Created Date: July 28,2016

Created by: OkiePC

I first submitted this to techbox@automationdirect.com February 28 and never received any response. So now I am sticking it out here in public for others to chime in on. some of these points have been remedied but most have not:

I am relatively new to this software and have a few suggestions I would like to pass along.

First, I am generally pleased with the performance and usefulness of the software but there are a few things that I think can be improved. Some of these suggestions are simple and perhaps easy ones. Some of them may seem like nit-picking, but the little things can make a big difference to the end user in actual practice. I hope that my comments are well received.

On top child windows: The help file, Tag Database and Data View windows are always “on top”. It would be nice to be able to change this so that one can click between the main window and bring it “on top” and then click back on the Data View or the Tag Database to bring it back on top. I find myself frequently closing and opening windows or sliding them nearly off the screen and them moving them back into view, especially when working on a laptop with limited screen real estate. Some software packages offer the “On Top” as a tickbox when you click the upper left corner of the data view. Having “On Top” as an option would retain existing functionality for users who may like it the way that it is.

Tag Database multiple windows: It would also be useful to be able to open up more than one instance of the Tag Database window. Each should have its own view and sort settings. This suggestion would probably be more complicated to implement than what I imagine, and there may need to be a limit to how many windows you could open at once.

Tag Database “System ID”. I often export and import tag databases. It is obviously much easier to create and modify tags using the autofill features in MS Excel. If I create new tags, I need to give them a unique “System ID”. This is not a big problem unless I am not sure what system IDs are in use that may not be present in the actual PLC file. Often, the csv file I am working with is stripped down to the tags that are pertinent to my particular task. For example, I have three pump stations each with a dozen or so tags. I create one of them in the ladder editor, export the database, and then work with Excel to make the other two with slightly altered tag names and comments. What I have done up to now is pick system ID numbers that are of a value I know are not used. I may start a new group at a value of “1000” and another at “2000”, just to guard against overlap. It might be useful to provide a method to clean this up in the editor and reassign system ID numbers (in an offline file) to remove the gaps. I don’t know if this really matters, but I have ended up with a bit of a mess of system IDs after working with exported files a few times and adding tags inside the editor too.

Edit values from ladder views while online: It would be nice to be able to toggle bits without having to use a Data View window. I should be able to right click on an instruction and “Toggle Bit”. (Yes, I come from the RSLogix world.) It would also be nice to be able to write a value to a tag simply by clicking on it within the ladder editor and overwriting it with the desired value. This would be very useful for tweaking timer presets for example and a large number of other tasks.

Data View: I would like to be able to edit things besides values like address comments and Modbus addresses from within the Data View window. I would also like to be able to disable scientific notation. The Data View window is very slick and I really like the tabs and chart features it contains. It needs very few polishing touches. I would also like to be able to open up multiple data view windows. Maybe I just want a little window to watch three or four tags while I move around in the ladder view. If I could do this without having to change columns and resize the sole data view window which I may (at other times) want to show all sorts of other details, it would be very good. I would also like to be able to monitor a bit of a word tag.

Address comments: I really need to be able to put comments at the bit of word and array element level. I frequently map real world I/O discrete elements into bits of a word which is transmitted to a remote device (HMI, SCADA or another PLC). As it stands right now, I have to use instruction comments and repeat them wherever the address is referenced. I believe that the array element level comments are now supported. Actually, I just figured out how to comment the bit of a word (right click on the element in the tag database).

Formatting: I would like to be able to have left justified rung comments and keep center justified tag names and tag comments. I would also like to be able to format the background color of comments individually. For example, I like a light yellow highlight to my rung comments, and light blue behind tag comments. I do like the fact that I can choose unique fonts and sizes for different text object types so this is how I am “highlighting” rung comments at this time. Along these lines, I would like to see a means to save the “Options” to a file. Since I put this wonderful free software on multiple machines including my customers’ PCs, I find myself making the changes to the Options for Ladder, Data and File transfer to all of them manually. If I could load and save my preferences, that’d be handy.

Remote Access: I’d like to be able to choose to have new tags created with this bit set. Example: I just started a new application which will include array tags HMI_Int and HMI_Real. They are accessed via Modbus by SCADA or HMI and each has 100 elements. So in order to allow access to them, I have to expand the tags to the element level and click two hundred checkboxes. It would also be nice to be able to select multiple tags in the tag database and “click” any of their checkbox fields which would apply to all of them at once.

Bit numbers are 0 through 15 for a sixteen bit word. Anyone who numbers them 1 through 16 is simply wrong. Same is true for array elements. They start at zero. To say that element zero is invalid is incorrect. To start them at one by default is simply incorrect. Fixing this at this late stage is probably not possible without breaking all the existing programs in the world.

Insert key. There are numerous places the “Insert” key needs to be utilized. On a ladder view, pressing the insert key should insert a new blank rung instantly. Inside a MRW or MRW or CPD instruction or any instruction with a list of parameters, the insert key (or right click menu) should provide a way to insert a list item above the one presently selected.

When making edits, online and in monitor mode, it would be helpful if the status of values and NO and NC instructions was visible before performing a transfer to PLC. Sometimes it is important to know if a rung is true or false before you commit it to runtime mode.

Forceable. It would be useful to have a setting so that one could choose to have the Forceable flag set by default when creating a new tag, especially for real world I/O. I almost always want them to be forceable at least during the development phase of a project.

Wheel mouse scrolls too far. I know that can be adjusted in windows, but then other applications would be affected. I’d like a setting in the software to adjust this or to simply have it fixed at a lower scroll rate. It seems to jump too many rungs in the ladder view. In the database editor, it is not too bad.

That’s all I got for now.

Created Date: July 28,2016

Created by: ADC_CommTeam02

Thanks for all the great feedback. To address a couple of your items:

#6 This is already available in 2.2 & higher versions of the software. This is not on by default. This is to keep the TagDB more flexible. You can right click on any non Boolean tag, strings, and floast (including arrays), and select 'Enable bit of word details ". this will then expose the bit level for each word and allow you to add comments.

#8 You can set for example your remote access option by selecting multiple tags (see graphic), and then right click to "set selected ... " for which ever column you have chosen and it will set for each tag.

We will look into all of your other suggestions. We appreciate all your comments and suggestions. Please keep them coming!

Created Date: July 29,2016

Created by: ADC_CommTeam01

azathoth,

You can create a string array(with 50 elements for instance) and use a CPD instruction to copy into the first element of the array, then use the CPA instruction to copy element 1-49 to starting element 2 of the same array. This will shift all the data down 1 element. You are correct that the Shift Rotate Array does not allow strings.