Step-by-step Tutorial

Settings Tabpage

After starting the MultiOnlineChange tool, you will see the tabpage Settings:

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  1. The combo box Project is filled with the PLCs found in the Automation Builder project. Select one of them as reference project to download to several PLCs. The combo box can be refreshed via button Refresh.

  2. The field Path to CODESYS shows the path, where the file CoDeSys.exe is available. This path is read from the registry. If the path cannot be retrieved from the registry, the tool will immediately exit after start-up.

  3. The field Default Path for *.ri files is an optional field. It is recommended that you define a folder here.

    Note

    For Vista/Windows 7 compatibility reasons do not change the proposed path.

  4. If the checkbox Ignore PLC if IP address is not available is checked, then all functions will ignore any PLC, which does not reply to a ping command (the IP state of the PLC is shown by different background colours). In normal operation, this checkbox should be checked. Otherwise the tool will try to access the defined IP in any case.

  5. The checkbox Start PLC program after Multi Download defines, if the program is started on each PLC after a multi download.

  6. Check the checkbox Create boot project, if a boot project should be created.

  7. Change the default for the maximum time to wait for results (100 seconds).

  8. The field Gateway Driver allows the selection of one of the following two options:

    • ABB Tcp/Ip Level 2 AC
    • TCP/IP

Buttons and Status Bar

The 4 buttons at the bottom of the dialog have the following functions:

  • Save: After the definition of PLCs and settings is finished, all data can be saved in an XML file.
  • Load: Load a previously saved XML file.
  • Online Change: Perform a plausibility check and start online change.
  • Multi Download: Perform a plausibility check and start multi download.

The status bar below the buttons shows information about the status of operations.

For this tutorial, we do not start any operations at the moment. Instead, switch to the tabpage PLCs, where we configure the PLCs we want to address.

Tabpage PLCs

The tabpage PLCs looks like this:

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In the figure, there are already 2 PLCs added to the table. Each row represents 1 PLC.

The first row of the table has an orange frame: Here the master PLC must be defined. The master or reference PLC is the PLC, which will be used for changing the project and testing it later, before a download or online change is performed to the other PLCs in the table.

In the columns of the table, the following data is entered:

  • Column IP address: Enter the IP address of the PLC.
  • Column Directory: Define the directory, in which the *.ri file will be stored. Each PLC must have its own directory. If you double-click a selected cell, a browse button is shown. By clicking this button, you can browse a directory (if you want to do this, the directory must exist already). If you type a directory which does not exist yet, it will be created later during multi download.

Note

If you have defined a default folder for:emphasis:*.ri files on the tabpage Settings, this column will be completed automatically by entering an IP address and confirming it with Enter or Tab. In this case, the defined folder is the default folder and a subfolder with IP of the PLC (dots in the IP address are replaced by “-“).

Note

For Vista/Windows 7 compatibility reasons do not change the proposed path.

  • Column Comment: A comment for each PLC can be made here. This comment has no influence on the operation of the MultiOnlineChange tool, but will be stored in the data XML file.

  • Column Online: This column contains a button for each PLC. By pressing this button you can start CODESYS and log in to the PLC defined in this row.

  • Column Results will be explained in “Verifying the Download/Online Change Success” Verifying the Download/Online Change Success.

    Each IP address and each directory must be unique. Do not define the same IP or directory twice. If you do so, you will get an error message when you try to perform an action.

The context menu of the table can be opened by right mouse click and contains the\ following functions:

  • Add single PLC line: Adds 1 row to enter a new PLC.
  • Delete selected PLC lines: Deleted selected rows.
  • Add IP range: With this function, you can add a range of IP addresses by defining the start IP address, the end IP address and the increment. E.g. if you select start IP 192.168.3.1 and end IP 192.168.3.10 and increment 3, the following IP addresses will be created:
    • 192.168.3.1
    • 192.168.3.4
    • 192.168.3.7
    • 192.168.3.10
  • Clear Data: Delete all entries in the table.
  • Check IPs: Perform a check, using the ping command to see, if the defined PLCs are available. After the check, the IP addresses of all available PLCs are shown with green background, unavailable PLCs with a red background. White background means state unknown.