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Author Topic: DirectSoft6  (Read 29848 times)

chiali

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DirectSoft6
« on: October 23, 2014, 05:08:21 PM »
Hi, everybody

Dear developers; where are the promises for DS6.
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BobO

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2014, 05:33:11 PM »
ADC would really prefer me to not give dates on unreleased products, but current indications are that it is a couple of months out. The code was completed earlier this year, but ADC wanted to do some significant work on the manual.
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"It has recently come to our attention that users spend 95% of their time using 5% of the available features. That might be relevant." -BobO

Controls Guy

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2014, 09:25:57 PM »
What's new in 6?  Any goodies inherited from Do-More?
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I retract my earlier statement that half of all politicians are crooks.  Half of all politicians are NOT crooks.  There.

b_carlton

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2014, 11:07:25 PM »
A thing to note in Directsoft is that the good folks at Host are limited to the inherent capabilities in CPUs whose firmware is controlled by those far away (Japan I believe). They can make the writing of a program a better experience but cannot expand the capabilities of the system.

With the Do-more, on the other hand, the same people (or at least group of people) write the programming package AND control the capabilities of the system.

But I trust they will treat us well.
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An output is a PLC's way of getting its inputs to change.

BobO

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2014, 01:13:08 AM »
I don't want to spoil the rollout, nor do I want to create unrealistic expectations. As Bernie rightly pointed out, the controller is what it is, and much of what makes Do-more possible is the engine and architecture. We've definitely brought some Do-more code over, but this is still DL.
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"It has recently come to our attention that users spend 95% of their time using 5% of the available features. That might be relevant." -BobO

ATU

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2014, 10:55:20 PM »
Noticed 6 is out.  If you open a DS5 file and don't add any of the newer features, can you save the project as DS5 compatible? Will you need to upgrade firmware?
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BobO

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2014, 01:20:32 AM »
Quote from: ATU on December 18, 2014, 10:55:20 PM
Noticed 6 is out.  If you open a DS5 file and don't add any of the newer features, can you save the project as DS5 compatible? Will you need to upgrade firmware?

No firmware changes. Actually not sure on the project file. Might be fine if you don't use any new IBoxes. We'll find out though...
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"It has recently come to our attention that users spend 95% of their time using 5% of the available features. That might be relevant." -BobO

MikeS

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2014, 03:47:52 PM »
+1 on Bob's comment. If you do not use any of the new features your DS6-edited project will remain compatible with DS5.
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mhw

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2015, 10:20:01 AM »
I am disappointed to see that "prefer nickname over element" was not added to the ladder options. I hope this will be added in the near future. The "create nickname" dialog box that allows assigning a nickname to the next unused element is a DMD feature that is also missed.
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BobO

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2015, 10:44:11 AM »
There are certainly some Do-more-isms that can be retro-fit into DirectSoft, and we'll make note of all requests...however...some of what we are able to do in Do-more is a function of a *big* redesign of internals and a completely new control engine. A frustrated user over on ADC's forum made the comment that DSP6 was "lipstick on a pig", and sadly there is some truth to that. The programming package is exactly that...a pretty face on the controller...but the controller is what it is and DL is substantially a 20+ year old engine. IBoxes were Host's best effort to enhance the PLC's feature set, but there is only so much that you can do.

While it would be possible to rewrite DirectSoft to 2015 standards and I'm sure we could greatly improve the programming environment itself, such an effort could never begin to return the required investment. So what we have tried to do is pick and choose some of DmD's more useful stuff and move it to DirectSoft, but obviously we can only do this where PLC and software architecture permits. Of course even DmD still contains enough DirectSoft legacy that we are still working to bring certain aspects of it up to 2015. We were just having a discussion about when we were going to break down and rewrite the ladder editor to current standards (full undo/redo, drag and drop, etc) and when we would start trying to put an SFC face on Stage. Seems likely that Rel 3 is the answer to both, but we'll see.

So...summary point...please tell us what you you'd like to see in DSP6.1 and beyond, but also understand that there are limits to what we can do within the framework we are operating in.
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Mike Nash

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Re: DirectSoft6
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2015, 11:26:02 AM »
Quote from: BobO on January 09, 2015, 10:44:11 AM
We were just having a discussion about when we were going to break down and rewrite the ladder editor to current standards (full undo/redo, drag and drop, etc) and when we would start trying to put an SFC face on Stage. Seems likely that Rel 3 is the answer to both, but we'll see.

Yes please! But! For me, I would like to see at least the option to force use of a keyboard key such as Ctrl before drag and drop will function. It is just too blasted easy to unintentionally drag something elsewhere - worse still if you didn't happen to notice it.
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