Append HMI Studio 1.2.3

Fixes

• Pointer hand: in running applications, the mouse pointer is the pointing hand only over objects that respond to a touch (pushbuttons, action scripts, user input, show and hide window, sliders) and are currently enabled. It is the arrow everywhere else.
• No text selection: text on a running application's screen can no longer be selected.
• White start-up screen: the start-up screen always has a white background, so the Append Automation logo shows on dark themes too.
• Page View off: new documents start with View > Page View off; an HMI's frame is its target screen. Projects saved with Page View on keep it.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.3-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users over earlier versions (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.3-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.3-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.3-amd64.deb)

The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.

Append HMI Studio 1.2.2

What's new

• Start-up screen: the screen shown while Append HMI Studio or a published application loads now carries the Append Automation logo above the product name.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.2-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users over earlier versions (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.2-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.2-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.2-amd64.deb)

The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
There is no automatic update. Install new versions over the old one.

Append HMI Studio 1.2.1

Fixes

• File > Open shows projects first: the default file type is now Append HMI Studio Projects (.ahmi), which also lists older .drawio-hmi projects. Before, .ahmi was not offered at all. Diagrams (.drawio and the other types) are still in the drop-down.
• Light appearance by default: the editor no longer follows a dark system theme. Installations that were following the system theme switch to light once. Choosing Dark or Automatic under View > Appearance afterwards is kept.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.1-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users over earlier versions (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.1-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.1-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.1-amd64.deb)

Known issues

• The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
• There is no automatic update. Install new versions over the old one.

Append HMI Studio 1.2.0

What's new

Indirect tags. Three new tag types, IndirectDiscrete, IndirectAnalog and IndirectMessage, have no value of their own.

• Linking: a script points one at any tag of the same kind with LinkIndirectTag("Indirect", "Tag").
• Reading and writing: reading or writing the indirect tag then reads or writes that tag. Dotfields (.Name, .InAlarm, .Acked, the engineering range) and alarm colors follow the linked tag.
• Names from expressions: names can be built, e.g. "SV" + Text(Unit, "000") + "_Status".
• One set of links per Run, shared by every window.
• Errors: a failed link shows an Indirect Tag Error window. Literal names are checked by Validate.

ShowWindow script function. ShowWindow(name[, left, top[, modal[, wait]]]) opens a window from a script.

• left, top: move the window for this showing.
• modal: makes a popup modal or not.
• wait: pauses the script until the window closes. By default the script carries on.
• Errors: a failure shows a Window Error window.

Examples in LiquidWeighHMI and the User Manual.

• One faceplate: the example's 14 valve and pump faceplates are now a single Device Faceplate, driven by indirect tags (manual section 9.4).
• Beside the device: each symbol opens the faceplate beside itself with ShowWindow.
• Confirm before ABORT: ABORT waits for the operator's answer in the Confirm Abort popup (section 9.5).
• Function reference: the manual lists the new functions.

Fixes

• Scripts read any tag: an action or window script now reads tags that no object on its window shows. Before, they had bad quality, so IF branches on them didn't run.
• Touches pass through hidden objects: a touch on an object hidden by a Visibility link now reaches the visible object beneath it. Before, it was lost.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.0-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users over earlier versions (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.0-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.0-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.2.0-amd64.deb)

Known issues

• The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
• There is no automatic update. Install new versions over the old one.

Append HMI Studio 1.1.0

What's new

Recipes. Operators can save and recall named sets of tag values, and move them between the HMI and the PLC.

• HMI > Recipes defines recipe books:

  • the tags a recipe holds (Save/Load tags);
  • optionally, a paired Upload/Download tag for each one, usually the PLC tag;
  • starting recipes that ship with the project.

  Books can be imported and exported as JSON.

• Script functions:

  • RecipeSave, RecipeLoad, RecipeDownload, RecipeUpload, RecipeExport and RecipeImport (CSV files), RecipeDelete (optionally asking first), RecipeRename;
  • x = ShowRecipeSelect(book[, x, y, w, h]), a touch-friendly selection window that the script waits on.

• Recipe List object (HMI palette): shows a book's recipes at run time. The selection is kept in a message tag and can be moved by touch, by arrow buttons, or by rising edges of two discrete tags.

• Errors explained: a failing recipe function shows a Recipe Error window with the call and the reason, for example an empty name or PLC values with bad quality. Repeated failures are collected in one window.

• Recipes saved at run time stay on the running PC. HMI > Clear Runtime Recipes resets the Studio's.

Runtime views for Append HMI Web. A running screen can fit the window, fill it (maximize), or show at its original size with scroll bars. A browser view menu chooses between them.

User Manual and example.

• doc/Append-HMI-Studio-User-Manual (.docx and .pdf) walks through building an application, using the included examples/LiquidWeighHMI.ahmi.
• The new chapter 11 covers recipes, and section 9.3 is a reference of every script function and its arguments.
• LiquidWeighHMI now has a recipe book of plasticizer blends and a Recipes screen.

Fixes

• A memory message tag with an empty initial value started as 0, and was saved as 0 when retentive.
• Hints in the Animation tab no longer run off the side of the panel.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.1.0-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users over 1.0.0 (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.1.0-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.1.0-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.1.0-amd64.deb)

Known issues

• The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
• There is no automatic update. Install new versions over the old one.

Append HMI Studio 1.0.0

The first release of Append HMI Studio: design operator screens for PLCs, run them against live equipment, and publish them as Windows installers for the target PC.

Features

• Screen design on a diagram canvas, with a tag dictionary, animation links (colors, fill, movement, size, rotation about any point, visibility, blink, value display) and touch links (pushbuttons, action scripts, user input, sliders, show/hide window).
• PLC communications through the bundled hmi-comms server:
  • EtherNet/IP ControlLogix/CompactLogix (Micro800 too);
  • SLC 5/05 and MicroLogix;
  • Modbus TCP;
  • a built-in simulator.
• Alarms:
  • analog limits with deadband, and discrete alarms;
  • ISA-18.2 acknowledgement;
  • the _AlarmsActive, _AlarmsUnacked and _AckAll system tags, and .InAlarm/.Acked dotfields;
  • Alarm List and Alarm History objects;
  • daily CSV history, kept 90 days.
• Retentive memory tags keep their last value between runs.
• Users and security:
  • users with access levels 0 to 9999;
  • a built-in login window, and login script functions (ShowLogin, Login, Logout, ChangePassword, ShowUserManager);
  • the _Username and _AccessLevel system tags;
  • masked password entry, the Enable animation, and auto logout.
• Publish (HMI > Publish) builds a Windows installer of a locked, run-only runtime with the comms server:
  • kiosk, full-screen or window mode;
  • exit policy;
  • it can be built on Linux or Windows.
• Automation: --hmi-build, --hmi-check, --hmi-render, --hmi-dump and --hmi-publish build, check, render and publish projects from a JSON spec, with no UI. It comes with a Claude Code skill for AI agents.

Downloads

File	Platform
Append-HMI-Studio-1.0.0-Setup.exe	Windows 10/11 x64, installs for all users (silent: /S)
Append-HMI-Studio-1.0.0-x86_64.AppImage	Linux x64, runs without installing
Append-HMI-Studio-1.0.0-amd64.deb	Debian/Ubuntu (sudo apt install ./Append-HMI-Studio-1.0.0-amd64.deb)

Known issues

• The installers are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
• There is no automatic update. Install new versions over the old one.

Append HMI Studio is built on the draw.io editor and drawio-desktop by JGraph Ltd, under the Apache License 2.0. See NOTICE.