Manual Data Input (MDI)

MDI Tutorial

MDI Interface

The MDI Interface uses a QLineEdit named mdi_command_le to enter commands.

For touch screens there are two options a NC Popup is a touch screen that has G and M words and a number keypad or a Keyboard Popup has a full keyboard.

To enable a popup add a Dynamic string type Property to the mdi_command_le QLineEdit and name it input and set the value to either nccode or keyboard.

Dynamic Property

Setting the value

NC code popup window

Keyboard popup window

MDI History

MDI history uses a QListWidget named mdi_history_lw to display the MDI history. You can click on a line in the history display to copy the command to the MDI Interface, ready for running.

The MDI history is kept in a file named mdi_history.txt in the configuration directory.

MDI Controls

The following QPushButtons can be used to execute, copy, and clear MDI command history

MDI Push Buttons

Function	Widget	Object Name
Run MDI Command	QPushButton	run_mdi_pb
Copy the MDI History to the Clipboard	QPushButton	copy_mdi_history_pb
Save the MDI History to a file	QPushButton	save_mdi_history_pb
Clear the MDI History	QPushButton	clear_mdi_history_pb

MDI Button

MDI buttons execute a MDI command when the button is pressed. These are created by adding two dynamic properties called function and command to a QPushButton.

Note

If the command property is not found, the button will not be enabled!

Select the button then create a dynamic property by pressing the green plus sign in the Property Editor

Then select string:

Name the property function and click OK

Set the value of the property to mdi

Add a property called command

Set the value of the property to your valid MDI command