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The L5X Tags sheet is used to query tags from an Allen Bradley PLC program file in order , to aid in more quickly configuring the polling of an EtherNet/IP device in the ACE Configuration editor. The Allen Bradley tags are queried from its L5X (XML) configuration file and displayed in the L5X Tags sheet of the ACE Configuration Management Utility. The user can then select which tags to poll, and the ACE Configuration Management ACM Utility will automatically add the following information into an ACE configuration:
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Initial Setup of ACE Configuration
The first step is to create an ACE configuration file that includes the basic configuration for a RediGate or Director. The ACE Configuration Management Utility doesn’t automatically create all the ACE objects, but Editor objects necessary to configuring an EtherNet/IP. It only fills in the existing tables of an already-configured EtherNet/IP Field Unit.
Thus, the first step is to create an ACE configuration file that will serve as the basic configuration for a RediGate or Director. All the required elements, such as AsyncPorts, Ethernet ports, Firewall, SerialMMI, etc., must be configured within the ACE Editor. The configuration must also include at least one (or more sets ) set of the 5 required components for polling an Allen Bradley EtherNet/IP device:
Master Channel - Scan Table may begin with a blank table .and will be filled in by the ACM Utility, but all other settings should be configured in the ACE Editor.
NetCircuit - Circuit should use Master Network Port = of 44818, and the IP address of the PLC in the Connect Table.
FieldUnitEthernetIP - the Field Unit definition needs requires a unique Unit Address under the each Master Channel. This Unit Address doesn’t correspond to an actual address in of the PLC, but it is needed by the Master Channel to uniquely identify the each PLC for scanning purposes. The Poll Table can begin blank and will be filled in by the ACM Utility. Other settings (Controller Type, etc.), should be set up based on Elecsys documentation for EtherNet/IP devices (see https://elecsysdocs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IDG/pages/296343/Protocol+EtherNetIP-Master ).
RTDB - Database Definition may begin with a blank table and will be filled in by the ACM Utility.
TagNames - may begin with a blank table and will be filled in by the ACM Utility.
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L5X Import Menu
The L5X Import sheet is used to manage the selection of Allen Bradley tags to be polled, and to configure one of the XML configurations included on the Configurations sheet.
NOTE: It When using the Modify feature of the ACM Utility, it is normally recommended in the Main Menu of the ACM Utility for Modify routines to use either a different Output XML Path and/or Output File Suffix from the source configurations, so the modified ACE configuration files XML configurations will not overwrite the original files. The same thing can be done for the L5X Import utility as well – however, be sure to realize that if you make changes to the L5X configuration, and then wish later to make further to the configuration, you would need to select the modified ACE XML file to begin with. On the other hand, it . However, it is permissible to use the same Output XML Path and a blank Output File Suffix, so the changes to an EtherNet/IP field unit will be made in place in the same configuration.After setting up the
Be aware that if you make changes to the L5X configuration and save them into a different XML file, then subsequently make further changes in the ACE Editor, you will need to select the latest (modified) ACE XML file to begin with, so that all changes are retained.
Use the List Configurations button to create a list of configurations on the Configurations sheet, . Then click on the L5X Import button in the Main Menu or the L5X Tags sheet to set up the PLC tag information.
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The L5X Import Setup dialog will configure the following items:
Select Choose the ACE XML Configuration ( from the list of included configurations on the Configurations sheet).
Choose the Master Channel and Field Unit of the Allen Bradley EtherNet/IP PLC to be polledset up for polling. Select the Master Channel first (the dropdown list only lists shows channels that have FieldUnitEthernetIP objects). Then select the Ethernet/IP Field Unit from the list of Field Units under that channel.
Choose the L5X Program File of the PLC. Using the Rockwell Studio 5000 application, save the program This must be a file in L5X format (Logix Designer XML File) that has been saved using the Rockwell Studio 5000 application.
Select or create an L5X Tag Setup File. Clearing the L5X Tag Setup File field will cause ACM to default to the same name as the L5X Program File (with an extension of “.L5Xtags”).
This is This will be a unique file used by the ACM Utility to help manage details of tags selected for polling on every Field Unit - – thus, the .L5Xtags files should be named uniquely have a name that is unique for each Field Unit.
Clearing the L5X Tag Setup File field will cause the ACM Utility to default to the same name as the L5X Program File (with an extension of “.L5Xtags”).
This file is not used by the RediGate or Director, but it is used by ACM in case the L5X Import details are modified in the future. Thus, it should be stored along with either the ACE XML configuration file or the L5X program file for future reference.Set the Default Scan Period (in seconds). This can be modified for individual polls later. The Scan Period can be set to a negative number, which will disable all scans.
Choose Select whether to include Program Tags from the PLC file, or just global tags. Including Program . Leaving the box unchecked will use only global tags. Including Program Tags will increase the time to read data from the L5X file somewhat, depending on how large the program is.
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After setting up all the detailsL5X Import settings, click the OK (List L5X Tags) button to create a list of all the L5X tags for the PLC, and then switch to the L5X Tags sheet.
Clicking the Close button after making changes in the L5X Input Setup dialog will prompt to keep the changes, but will not refresh the list of tags.
Clicking the Go to L5X Tags List or Main Menu button will close the dialog (any changes will be lost), and open the L5X Tags sheet or return to the Main Menu dialog.
After clicking the OK button, a dialog will summarize what is being done before listing the L5X tags. Click the Cancel button to return to the L5X Import Setup dialog or OK to continue.
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L5X Tags Sheet
After the L5X program file has been read, the tags will be listed on the L5X Tags sheet. An example is shown below. All known AOI and UDT nested structures are will be automatically expanded to show their inner tags.
Most of the information in the L5X Tags sheet is informational only and doesn’t does not need to be modified. The main column first column (Include=1) is typically the only one that needs to be modified is the Include=1 column, and perhaps the Scan Period. Occasionally, the Data Type and Bit Position columns may need to be modified to read an integer and store individual bits, instead of storing the whole value into an integer register.
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Scan Period – This column contains the default scan rate from the L5X Import dialog (in seconds) and will be saved into the Master Channel’s Scan Table. The Scan Period may be changed manually for individual tags. A negative Scan Period can be used, which will disable
# - This column shows the numerical order of the tags as read from the L5X program file. This column should not be modified. If the table is sorted by another column for some reason, this “#” column can be used to re-sort the table back into its original order.
Tag Name – This column contains the top-level tag (or array or AOI or UDT) name used in the L5X program file. Cells are blank except for the top-level tag name.
Element Name – This is the expansion of the top-level tag plus additional array or AOI/UDT structures defining each individual tag. These are the tag names that will be polled by the RediGate or Director.
Array elements are named using square brackets, such as “DINTARY[0]” or “Ary2D[0,0]”.
AOI/UDT nested structures are noted with “.” separating the levels, such as: “myUDT_tag.myUDT_inStrc.innerINT”.
Program tags are prefixed with “Program:” and the program name, such as: “Program:MainProgram.COUNTER1.ACC”.
Data Type – This is the PLC Data Type for the tag or AOI/UDT. Primitive data types (such as BOOL/BIT, SINT, DINT, REAL), some standard AOI/UDT types (such as TIMER, PID, STRING, COUNTER), and some custom structures may be supported if they are defined in the L5X file.
If you desire to read an integer type (INT, SINT, DINT) and store individual bits to Boolean registers, you will need to modify the Data Type column to be: SINT_BIT, INT_BIT, or DINT_BIT (respectively, all uppercase) for each data tag to be handled in this way. (Also modify the Bit Position column to identify individual bits.)Array Size – This is the array size for array variables. The ACM Utility and the RediGate/Director only currently support up to 2-dimensional arrays.
Bit Position – This is the bit position of a BOOL/BIT within an analog word. For individual bits that are part of AOI/UDT structures, this value is simply included in the ACM Utility as information.
If you wish to read an integer type (INT, SINT, DINT) and store individual bits to Boolean registers, you will need to modify the Data Type column, as described above. Also, modify the Bit Position column to be a comma-separated list of bit numbers to read, where bits are numbered from 0 (least significant).
Example – you wish to read a DINT tag named “DINTARY[0]” (first element in a DINT array) and store only the 1st, 2nd, and last bits as Booleans: DINTARY[0].0, DINTARY[0].1, DINTARY[0].31. Modify the Data Type column to be “DINT_BIT” and the Bit Position column to be “0,1,31”.Read/Write – This is the Read/Write type for the tag, if it’s declared in the L5X file or known structure.
Tag Depth – This is an indication in the ACM Utility of the level of the tag within an array or AOI/UDT structure, where 1 is a top-level tag, and numbers increase with increasing depth.
Alias – For any tags configured in the L5X file with an alias name, this column displays that information.
Hidden – For tags that are hidden, they are shown here with “TRUE”.
Usage – For tags that include a “Usage” property, they are shown here.
TimeInterval – The TimeInterval column is used in the ACM to indicate how much time elapsed from the beginning of reading the L5X tags. This is diagnostic information only.
In summary, view the L5X Import Setup dialog and enter information specifying configuration, channel, unit, and L5X program file. Click Below is shown an example of the L5X Tags sheet with the following tags selected:
two inner tags of customTimer, DINTARY[1], DINTARY[3], and four bits of DINTARY[5] (0,1,16, and 31) stored into Boolean registers. The default Scan Period is 5 seconds, but has been changed to 1 second for DINTARY[3] and DINTARY[5].
Note that because the top-level “customTimer” structure (newTimerUDT data type) is polled, as well as the individual elements of the structure, it leads to a difference in the Poll Table, as will be explained in the next section.
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In summary, the process of configuration is to 1) view the L5X Import Setup dialog and enter information specifying configuration, channel, unit, and L5X program file; 2) click the OK button to read tags from the L5X file. Select ; 3) select tags to include in the polling by entering data under the Include column. Optionally, enter comma-separated list of bits under Bit Position to identify bits within integers. 4) Then click the Save to XML button to set up the PLC tag polling in the RediGate or Director configuration (see below).
Save to XML
After setting up the L5X Tags sheet to select tags for polling, click the Save to XML button. Make sure the configuration is not open in the ACE Editor. After changes are made, the configuration will need to be re-opened in the ACE Editor to view the changes or to load to a RediGate or Director.
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After saving the data to the XML configuration file, it will need to be re-opened in the ACE Editor to see the changes. The ACM Utility also saves a record of the included tags into Below is shown an example of several tags imported into an ACE configuration.
Poll Table: DINT values are polled into registers 47001-47003, Booleans are polled into registers 1-33.
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Because the top-level customTimer structure was selected for polling in addition to the inner elements, the Poll Table lists “customTimer” as a “Struct” data type. Only this poll is scanned in the Scan Table (below). The following 6 lines in the Poll Table are “continuation polls” which define how the RediGate or Director will parse the integer or Boolean data elements from the single polled structure.
If the top-level customTimer row had not been polled, it would have appeared as two separate (scanned) polls for only the customTimer.ACC and customTimer.DN.
Scan Table: Only rows 1, 8, 9, and 10 in the Poll Table need to be scanned. Note the Scan Period column matches the Scan Period column for each scanned poll, as defined in the ACM Utility.
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RTDB Table: Registers defined at 1-33 and 47001-47003.
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TagName Table: Only the names for the polled tags appear in the TagNames object. Note that the Poll Table reads the DINTARY[5] and extracts all 32 bits into RTDB registers 2-33. But only registers 2, 3, 18, and 33 have tag names associated with them. If this data is sent via Report By Exception to a protocol (such as Sparkplug-B) that can report only registers with tag names, then only the named tags will be sent, even though there may be data stored in the non-tagged Boolean registers.
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The L5X Import Setup dialog (above) set up a configuration for the L5X Tag Setup File (.L5Xtags extension) configured in the L5X Import Setup dialog. This file is used later upon . When the ACM Utility saves data into the XML configuration file, it also records a list of the included tags into the .L5Xtags file, to be used later when re-reading the L5X program file and modifying the tag list for ACE. The name of the .L5Xtags filename file (including full path) is stored within the ACE configuration as the Description of the TagNames object:
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Note: the ACE configuration (any of the 5 tables) can be changed manually in the ACE Editor after saving data using the “Save to XML” option of the ACM Utility. However, any manual changes in changes made to these tables manually within the ACE Editor to these tables will be overwritten the next time the ACM Utility is used to import data from the L5X file.
The above process of selecting the Master Channel, Field Unit, L5X program, and .L5Xtags file should be repeated for every PLC (Field Unit) polled within a given ACE configuration. It is not necessary to save the ACM Utility Excel spreadsheet file for each L5X Tags import action, because the .L5Xtags file (for every Channel/Unit) retains the information needed to repeat or modify the L5X Import in the future.
After the XML configuration file has been fully set up, use the ACE Editor to load the configuration into a RediGate or Director for testing.