How can I monitor subroutines in Rslogix5000

Hi all, I am trying to find out if its possible to monitor a subroutine (Compactlogix/ Controllogix plcs)in RSLogix 5000 (ver16) showing the status of of the tags SPECIFIC to ONE PARTICULAR calling routine ? For example, in Siemens S7 it is possible to Monitor instance blocks showing the results of operation specific to one calling block.

More detail: - Lets say I have a plc controlling 20 motors on a line, and the code uses one generic MOTOR routine which is called by 20 different routines and passes in a variable "motor", and returns the variable "motor" - How can I monitor that routine showing me details specific to Motor #5 for example ? IE - in the Generic MOTOR subroutine I have the tag "MOTOR.RUN" and I pass in the variable "M4" - but there is no way I can tell if "M4.RUN" is true by monitoring the subroutine (it could be any of the motors)Is the ONLY way to Copy and paste the routine and rename the input/return parameters ?
Thanks for any advice !
Steve

Only if the control logic is in an AOI. Logix5K AOI's from version 16 and up will let you look at specific instances of execution.

A simple subroutine will not.

not 100% sure what you're asking for ... feel free to ignore this if I've misunderstood your question ...

haven't tried Version 16 yet ... but this approach (from V13, etc.) might be helpful ...



look under View/Watch from the main menu ... messing around with the settings that I've circled might be interesting ... in the Quick Watch mode you can drag-and-drop various tags from the screen to the "monitor" window ...

warning ... with anything less than Ethernet, this thing is PAINFULLY slow ... don't expect the same response that you get with the Custom Data Monitor from the "old" RSLogix5 and RSLogix500 packages ...

and welcome to the forum ...

Thanks for the replies...
rdrast - I am using ver 16 but the code was originally written in ver 15 - so am thinking, from what you say that it probably wont work - and I dont know what AOI stands for ! (sorry - being a bit dim !)

Ron Beaufort,
thanks for the reply, yeh, have used the Watch window - which helps me monitor the tags and uder defined data types that are contained within the code, but I wanted to actually monitor a subroutine in ladder diagram showing me the actual states of the tags relevant to the "calling" function that called it - but what I see is irrelevant, because as it scans, it shows the state of ALL the parameters that have been "passed into" it from all the calling routines (I find it difficult to describe - sorry).
Nice forum ! - very useful !

Sorry - did a bit of browsing on this forum for AOI - and found it to be "Add on Instructions" - and nope, in this situation it is a straightforward JSR jump to another "routine" or program which then passes in and returns the parameter "motor" - so each of our motors is "handled" by a single routine - which is nice and neat and tidy etc, but a nightmare when fault finding etc ! I would rather the programmer had wasted what little extra memory and time was required to control each motor individually with its own routine - would be much easier for our engineers (and me!) to diagnose etc. !

STJ said:

Thanks for the replies...
rdrast - I am using ver 16 but the code was originally written in ver 15 - so am thinking, from what you say that it probably wont work - and I dont know what AOI stands for ! (sorry - being a bit dim !)

Ron Beaufort,
thanks for the reply, yeh, have used the Watch window - which helps me monitor the tags and uder defined data types that are contained within the code, but I wanted to actually monitor a subroutine in ladder diagram showing me the actual states of the tags relevant to the "calling" function that called it - but what I see is irrelevant, because as it scans, it shows the state of ALL the parameters that have been "passed into" it from all the calling routines (I find it difficult to describe - sorry).
Nice forum ! - very useful !

Click to expand...

AOI
Add On Instruction. Think of it as a JSR with a better defined list of input and output pararemeters. Also the advantage is you export and import these instructions to others V16 applications and you can monitor individual calls

You create your own instruction types

AOI is the acronym for "Add On Instruction", and can be used to encapsulate that before AOI's, would have been parameterized subroutines. The difference is that AOI's are much more like instances in Step-7, and when you 'open' one to examine the actual logic, you open it to a specific data instance, so you only see the flow for that particular instance call.

In other words, if you just look at a standard subroutine logic block, you see the execution randomized to whatever logic is calling it, but you can't see a unified view of one particular instance set of data.

For the record, if you look into it, you will find that you can convert any parameterized subroutine to an AOI without too much trouble, and often a great deal more flexibility.

Wow - thanks guys ! - I will definately look into converting the parameterized subroutines into AOIs, and see if I can monitor the realtime instance for each call - and rdrast I gotta say you explain the situation much better than me ! (couldnt get all the right words to come out !)

If you are registered with Rockwell, they have a lot of example AOI's on their site from the Sample Code Library . Pick "Programmable Controllers", "ControlLogix" and "Add On Instructions"

One thing to keep in mind when using AOI's is that you cannot edit them online.

Excellent - thanks again ! - I see now how forums can be a lot more use that Technical support ! - I had a lengthy conversation with Rockwell Tech Support (UK) today, explaining the situation - and his only answer was to copy and paste the routine and then change the tag names of the UDT so that I can monitor it independantly of the other routines that were calling up the subroutine ! He never mentioned AOIs at all !

Thanks again !

Am registered with Rockwell - and will take a look at their AOI sample code...

Cheers !