Datman

awesome tried that and ive got it working well! one question though... i want to create an item like this: OPCItemIDs(1) = "[bOARD_GRADER]N7:0,L10,C10" i can then perform a syncread and read the 10 valeus into an array fine. however vb just crashes when i try and write to this item. it only like writing to singular items. is there a way to write to something like the above?

out of interest you dont know of any free OPC client tools for vb6 do you?

ahh that makes a lot of sense. not a lot of help to the application but a lot of sense. I was always against using DDE, but because it was effectively free its what management wanted... OPC was what i was hoping to use, interesting that the same issues occur though. Anyway ive done all i can do, hopefully the application runs a lot better as it is not doing as much work as my destructive testing was. thanks heaps for the info and help

tried the above. DDEPoke does not work with vb6, although i understand it works with VBA in excel. VB6 needs an actual object to do DDE pokes, hence why i have to use a text box. I made a slight change to my code, and I've been running for 4 hours without error as yet. a good sign. Note that the after the while loop was added i was still getting errors. adding the line as shown seems to have fixed the problem. it doesnt make much sense to me... FrmMain.DDETest.Text = data FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode = 0 '[ADDED THIS LINE] 'double check no channel is open FrmMain.DDETest.LinkTopic = "RSLinx|BOARD_GRADER" 'Define DDE application and Topic FrmMain.DDETest.LinkItem = address 'Define DDE link item FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode = 2 'Open DDE link (manual) FrmMain.DDETest.LinkPoke 'Write data to RSLinx While FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode <> 0 FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode = 0 Wend Exit Function

although its a test app on my bench i cant really post because the app im testing is the actual source code for the machine itself how many conversations can i have open with rslinx? Let me explain fully, i am using two different methods of doing DDE within my vb code. upon starting the application i create a topic called RSIchan. this topic is used though the code to perform reads, using the DDERequest (RSIchan, address) command. However with VB6 a write needs to be done from an object. Therefore whenever i need to write, i enter the data into a text box, and perform the following code: Public sub DDEWrite(address as string, data as integer) FrmMain.DDETest.Text = data FrmMain.DDETest.LinkTopic = "RSLinx|BOARD_GRADER" 'Define DDE application and Topic FrmMain.DDETest.LinkItem = address 'Define DDE link item FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode = 2 'Open DDE link (manual) FrmMain.DDETest.LinkPoke 'Write data to RSLinx FrmMain.DDETest.LinkMode = 0 'Close DDE link Exit Function its just now and then that i get an error when trying to write, message que filled, or "no forgein application responded to a DDEInitiate" when trying to perform the line DDETest.linkmode = 2. Once this error occurs i am stuck. My error handler disconnects all DDE conversations, but when looking at the server diagnostics on RSLinx it appears as though there are still conversations active. So my code is stuck because linkmode = 2 just generates an error every time, unless i restart rslinx. It is interesting however that my rsichan will create a link ok and perform reads ok. Its just this write that is giving me grief

ok thanks ill try that. its really bugging me that rslinx will not let me connect again. sometimes i also get an error back after trying to write.. "message que filled". I guess this means RSLinx is struggling and i cant put any more data across. to be fair, my test code is very hard on the DDE, im performing a DDEwrite every loop (~300ms) in order to 'destructive test' this thing. the real application only does a write once every 0.5s at most, more like 1 every second under normal conditions.

This has probably been asked 1000 times and i think ive found the answer on here but i want to confirm for sure... can the network settings on the micrologix 1100 be changed any way other than BootP or manually programming with RSLogix? ie through embedded web server? I need to changed the default gateway address, and the Bootp is disabled on the controller

Hi Guys quick question, We have a client using a Micrologix 1100, it is connected to a PC via ethernet, with the PC running RSLinx single node. This is done primarily for a DDE interface with a VB application. We use VNC to access this computer remotely. Question is thus, I know if i had RSLogix500 on the clients computer we would be able to do updates to the PLC... BUT we do not. Am I able to somehow access the PLC with RSLogix500 on my computer given that the client computer has RSLinx and we can remotely connect to this computer... many thanks

I just log in via an smtp address in internet explorer, gives me remote access to their server. I guess im not actually connecting my PC to their network in any way..

I still dont have this working :( Im completely baffled. I dont quite understand how the network setup needs to be configured. I have a PC with RSLogix500. They have a network, with server which i can access using remote desktop. Their PLC is connected to this network. DO I simply connect to their network and then my PC will be automatically able to ping the PLC? Sorry, im just new to this and i cant find any info from AB on this type of setup

Ok ill try that thanks mate. The only problem i have is our network setup, if i change my subnet to the same as theirs then i loose my internet connection, but i should be able to get something sorted there fairly easily. thanks heaps for the help

ok no joy im in need of basic step by step instructions of how to get my rslogix500 to see the remote PLC.. It turns out that the access setup is thus: I connect to their server using smtp address in windows explorer ( effectively remote desktop???). I then use VNC to access the computer that is connected to the PLC from THEIR server. Both the PLC and remote PC are on the main network however. anyone got any links of something similar? everything ive found so far is just that much different that i cant quite get my head around it. I know sweet f.a. about networking in this fashion.

well what makes is easier is that the PLC is on the same subnet as their main network so i shouldnt have any problems trying to bridge to it. i may try as finfin suggests and set my IP address to the same subnet and give it a go. from the information im seeing it looks very possible

the connection is over a phone line, the computer we want to access is a few hours drive away hence the desire to try and do it remotely with the existing setup

hi guys im wanting to wire in some comms to my micrologix 1100. Just wondering if there is a pinout available for the 8 pin DIN setup, Im sick of sifting through the rockwell site i cant find it! Also what style plug will fit the socket on the PLC... I bought an 8 pin mini-DIN plug, the pin locations are correct but case style wont interlock with the socket... and i dont want to buy an AB cable, or do i have to??

Is there an easy way evalutate how many input bits are true in a word, or how many binary bits are true? I have 16 photo cells, represented by 16 Binary bits for example. B10:0/0 through B10:0/15. I simply want to know how many in the word are 'on' ( 1 ) at any given time. And I would like to do it without having to look at the value of the word ( B10:0 ) and do operations on this to work out which are on/off and therefore how many. Is there a quick and simple way to do it?

I decided to do this too, does make the program readable as everyone says. It certainly looks like it will run fast enough which was my main concern. So I agree with you Alaric, I think ill leave it as is, and be happy in the knowledge that its pretty foolproof!

thanks guys, awesome feedback :) Im using the dirty method of 48 rungs and check each bit and adding one to a value which holds the number of bits that are true at the moment. I will probably tidy it up and change to one of the methods described above once i proove that my application is feasible

thanks for the thoughts guys. At the moment im doing it like rpraveenkum suggested. Its just ugly tho because i have 48 inputs on 3 input modules i need to check. Im using ML1100 by the way.

Hi guys sorry if this has been asked a million times before, i did a search but found nothing... I need to be able to adjust the preset value of 3 different timers in my ML1100. Thus i need 3 screens on the LCD... How do i do this? I can bring one screen up under the user display to adjust one timer, but i dont know how to bring up other screens? Do I have to write some ladder logic and use one of the keys to set a bit which will determine which screen is being displayed?

Hi Guys. I have RSLinx Single Node running on a PC that has 4 available LAN ports. These are configurable as seperate networks. What we are wanting to do is talk to the PLC using DDE on one network, and talk to our own electronics on the other network. This is to be done as two seperate and distinct networks. WHat I need to know is how do i, or is it possible ( or necessary ) to configure RSLinx to only look at the one network connection... We do not want RSLinx trying to ping our other connection as it will cause comms problems for our electronics. The PC we are using is an advantech ARK 3382. I have not investigated setting up the networks on the PC much as yet. Any help would be much appreciated

ah my bad i see how it works now. Thanks very much

bollocks I am guessing I should have read this thread before doing what I just did.... We bought a single node copy of RSLinx. Not using rockwell products very often was left very confused about the new activation procedure... The basis being that we may want to move our activation to a new PC in the future. I phone our local rockwell support centre and the man assured me that even though we had the node locked version, it was possible to move the activation to another computer.... I am assuming this is not true from what I read on here? This could be a bit of a cock up because we will be needing to change the PC at christmas time...

Hi guys, another easy one for you, i really am struggling with the easy stuff! I have an integer file which is storing information about parts that are moving along a conveyor system. eg: 1 2 3 Length Width Grade N7:0 300 50 A ... N7:10 250 45 B ... N7:20 150 40 A ... When a condition is true i simply want to increment the position of each part information, so it becomes: 1 2 3 Length Width Grade N7:0 0 0 0 ... N7:10 300 50 A ... N7:20 250 45 B ... N7:30 150 40 A ... And this will happen several times. What i want to know is the easiest way to do this, I have tried using a file copy to a temporary file, then copying back into the current file in the desired postion. It works but i figure there must be an easier way, something similar to a bit shift? Hope this makes some sort of sense... Thanks guys (sorry the format is a little screwed up, spaces didnt work)

excellent, thanks very much!!! I was having trouble working it out until you posted that sample code. All clear now, much appreciated!!!