old firmware can be the reason the question never arrives or the answer never takes. Check the history before replacing hardware.
• The file on your PC is not what the panel is running. Read the project back from the panel before editing, then apply the Panel Manager fix to what the panel actually holds; read an HMI project from the panel before editing covers that step.

Recommendation

Recommendation: make Setup > Panel Manager match the physical panel before you answer anything, then answer the prompt once, deliberately, and save. If the project already names the installed panel, there is nothing to re-decide; fix layout trouble at the object level. If the project must move to a panel with more pixels, as in the move from 800 x 480 to 1024 x 600 above, accept the scaled layout when the screens carry large text and glove-sized buttons, and redraw dense screens such as numeric keypads at the new resolution. Download only from that saved copy, and the resolution question stops reappearing at every transfer.

Questions