Data from OPLC to share drive on network

[CatUnitronics]

Have a USP-156-B10 and a data table Index that stores the test results up to 100 rows. We then have to use an application to get those results and save the data to a text file. From the text file, we put it to an excel spreadsheet and sort. From there it goes to another text file to import it to a spreadsheet which we have formatted. After formatting on the PC, we then put it on a share drive to where the data is kept.

Been assigned a task to put the data results to the share drive from the Unitronics. So far I can only see how on getting the results to an SD card and from there I would like to send to the server.

 

Any suggestions??

[dierkens]

Save the results of the table to a csv file (make sure to watch the file status to make sure that the PLC has enough time to handle the file tasks).

You can then setup a triggered task to FTP it to the computer/server or a network share somewhere accessible by the computer.

It works well.   

[CatUnitronics]

44 minutes ago, dierkens said:

Save the results of the table to a csv file (make sure to watch the file status to make sure that the PLC has enough time to handle the file tasks).

You can then setup a triggered task to FTP it to the computer/server or a network share somewhere accessible by the computer.

It works well.   

Dierkins,

 

I will definitely make note of this. I get the .cvs file but not familiar with FTP term. Would like to send this file on a SD card to a network share drive. Currently we have to use the server application on this computer and reads the results. Then we take this data and copy it to a text file. From this text file, it is sorted and put on a test result template. From there I manually move the excel file to the share drive. This seems to be a cumbersome task and was requested to find a way to put the data from the Unitronics to a network share drive.

 

Thank you in advance

 

[CatUnitronics]

I became familiar with the term FTP and I do not have the capabilities and I am not the one that writes the code. Would it be possible to have the PLC write the files to a SD card periodically and send the .csv files to an email address providing that it can automatically send email?

 

Thanks

[CatUnitronics]

1 hour ago, dierkens said:

Save the results of the table to a csv file (make sure to watch the file status to make sure that the PLC has enough time to handle the file tasks).

You can then setup a triggered task to FTP it to the computer/server or a network share somewhere accessible by the computer.

It works well.   

I will definitely make note of this. I get the .cvs file but not familiar with FTP term. Would like to send this file on a SD card to a network share drive. Currently we have to use the server application on this computer and reads the results. Then we take this data and copy it to a text file. From this text file, it is sorted and put on a test result template. From there I manually move the excel file to the share drive. This seems to be a cumbersome task and was requested to find a way to put the data from the Unitronics to a network share drive.

Is it possible to just auto send the results to the SD card and from there send an email automatically to an email address?

I do not have the ability nor do I have the ability to write the software for the FTP.

 

[dierkens]

21 minutes ago, CatUnitronics said:

I became familiar with the term FTP and I do not have the capabilities and I am not the one that writes the code. Would it be possible to have the PLC write the files to a SD card periodically and send the .csv files to an email address providing that it can automatically send email?

 

Thanks

Yes, however the FTP process is easier and cleaner.  

[CatUnitronics]

Dierkens,

 

Thank you for your help!

 

[CatUnitronics]

19 hours ago, dierkens said:

Yes, however the FTP process is easier and cleaner.  

Read the FTP process and compared to the email process and yes I see that the FTP process is easier and cleaner.

[Robin P]

Instead of writing your results to a CSV file, have you thought of writing them to a networked database (e.g. MySQL or SQL Server). The target database table would have the same column structure as your data table, and can be made available to any networked user. Unilogic has inbuilt SQL handling, which replaces the CSV file writing process, and for end users Excel has add-ons for connecting to such databases. We do this successfully in a laboratory Unistream application.

[CatUnitronics]

21 hours ago, Robin P said:

Instead of writing your results to a CSV file, have you thought of writing them to a networked database (e.g. MySQL or SQL Server). The target database table would have the same column structure as your data table, and can be made available to any networked user. Unilogic has inbuilt SQL handling, which replaces the CSV file writing process, and for end users Excel has add-ons for connecting to such databases. We do this successfully in a laboratory Unistream application.

Thank you for your reply Robin P.

The process you mentioned I have not thought of and seems to be worth looking into.

My background has been mainly Allen Bradley ControlLogix as a PLC programmer. In the facility that I am located, the air test stands are Unilogic and other stands are Visilogic. The Unitronic platform is new to me, but am learning it.

I would like examples for this process if possible.

[CatUnitronics]

43 minutes ago, CatUnitronics said:

Thank you for your reply Robin P.

The process you mentioned I have not thought of and seems to be worth looking into.

My background has been mainly Allen Bradley ControlLogix as a PLC programmer. In the facility that I am located, the air test stands are Unilogic and other stands are Visilogic. The Unitronic platform is new to me, but am learning it.

I would like examples for this process if possible.

This is already being done by a server developed by the controls engineer to get the data from the PLC. It reads it in bytes and when it is finished collecting the data, we have to save it to a text file. From the text file, it is copied from to Excel and filtered. From the Excel Filtered, it is copied to a different text file for data import. An excel template is saved as the name of the filtered text file and then import the data from text in excel. Then from the excel file on the PC, we put it on a share drive.