PS Edit ... in most versions of RSLogix5000 there is a "Finalize" button which will automatically do ALL of the steps I've listed above ... the potential problem is that there isn't an "oops!" key in case the rung edits that you're doing don't work out to suit you ...
The official word from RA, is that the "Finalise Edits" button should be reserved for online edits which you are 100% certain have no impact on safety, especially of injury to personnel, or damage to machinery or process.
Could be a little more serious than an "oops!" !
The ACCEPT/TEST/ASSEMBLE sequence has been around for years, and was in the old DOS-based 6200 series software, driven by function keys F1, F2, & F3.
If I remember correctly it was:-
F3 - Accept Edits
F2 - Test Edits
F1 - YES
F2 - Assemble Edits
F1 - YES
I wish I had a pound (or a dollar) for everytime i've typed that sequence F3,F2,F1,F2,F1, and most times just rattled it off very rapidly.
But with the change to windows-based RSLogix, the GUI steps in, and makes you point and shoot a mouse-click at what you want to do. So the sequnce becomes:-
point at
Accept Edits - click
point at the ensuing
YES option dialog - click (a new step)
point at
Test Edits = click
point at the ensuing
YES option dialog - click
point at
Assemble Edits = click
point at the ensuing
YES option dialog - click
I heard that RA were inundated with requests from "seasoned" programmers for a quicker way, (and presumably one that was less likely to bring on RSI), and hence the "Finalise" button was introduced (I don't remember what version it was).
When you
Accept Edits, a new copy of the edited rung is put into the program, but it will not be executed, the original rung will be.
Test Edits tells the processor to execute any new rungs instaed of the original rungs.
Don't forget that after the
Test Edits operation you can always use
Untest Edits. This will put the code back to what it was originally, you then have the option to re-edit the code, or to
Cancel Edits.
Be wary of having more than 1 person editing in the same
Program in a ControlLogix processor. Using Test, Untest, Cancel, Assemble operations will affect all rungs within the same Program.
You can obtain exclusive editing rights by using the
Lock Controller function, no-one else will be able to perform online edits while you have it locked
