Interactive tooltip to display and navigate to different resources of a data point

#The following description generally to industrial system automation, and more particularly to programming and debugging logic for an industrial system.

#Advancements in technology have allowed many modern factories to be run by industrial control systems. These industrial control systems increase the efficiency of the factory, thereby reducing costs associated with the factory and allowing these reduced costs to be passed on to a consumer. To further the automation of a factory and increase cost savings, many industrial control systems employ programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which can be coupled to various machines in an industrial system and control a process that requires precise timing between actions of those machines. Programmable logic controllers thus increase the speed and efficiency with which an industrial process can be performed and reduce or even eliminate the costs incurred in an industrial process traditionally associated with human error.

#Systems and methodologies for designing the control logic utilized by PLCs and programming this control logic onto the PLCs have been developed and implemented in various industrial settings. Recently, software tools have been implemented to facilitate PLC programming. With the aid of software tools, a user can program a PLC to perform a desired industrial process by creating and implementing control logic for manipulating a series of data points that are representative of the industrial system. These data points correspond to, for example, inputs and outputs of physical entities in an industrial system and signals internal to a PLC. Often, however, the number of data points used in the control logic for an industrial system can be quite substantial. In addition, individual data points often appear in multiple locations within a given set of control logic. This complicates debugging control logic associated with a particular data point because where or how a particular data point is impacting the control logic may not be immediately apparent to the user.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within a set of logic in a common display area with the corresponding set of logic.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within a set of logic in a common display area with the corresponding set of logic and navigating the display area to a selected location of the data point.

#FIG. 3 is a diagram of a user interface displaying a set of logic having one or more data points.

#The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the claimed subject matter.

#As used in this application, the terms “component,” “system,” “interface,” or the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.

#Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . . . ). Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.