RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 2

________________________________________________________________________ RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2

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RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 2

In this lab we will examine more tips and tricks in RSLogix 5000. Some of these are brand new. Others have been around a while, but have been virtually unknown by the masses. Again, any RSLogix 5000 user will realize productivity gains by using these tips and tricks. Key Topics Covered in this Lab: Trending Enhancements Quick Trends 1 ms Samples Logging (view Trends offline or in Excel) Start, Stop Triggers Pre-Sampling, Post Sampling

Customize the editor, Type Ahead, Bookmarks, Quick View Pane, etc, etc. Start with the “RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 1” project that you left off with at the end of the last lab. Trending Quick Trends (new in V12) 1. This one is new in Version 12. In rung 5 of the main routine, right click on

“a_timer.DN” and click on “Trend “a_timer.DN””. Make sure you click on the tag, not the instruction.

Commented [JC1]: A couple more items I thought of … 1. Printing. There is a lot of flexibility with printing that I’ve discovered most users are completely unaware of. It is so context-sensitive that it is difficult for the user to grasp. We’re providing a simplified interface in v13 but the context sensitive printing will still remain in tact. Let me know if you’d like to discuss this more. 2. The String Browser. It is available from the Data Monitor for a String tag. I can elaborate if you want but you might already cover it in one of your existing labs. It’s a pretty slick little browser.

Commented [JC2]: …so is the Find All “a_timer.DN”. Should talk about this new enhancement in the Find section. Feedback for adding the Find All to this context menu came directly from HOT feedback!


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2. If the trend is not running, click on Run: 3. It went past fast. It is flying past way too fast for me. Right click on the chart, and

select Chart Properties.

4. Under the “X-Axis” tab, change the 2 second time span to 20 seconds and click OK…That’s better. But that blue sure is difficult to see against that black background.

5. Right click on the chart againChart PropertiesDisplay Tabdouble click

Background Color.

6. Change the color to white and click OK in the Color Window.

7. Go to the Y-Axis, select Custom, and set the minimum and maximum value to –1 and 2, as shown below. This way, we’ll actually be able to see the data.


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8. Click OK. The chart now looks like: 9. Close the chart by click the “X” in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

DON’T close the whole project, just the trend (only an issue if the trend is maximized):

10. The following dialog appears: 11. So far, we have only created a V12 Quick Trend. This dialog is asking if we want

to create a saved trend that we’ll have access to later. That sounds like a good idea. Click Yes.

12. The next screen that appears is the General tab for our trend. Set the Sample

Period to 100 ms instead of 10 ms, then click Next. Note: Before V12, the fastest trend Sample Period was 10 ms, but with V12, it is possible to sample as fast as 1 ms. We set our sample rate at 100 ms because it is fast enough for the tag we are trending. Getting Trend data out of the controller is the 2nd highest priority task, lower only than the Motion Task. Scan time will take about a 200 us hit for the first tag trended, with very little additional scan time taken for additional tags. The faster you want to trend data, the fewer tags you will be able to trend. If you try to trend beyond the capabilities of the controller, you will notice screen updates get very

The chart is now easier to read.


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slow, you’ll get a CIP error in the pane at the bottom of the screen, and you may even be kicked offline. How much sampling is possible? Testing is still being done, but as an example, at a 1 ms sample rate, only 1 Trend Object can be set up, with fewer than 8 tags. At a 2 ms rate, 1 Trend Object with 8 tags is possible. Even though the Trend Object is gathering the data in the 2nd highest priority task, getting that data to RSLogix 5000 happens in the Background Task. So, raising your Time Slice is sometimes necessary to allow RSLogix 5000 to get the data from the Trend Object in the controller.

13. We won’t be changing the tag, but you could do so here. You could also add tags

here, up to 8 tags per window or “Trend Component.” Click Finish.

14. Notice the “Trend Component” that shows up under the Controller Organizer: Each Trend Component uses about 4K of controller memory, no matter how many tags or

how fast the sampling. Advanced Trending (more new in V12)

15. Now that the quick trend is saved, let’s look at some new advanced trending

features. Right click on the trend a_timer_DNOpenRun the trend.

16. Notice it says that we are logging data: 17. After at least 10 seconds, click the Stop button to stop the trend.


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18. Click the Log buttonSave Trend Log AsSave to the desktop as a .CSV file. 19. Go to the desktop using the desktop icon in your system tray: 20. Double click on the file, a_timer_DN.CSV. Excel will open the file and you will

be able to see the time-stamped data that you were logging.

21. Close the Excel file. 22. How much data can be captured? A lot. Open the Chart Properties and go to the

Sampling tab. Before V12, all you could put in here was the Sample Period. With V12, you can define a capture based on number of Samples or based on Time Period. The third alternative is to put No Limit on the size of a capture. What is a capture? It is the time between a Start Trigger and a Stop Trigger. These Triggers are the last two new tabs. Triggers start and stop data collection. Some examples: “Start collecting data when my Boolean tag goes from 0 to 1.” or “Stop collecting data when my DINT tag has a value equal to 3.”

A .tbs (time-based streaming) file allows you to view your data offline! This is an extra task.


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The real constraint is that the maximum total capture time length is 2 hrs. More on this in the extra task.

23. Other features of the new trend object are pre and post-sampling, which are looked at in the Extra Task. Close your Trend Properties window and close the Trend itself.

Go To Dialog (also Ctrl+G)

24. “Go To” or Ctrl+G is a context sensitive, very useful, under-used feature.

Context sensitive means that “Go To” will give you different options, depending upon where you are when you select it. “Go To” works in any language editor, as well as in the tag monitor/editor. Double click on your Main Routine and press Ctrl+G. The following dialog appears:

Check this radio button when you want each capture to be limited to a certain number of samples. If you reach this number of samples before the stop trigger, then the oldest data gets overwritten by the newest data. Use when the customer says, “I want so many points of data.”

Check this radio button when you want each capture to be limited to a certain time period. If you reach this timer period before the stop trigger, then the oldest data gets overwritten by the newest data. Use when the customer says, “I want so many minutes worth of data.”

Check this radio button when you want each capture to be based strictly on the Stop Trigger or the hard drive, rather than number of Samples or Time Period.


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25. Type a “5” in the space under “Place caret on rung:” and press Enter. Notice you go to rung #5.

26. Right click on rung #5 and click on “Go To…”: 27. Now that we are done looking at rung #5, we need to go to some of the routines

called by our Main Routine. Click on Called Routines in the left hand part of the window:

28. Click on Cam_modifier and click the Go To button. That is one easy way to move

from routine to routine. 29. Right Click in the Cam_modifier routine Go ToLine 20Go To button: 30. You are taken directly to line 20.


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31. On the routine, right clickGo ToCalling RoutinesMain RoutineGo To… and now you are back to the Main Routine.

32. In rung #1, right click on the name conv_timer inside the TON instruction. 33. At the bottom of the drop down, Click Go To…MonitorGo To button. You

are now monitoring the tag. 34. Now, Go To… the Cross Reference. 35. From the Cross Reference, “Go To…” the MOV element by right clicking on it

and selecting “Goto Location.” You get the idea…For a regular user of 5000, they’ll get great productivity out of “Go To…”

Path Bar: 36. A few neat things right in the Path Bar: Click on the Who Active button. If you

really like using a mouse, then this is probably the easiest way to get to Who Active.

37. Click on the drop down to launch the “Select Recent Path” dialog. This button,

along with the Online button both provide tool tips, too! 38. This is an oldie but a goodie. Once you get to Who Active, note the “Set Project

Path” button. This will set your currently path to be “the” path for the project. Close the Who Active window.

Online Bar (I’ve heard of online gambling, but never an online bar) 39. Below is what is known as the Online Bar. It is shown in its default state (Mode).

We have already looked at the Controller Properties icon. You’ve probably noticed the nice picture of the keyswitch that moves along with the real key switch. This Online Bar is even more interesting with a Logix5555 because there is a fourth tab for Redundancy with lots more status information.


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40. Notice the background of Mode, currently “Rem Run,” is a lighter shade of gray

than “No Forces” or “Edits Present.” That is because Mode is currently selected. Let’s select the “Edits” part of the Online Bar. Click on the “Edits Present” tab. Notice the change in the graphics to the right. Notice the “Find Edits” icon which now appears next to the “Controller Properties” icon:

41. Go To rung #0 of the Main Routine. 42. Click the “Find Edits” icon in the Online Bar. Click on “Find All” once your

window matches the one below: 43. Notice that in the Search Results window it says that 3 occurrences of an edit was

found. Scroll up the Search Results pane until you see:

Redundancy tab goes here for L55


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44. Double click in the Search Results pane right on the text that says “Rung 9”.

Notice that the caret is now on the line that has the edit. You can now double click on either of the other lines in the Search Results window to go to those edits.

45. Go back to the Online Bar and Click on the text “No Forces.” Notice that the

“Find in Routines” window is still opened. 46. Click on the “Find all Forces” icon: 47. Notice that the same “Find in Routines” window is still there, but in the “Limit

to” box, the selection has been changed from “Edit Zones” to “Forces.” In other words, the “Find” window opens with the correct “context.”

48. Currently, there are no forces, so let’s add one. Go to rung #9, right click on the

input contact, and select Force On from the dropdown menu. (You didn’t even need your mouse for these steps.)

49. Forces are now installed but disabled. Click on the red triangle next to the word

“Forces” in the Online Bar


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50. Under I/O Forcing, click “Enable All Forces” and click “Yes” to the warning. 51. Scroll back up to rung #0 without closing the “Find in Routines” window. 52. This time, click “Find Next” instead of “Find All,” which takes you directly to the

force rather than giving you a list in the Search Results pane. One more great thing that the “Find In Routines” window can do for you. And, by the way, this came directly out of one of those Friday morning HOT sessions with the RSLogix 5000 team: 53. With the Find In Routines window still opened, change the “Limit To:” box to

“References to Tag” 54. Click on the ellipses next to “Find What:” 55. Select “a_timer.ACC”: 56. Click OK. 57. Select “Find All” or “Find Next.” To find all instances of that tag. The ability to

find tags like this was directly the result of Friday morning HOT sessions. Thanks for your feedback.


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Miscellaneous Topics

How Type Ahead can help with the Analog Input Data Tag Issue 58. Go offline. 59. Right click on the I/O Config treeAdd Module”Clear All” buttoncheck

“Analog”click OK (we want to select 1756-IF16) 60. Fill in as shown: 61. Click Finish. 62. Click on rung #8. 63. Press Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V. This Copy and Paste wasn’t even covered in the

keyboard shortcuts because it is a trivial, but a fast, way to cut and paste. 64. You are now on rung #9. Double click on the Source tag for our MOV, which is

conv_timer.ACC. We want to change this tag. We really want to use Channel 0 from the Analog Input module.

65. Click on the arrow to get the pull down menu of tags, then select Channel 0 Data

from the slot 7 Analog Input module. You will find the Channel 0 Data after all the individual channel faults, after the module faults, after the individual channel’s over-range tags, under-range tags, high alarms, low alarms, high high alarms, high low alarms, well, you get the idea.

66. With Type Ahead, the situation is greatly improved. Click on rung #8, we’ll start

over on the source, conv_timer.ACC, to show you the equivalent:


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67. Again, bring up the pull down menu for the source of the MOV instruction. Type an “L”

68. We don’t want this “LAB_CAM” tag, so type the letter “o”, not a zero, but an

“o”. We are taken to “Local…”. Arrow down to “Local:7:I”, which is fully collapsed, so that you cannot see all the individual tags. Your screen should look like this:

69. Expand Local:7:I, but this time, double click on the second tag down

(Local:7:I.Ch0Fault) in the Analog Input module’s input tags, as shown below. This tag was chosen because it was so close to the top and we recognize it as being awful similar to the tag we REALLY want.

70. Double click on the Source tag so that it becomes highlighted: 71. Highlight just the part of the text that says “Fault” in this tag.

You can get this same affect without ever using the mouse. Type ahead works at each substring of a reference.


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72. Type a “d”. Type Ahead will fill in text for the first tag that matches Local:7:I.Ch0d , which is Local:7:I.Ch0Data. Press Enter.

Type Ahead works in a lot of situations. It is a very useful feature for fluent users of

RSLogix5000. It probably won’t help the user who is pecking around for the first time.

New Component Menu List

73. Press the Alt key to activate the main menu. 74. Press the “F” key to drop down the File menu. 75. Press the “W” to highlight New Component. We knew to hit “W” to get there,

because “W” is underlined in “New Component.” These techniques work in 5000, MS Word, and just about any other software that is following Windows standards. These access keys are also available on all dialogs. Note: In Windows 2000/XP, the underscores might not show until you press the Alt key.

A list appears of New Components that you can create. From just about anywhere in the

software, at just about anytime, you can create any one of these components using this method. Later in this lab, we will see the “New Component” Toolbar, which puts this list of components into a neat little toolbar, great for when you are starting a project from scratch.

76. We won’t use New Component here, but it is always there if you need it. Click on

the ladder to close the dropdown menus.

Customize Language Element Toolbar “Favorites” 77. Right click on the Language Element Toolbar and select Customize. This will

automatically select the Favorites tab and allow you to group your most frequently used elements on a per language basis (Ladder, FBD and ST):


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78. Add the TON instruction into your Favorites. Note that the instuction will be added to the resulting toolbar in the highlighted location.

79. Click on Function Block Diagrams under Language. 80. Click “Yes” to the dialog about Applying changes to Ladder Favorites tab. 81. You can now add or remove favorites from the Function Block Diagrams tab.

Add a few instructions. 82. Click OK to shut down this dialog. Warning: RSLogix5000 remembers your Favorites after you shut down, so don’t just go and remove all the instructions from Favorites.

Bookmarks (a special Go To) 83. Before we get to bookmarks, move some of your toolbars around: drag the Path

Bar somewhere, drag the Online Bar somewhere, drag the Language Element (Instruction) Bar somewhere. It is all screwed up now, isn’t it?

84. Press Alt, then V for View, then press Enter for Toolbars. Notice the “Restore

Factory Toolbar Layout” button. Click this button to restore order to your screen. Notice that all of your “Favorites” customizations are still there.

85. With the Toolbars window still opened, check each of the toolbars that is

currently unchecked. Each in turn will appear, showing a set of icons that a user may or may not want to display at anytime.

86. Pay special attention to the New Component toolbar. This toolbar is especially

useful during the design phase of a project: 87. Make sure “Language Editor Editing” is checked and click OK. 88. “Language Editor Editing” is a fancy name for bookmarks. Highlight the “4” in

rung #4 in the main routine. 89. Click on the Insert/Remove Bookmark icon:


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90. Highlight rung #0 of the “more_ladder” routine. 91. Click on the Insert/Remove Bookmark icon again. 92. Add more bookmarks if you wish. Then, click the Prev Bookmark and Next

Bookmark icons to scroll through all of your bookmarks. 93. Click on View All or Goto Bookmark to go directly to a bookmark: 94. Go into a structured text routine and add a bookmark. Sorry, Charlie, you cannot

add bookmarks to structured text routines, but you can add them to: Ladder Function Block Diagrams SFCs

95. Save your project to the desktop and close RSLogix5000. 96. Reopen the same project and look for your bookmarks. They are not there. Bookmarks are helpful, but the only two limitations are: 1. bookmarks cannot be put into structured text 2.bookmarks are not saved when you close a program.

Quick View Pane 97. Make sure you can see the pane beneath the Controller Organizer, this is called

the Quick View Pane:


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The Quick View Pane provides an “at a glance” description of the component that is

selected in the Controller Organizer. The contents of the “at a glance” description vary for each component. For example:

1. It shows what module tags are associated with the selected module. 2. It shows the fault description for the module selected. 3. It shows what axes are associated with a selected motion module. 4. It shows what motion module is associated with a selected axis. 5. It shows a textual description for the associated icon and icon decorations, e.g.

main routine, fault routine. 6. It shows the description for the component. 7. It shows the size of the selected data type. 8. It shows the “top-billing” properties for each component. 9. Etc.

98. Ever have a customer who can’t remember the difference between a DINT, and

INT and a SINT? Here’s how you can help them. Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Rather than telling him the difference, show him the Quick View Pane, which is located under the Controller Organizer. Drill through Data TypesPredefinedselect DINT and look at the Quick View Pane below. Do the same for INT and SINT. Try others if you’d like These are especially helpful for referencing the size of user-defined data types and strings, at a glance:


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99. The Quick View Pane is also used for displaying those Descriptions that you can

give to routines, I/O modules and the like. Double click on the 1756-IB16D in the I/O Configruation tree, and give it a Description of “Inputs for Sta 2 and maybe a few inputs for Sta 3, but certainly no inputs for Sta 4” (we purposely want it to be long):


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100. Click OK to close the Module Properties window. Notice that in the Quick View

Pane under the Controller Organizer, the Description shows up:

Ladder Scrap Files and Documentation 101. “Restore Down” or “Un-Maximize” RSLogix5000. What we are really trying to

do is see some desktop to the side of RSLogix5000. 102. Click on rung #4 of the main program and drag it to the desktop. A Scrap file is

created. 103. Open another instance of 5000 and create a new project as shown below:

This little description can be very handy for showing a troubleshooter what a module is used for

If the description is longer than the width of the Controller Organizer, no problem. Just hover over the description as shown here and a tool tip will show the description in its entirety.


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104. Once the project is created, open the main routine and drop the scrap file into rung

#0. The logic is there and complete. Scrap files are only supported in ladder. At this point, the tags are all undefined, so those will have to be taken care of separately.

105. We can now use cut and paste to augment the scrap file functionality. Go back to

the first instance of 5000, go to Edit Tags, select all the tags and do a Ctrl+C. Then go into edit tags in the second instance of 5000 and do a Ctrl+V. That worked fairly well, until we tried to copy a UDT, which we didn’t create yet in the new project:

106. Now use Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V to copy and paste the “tank” UDT, as well. Congratulations, you now know a lot of tips and tricks that will help make selling Logix

even more fun and rewarding! Extra Task: Create a trend for conv_timer.ACC, but don’t start capturing data until the

value of conv_timer.ACC is greater than 10,000 and stop when the value is greater than 25,000. (Hint: use Triggers (no, not Tiggers, use Triggers.)) Sampling data is what Triggers do best. We might just be interested in what happens right before and right after that, so set up pre-sampling and post-sampling both to 1 second. Log all this data into a time-based streaming file (put the file on the desktop so you’ll be able to find it easily) so that it can be viewed offline, then view it offline. Hint: Right click on the Trends folder in the Controller Organizer, then click Open Trend Log. Run the trend again, but log the data as a .csv file and view it in an Excel spreadsheet. The


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spreadsheet will then show you Start and Stop Trigger values in addition to number of Pre-Samples and Post-Samples.

How does Sampling Period affect the number of data points? If you put in a Sample Period of 10 ms, and click on the Samples radio button, the highest number that you will be able to put in is 720,000 Samples. Try to put in a higher number and you will get a message telling you that the maximum is 720,000, because you can’t squeeze more than 720,000 samples into 2 hrs if you are taking a sample every 10 ms. If you put a Sample Period of 1 ms, then the highest number of sample will be 7,200,000. Again, if you put in a higher number, you’ll get a message. The math behind this: 2 hrs = 7,200,000 ms: 2 hrs * (3600 sec/hr) * (1000 ms/sec) (2 hr buffer is constraint)

if our Sample Period is 10 ms, then 7,200,000 ms / (10 ms/sample)= 720,000 samples max. (we get samples every 10 ms until 2 hrs is filled up)

if our Sample Period is 1 ms, then 7,200,000 ms / (1 ms/sample)= 7,200,000 samples max. (we get samples every 1 ms until 2 hrs is filled up)

and so forth. Extra Task: When doing online edits, do your customers have trouble remembering

what those letters mean by the LH power rail? There are I, R, D, e, i and r. You can execute a find for each of these types of edits. When you select the type of edit, it gives a short explanation of what the letters mean. Go into the “Find in Routines” window to see this. (We used “Find in Routines” for both Edits and Forces.). Hint: Select a blank line in “Find Where:” in order to activate “Find What:”

Extra Task: Copy some logic in any language and paste special (select “Picture” type

into Word or Powerpoint). This is a great technique for salespeople to put logic into a presentation. Of course, it won’t look like a full-blown screen capture, but it is a good alternative if you don’t have screen capture software.

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RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 2