Accessing IP address of Panelview from Rsview

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here, I have been going crazy trying to find an answer to this and thought maybe you guys could help.

I have two panelviews (infeed and discharge) communicating with a machine over ethernet. They are both running the same Rsview program, but with unique IP addresses. Each panelview is capable of manually controlling the machine, but when manual control is enabled on one, the control on the other must be disabled.

Right now, when the panelviews first startup, the operators have to press a button to tell the panelview if it is at the infeed or the discharge location. They have to do this so when they enable manual control at one location, the PLC knows which one is in manual and which one must be disabled.

So, my question is.....is there a way that I can use the IP address to tell the panelview software which location it is at so the operators don't have to press that button at startup. This would eliminate any problems due to operator error by making the setup automatic.

I haven't found a way to access the IP address using system tags in Rsview, but my other idea was using an explicit message from the PLC to a specific IP to either change a tag or login a user. This way, I could use that tag or current user to determine the location. I'm just not sure how to set up the message configuration. Would I use a custom CIP Generic? How do I find the service code and instance information?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

I am using an Allen Bradley 1756-L61 controller, RSlogix 5000 v16 software, Panelview Plus 1000, Rsview v5 software.

Thanks

Personally, in your situation, I would make one of them unique, give it's manual mode button and indicator unique addresses, and control which one has mode control with ladder logic.

Using identical applications on two HMIs on the same machines is one of those ideas that looks better on paper than it does in practice IMHOO.

Also, try a forum search. It seems there are some system tags that may be of use to you as for identifying the node address, but even then...

If they both control the same PLC tags, how are you going to be able to associate that with which IP address made the change?

Paul

The screen for manual control is actually different for each location. So it does write to different tags depending on where it was triggered from. I was hoping to be able to use the IP to tell the panelview which screen to display.

I know having unique programs for each panelview would be the best way to go, but by the time all of these machines are installed, we will have 18 panelviews. And the less .apa's and .mer's and .med's we have, the easier our lives will be. (I hate rockwell's saving/backup methods)

If I can get this to work, down the road when someone wants to change something, I will only have to change one program instead of 18.

rberghammer said:

The screen for manual control is actually different for each location. So it does write to different tags depending on where it was triggered from.

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I am not following that, but I am a rookie with PV+...(just upgraded myself from dumbfounded novice)...many people on here are experts and you will most likely have good answeres today...

Paul

PanelView Plus's really don't have any scripting or VBA capabilities built in. There is no inherent way of determining a startup-configuration based on the terminal's IP address.

If you weren't looking for so many different PV's, I'd almost say use the Domain Based (windows linked) security, to configure, and have each PV log on to a network Domain with a unique user name, but honestly, that's much more trouble than it's worth.

More troublesome to me, is that any 'Trick' you might come up with can lead to a potentially dangerous situation, if something doesn't work right every single time. I'd deal with multiple applications if it were my call.

OkiePC said:

I am not following that...

Click to expand...

Sorry about that, I was saying there are two screens for manual control. The Goto Display button will bring you to one screen if you are at the discharge PV, or the other if you are at the infeed PV. The different screens write to different tags, so the PLC knows where the inputs were coming from.


Thank you both for the suggestions, if I can't find a way to explicit message the PV from the PLC, I will probably just give in and make multiple applications.

Would using the Display Settings, Display Number (under Screen Properties) be of any help?

You could have a unique destination (Two programs) for each display number them check in the PLC to see if it is from the Infeed or Outfeed PV+.

WireGuy1950 said:

Would using the Display Settings, Display Number (under Screen Properties) be of any help?

You could have a unique destination (Two programs) for each display number them check in the PLC to see if it is from the Infeed or Outfeed PV+.

Click to expand...

How would you do that with identical PV+ Applications?

Note: Two Programs.