Recorded Live:

Thursday, January 19, 2011

Presented By Anthony Nicolaides

Applications Engineer - Unitronics Inc.

Part 1 - We will explore how to set up a data table in VisiLogic and use it to log data. We will show how to create a data table, and how to link each column to a register type. We will then use the ladder section to create a time/event driven routine to log data.

Part 2 - We will learn how to use DataXport to pull the data table from the PLC and save it to the PC as an excel file. We will learn how to set up a time based automatic download, and an even based download over TCP/IP.

WEBINAR - Data Tables Part II (1)

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WEBINAR - Data Tables Part II (2)

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WEBINAR - Data Tables Part II (3)

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Questions Asked by Attendees

Q: Windows takes liberties in assigning COM pots to USB converters. Can more than 1 port be set up in DataXport in order to accomidate the different COM ports my customer's computer assigns to their USB converter. I had an issue with this on a previous project - I had set up COM4 in DataXport and my customer's computer assigned COM5 for the USB converter.

A: Each site can only have a single PC Port selected. However, while not ideal I suppose you can add multiple sites to the project that have different PC ports selected. ie) COM4, COM5, COM6

Q: Does the download take place as soon as the connection is made?

A: There may be some latency delay, but essentially yes.

Q: So DataXport must be open, the project (in DataXport) must be open and running on the PC in order for the event driven process to succeed, right?

A: Correct, Yes. There is an option to "Minimize after Run" contained under the Actions menu.

Q: When will the SD card be accessable from the front of the controller?

A: To the best of my knowledge, there are currently no plans to redesign the hardware for front card access.

Q: Can Dataxport run on windows server?

A: All Unitronics software is offically supported and has been tested on Windows 2000(SP3)/XP(SP2)/Vista/ 7(32bit). We do not offically support Windows Server, but it may still run.

Q: Does Data xport have to be running to make it work there is no running in background/

A: Correct, it cannot be run as a windows "background service".

Q: Do the regions need filled out?

A: No, selecting regions is not a requirement. Only a schedule and table must be configured to save the site

Q: With option schedule you specify when the data tables are going to be get them from the OPLC?

A: Yes, the schedule determines when DataXport is going to make a call to the PLC to retrieve the relevant data table information.

Q: dataXport only lets get data from PLC to Excel, but it could be used to download from Excel to PLC?

A: No, unfortunatly DataXport cannot write directly to the data tables of the PLC. You can however manually import Excel files into the data tables of the PLC using VisiLogic's data table editor.

Q: in which applications you sugest to use this tool to get dat from OPLC?

A: Anytime really that logging information and access to the internal data tables is required on the PC.

Q: Why do you Set and Reset MB2 rather than trigger directly off MB1?

A: In the example program here MB1 is meant to represent a push button and therefore a oneshot condition. Here we want MB2 to latch and stay high until the socket is actaully connected.