New features wanted!! Apply here!

[milldrone]

I would like to see a "warning" for double Vmem counters and timers that we about to "step on " an adjacent  timer or counter Vmem address. Perhaps with a "don't warn me again" check box for the programmers that don't want the warning and like to live on the wild side.

So if you were editing a program and you decided to change a TMR to a TMRA as soon as you completed the timer box (and an adjacent Vmem was already assigned) then the warning would appear. Or if you decided to add a TMR and the address was already assigned to a TMRA then the warning would appear.

[bnufer]

I have to agree on warning about double word outputs of I-boxes.  I had an issue with this when upgrading to one of the new 16-bit analog cards.  Can you make 16bit bin single word and let 16bit BCD go double word.  I rarely use BCD, someone who uses both may feel differently on this.

Another thing is the constants, K-values, in the math I-boxes.  Can we get H for hex or D for decimal.  I frequently have an analog conditional argument in K(hex)  leading to a math i-box where everything has to be K(decimal).

 

[franji1]

Another thing is the constants, K-values, in the math I-boxes.  Can we get H for hex or D for decimal.  I frequently have an analog conditional argument in K(hex)  leading to a math i-box where everything has to be K(decimal).

We're currently experimenting with specifying constants like you do in C:
10
0xA
012

These all represent the same value as "one more than 9"
We prefer this over creating "type" constants (e.g. K, H, O, D, R, B).

The hard part is the "upload" issue.  The PLC instructions does not store the type, so there is no way to "reverse compile" the program and get what you started with.

What we are looking to do, is allow you to enter
V1000 + 0x0A
V1000 + 10
V1000 + 012
and they would all add 10 to V1000 (assuming, of course, we're dealing with decimal).

Basically, we don't know what you are doing (e.g. pointer arithmetic? you may want to use octal constants???), so what if we let you use WHAT YOU WANT!  (what a concept!)

[enorthcutt]

I agree with the earlier post on the need for 'master' Profibus capability.  Also, need more motion control capability.  We tried CITRO with stepper motors but were not satisfied.  With AD now selling servos, it seems a logical next step to have advanced motion control and communication.

[plcnut]

It Would be super helpful to me if DS's PID Trend view could record the trends for multiple loops simultaneously. I have a hard time trying to tune some of my cascading loops whenever the process is slow acting, and one loops tuning affects the other. I only need to view one loop at a time, but if I jump from loop to loop, my trending graph starts all over again. Thanks for a great program and a great forum!!!
Jason

[MarkTTU]

It Would be super helpful to me if DS's PID Trend view could record the trends for multiple loops simultaneously. I have a hard time trying to tune some of my cascading loops whenever the process is slow acting, and one loops tuning affects the other. I only need to view one loop at a time, but if I jump from loop to loop, my trending graph starts all over again. Thanks for a great program and a great forum!!!
Jason

I'll second that!

[BobO]

Also, need more motion control capability.  We tried CITRO with stepper motors but were not satisfied.  With AD now selling servos, it seems a logical next step to have advanced motion control and communication.

We have kicked around motion on several occasions, but find that we really don't know much about the subject. What exactly should we be doing that we aren't? Our challenge is to present a simple but powerful solution, that answers more questions than it creates. It is easy to create features, but in AutomationDirect's market space, it is important that the features be simple to use and very supportable via the telephone. Put another way...if you could choose 5 well-bounded motion behaviors...what would they be? I say behaviors as opposed to features, because I am more interested in what you are trying to do than I am in the features that most folks use to do them.

[Pippin]

New feature?

Actually, my corporate network police almost had a cow when they discovered that the new Ecom100's have built-in web hosting to set parameters that is not password protected and can not be turned off.  And then they went on to point out how easy it would be for someone to screw up a working PLC totally just by running across this feature and typing random crap into every possible field.

I know PLC's should not be on a "real" network . . . but I bet than I'm not the only person who still does it that way.

[BobO]

So what yer sayin' is that it is a bad idea to let folks screw stuff up? 

That's the irony though...some folks like the power and get mad when you take it away, and other's think it's horrible and insist that you do. You may have seen some on my comments elsewhere on the forum that talk about that very issue: where do we draw the line in giving folks a length of rope whereby they can hang themselves? I tend toward not doing so. Others disagree. We still get along.

This one seems like a clear problem though. I think we need to provide a mechanism for turning off the web server's ability to change stuff. Would someone from tech please see that such a thing happens? Soon.

PS. Just once would I like to be in the room when an IT guy actually gave bovine birth!! 

[Greg]

...I think we need to provide a mechanism for turning off the web server's ability to change stuff. Would someone from tech please see that such a thing happens? Soon...

I have entered a case in our database.

[Pippin]

I like long rope . . . yeah, if your not careful, you can hang yourself, but when "other people" make assumptions about how you may want to use a certain type of device, you can almost bet that the decision that will be made will result in problems for someone somewhere along the line.

Case in Point. Graphing widgets in <someone else's product . . . which begins with C and ends with More>.  Why are limits defined only during screen design time? I really need an auto-scaling plot.  I swear sometimes that if I could only have gotten one of the old ez-touch panels but with ethernet, my life would be perfect. <Grin>  That was a nice panel . . .

[Pippin]

Not Ez-touch . . . whatever used the old Screen Creator software  . . . the ones you could twiddle new features with in a version of basic.

[Greg]

I hear you, Pippin, however, the C-more nor the EZ-Touch panels and their software are/were our products. We did create the EZ-Ethernet and EZ-EtherPLUS cards that plugged into the EZ-Touch panels and wrote the section in EZ Touch Software that allowed you to configure them.

So your thoughts might be better served by posting on AutomationDirect's Forum. 

[jbrazington]

Trending of anything. I would love to be able to trend registers, IO, or anything for machine and/or ladder troubleshooting. Ibox's are the best thing ever created, so more improvements on those, like an ibox that allows you to right small basic or C programs. The ability to store an entire project on a plc with documentation. And for the radical, added support to program plc's using flow chart decision blocks (not stage, although I do love stage), or text, instead of ladder logic. For the super radical, the ability to program inverters and servo drives using directsoft, especially Iboxes custom formulas (for taperd tension winders or diameter calc)! OK, maybe I went a little to far, I will forward this to the north pole and see if Santa's Elves could help
P.S. I love the idea of on board usb and/or ethernet, especially since serial seems to be disapearing.

[franji1]

We're definitely addressing much of what jbrazington listed, although not everything will be in Rel 6 (but we're definitely looking at it for inclusion in a future version!).

Keep the wishes coming, especially with a little detail as jbrazington has done!