Why an HMI numeric display suffix will not translate

Why does the suffix stay in one language on a two-language panel?

Because the Prefix and the Suffix sit outside the language database; the Label is the only numeric display text collected there, so both fields hold one value shared by every language, and the last text entered wins.

The loop looks like this. You type "Sec." as the English suffix, select Chinese, enter the translated glyph, click OK, and the English word is back. Correct it the other way and the Chinese glyph shows on the English screen. Labels, screen text and every other element you have translated switch correctly, which points at the field, not at the language selection. The Prefix behaves the same way. Everything else on the object, including how many decimal places the HMI numeric display shows, stays exactly as configured.

The same field expectation trips other display objects: analog value displays losing prefix and suffix text get diagnosed the same way, by asking which property is supposed to carry the string.

How do you tell a shared field from a broken language switch?

Switch the screen to the second language and read the rest of it: labels and other elements change while only the numeric display's Prefix or Suffix stays fixed, so the field is shared and the layout fix below is your answer.

Use one element you have translated before as the control, and keep the tag value and the selected language unchanged while you compare fields. Then match what you see:

• The Label on the same object switches, the suffix stays fixed. The suffix is a shared field. Clear it and use the static text layout.
• Nothing on the screen switches. The language selection is the problem, or the wrong language is active. Fix that before touching the layout.
• The unit prints twice in one language. You kept the suffix and added the static text. Clear the suffix.
• The Chinese unit renders as a blank box. The font lacks the glyph. Change the font as described below.

How do you show a translated unit next to the value?

Add a static text object to the right of the numeric display, clear the numeric display's Prefix and Suffix, enter the unit for each language in the static text, and set its text alignment to right.

1. Open the numeric display and clear the Prefix and Suffix fields, so no shared text remains.
2. Add a static text object beside the display and size it to the longer of your two unit strings, with room to spare.
3. Enter the unit for the first language, switch the project to the second language, and enter the translated unit in the same object.
4. Set the static text alignment to right, so both strings anchor on the same edge beside the value.
5. Match the static text font height to the numeric display's font height, so the pair reads as one line.

Static text follows the language selection, which is why this works. It is the same object you use to put a full page of static text on an HMI screen. When a whole project changes language, the unit strings travel with a project language export, the route covered in translating an HMI project without retyping every object.

How do you frame the value and unit as one object?

Turn the frame off on the numeric display, widen the static text object, drop the numeric display inside the static text's frame, then group the two objects so any later layout edit moves them together.

That recipe comes from the same support guidance, and the details matter:

• The numeric display's own frame goes off; the static text's frame encloses both objects.
• Right-justified text keeps the unit anchored while the digit count changes beside it.
• Group after placing, then nudge the group once to confirm the objects move together.
• Check the spacing at the shortest and longest values the tag can show, because one digit reads narrower than three.

What sizes work on a 6-inch panel (worked example)?

On a 6-inch, 320 x 240 pixel panel, a 16-pixel font for the digits and the unit, a 40 pixel box for the value and a 40 pixel box for the unit give a pair that reads from about 4.8 ft.

Example: a dwell timer shows seconds from 0 to 600, in English and in Chinese, on that 6-inch panel.

• The value reaches three digits at its maximum, 600. A 40 pixel box holds three digits at a 16-pixel height with margin.
• The English unit "Sec." runs four characters; the Chinese unit is one glyph. A 40 pixel box covers both, with an 8 pixel gap to the value.
• The assembly takes 40 + 8 + 40 = 88 pixels of a 320 pixel row, about 27 percent of the width.
• Legibility: 320 pixels across the panel's 4.8 inch image width is 66.7 pixels per inch, so a 16-pixel letter stands 16 / 66.7 = 0.24 inch tall. The FHWA planning figure of 30 ft of viewing distance per inch of letter height gives 0.24 x 30 = 7.2 ft, and the safer 20 ft per inch gives 4.8 ft. An operator at the machine, about 3 ft away, sits inside both.
• Take 320 x 240 pixels as this example's assumption. Read your own panel's resolution from its specification and scale the boxes to match.

What if the Chinese characters will not render?

Keep the default font: on these panels only some project fonts carry the Chinese glyphs, the default font is one of them, and a font change cures missing glyphs, never a shared suffix.

A missing glyph shows as a blank box or a wrong character. Change the static text object to a font that renders the unit, then confirm it on the panel itself in both languages. No font moves the Prefix or Suffix into the language database, so drop the search for one that holds two values in a single field.

How do you verify both languages before release?

Walk the screen in both languages at three values of the tag, the minimum, a mid-range value and the maximum, so you see the widest digit count and both unit strings in each language.

• The value sits in the numeric display, the unit in the static text, and nothing prints twice.
• Alignment holds at the shortest and longest values, 0 and 600 in the example.
• The frame encloses both objects when you use one, and the group moves as one when you drag it.
• The Chinese glyphs render on the panel, and the English unit still reads cleanly.
• No leftover text remains in the numeric display's Prefix or Suffix.

If a Label somewhere also stays fixed while the rest of the screen switches, that is a separate problem with that object's language entries; correct the entries before changing any layout.

Recommendation: Clear the Prefix and Suffix on every numeric display whose unit changes between your two languages, and carry that unit in a right-justified static text object, framed and grouped with the value. Keep translated captions in the Label field, where the language database collects them. If the whole screen stays in one language, fix the language selection first, and change fonts only when glyphs go missing.

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