The
Controller Menu
All commands in this menu are
for communication with the PLCs via the TLServer or the Ethernet XServer. Hence the
TLServer must be actively running and connected to the PLC(s) via its serial port
before the commands here can be successfully executed.
Note that TLServer can be running on
the same computer that TRiLOGI is running on (using localhost IP 127.0.0.1) , or on
another computer in the same local area network, or anywhere in the world with an Internet
connection. The experience is identical regardless of where the TLServer (and hence the
PLC) is situated.
Note: In order to
maintain compatibility with the "Ethernet XServer" device which is not Unicode aware, the
TL6 Application still uses standard ASCII encoding when communicating with the PLCs.
(This is unlike opening or saving TRiLOGI program files to the TLServer, that
would require Unicode network stream as mentioned in the "File"
menu help page). As a result, the TL6 application can work with TLServer version 3.x as
well as older TLServer 1.x and 2.x. when it is only for the purpose of
programming/controlling and monitoring the PLC and not to read/write TRiLOGI file.
If there is no existing connection
made to the TLServer, then execution of any command in this menu will always bring up the
password dialog for you to enter the Username/Password as well as the IP Address:port of
the TLServer. You must be positively authenticated before you are able to log-in to the
TLServer. See Log In to TLServer for detailed explanation of the
Username/Password Dialog box. Once you have log-in to the TLServer, see explanation of
each function below:
1. Select Controller
<Ctrl-I>
The only editable field is the ID field. You have to
enter the ID address in hexadecimal notation (00 to FF). This command allows you to select
another PLC that is connected to the same TLServer but with a different ID for on-line
monitoring or program transfer.
2. Connect/Disconnect
to Server
Use this command to log-in to the TLServer only if you have no intention to perform other
controller commands. You may find that you seldom need to use this command since running
the On-Line Monitoring or Program Transfer commands will also let you log-in to the
TLServer if you have not yet done so. However, once you are connected, this command
changes into "Disconnect from Server" and this is the only way
for you to log out of the currently connected TLServer so that you can use the
Username/Password dialog box to log-in as a different user, or to log-in to another
TLServer of a different IP Address/port number.
3. On-Line
Monitoring <Ctrl+M>
See On-Line Monitoring
help page for details.
4. Program Transfer to
PLC <Ctrl+T>
This command is only available if your log-in
username is assigned the access level of a "Programmer". If you log-in as a
"User" or "Visitor", this command is disabled from the Controller's
menu. (It will be enabled again after you disconnect from the server)
You can use this command to transfer your
TRILOGI ladder+TBASIC program into the PLC. You will be prompted to confirm your action to
prevent accidentally affecting the target PLC. The ladder program must be compiled
successfully before the program transfer process can take place. The progress of the
transfer process will be clearly shown on the program transfer dialog box.
5. Open Matching Source File
You can use this command to
query the connected PLC for the filename of the last TRiLOGI program transferred to it and
it will attempt to match it to a file stored in the log-in user's directory at TLServer or
on the PC's hard disk. If the file is found, it will be opened. Otherwise it will report
that the file is not found. Note that this command
only opens the source file based on file name matching. It does
not verify whether the file has been modified. It is the user's responsibility to
ensure that the file stored in the server is the same one that has been compiled and
transferred to the PLC.
If you have created a new file (i.e. the
file name is "Untitled" ) and then attempt to perform on-line monitoring, this
command will be called automatically to try to open a file that matches the PLC. The
command is also invoked when you select a PLC with a different ID either from the
"Controller" menu or from within the "Full-Screen Monitoring" window.
Note to Unicode users: If
you created your file name using Unicode instead of plain ASCII, the Unicode filename will
not be saved into the M-series PLC since the PLCs do not support Unicode in its internal
memory. In such case you cannot use this command to open the matching source file. You
would have use the "File -> Open (Local Drive)" command to manually
open the file for monitoring purpose.
6. Get PLC's Hardware Info
You can find out the PLC's firmware version number,
the maximum of input, outputs, relays, timers and counters supported on this PLC as well
as the total amount of program memory available. The same info will be displayed when you
try to transfer a program to the PLC.
7. Set PLC's Real Time
Clock
The PLC's real
time clock (RTC, which includes both date and time) can be set quickly using this command.
When you execute this command, a dialog box which contains the year, month, day, hour,
min, sec and day of week are displayed for you to enter the value. The dialog box is
initially filled with value taken from the client's computer's own calendar and clock. You
can change any of the field to the desired values and then click on the "Set
PLC's Clock" button:
The dialog box will be closed after the
TRiLOGI has transferred all the data to the PLC. You should use on-line monitoring to
verify that the data has indeed been properly written into the PLC.
Note that the "Year" field is
restricted to only between 1996 and 2096, "Month" is between 1 and 12,
"Day" is between 1 and 31, "Hour" is between 0 and 23,
"Min" and "Sec" are between 0 and 59. If you enter an illegal value
TRiLOGI will beep and the cursor will be put at the offending text field. Correct the
mistake and then click on the "Set PLC's Clock" button again to transfer the
values to the PLC.