Crossbow

iQ Works Q & A

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Rather than continue to pound on the old GX Developer improvements thread, I thought it best to create a new thread specific to GX Works2. Post any questions or feedback here.
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GX Works2 1.09 K English for System Q and FX 04/2009 software only for Melsec Q and FX. Edited by KAZAH

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Maybe expand the thread to IQ works GX 2 is only a part of the complete package Navigator GX2 GT Works MT Dev 2 and more to come Edited by Gambit

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sounds good. if anyone has the GX2 and some time, it would be nice to see what the difference is or which items from GX improvement wish-list made it into new GX2. (anyone? ) regards

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I will try to make some screen shots of GX2 in the coming weeks and post them. If possible, I will tie some of them to the complaints from the past to show more closely what has improved. I don't have alot of free time, but I did just get my GX Works2 1.08. Last Friday, 1.09 was not officially released by Japan yet.

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latest version .

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That's a beta version. That's what the D04 means. The actual 1.09K is not launched yet. This is per my friends at MEAU...

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Our local sales rep and a sales engineer from Mitsubishi came to visit us recently about the latest developments on the IQ platform. I quizzed them about the release date for GX Works2 here in Japan. There response was very vague "...sometime this summer...". It has been a very long wait for the lovechild of GX Developer and IEC Developer to arrive so I really hope it is bug-free and useable. I have a few questions that I hope people with a demo version can answer (the guy I met from Mitsubishi didn't have the detailed knowledge). Q1 What is GX Works2 like when online with the PLC? Slow like IEC Developer or fast like GX Developer? Q2 Does GX Works2 have the SFC programming language from GX Developer or the horrid excuse for SFC from IEC Developer? - If it is the GX Developer version, does it keep the control/status bits for each SFC Block so that a block can be started/held/aborted from another SFC or ladder program? Q3 Is the compiled program a single file like in IEC Developer or does GX Works2 make use of the Q series' ability to have multiple program files? Q4 Are there any new features that weren't present in either GX Developer or IEC Developer?

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I am shocked they told you it was not released, as version 1.08 is released in North America and Europe, and Japan is usually way ahead of us. We have to wait for them to launch and convert to English typically. I can add points on 2 of your questions. Have not had time to dig in further, so not familiar with the IEC style stuff yet. Q1 - Updates are very quick. I personally have not used GX IEC so can't say for sure, but I see no speed difference between this and GX Q4 - you can finally change the text size in the ladder windows, System monitor is much cleaner looking, printouts are much easier to read (though at the version I have cross reference and used devices cannot be printed, the ladder is excellent), and there is a bit better information in the Help menu. I've only been looking at it for a few days, been too busy to do much real testing.

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Q2 SFC is like the SFC from GX Developer Q3 You can use the multiple programs from the Q series. Basically you can make program files which contains tasks which contain the pou's. The program files can then be slected in the parameters like GX Developer. Edited by Gambit

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Q5 - is online help any better? Q6 - is it possible to break FX plc code in different files or program sections (like on bigger plcs) or it's still one program file? Q7 - is window management any better? Is it possible to use list of used, device batch monitor, comments window etc. - at the same time (without having to close some of the mentioned windows)? Are windows names something usable or still "Device Batch Monitor#1", "Device Batch Monitor#2", "Device Batch Monitor#3" etc.? Q8 - is the project single file or pile of files, folders and sub-folders? Q9 - is it possible to assign value in FX to a group of bits using Device Test? (target K2M100, value h7F for example) Q10 - is it possible to define own hotkeys instead of defined sets (GPP and MEDOC)? Q11 - is it possible to do crossref. on high speed timers (FX3U, timers T200 and higher...)? Q12 - is it possible to do program compare - between two offline projects? Q13 - is it possible to save or paste compare results into notepad or excel? Q14 - is it possible to copy and paste pieces of code as text (to and from notepad of excel) - even if it means switching to IL view?

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I only use structured mode. p.s. All asnwers are about structured project mode they may or may not be available in simple project mode. (ladder programming as in GX Dev is also possible in structured project mode) ScreenHunter_01_May._20_08.35.bmp ScreenHunter_02_May._20_08.41.bmp Edited by Gambit

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Just insalled the 1.09 versions looks very good they made some great improvements looks more like outlook. You can also drag your POU's into your tasks ScreenHunter_03_May._20_11.38.bmp Edited by Gambit

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Hi Gambit, Can you please use compressed format for attachmens? they should be 50-100k instead of 1-3MB. Btw. thanks for comments, I have some more Q6 - so if you don't have offline project files and have to upload, the code will be in one file? Q7 - i can open multiple device batch montitors right now in GX Dev too. my point was that some of the windows must be closed before opening another. for example you have device test window open, you type in address, specifiy format, enter value and just before you hit Set button, you realize that it would be handy to see how something else changes. you cannot open new device batch without closing device test window (Arghhh), then opening it again and entering everything one more time. i see that on recent version device test at least retains history of operated devices (wasn't doing this before). they should get rid of all modal calls to any window - this is what windows is all about. the only thing that should be modal is popup message. Q8 - i don't like it. should be one file. i still get emails from customers who only attach part of the project. i am tired of educating people how to use zip for example. imagine how many calls microsoft would get if they had documents like excel, word, power point etc. as collection of files. Q9 - this works on higher PLCs but recently i tried to use this on FX and I was surprised that it would not let me do it. Q10 - good (custom hotkeys). is there import and export too? Q11 - actually just checked this one on GX Dev and cross ref. works (when checked individually) but they are not showing up in list of used devices or in device comments etc. Q12 - can i compare my project with one I get from customer? Q13, Q14 - looks like they still don't use windows clipboard.

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We've been using GX-Works2 in simple mode and it's a hit with everyone here. The navigation and intelligent card setup have significantly changed for the better. This software package is a giant step in the right direction and we're gearing up to start selling and supporting this new version.

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It was possible in Gx Developer and it is possible in Gx Works too. But in Gx Works compare operation is smarter.

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The verify is greatly improved, both in the latest GX and the GX2. Before, it marked everything from the first difference as no match. Now it is smart enough to sync up again and only mark the items that were different as actually not matching. There are plans from what I am told to add a command to the project menu to archive a project, and that will create a single file. Stay tuned on that...

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GX Works2 (Simple Mode) At the time of writing this - I am not sure of which version I have (i'm not at work right now) but my first impressions are not so favourable. I find the ladder editing and navigation to be a big let down - below are a few of the frustrations I have with this post 2008 product... single undo level in edit mode is simply not good enough still no ladder normilisation (i.e. circuit is electrically sound but will not store!) still a restrictive number of comment characters still no navigation history to take you back to previous locations when navigating the ladder (a major pain IMO - you would change your internet browser immediately if it had no BACK button!) menu items still active when they shouldn't be scrolling in ladder moves cursor (god knows why) no indication in ladder of an items forced state while the cross ref window is a step in the right directions, I wish it was instant & dynamic (i.e. click a contact, coil or function with memory area - instant x-ref below) while not immediately obvious why - I would love to see copy & paste between the ladder editor and Excel. e.g. when writing ladder for multiple stations where only addressing changes - being able to copy and paste between excel (to use its fill functions and cell references etc) greatly simplifies & speeds up development! (I will explain why if in detail if you wish or just try it yourself in CX Programmer) Others - I forget right now NOTE: This is by no means an exhaustive review (I do intend on doing this & feeding back to mitsubishi soon). Please feel free to correct me if any of the above frustrations have already been addressed in newer versions. Regards, Steve. I will update this post with version details ASAP Edited by sd00

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There are a couple here I can comment on. The undo option is a huge miss, and they have heard many complaints that this feature was not fixed. Pasting ladder to Excel? What vendor can do this? None I know of. Comment length is a PLC function. You can download the comments to some of the PLCs. The software has nothing to do with this. It's the same limitation that GX Developer had. I am completely confused by what you're calling 'ladder normalisation'. Did you try right clinking on an address for your cross reference? Scrolling is supposed to move the cursor, it's the whole point of scrolling the program. Lastly, who offers a navigation history? I know there is no previous/next buttons on find, but it can be accomplished with the Find Device tool simply by changing the direction. It offers 3 choices, top to bottom, cursor to bottom, and cursor to top. Use cursor to top to move back to the previous one. This worked in GX Developer too.

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not all functional blocks of the old work.see analog blocks for System Q

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CX Programmer has approximately 10 levels of history. Again, I feel strongly about this - having had this facility since LSS (1980s) I miss it A LOT. I thought my liking to Internet Explorer without a back button should have provoked enough emotion to elicit a few "yeahs". I (and approximately 100 technicians I work with on approximately 50 CX-Programmer installations - all live and on-line 24/7 used daily for monitoring, modifing and debuging live production lines) can say with out any shadow of a doubt that this function speeds up ladder debugging & fault finding by aproximately a factor of 10 - I have seen it first hand & done it myself. And to be honest - what effort is it (for the mitsi programmers) to add a navigation stack - very little! (relatively speaking) Finally, 'Crossbow', please understand, I wish to better this product - while my frustrations may not sound like much to you, they annoy me greatly (having used products that do offer these nice touches). Edited by sd00

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I was not in any way implying that the problems you have faced are not important. I know from friends that the Mitsubishi guys in the US will read some of these. But they don't write or design the software, it's all done in Japan or Europe. I would expect that feedback to the development cycle is always appreciated, and I hope this feedback is being seen by the right people.

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In GX Works 2 is it possible to pass a function block to another function block via a variable input? IEC Developer allows you to select a function block as the data type for a VAR IN/OUT in the header of a function block. But then it tells you that it is impossible when you check or build the function block. If we could pass function blocks to other function blocks, it would make life soooo easy.

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I started programming Mitsu PLC's after changing over from AB's around 5 years ago. I tried using both GX Developer and IEC Developer to figure out which platform I'd settle with and quickly realised for me personally GX Developer was (and still is) archaic and sucked compared to IEC and so for around 4 years now i've been with IEC. Congrat's to Mitsubishi for their GXWorks efforts thus far as i believe you get the best of both worlds (GX Dev & IEC Dev) and I like the path it's heading. From my experiences most of the world (outside of America) are using IEC languages and for me IEC programming software make it a lot easier to swap between brands of PLC when the base instruction set does not change. One of the primary reasons I went for IEC was the way it handled tags. Which brings me to a problem i have encountered. I'm doing some testing using GXWorks 2. It's an older version (1.05F) and i've struck an issue when converting over my IEC projects. On compiling it seems to complain about the length of my tags, though the documentation states pretty clearly the limit is 32. Can anyone confirm if this fixed in a newer version? I get the following pop up - I also have an issue with GXWorks 2 not remembering the last state I left the Project window in when i shut down the project. In IEC if I have a project expanded and shut down the project, the next time I open it the project tree structure is exactly how i left it. In GXWorks if I expand the project tree and then shut down the project then open it again I have to go and expand all the parts of the tree again. In IEC you could right click on any part of the project and expand or collapse that part of the project. A small thing but it annoys me! I'd be interested if to know if one of you guys have come across it.. Also i'm not sure but i think Beijer wrote the IEC Developer software for Mitsubishi (although I stand to be corrected on this), who's doing it this time around? Cheers - Pocko

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new revision Edited by KAZAH
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