Masked Move with UDT

[JeremyM]

Thank you for your help!

I've been playing with these overlay UDTs to see if they would work for our application. We are currently using RSLogix5000 v20. It makes me a little nervous that if we ever need to add a status bit to the overlay UDT, we would have to reimport the UDT and check all the tracking in the program, as Status.5 (Part_Loaded) is now Status.6 (Part_Loaded). Of course, I guess the status bits don't have to necessarily be in chronological order, so I could just add them at the end.

Is there a better way to do this? I was thinking that when the part is loaded into its container, I could copy the Line 2 (container) Tracking to a buffer, and then copy Line 1 (part) Tracking to the Line 2 (now merged) tracking and then copy the individual bits of the Line 2 (container) Tracking over from the buffer to the merged tracking. All this to avoid having to reimport overlay UDTs, while reducing the number of individual tracking bits that I have to copy over at the merge.

Seems like there has to be a better way.

Thanks!

You can reference the bits of the overlay by name instead of the target DINT.0, DINT.1, etc.

If you ever have to update the overlay with new status bits, just export, add them in, change order if needed, and re-import. The existing *named* bit references in your project should be unaffected.

With the template, you can rename the bits to anything you want, the target to anything you want, so long as the bits' target attribute follows the target.

 

[kloc5]

If you're using the overlay you can find a few options handy:
- use the base SINT/INT/DINT overlay target
- COP the UDT to a DINT and EQU DINT 0

I didn't end up using the overlay. Since we are using v20, is it possible to export the Overlay from RSLogix, make changes in a text editor if needed, and reimport? Or can you only export Overlays in later versions of RSLogix. I'd rather not have to keep track of a separate text file for the Overlay if possible.

Are there any instructions to do this without using the UDT Overlay?

If not, I may just make the rung(s) with all the XIO bits at this point as we are out of time.

Thanks again!

 

[JeremyM]

Yes, you can absolutely export, edit, then re-import. Maintaining a separate file may not even be necessary; if the scope of the overlay doesn't creep into unrelated status territory, you can count on the most recent project's version being the thing you use everywhere.