The use of icons

It is easy to display icons, images and photos on the FlexPendant touch screen. Utilizing this possibility is recommended, as many people find it easier to read pictures than text. Intuitive pictures can also be widely understood, which is a real advantage in a multinational setting.

Note
The operating system of the first generation FlexPendant device (SX TPU 1) does not support images of more than 256 colors.

Caution
Be aware of the limited memory resources of the FlexPendant device. Do not use larger images than necessary. Also see Introduction.

Several FlexPendant controls support images, which are imported as bmp, jpg, gif or ico files when an Image, Icon or BackgroundImage or property is set. These are some controls to be used with pictures:

There are also some Windows controls that can be used to display images. Windows.Forms.PictureBox is one such control. It can display graphics from a bitmap (.bmp), icon (.ico), JPEG or GIF file. You set the Image property to the preferred image either at design time or at run time.

Windows.Forms.ImageList can manage a collection of Image objects. The ImageList is typically used by another control, such as the ListView or the TabControl . You add bitmaps or icons to the ImageList and the other control can choose an image from the ImageList index. How to use images for a TabControl is detailed in How to add tab images..

The TpsIcon class offers static references to a number of icons used in the standard FlexPendant applications. You may want to use some of these icons if they suit the application need. TpsIcon belongs to the namespace ABB.Robotics.Tps.Drawing.

Tip
In the Reference Manual FlexPendant SDK, click the Search tab and search for TpsIcon Members to get a short description of the ABB icons that are available as static properties