Generating a Data Report from PLC Tags

monteran

Member
Join Date
Nov 2016
Location
Ohio
Posts
8
I'm still in the early days of working with a CompactLogix PLC here, but I wanted to see if any of you had some suggestions on how I could get a report of data out of this PLC after it finishes its job.

I've looked into using RS Logix and Visual Basic to dump out data into an excel spreadsheet (see here) but there are a few details about it that are concerning to me, never-mind the fact that I haven't used Visual Basic before...

1. Part of the data output would be string data and the links I get from RS Logix always present the values as SINT values instead of characters or the full ASCII string that I want to collect. I'm not sure how to handle the conversion and concatenation of these at this time...

2. I'm using EthernetIP to collect data from a few different devices and they all use a constant tag for data transfer between them. I suppose this means I need to either set the VBA script up to check on the tags every X milliseconds, or else use PLC logic to dump them to tables elsewhere after each data is read?

3. The tests that the PLC will automate can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. For that reason I'm not sure if its better to wait for the full test to be completed or to try to gather data along the way and hope that I don't outpace the PLC logic or something else of that nature.

I suppose this post here is mostly me just thinking aloud, but I would love to hear some suggestions from anyone who has solved this sort of problem before.
 
Have to looked at OPC Workflow?

I have made a application for this kind of tasks. Its free and communicates with PLCs via a OPC server (e.g RSLinx)

http://bluxware.com/

There is a example included for data download, but the workflow for data upload should be somewhat similar.
 
In order to use 3rd party software with RSLinx's OPC server, you need a professional or gateway license, so not quite free.

Another option is AdvancedHMI, which was written by Archie on this forum. He wrote all the drivers for it and it communicates with AB products natively. You can very easily parse this data however you want inside the application.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I have access to a RS Linx Single Node license. Is that sufficient for use with these tools?

I'll look into them when I get back at it first thing tomorrow. I made a good bit of progress on an Excel sheet while I was there but a more adaptable solution is certainly appealing...

I'm kind of impressed by the projects I've heard about on these forums. I wouldn't think that the automation community would be so hungry for free software and such... Then again, as expensive as the Rockwell packages are it makes sense...
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I have access to a RS Linx Single Node license. Is that sufficient for use with these tools?

I'll look into them when I get back at it first thing tomorrow. I made a good bit of progress on an Excel sheet while I was there but a more adaptable solution is certainly appealing...

I'm kind of impressed by the projects I've heard about on these forums. I wouldn't think that the automation community would be so hungry for free software and such... Then again, as expensive as the Rockwell packages are it makes sense...

If you have professional or gateway, yes. Open up rslinx and see what the titlebar says.
 

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