Sleepy Wombat

CX-Programmer improvement requests

166 posts in this topic

Thought that this might be a good place to start for cx-programmer improvement requests... Perhaps...Omron might even take note of some useful ones and included them in future releases....( ) 1. Option to disable type checking in compile options 2. Ability to copy / export into EXCEL a cross reference report so that I can have the ability to print and format the report how i want to.... 3. I don;t mind the option to print in ladder view (ie WISYWIG) however it would have been nice in instruction weren't cut in half. 4. The ability to edit a symbol via the SYMBOL BAR at the bottom of a ladder logic page. Symbol Bar is enabled through Tools-> Options 5. The ability to show when offline the value of a Data Memory referenced in an instruction in its last state while in ladder view. This could be an option when going offline from the PLC to save a Data memory snap shot to be included with the program. (I know AB does it). Well thats a start, I hope that this thread can be a useful reference for Omron development if possible. Opps just thought of another... I use simple dialog mode with associated comment dialog enabled also, I would like the comment dialog box to be larger (or sizeable to my liking - and then remembered in this state) so i can see more of the comment and making editting easier. Another one - oh well... I think that the new switchbox utility is cool, especially for debugging a program. One minor improvemnt is that when you add channels to monitor a simple SCROLL bar or some form of indicator should show you that you have assigned more then 2 channels to monitor. Edited by Sleepy Wombat
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... Another idea (this is an old pet hate of mine)... The 'project workspace' or project tree should retain the last state it was left in. ie if you expand / contract parts of the tree, it should be as you left them when you re-open the project. Nibroc
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Hey, You guys want jam on that...? Thread's been sent to those who can do it for you. Regards anonymous

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anonymous, Can you do it for CX-Designer improvements thread too? it would be great to have a communication with guys that build software. regards.

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Wow, i thought that there might have been a few more comments .... especially from Bobb, who definitely likes getting on a soap box now and then.....

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the print format positively stinks, SYSWIN in my opinion had a far superior layout. I personally dislike the fact that I cannot change the font for symbols name, and it remains the ugly Arial. Oh, and a really OT question: shall we have a chance to see a C compiler for CJ/CS? I do understand this will clash with the IEC standardization that Omron is correctly following, but it would be a terrific boost for an already excellent package

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You're right sleepy.... this only proves how good it actually is in my opinion. This is all I can think of... A confirmation box "are you sure.." when moving a section up and down. This sound stupid, but once I probably accidentally moved a section by dragging it with the mouse. I didn't notice it myself untill I wanted to do some online changes. I thought I went mad because I was the only one working on the system and did some changes the day before. Only after opening section by section in both the upload and the project filIe I noticed... And I still would like the symbol name drop down combo box thing to work like before V5 I think... so you could pull down a list of names that had the same first characters, instead of now when you edit a copied rung and the symbol names are like input1, output1 and need to be changed to inout2, output2 you have to remove the last "unique" characters before anything that resembles shows up in the list. Confirmation when adding a local symbol. Sometimes you type a wrong name in a hurry and ram the enter key before you notice, and the symbol is added as local variable. Although you notice because the name is in red you still have to go to the local symbol list and remove it.

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Another idea 1) An option to edit the data type (INT,DINT.REAL) for un named symbols. Only bool and channel are available now 2) An option to add exist function block to the ladder diagram in online edit. 3) An option to edit symbol name in online edit. 4) An option to disable the write confirmation dialog for replace all. (CTRL+H,CTRL+R)

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Give it time. The old pfart has been rebuilding his computer TWICE thanks to the great co-operation Microsoft and Symentec products have between them. ARGGHHH!!!!

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I'm waiting for the year 2016 when version 15 of CX-Programmer is released. I hear it will have a built in feature that can read my mind and a little voice will be heard from my laptop speaker that says "Hey dude!...I know exactly what you're thinking, so why don't you sit back, put your feet up on the desk, and I'll write the ladder logic for you!...... "
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Hi I will like to have possible to mix ST and ladder in functionbloks. Banker

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Make that 4 times. Just about to do it again. Found the problem - an update for outlook is fouling everything up. Will not install outlook and use IncrediMail instead. Will pay for the upgrade and spam filter and be done with it if it works as well as it appears to. Observation from on site today, one can pull up 4 channels of digital bits to monitor/force OK but you can only open 1 window. Would like to open 2 or 3 windows of 64 digital bits - yes it would be slow but make life easier in the early stages when just forcing I/O in the PLC to check wiring. Another one, would like to have a mode where one could force an output in program mode so that when the output is forced, all the other stuff that runs off the output would not run - yes, I know, I could always use internal bits to run outputs and it would not happen in monitor mode but that is a pain sometimes.

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SFC Support? A lot easier to use to program sequential programs then ladder, and the benefit when inverse engineering a badly documented program is even bigger, as the language is hard to use in a way that makes it unclear what the program does. May require new capabilities of the hardware too, though.

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I guess i don;t understand Bob. but you said As i see it yep the output will turn on but how can the other code execute if the PLC it in Program Mode ? If in monitor mode, this functionality of course act like you explained it...However this i know is how Schneider programming use to work and frankly i found it crap. Regards to email agents I use the free Mozilla Thunderbird. Feel sorry for you for all of the wasted time in reinstalling the whole system a 4th time.... Have you check out the switch box utility, once you play with it you will find it a handy commissioning tool.
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Perhaps I was not clear enough Sleepy. When forcing outputs in monitor mode if the output has been used to trigger other logic, then that logic will trigger and start other functions within the PLC. What I propose is that in program mode an output could be forced on and off but because the PLC is not in run mode the output turning on would not trigger other logic and functions within the PLC. In other words if a pump starts then that will start another pump within the logic - sequential start. I only want to be able to start the first pump and not have the second one start sequentially.
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You do mean Monitor mode / not Proram mode don;t you...bacuse code don;t execute anyways in Program/Stop mode as far as i recall. And yep i would have used internal coils for the above sequenceing and referneced the PLC outputs off these. This allows me to also easily force the outputs from a screen int bit output ----[w0.00]--+---(010.00) | TS bit | ----[w0.01]--+
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Correct. Code will not execute in program mode and that is why I would like to see an "output test mode" that allowed outputs to be forced physically in program mode.

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Now that's a good idea Bob, that could make life so much easier for commissioning and fault finding, saves poking contactors with screwdrivers

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... perhaps someone could look at this conversion problem ... see thread http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=7635 Nibroc

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Yep Bob agree with your suggestion of been able to force outputs in Stop/Program mode to enable debugging, Or call it a DEBUG mode... Secondly, interesting thread there Nibroc, i was certainly not aware of this issue.

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Couple more When you copy and paste Symbols/descriptions etc in the symbol editor "Copy Of" is placed at the left hand end of the symbol - in previous versions of CX-Programmer it was place at the right hand end. Having it at the front end is an absolute pain. When I make my symbols I have a lot of repetative stuff and typically use "FP1RUNSP" - FP1RUNMP" - FP1RUNLP". They are designed to be cut and pasted and then just change the last 2 digits. It would be good to only have to delete the right hand end digits and type in the new ones and delete the "Copy Of" from the right hand end also. Now I have to delete at both ends of the symbol. Yes, I could use Excel but on small projects the symbol editor is generally easier with the above exception. By the way I generally do not write my code using symbols but numbers, with a few exceptions. I prefer to type in "10301" for example than fiddle about with drop down boxes searching for the right symbol - it is quicker. When I design swimming pool jobs all the switches, faults etc for each pump are placed into contigious inputs so tha I can copy and paste rungs and just change numbers and add or delete I/O to suit the pump operation. When the inputs are done this way changing numbers is far easier and quicker than changing symbols. CX checks for duplicate symbols but not duplicate addresses. Why? It is easy to duplicate an address and this is not picked up - only symbol duplication is picked up. A result of copy and paste of course but if you accidently use the same address on several symbols things do not work properly.

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A rather obvious one (and if any of you know how to stop it please let me know) but when monitoring the program it shouldnt show any 'activity' between jumps if the jump is working? I.E in the rungs after an active jump no 'green' should occur until the jump end? Showing 'green' activity where I'm hoping to see no action gives me the hump and I get fed up leaving little activity traps everywhere (even though I know its doing the blinking jump I just MUST know!)

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The ability as other systems have to download the CPU code into an existing project without having to make another one. A number of people have told me you can do it but I have never found it. Eg; You become responsible for a site that has had many contractors fiddling about. No one ever leaves a copy of the code for the next contractor to use. It would be good if you could just get the latest you can find, suck the cpu down to it and at least you would have a reasonable copy of what exists.

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Do you mean Transfer the program that is currently in the PLC into an existing project in CX-Programmer? Am I missing something here? Regards anonymous

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Look closely at the OUT symbol in your ladder. The rung will go green if conditions are met but the OUT symbol will not. I'm not sure if this is indicative of how the PLC actually works or not. For instance, I'm not sure if the input instructions are actually scanned and output is inhibited, or nothing is scanned between JMP's.

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