Keypad style 2 on each numeric entry object lets the function keys or bezel arrow keys step the digits of the active entry. Selecting between four entries on one screen is a separate behavior: touch each entry on a touch panel, and test any shared navigation keys before release.
Four numeric entry objects on one HMI screen, one set of shared keys, and the question is which key does what. The documented answer has two parts. Keypad style 2, set on each numeric entry object, assigns digit stepping to the function keys and the bezel arrow keys: one press changes one digit of the active value. Selecting which of the four entries is active is a second behavior. No object setting shown here provides it, so you configure it deliberately and demonstrate it on the panel before release. This page walks through the setting, the panel test, a worked example on a 180 °C setpoint, and the release check.
Can you step through four numeric entries with one set of arrows?
Yes for the value change, with a limit on selection: keypad style 2 on each numeric entry lets the function keys or bezel arrows step the digits of the active entry; moving selection between the four entries is a separate behavior you configure and test on the panel.
Split the job in two. Digit stepping is the part the object setting covers: style 2 connects an entry's digits to shared keys. Selection is the part you design: it decides which entry the next key acts on. Mixing the two is how a setpoint gets edited by accident. A touch panel shortens the work, because touching an entry is a direct way to make it the active one. A keypad-only panel needs its navigation keys tested against the live screen, entry by entry, with safe values.
What does keypad style 2 do?
It assigns digit stepping to shared keys: with style 2 selected on a numeric entry, the function keys or the arrow keys on that entry's bezel increment and decrement one digit of the active value per press, so an up press on the tens digit of 180 gives 190.
Two input styles exist for a numeric entry on this kind of panel. The default style opens the pop-up keypad, which carries its own arrow keys for moving between the value's options. Style 2 stays on the screen: the function keys or the arrows on the entry's bezel step the digits in place. Numeric inputs with push buttons around the bezel are a standard layout for exactly this reason: an operator standing at the machine can trim one digit without opening a keypad. Which physical key drives which digit comes from the panel's key map, and the panel test below shows you that mapping on your hardware. The scope of the setting is digits: each press increments or decrements one digit of the active entry, and nothing in the setting moves the selection to another object.
What do you need before you start?
You need the project open in the HMI configuration software, all four numeric entry objects on the one screen, a saved copy of the project before you edit, a safe test value for each of the four tags, and the panel connected for a test transfer.
- The HMI configuration software with the project open, and a copy saved under a new name before the first edit.
- A safe test value for each of the four tags, for example a batch target of 12 where production runs 1,250.
- Clamped increment and decrement limits in the PLC logic, so a misdirected key or button stops at the process limit.
- The panel connected for a test transfer, using the transfer procedure your project's documentation approves.
- A few minutes at the panel with the bezel keys identified: which physical key sits under each arrow marking.
How do you set keypad style 2 on every entry?
Open each numeric entry object's settings and select keypad style 2, four times, once per object, because the style is a per-object property and the other three entries keep their default keypad until you change each one and transfer the project to the panel.
- Open the screen that holds the four numeric entry objects in the configuration software.
- Open the first object's settings, find the keypad or input style option, and select keypad style 2.
- Repeat on the other three objects. The style is a per-object property, and no entry inherits it from a neighbor.
- Save and check the project: each of the four objects should list style 2 before you transfer.
- Transfer the project to the panel with your approved procedure.
- Put the panel back in its run state and activate one entry to confirm the bezel keys respond.
If an entry still opens the pop-up keypad on activation, note it: both input paths write the same tag, and the pop-up can stay as a backup way to type a whole value at once.
What does a digit-stepping example look like on the panel?
Take a packaging line screen with four entries: oven setpoint 180 °C, batch target 1,250 pieces, conveyor delay 15 s, and reject limit 25 pieces, where the operator must raise the oven from 180 °C to 220 °C, a change of 40 °C.
Activate the oven entry. Press the bezel up key that steps the tens digit; the panel test above shows which key that is on your hardware. Each press adds 10 °C: 180 + 10 = 190, 190 + 10 = 200, 200 + 10 = 210, 210 + 10 = 220. Four presses cover the 40 °C change, then Enter commits it: on this kind of object the entry moves the edited value into PLC memory on Enter, and the tag readback should show 220.
The other three entries stay untouched: the batch target still reads 1,250 pieces, the conveyor delay still reads 15 s, and the reject limit still reads 25 pieces. That is the value of the setting: a 40 °C trim is four presses and a commit, with no keypad session and no reason for the other entries to move. If a press jumps the value past 220 or nothing moves at all, stop, recheck that object's style, and repeat the test.
How do you move selection between the four entries?
Treat selection as its own configuration task: keypad style 2 is documented for digit stepping, so on a touch panel select each entry by touching it, and on a keypad-only panel configure and test the panel's navigation keys against the live screen before anyone relies on them.
On a touch panel, selection is direct: the operator touches the entry, it becomes active, and the arrows step its digits. Give the active entry a visible cue so the crew can see which value the next press edits; color states driven from one integer tag make a clean highlight. A touch panel also offers a third option: link a user-defined keypad to each numeric entry, with its own up and down keys, so every key's target is one entry you chose.
On a keypad-only panel, test the navigation keys against the live screen: press one and watch. If a digit changes, that key is doing digit edit for the active entry, which is its documented job. If an entry highlights, you have found the selection control. The panel's own setup screens toggle between items with up and down keys, but that toggle belongs to the panel's setup interface, and no numeric entry setting documented here reproduces it. Configure selection deliberately, and make the active entry visible either way.
Can one common inc-dec button change whichever entry is active?
Only after you prove it: no documented setting ties a shared button to the active entry, so test the button with a safe value against each of the four entries and keep it only if it changes the entry you selected every time.
Test it with a safe value: select the reject limit, press the shared button once, and read which tag moved. Repeat on all four entries. If the button follows your selection every time, keep it, and the PLC clamps make a wrong press cheap. If the target varies, or the entry it edited is unclear, retire the button.
Two replacements are verifiable today: give each entry its own pair of on-screen step buttons tied to its own tag, or build the increment and decrement as clamped limits in the PLC logic and keep the arithmetic in one rung. The same PLC-side pattern extends to step logic built on transition contacts when a value needs fixed-size steps.
One safety note: on a line where a wrong setpoint spoils product or stalls equipment, put the clamp in the PLC logic so no key, touch or button can push the value past the process limit.
How do you check the screen before release?
Run the full four-entry sequence with safe values: select each entry in order, step its digits, press Enter, and read the PLC tag after each commit, releasing the screen only when every key's target and every committed value match what you selected.
- The active entry is identifiable at a glance from 2 m away.
- Each of the four entries steps one digit per press, in both directions.
- Enter commits the right tag on all four entries, confirmed by PLC readback.
- A press with no entry active changes nothing on the screen.
- A wrong-entry press is caught by the PLC clamp, demonstrated once with a safe value.
Recommendation: Set keypad style 2 on all four numeric entry objects, select entries by touch where the panel has touch, step digits with the bezel arrows or function keys, and keep a common inc-dec button only after a panel test shows which entry it changes; clamp every value in PLC logic either way.
Questions
Does keypad style 2 change what the PLC receives?
No. The style is a panel-side input setting: the entry writes the same tag it always wrote, through the same connection. What changes is how fingers and keys edit the value on screen. Keep the clamp limits in the PLC logic so every entry path, touch or key, stays inside the range the process tolerates.
How does a decimal value such as 12.5 step with the arrows?
Each press steps one digit. On a fill weight of 12.5 kg, one press on the tenths digit reads 12.6, and five presses on the ones digit read 17.5. The decimal point itself is a scaling property of the value, so if 12.5 shows as 125, fix the scaling before you tune the stepping.
Can I keep the pop-up keypad as well as the arrows?
Test it. Activating an entry may still open the pop-up keypad on some models, and both input paths write the same tag, so they can coexist. Decide the rule for operators, though: if the pop-up appears on every activation, the bezel arrows become a second way to edit rather than the only one, and your training should say which path is standard.
When should I split four entries onto separate screens?
Past about six entries on one screen, selection mistakes get expensive: each extra entry adds one more place a shared key can act on the wrong value. Split the screen by process area, one screen per machine section, and keep the entry count per screen at or below six so the active value stays obvious.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.