PLC channels on the pages
A PLC is a device with digital and analog inputs and outputs. With a PLC part its channels wait in the Devices tab and are dragged onto the pages where the circuit needs them; without a part, channel symbols DI, DQ, AI and AO do the same. Address and tag name are written in the box of each channel.
Channel data
- Tag name, address, data type (Bool, Int, Float), access (read only or read/write), precision of analog values, an alarm with its text, and a comment.
- The PLC I/O table shows all channels of all PLCs; type the data of many channels in a row there.
- Assign addresses gives the next free addresses by kind: bits
I0.7 → I1.0, words by two, registers40001 → 40002.
Export to Industrial UI SCADA
Each PLC has its settings for the SCADA: device id, protocol (Modbus TCP, Siemens S7 and others), host, port, rack, slot and update interval. Export tags CSV writes the named channels in the format of the SCADA's Import CSV, so Industrial UI SCADA gets the same addresses and names without typing them twice. Export SCADA devices JSON writes the PLCs with their settings.
Before writing, the program checks the tags — a name used twice, a name with other characters, a tag without an address, a PLC without a device id — and writes nothing until they are fixed. Read how tags are used in the SCADA guide.