PLC directed Screen Changes in C-more

Tharon

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I used to use Panelviews, and had a basic code using the Screen Request and Current Screen Displayed words. The Panelview would lock out user screen change controls if the Screen Request file had anything but 0 in it.

When we changed to using C-more, we did the same thing. Request a screen change, and when the current screen was equal to the requested screen, move 0 back into the screen request word so that the user could still change screens manually.

Recently, our newer C-mores have been unable to do this. We noticed that a couple of the newer C-mores we got didn't need us to upgrade the firmware when installing them, and that when we moved 0 into the screen change request file, the screen would change back to screen 1.

I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this change?
 
I haven't seen that, but this time of year we don't go through many of the C-Mores.... I'll check it out when we get our next order in later this week or early next.

Also, with the C-More you don't have to put a 0 in the "new screen" because the C-More just looks to see if that value has changed, I think you already know this, but it never hurts to mention :D
 
marksji said:
I haven't seen that, but this time of year we don't go through many of the C-Mores.... I'll check it out when we get our next order in later this week or early next.

Also, with the C-More you don't have to put a 0 in the "new screen" because the C-More just looks to see if that value has changed, I think you already know this, but it never hurts to mention :D

Actually, I didn't know it wasn't necessary :) We just did it for simplicities sake, since we had changed over from the Panelviews where we did have to. That way we just copy/paste the code from our original machines.

It's not a huge problem, just a minor quirk that popped up when we started using these new C-mores we had ordered with the programs that were written with the older ones.

I just thought it was wierd that moving 0 into the file made screen 1 pop up (Or maybe it moves what ever screen is the start up screen, I hadn't tried changing the start up screen to anything).


Edit:

Wait, if the C-more needs to see the value change, than I really do need to move 0 into the file in order to reset it so the next time I want to go to that same screen, it will see it change (ie. Move 4 to go to screen 4, then if I want to move 4 again, I'd have to have the value reset to 0 in order for the C-more to see the value change to 4 again).

That explains why when I first had the problem and removed the 0 move, when I tried to move 4 again, the screens never changed.
 
Last edited:
Yep, if you have a 4 there and the operator has changed screens then putting a 4 there again won't do anything... The way around that I've heard the AD guys mention is to load a non-existent screen number (like 0 or 999) so now that I think about it you may have just found a bug in the latest C-More firmware... or maybe you found an undocumented feature ;)
 
It's a feature that has been there since the C-more launched. A value of zero loaded into the PLC screen change location takes you back to the previous screen.

The way I do PLC initiated screen changes is like this:

'Give the screen time to change
STR C0
TMR T0 K10

'Set the PLC Change Screen to the Current Screen
STRNE V2000 V2001
AND T0
LD V2001
OUT V2000
RST C0

V2000 = PLC Screen Change
V2001 = C-more Current Screen
C0 = Contact that I set when I do a screen change

Start a timer, then when the PLC screen change is not equal to the current screen, make it the current screen.
 
The C-More help file seems hopelessly screwed up in documenting the Panel->PLC and PLC->Panel screens. I wonder if anyone there actually reads the help file and tries to coorelate it with the software. And it doesn't even document the '0' screen action reported by icky812.
 
bernie_carlton said:
I wonder if anyone there actually reads the help file and tries to coorelate it with the software.
Nope, I just use the software and use brute force when necessary.

I'm sure someone at AD or Koyo does... right?
 
We try very hard to get the required info in the help file. I'll send a message to the Cmore team and let them know about the zero function.

I see what you mean Bernie. I'll submit a change request for that as well.

Thanks for reporting this. It certainly helps us out!
 
Icky, I know ya'll do... usually I can figure things out with out looking at it; think of it as a compliment to good software design ;)

On that note; I think one of these has been reported by others, but...

When you simulate using the latest C-More software it resets your clock to 12am year 2000... that causes some interesting issues in other apps.

Also, it would be really nice to be able to set the numeric display and numeric entry to transparent instead of a solid background color.
 
The time resetting has been reported and it may be fixed in the newest version. I don't have the bug fix list yet. We released version 2.0 today which has quite a few fixes as well as updated tagname support for Allen Bradley PLC's.

Both the omission of the zero function and the swapped help file have been reported to our documentation team.
 
Wow... I just downloaded 1.31.7.27 today and installed it... I must have missed the 2.0 release by a few hours, time to go download the new version again :D
 
Well, if that zero function has always been like that I have to go back and look at about 10 of my existing C-mores and make sure there screen changes are working correctly now. Could have sworn it worked alright before, but now I have some doubts.

I've never really read the manuals or help files. Haven't needed to, the c-more programming software is very intuitive.
 
I thought I posted this last week, but it must have went in the bit bucket for some reason.

Using the "Zero" for taking you back to the previous screen was required for compatibility with the previous touch panel. We missed this in the initial release and a few updates after that.
So this did change, I believe with version 1.21 to take you back to the previous screen.

Icky's suggestion is the best way to handle the screen changes when using both the panel and PLC to control them.

Yes, the help files are not very helpful in some cases. See the help on the new A-B drivers and the New Recipe functions, I hope you can see the improvements. We are continuing to update these and make them more complete and accurate.
 

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