InTouch - Analog quality management

[dalporto]

Hi.
I'm wondering which road to go.


Let say I have a bunch of analog values I need to display. Let's call them RTD1, RTD2, etc. for the example.


It's an InTouch 2023 standalone application, talking to LXX Rockwell PLCs through ABCIP / SuiteLink.


In the PLC I'll have 3 tags for each value, RTD1 is a REAL with the actual value, RTD1_F when the loop has fail (and will drive the alarm (RTD 1 signal fail), and RTD1_QUAL that will drive an animation that will show to the operator that the value is bad when not "1". The nomenclature will be standard Tag, Tag_F and Tag_QUAL.



In InTouch there is also the .dotfield. RTD1.Quality is "1" when the path to the DAS is good, but doesn't seem to monitor that the comm between the PLC and the DAS is good, and I could be wrong on that.


So, I have a bunch of monitoring that I created to monitor all possible issues with the comm: watchdog / heartbeat, $SYS$STATUS and IOSTATUS/view.


So I want to combine all of these tools to provide a status for each analog I'm reading, like a blinking line in the middle of the value.


I'm wondering if there is a way that I can create an "analog box" (in Citect it is a Genie) where I just place it on the screen and assign it a tag (like RTD1) and I can hardcode a script that would get the .Quality, _QUAL and else. Or will it be busy work and change every tags for every values?


Also, I found the .Quality dotfield using Google to finally end up here, I'm having a hard time finding all dotfields and system tags that exist. Anybody have a list of the most useful dotfield / system tags I should know that exist?


What are you using to show a bad quality on an analog or on a binary status? I'm using strike-through for an analog and a red "F" for let say a breaker status. Ethernet IP/SuiteLink is not DNP3 where the quality is built right in the tag, so I'm a little lost at sea here.


Thanks.

 

[robertmee]

Hi.
I'm wondering which road to go.


Let say I have a bunch of analog values I need to display. Let's call them RTD1, RTD2, etc. for the example.


It's an InTouch 2023 standalone application, talking to LXX Rockwell PLCs through ABCIP / SuiteLink.


In the PLC I'll have 3 tags for each value, RTD1 is a REAL with the actual value, RTD1_F when the loop has fail (and will drive the alarm (RTD 1 signal fail), and RTD1_QUAL that will drive an animation that will show to the operator that the value is bad when not "1". The nomenclature will be standard Tag, Tag_F and Tag_QUAL.



In InTouch there is also the .dotfield. RTD1.Quality is "1" when the path to the DAS is good, but doesn't seem to monitor that the comm between the PLC and the DAS is good, and I could be wrong on that.


So, I have a bunch of monitoring that I created to monitor all possible issues with the comm: watchdog / heartbeat, $SYS$STATUS and IOSTATUS/view.


So I want to combine all of these tools to provide a status for each analog I'm reading, like a blinking line in the middle of the value.


I'm wondering if there is a way that I can create an "analog box" (in Citect it is a Genie) where I just place it on the screen and assign it a tag (like RTD1) and I can hardcode a script that would get the .Quality, _QUAL and else. Or will it be busy work and change every tags for every values?


Also, I found the .Quality dotfield using Google to finally end up here, I'm having a hard time finding all dotfields and system tags that exist. Anybody have a list of the most useful dotfield / system tags I should know that exist?


What are you using to show a bad quality on an analog or on a binary status? I'm using strike-through for an analog and a red "F" for let say a breaker status. Ethernet IP/SuiteLink is not DNP3 where the quality is built right in the tag, so I'm a little lost at sea here.


Thanks.

The equivalent would be an archestra object where you create your own symbols as you described. Me, personally, I don't use them...I'll just create a standard animation widget, duplicate it, select it and use the CTRL-E shortcut which gives me a search and replace. Just Find RTD1 and replace with RTD2.

I honestly avoid Wonderware as much as I can. With all the ownership changes with Schneider and now Aveva, the product evolution has sucked. It's basically the same it was 15 years ago with more bloat wrapped around it. It's buggier than ever. Ignition is far superior.

 

[dalporto]

Not our call to use that neither, I'm stuck on this project with Rockwell PLC and an InTouch screen which I now hate both. Cherry on the sundae, the communicate with their remote control center (I'm talking many hundred of km)in Modbus, using an outdated Fanuc as a Gateway. We'll probably switch everything to Modbus at some point and get rid of the Ethernet IP comm since I already need to have everything in Modbus for the control center. I was like, pick one, not all of them.


Anyway, I never worked with Widgets. Not sure where to start.

 

[robertmee]

Not our call to use that neither, I'm stuck on this project with Rockwell PLC and an InTouch screen which I now hate both. Cherry on the sundae, the communicate with their remote control center (I'm talking many hundred of km)in Modbus, using an outdated Fanuc as a Gateway. We'll probably switch everything to Modbus at some point and get rid of the Ethernet IP comm since I already need to have everything in Modbus for the control center. I was like, pick one, not all of them.


Anyway, I never worked with Widgets. Not sure where to start.

If it's a one off, just create your animations, group them together as a cell, and copy/paste as needed. Then to change the tags behind the animation, select it, use shortcut CTRL-E, and change the tags as needed, wither individually or with find/replace.

 

[dalporto]

If it's a one off, just create your animations, group them together as a cell, and copy/paste as needed. Then to change the tags behind the animation, select it, use shortcut CTRL-E, and change the tags as needed, wither individually or with find/replace.

Yeah, I think that's the way to go.


Thanks.

 

[dalporto]

Any idea of the .dotfield that could change the number of digits after the dot?

 

[robertmee]

Any idea of the .dotfield that could change the number of digits after the dot?

You mean the number format? Like 0.00 or 0.0?

I don't think there is a dot field for that. When creating your animation, use ###.# format to set the significant digits.

### = whole
##.# = tenths
##.## = hundredths

and so on.

 

[dalporto]

I found something that could do the trick.


StringFromReal(TEST_01,2,"f") + " " + TEST_01.EngUnits


The ",2" looks like the precision (number format) so far. It looks funnier to do than to change the # each time. Maybe not.



I may separate the EngUnits part because I'm pretty sure that the alignment will get messy with different units and precision one below the other.



I'm trying to think of a downside to use a string instead of an analog but I can't find any right now. My guts tell me don't do that, you'll regret it but I'm still not sure why. Something from the past I guess.


Thanks Robert.

 

[dalporto]

Just to be sure.


Let say I'm reading a value in InTouch from ABCIP / SuiteLink.


If I either kill the PLC or disable IO.ABCIP, I'll still see the last "recorded" value, right?


There won't be any indication that the quality has gone bad?


Am I right or am I missing something?


Thanks.