FT View studio ME

ive not done much with view studio so just want to clarify before i try, here is the scenario....

we need to modify the pv+ but we have lost the APA file for the latest revision, i have a revision which isnt upto date so i have added the extra screen which will now give me an APA file to match what i have in the latest MER file, which has 2 digital I/P to the ML1500 and then 4 inputs for speed of the PF4 and also 4 display for the true HZ of the PF which is recieved through the serial to DSI converter on ch1, and dasiy chained.

what i want to know is what are the best type of displays for these values eg.. string or just numeric etc

one of the values i crnt remember if its the I/P or the display is showing as 41.0 but is in an integer file so would the PV be dividing by 10 to give me the 41.0 it displays or would it be the plc?

im not at work till tonight so thats why things mite be a little vague as i dnt have the software at home or the application to propose the different types of data displays etc

any help appreciated

also the rest of the inputs etc are tagged but i dont have the comments or tags which have been given to the interger files i am using so i have directly addressed the screen buttons and displays to N7:13, b3:0/0 etc just to get me going.

how hard would it be for me to once get this screen running to then create tags to give a uniformed application rather than tagged and non-tagged addressing. i have seen the tags in the tree in ME but i havent gone down that road till i get it working firt. i feel i am asking really simple questions which i could work out for myself but i just want some reassurance from the guys here.

i have created users, passwords wrote code for the visabilty of different levels of users who are logged in and i seem to be able to pick stuff up by just thinking and having ago but i would like to get this job done during shutdown tonight and i crnt access this forum from work unfortunalty.

thanks guys

Generally when I am displaying a numeric value I use just the Numeric Display object.

Converting to String or embedding it in a text element are possible but don't give me any benefit, usually.

A Numeric Display will have a connection to a Tag, and will also have an Expression. Very often the Expression is where you perform some scaling using math operators (+,-,/,*).

What you are referring to as "tagged" and "untagged" data elements are called "HMI Tags" and "Direct Reference tags" in FactoryTalk View.

Because FTView was designed around the tag-based ControlLogix platform, it can get confusing because FTView treats an SLC or PLC style data table element like a ControlLogix Tag.

When Tags are in the FTView Database, they are processed once by the database and then made available during development (in the Tag Browser) and during runtime. They can be scaled, and given descriptions, and made into Alarms.

When Tags (in your case, data table elements) are not used as addresses for a FTView Database tag, they are considered "direct reference tags". In ControlLogix, FTView can browse right to the offline *ACD file for the tags or it can browse them out of controller memory online. With PLC/SLC controllers, including MicroLogix, FTView can browse for them online in controller memory or you can type them in manually.

There is a mechanism for converting between HMI Tags and Direct Reference Tags but it's a little messy. For a small project that mixed both direct references and HMI tags, I would just manually change them in each Display using the Tag Substitution feature.

I would say numeric display fields would work for what I think you are describing. Stings would typically be used if alpha characters need to be displayed. For floating point or integers a numeric display field is what you want.

As far as the integer displaying with a decimal (41.0), this is most likely a function of the HMI. You have probably selected to display that field with one decimal place (xx.x). If you are using an integer tag in the PLC, there would be no need to display that register using a decimal point on the HMI.

As far as the tag question, if you are using direct PLC tags I would stick with that method. While there can be benefit from an HMI tag database, mainly tag names for information, it's my opinion that direct PLC tags are the easiest and most efficient for HMI / PLC communications.

Hope this helps...

Other advantages to using HMI tags aside from what's already been covered:

1) If you need to move a tag to a different PLC address, you can do it in one place (the HMI tag database), and not have to hunt for it throughout your project. If it's used in multiple places as a direct reference, you have to find all of them, which is not the simplest thing to do.

2) export/import. The HMI tags can be exported and imported for quick and easy editing with excel.

so to sum it up, keep with the numeric display i have added, and i can use direct reference tags to communicate between the micrologix and the HMI?

the part i mentioned about it been 410 in the plc and 41.0 would be were the expression comes into play by dividing my n7:10 by 10.

the rest of the project has HMI tags but i want to get it right and running with the correct direct addressing before i uniform the application to HMI tags.

A picture is worth...

lotsa words...

Also, on the General tab of the Numeric Display Properties, you'll want to choose the number of digits (count the decimal point as one of them) and the number of decimal places.

cheers paul, i have done abit with the "current user has code" with the expression editor, so would i put my formula as

{n7:0}/10

to display my 410 of interger N7:0 as 41.0 in my application

Rob

right i haver managed to get my screen up and running but we have found other problems which we need to rectify which wasn't in the aaplication when the machine came from the factory.

i have a group of 3 or 4 buttons on a page which are interlocked so that this one button has to be pressed last, but also if that button were to be pressed again then it would unlatch as it were the other 2/3 buttons on the screen.

now i would think this was done in the plc but no! i put the latest MER file in and this interlock works, put my application in and it isnt interlocked, can anyone shed any light please?

There are several ways that could have been done. We have an application with momentary buttons that each write a different value to the same Value Tag, and they all share the same Display tag. Each has different states (appearances) for the display values, so that when the value matches, the button lights up, and when it does not, it is greyed out.

You will need to provide more details about the buttons to help figure it out. Perhaps there is a macro call associated with the button and macros are configured differently, missing, or disabled somehow in your new app?

yes unfortunatly i crnt know if there is a macro in the current MER file as i dont have the APA, there wasnt this interlock when the machine came from the factory its what our old PLC engineer did and its the original APA file which i have so i have to start from year dot. lol.

what i have is the button which is interlocked is the conveyor start button which feeds the oven, the other buttons which need to be on for this to run are 2 conveyors which feed the interlocked conveyor and also the burners have to be lit which is on another button, and also looks to see if the purge cycle is complete which is displayed on the screen with a green LED

maybe a macro would be good, unfortunatly i havent wrote any before, is there enough info in the FT view studio ME manuals to create one?

First, describe how the buttons are configured, and better explain what you want them to do.

What tags to they write to?

Are they momentary, maintained, or other?

im not back at work till friday so i will have alook then