An invitation to suggest ideas for new UDFB's

[Eyal Koren]

Hi all,

This is an open invitation for you to suggest new ideas and thoughts for Unilogic UDFB's.
It is very important for us to keep track of our customers needs. As part of this agenda we want to create and develop useful tools for your benefit.
These UDFB's will be attached to the next releases of Unilogic.

Please feel free to suggest any idea that seems useful.
Thank you
 

[Greg Smith]

Hello Eyal,

 

I have a suggestion that may have been covered already... but here goes.

 

In the Rockwell Logix 5000 world... the UDFB is called an AOI or Add On Instruction... Programmers love to reuse good simple working code, therefore UDFB and AOI's are great tools to have available.  The only hang-up I noticed so far with Unilogic is lack of online status when opening a specific instance.  Say I use one UDFB nine different times in the control program... I can not open and "troubleshoot" like a normal ladder function.  In the Rockwell Logix world I can chose to look at the source code without actual data In/Out or I can select the specific instance and then see all of the In/out parameters and logic power flow for troubleshooting within the AOI.  

 

Thanks,

Greg

[YINGD]

If you could increase the limitation on the number of Input and Output Tags allowed for each UDFB, that would be ideal. Currently, the limitation is 10 Inputs and 10 Outputs but if that could be increased to something much larger like 50 Inputs and 50 Outputs that would be ideal.

 

I would like to be able to make a UDFB for entire piece of machinery. This way, I could have a single PLC control system that controls multiple machines with only one control system. The problem I have now is that I have way more than 10 Input Variables for each machine

[Saragani]

You can create a struct that contains the information structure that you want to pass to the UDFB.

It is more logical to pass a struct with 50 members other than passing 50 inputs.

 

Think of how the ladder element that accepts the 50 inputs will look like. it will start at the benining of the screen, and you would have to scroll few pages down in order to see its end.

[Cara Bereck Levy]

Saragani is one of the system architects--his advice is worth talking :-)

[vanecuci]

Hi Eyal,
it is possible to implement SNMP protocol for Unistream HMI+PLC?

Regards, 
Vane.

[mbb]

Hi Eyal,
I have devices who PLC communicated whit Modbus/TCP(16 bits word). Information is in Single-precision floating-point format (two 16 bits word) and Double-precision floating-point format (four 16 bits word) in IEEE754 standart.
It is possible to create UDFB's:  IEEE785 to REAL

Regards, 
Milen.

[Eyal Koren]

Hi Milen,

Unilogic has only one type of floating point data type, which is the single precision (32bit). Unfortunately, there is no way to convert 64 bit floating point value to 32bit floating point value, because Unilogic cannot recognize this data type

(in general, this conversion is possible in environments that work with 64bit values, but you will lose a significant part of the precision or will receive a result of +inf or -inf if the value is too high)

[Hannari]

A Frequency measure Fb. would be nice. It would take in an input signal and a period to measure over and it would spit out the frequency of the input.

 

An idea regarding an app, have a programmer-calculator where you could calculate in Hex, Dec, Oct and Bin and convert between them.

 

Another suggestion regarding UniLogic is to have the option to undo. At least until then prompt up an “are you sure window” when you delete tags. I exedently went too far down when I was going to delete a tag that I wasn’t going to use and instead I deleted an array of about 30 ints that I had put a lot of time in to naming each one and given them initial values.

 

When hovering with the mouse over an element e.g. you hover over the “A” on an Add block it pops up with an explanation of that it is expecting. The time this pop up window appears is very short. It should stay on as long as you hover over the letter so that slow readers like me can read it. The same in the tools menu when you hover over an Fb.

 

Perhaps a tool that would automatically IO-map PDOs and SDOs from the EDS. This is a very handy and time saving fetcher that I miss from Codesys.

 

Enough with the complaints and “Mr. I could do it much better”  . You have done a great job. I love the UniLogic programming environment, have been working on Codesys and this is nothing short of it. Much simpler end easier to learn.

 

Regards, 

Ari

[Cara Bereck Levy]

Hi--thanks for your suggestions and your kind words!

I will forward both to the UniGurus 

[Cara Bereck Levy]

Hi Ari--I've got some answers for you 

 

First of all--your compliments regarding UniLogic were very much appreciated by the UniGurus.

 

Now, to business: 

 

>A Frequency measure Fb. would be nice. It would take in an input signal and a period to measure over and it would spit out the frequency of the input.<

 

 

Cool idea—we have added this FB to the development roadmap.

(Note that we do offer a frequency measurement option for high speed inputs.

 

 

 

>An idea regarding an app, have a programmer-calculator where you could calculate in Hex, Dec, Oct and Bin and convert between them.<

 

 

 

 

UniApps does have a simple calculator. Adding support for Hex, Dec, Oct and Bin is on the list.

 

 

 

>Another suggestion regarding UniLogic is to have the option to undo. At least until then prompt up an “are you sure window” when you delete tags<

 

 

 

Absolutely—this is in our development roadmap.

 

 

>When hovering with the mouse over an element e.g. you hover over the “A” on an Add block it pops up with an explanation of that it is expecting. The time this pop up window appears is very short. It should stay on as long as you hover over the letter so that slow readers like me can read it. The same in the tools menu when you hover over an Fb.<

 

 

 

You asked for it, you got it…almost.

We cannot leave it open indefinitely, but the time has been extended to 20 seconds during mouseover.

If you find this inadequate, let me know and I will check into it again.

 

Happy programming,and may all your applications be bugless! 

[Gugulanov]

Hello,

The trend widget is very useful, combined with sampling of real time changing data.

However, I really miss the feature in Visilogic, to draw  trend based on vectors or array of variables. In other words, in Unilogic I can't show graphically (xy curve of columns) a data table for instance.

Is there a possibility, such feature to be implemented?

 

Regards,

Gugulanov

[Malcolm]

I agree to increase the UDFB In and Out. Scrolling down really isn't that bad.

[kvlada]

How about: "Motion Detect" and "Deviation" UDFB.

Motion detect is very useful in digital scales, where you need to watch if a specific analog value isn't changing for more than X within a specified time.

Deviation is useful when you have to monitor an analog value overnight, to watch for drift, changes, etc.

 

What happened to filtering? VisiLogic had a very nice Filter FB, which had rolling and order-weighed average filter.

 

Also, we're still short of UniStream loadcell module.

 

 

(Hello everyone! It's been like, 6 years since I last posted here. After ten large and interesting projects and many Unitronic PLCs installed, I'm back^^)

[JPowell]

I would like to start with many compliments on the Unistream Product.  Yes it is a huge cost savings from other comparable products out there, but the horsepower really comes to light when using the data tables, FTP interface and the USB DOK tools.  Not only can you accomplish a lot of traditional tasks with these units, but you can work with data and share this data so easily.  Thanks.

 

There are (2) enhancements that I think go together that would put the icing on the cake.  1st, we need at least (2) dimensional arrays.  You have sort functions for arrays, but with only a single dimension, I typically need to have another field that is associated with the sort field.  2nd, having a sort function for data tables would be so powerful.  Being able to run a Min/Max sort on a column so the data table can be organized based on a column sort would provide more capabilities with data tables.

 

As a note, I cleaned up the Num to String UDFB to eliminate the space allocated for the +/- sign when neither are used, finished the 0 fill feature and increased the number of digits so double integers can be converted. 

 

Again, nice product and this only looks like the beginning.

[bhavin]

Alarms info in Message Composer

It would be really useful to access Alarm info in the Message Composer. By Alarm info, I mean the alarm state as well as the meta-data associated with the alarm (Name, Display Name, Severity and Priority). I would like to use the TCP Client to push alarms, in real-time, to a remote TCP server.  (Essentially, to remotely capture what is presently logged into the AlarmLog.csv file on the SD card (however, this file isn't updated in realtime).

[spider]

It is possible to add possibility for grouping elements on HMI and Web serwer screens and change common atributes? for example if I want create pop-up for insert and validate values,  now I must change  visibility  parameter for every single element. Also when I want move created pop Up only for change some elements what are under the pop-up I must chceck all of pop-up elements, move it, chnge elements atributes, chceck all of pop-up elements again and move. I think this funcionality will be very useful.

[Saragani]

Hi,

Due to the nature of the design of the properties and the property grid, this feature is hard to accomplish, but I do check my options and try to think of a solution.

I cannot tell if this feature will be added, and of so, any time frame.

 

[spider]

Hi all,

I have new idea... is it possible add funcionality for moving graphical elements on the HMI and WebSerwer screens in relation with tag (tags) value (change X or / and  Y possition of the element). for example if I need to show  cage position in shaft on HMI screen and  I must place about 15 the same pictures and set visibility for them in relation of shaft position value.

Thanks for Your involvement in improvement Unistream software. 

[Saragani]

One way to get around that is to have a list of images, where the images sizes are for example 200x50, and each of them contains a cage in a different position.

 

[Swervomotor]

First time user here working with Unistream  V 1.21.51 and a 5" Unilogic pro

My recommendation:

 A way to duplicate elements within a STRUCT.  Example: Keyence IV-500CA Ethernet/IP T2O assembly is 196 Word long mostly repetitive UINT16 elements that could just be duplicated.

A way to export/import STRUCTS into projects from the Library. Example: If you use the above camera and/or similar components frequently being able to just load in the STRUCTS and TAGS without all the other project baggage would be nice. 

Thanks,

Swervomotor

[Ofir]

Hello Swervomotor,

We added your request to the list. We hope that in the next release the option of duplicating a tag in a Struct will be available.

[jjdkr]

Something to check port forward from the unistream 

[Nanashi]

Hello, not sure if this goes here, but I saw  that before me people have added such.

Here are my suggestions:

1. For the HMI trends to be able to choose whether to hide the buttons "Run", "Next Curve", especially "History" and "Take screen shot", just like some of those options exist in the HE:Trend - > FIFO style.

2.  For the XY trend to have the "View Data Point" as well, and also to be able to choose whether to show or hide it, here and on the other kind of trends.

3. A way to Safely Remove USB/DOK just like File Browser has. For example, there could be such an HE element called "Safe removal of DOK", or some ladder element for this option.

4. A way to be able to change the black background of the Trends, or just enable the user to choose between white and black, eventually with the white to have a black default border to divide it from the surrounding buttons and labels.

5.  Somewhere in the help file (for example, at the explanation of the timers, or at "downloading/uploading a project") to be written how the main screen is loaded upon power up or change of project, and that on downloading an update of the project will first load the last screen and then the main one. I, as a newbie with UniLogic and UniStream, have lost so much time thinking that my splash screen logic was faulty, or that there is a bug (cause I didn't have such problems with Visilogic). If there is such an explanation in the help file, I would be grateful if someone could point it up to me.

Thank you,

Nanashi

[viscoelastic]

On 7/22/2015 at 7:52 AM, Gugulanov said:

Hello,

The trend widget is very useful, combined with sampling of real time changing data.

However, I really miss the feature in Visilogic, to draw  trend based on vectors or array of variables. In other words, in Unilogic I can't show graphically (xy curve of columns) a data table for instance.

Is there a possibility, such feature to be implemented?

 

Regards,

Gugulanov

I second his above request