Link Creation Disabled for PLCs that Cannot be Pre-Scanned

[Controls Guy]

"New Link" requires a PLC that will answer a general poll.

I can reach the PLC if I can manually configure a link, but DMD won't let me manually create one from scratch, only create one based choosing one of the PLCs that answered the scan.   If I have one in the existing list I no longer need, I can edit it and it will work, but the ones on my list are there because I could foresee using them again.

Probably a scenario weird enough that it was never foreseen or workflow-tested.

Update:   You can still get to the classic link configuration dialog via the 'Find My PLC' button in the dialog (not intuitive placement for me, but fine now that I know where to find it).

[BobO]

We didn?t finish what was planned. The Find button was going to invoke a new dialog that didn?t get completed, and just got hooked to an existing facility.

[Controls Guy]

No that's actually perfect.   It was the LACK (or actually my not finding) the existing facility that was screwing me up.

The new paradigm is based on the idea of creating links around PLC's that can be detected when the link does not yet exist, which makes sense for most cases.

If there's routing involved, you won't be able to detect the PLC till the link exists, thus the need for purely manual link configuration method, which was what I could no longer find (till I looked inside Find My PLC).

[BobO]

No that's actually perfect.   It was the LACK (or actually my not finding) the existing facility that was screwing me up.

The new paradigm is based on the idea of creating links around PLC's that can be detected when the link does not yet exist, which makes sense for most cases.

If there's routing involved, you won't be able to detect the PLC till the link exists, thus the need for purely manual link configuration method, which was what I could no longer find (till I looked inside Find My PLC).

The intention is to create a link wizard on steroids that helps with troubleshooting and guided manual link creation. It didn't get finished.

[Controls Guy]

Looking forward to seeing it!   The new version link UI is already a big jump forward from what we used to have.   Really like it.

[franji1]

You can still manually create links.  Just hit the Find My PLC... button on the Select PLC Connection dialog.

This brings up the old Wizard, which utilizes similar functionality.  From there you can hit the old old Link Editor to manually create links by hand (where the PLC is on the Internet, for example).

[Controls Guy]

Yup.  That's what I found.  What had me going in circles was that the old New Link button called the new connection dialog, and if didn't occur to me at first to look in Find My PLC to find the old Link Editor.

[Mike Nash]

I just joined the carousel. This is really, really counter-intuitive. And I already knew something had changed (seen in this old thread) and still couldn't find the Link Editor of old.

This is for a PLC on a VPN. I know all the details, Net Edit 3 can see it using Connect Single. But...

Please add a direct link in Launchpad for the old editor. Find My PLC... is digging too deep.

Also, in the dialog box - No Connection Selected,
   "... or just hit [Cancel]."
doesn't help me find my PLC. The wording "Or just" is misleading.

I do like the Select Ethernet Networks function.

[franji1]

That dialog casters to the person having a new PLC in front of them and creating a connection to that new PLC.  Definitely not for a PLC on a VPN with expert user understanding of subnets, network adapters, etc.

Currently, to configure a PLC that is not on your local network from that dialog, you do have to do the following instead:
1. Hit Find My PLC button (this is the old Link Wizard, which also does not support PLCs on a VPN)
2. Hit the Link Editor button

We can definitely add Link Editor button to the Links group in the Launch Pad to help where the IP Address is known for a PLC not on the local network.