Password Protect on Formulas

[sgull]

Would it be possible to have the option to password protect formulas in the next version of UniLogic.

Regards,
Denis

 

 

[Joe Tauser]

You can password protect a function - 

 

That would be the easy way to protect your formula with the tools currently available.

Joe T.

[sgull]

Hi Joe

I think this only protects the ladder and where the formula is called.

The formula editor is lower down the tree and does not appear to have the protect option.

Regards

Denis

[Joe Tauser]

True.

But you could make your formula the old-fashioned way with ladder function blocks.  This is what I was inferring.  How complex of a formula are we talking about?

Joe T.

[sgull]

Thanks Joe

I will need to do this now anyway.

I tried to write a formula that was working in visilogic in unilogic.

I tried for a few hours to get it to work but kept getting different values in the two PLC's.

After submitting the project to support, they confirmed that there was an bug and would need to research this.

I would advise checking the results of formulas in Unilogic for correct operation.

See attached.

The VLP is the formula working correctly in Visilogic

The Test formula.ulpr is the one that does not work.

The Test formula_ak.ulpr is the work around supplied by support.

Regards

Denis

formula test.vlp

Test Formula.ulpr

Test Formula_AK.ulpr

[Saragani]

I already replied the support about this issue.  When writing 3738 / 100000, it performs Integer division, which in the case results 0. However adding a .0 to any of the numbers you divide will cause the number to be casted to float, and it will result the desired output. Going on the safe side, I would add a .0 to both numbers, meaning:

3738.0 / 100000.0

 

If either 3738 or 100000 come from parameters that change, then you can either multiple any of these parameters by 1.0 (which would cast the number to float and will force a float division. Another way to write  ( 3738 / 100000 )  *  A, is:  ( 3738 * A / 100000 ) 

Since A is float, the 3738 will be cast to float, so the entire division will be a float division.

 

// EDIT:

VisiLogic and UniLogic devide differently on when to cast to float.

I can give an example from VisiLogic of a similar "issues".

 

Let's take the formula A / B

If A us 5 and B is 3, the result is 1.6666666...  

Assuming A and B are MIs, then if we place the result into an MI, the actual result would be 1 and not 2 (even though in this case you would assume it needs to round the number) because the A and B was divided using Integers division.

If however the result is stored into an MF, the result would be 1.666666666666

 

Now, if we repeat the test but now the formula is A / B + C, where only C is a MF, and the result is once again stored into an MI, then:

if A is 5, B is 3 and C is 0, then magically, the result becomes 2. Why? because now A and B are divided using float division and not integer division.

 

I'm not sure if VisiLogic automatically casts all the numbers to floats as soon as there is a float in either the formula or the result. (I'm guessing that digging in both VisiLogic and the PLC code would produce the answer).

 

I'm not sure on which scenarios numbers and operations should be case to float, but if you take c# and write a code that executes the exact formula that you have, then the division will be using Integer division, since 2 integers are being divided and only then the result is being cast to float in order to be multiplied by another float.

 

For example, taking your  formula. In c#:

            float A = 10;

            var result = Math.Exp(1.45723 + ((3738 / 100000) * A) - (0.000153067 * (Math.Pow(A, 2))) + (0.000000676029 * (Math.Pow(A, 3))) - (0.00000000257604 * (Math.Pow(A, 4))));
            var resultF = Math.Exp(1.45723 + ((3738.0 / 100000.0) * A) - (0.000153067 * (Math.Pow(A, 2))) + (0.000000676029 * (Math.Pow(A, 3))) - (0.00000000257604 * (Math.Pow(A, 4))));
 

 

result = 4.2315720565926735

resultF = 6.149517162661482

 

So Microsoft is wrong to?