RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 2

In this lab we will examine more tips and tricks in RSLogix 5000. Some of these are
brand new. Others have been around a while, but have been virtually unknown by the
masses. Again, any RSLogix 5000 user will realize productivity gains by using these
tips and tricks.

Key Topics Covered in this Lab: Commented [JC1]: A couple more items I thought of …

1. Printing. There is a lot of flexibility with printing that I’ve

 Trending Enhancements discovered most users are completely unaware of. It is so
context-sensitive that it is difficult for the user to grasp.
 Quick Trends We’re providing a simplified interface in v13 but the context
 1 ms Samples sensitive printing will still remain in tact. Let me know if you’d
 Logging (view Trends offline or in Excel) like to discuss this more.
2. The String Browser. It is available from the Data Monitor
 Start, Stop Triggers for a String tag. I can elaborate if you want but you might
 Pre-Sampling, Post Sampling already cover it in one of your existing labs. It’s a pretty slick
little browser.
 Customize the editor, Type Ahead, Bookmarks, Quick View Pane, etc, etc.

Start with the “RSLogix 5000 Tips and Tricks: Part 1” project that you left off with at the
end of the last lab.

Trending

Quick Trends (new in V12)

1. This one is new in Version 12. In rung 5 of the main routine, right click on Commented [JC2]: …so is the Find All “a_timer.DN”.
Should talk about this new enhancement in the Find section.
“a_timer.DN” and click on “Trend “a_timer.DN””. Make sure you click on the Feedback for adding the Find All to this context menu came
tag, not the instruction. directly from HOT feedback!

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 1 07/19/16
2. If the trend is not running, click on Run:

3. It went past fast. It is flying past way too fast for me. Right click on the chart, and
select Chart Properties.

4. Under the “X-Axis” tab, change the 2 second time span to 20 seconds and click
OK…That’s better. But that blue sure is difficult to see against that black
background.

5. Right click on the chart againChart PropertiesDisplay Tabdouble click

Background Color.

6. Change the color to white and click OK in the Color Window.

7. Go to the Y-Axis, select Custom, and set the minimum and maximum value to –1
and 2, as shown below. This way, we’ll actually be able to see the data.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 2 07/19/16
8. Click OK. The chart now looks like:

The chart is
now easier
to read.

9. Close the chart by click the “X” in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
DON’T close the whole project, just the trend (only an issue if the trend is
maximized):

10. The following dialog appears:

11. So far, we have only created a V12 Quick Trend. This dialog is asking if we want
to create a saved trend that we’ll have access to later. That sounds like a good
idea. Click Yes.

12. The next screen that appears is the General tab for our trend. Set the Sample
Period to 100 ms instead of 10 ms, then click Next.

Note: Before V12, the fastest trend Sample Period was 10 ms, but with V12, it is
possible to sample as fast as 1 ms. We set our sample rate at 100 ms because it is fast
enough for the tag we are trending. Getting Trend data out of the controller is the 2nd
highest priority task, lower only than the Motion Task. Scan time will take about a 200 us
hit for the first tag trended, with very little additional scan time taken for additional tags.
The faster you want to trend data, the fewer tags you will be able to trend. If you try to
trend beyond the capabilities of the controller, you will notice screen updates get very

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 3 07/19/16
slow, you’ll get a CIP error in the pane at the bottom of the screen, and you may even be
kicked offline. How much sampling is possible? Testing is still being done, but as an
example, at a 1 ms sample rate, only 1 Trend Object can be set up, with fewer than 8 tags.
At a 2 ms rate, 1 Trend Object with 8 tags is possible. Even though the Trend Object is
gathering the data in the 2nd highest priority task, getting that data to RSLogix 5000
happens in the Background Task. So, raising your Time Slice is sometimes necessary to
allow RSLogix 5000 to get the data from the Trend Object in the controller.

13. We won’t be changing the tag, but you could do so here. You could also add tags
here, up to 8 tags per window or “Trend Component.” Click Finish.

14. Notice the “Trend Component” that shows up under the Controller Organizer:

Each Trend Component uses about 4K of controller memory, no matter how many tags or
how fast the sampling.

Advanced Trending (more new in V12)

15. Now that the quick trend is saved, let’s look at some new advanced trending
features. Right click on the trend a_timer_DNOpenRun the trend.

16. Notice it says that we are logging data:

17. After at least 10 seconds, click the Stop button to stop the trend.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 4 07/19/16
18. Click the Log buttonSave Trend Log AsSave to the desktop as a .CSV file.

A .tbs (time-based
streaming) file allows
you to view your data
offline! This is an extra
task.

19. Go to the desktop using the desktop icon in your system tray:

20. Double click on the file, a_timer_DN.CSV. Excel will open the file and you will
be able to see the time-stamped data that you were logging.

21. Close the Excel file.

22. How much data can be captured? A lot. Open the Chart Properties and go to the
Sampling tab. Before V12, all you could put in here was the Sample Period. With
V12, you can define a capture based on number of Samples or based on Time
Period. The third alternative is to put No Limit on the size of a capture. What is a
capture? It is the time between a Start Trigger and a Stop Trigger. These Triggers
are the last two new tabs. Triggers start and stop data collection. Some examples:
“Start collecting data when my Boolean tag goes from 0 to 1.” or “Stop collecting
data when my DINT tag has a value equal to 3.”

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 5 07/19/16
 Check this radio button when
you want each capture to be
limited to a certain number of
samples. If you reach this
number of samples before the
stop trigger, then the oldest
data gets overwritten by the
newest data. Use when the
customer says, “I want so
many points of data.”

Check this radio button when

Check this radio button when you want each you want each capture to be
capture to be limited to a certain time period. If based strictly on the Stop
you reach this timer period before the stop Trigger or the hard drive, rather
trigger, then the oldest data gets overwritten by than number of Samples or
the newest data. Use when the customer says, “I Time Period.
want so many minutes worth of data.”

The real constraint is that the maximum total capture time length is 2 hrs. More on
this in the extra task.

23. Other features of the new trend object are pre and post-sampling, which are
looked at in the Extra Task. Close your Trend Properties window and close the
Trend itself.

Go To Dialog (also Ctrl+G)

24. “Go To” or Ctrl+G is a context sensitive, very useful, under-used feature.
Context sensitive means that “Go To” will give you different options, depending
upon where you are when you select it. “Go To” works in any language editor, as
well as in the tag monitor/editor. Double click on your Main Routine and press
Ctrl+G. The following dialog appears:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 6 07/19/16
25. Type a “5” in the space under “Place caret on rung:” and press Enter. Notice you
go to rung #5.

26. Right click on rung #5 and click on “Go To…”:

27. Now that we are done looking at rung #5, we need to go to some of the routines
called by our Main Routine. Click on Called Routines in the left hand part of the
window:

28. Click on Cam_modifier and click the Go To button. That is one easy way to move
from routine to routine.

29. Right Click in the Cam_modifier routine Go ToLine 20Go To button:

30. You are taken directly to line 20.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 7 07/19/16
31. On the routine, right clickGo ToCalling RoutinesMain RoutineGo To…
and now you are back to the Main Routine.

32. In rung #1, right click on the name conv_timer inside the TON instruction.

33. At the bottom of the drop down, Click Go To…MonitorGo To button. You
are now monitoring the tag.

34. Now, Go To… the Cross Reference.

35. From the Cross Reference, “Go To…” the MOV element by right clicking on it
and selecting “Goto Location.” You get the idea…For a regular user of 5000,
they’ll get great productivity out of “Go To…”

Path Bar:
36. A few neat things right in the Path Bar: Click on the Who Active button. If you
really like using a mouse, then this is probably the easiest way to get to Who
Active.

37. Click on the drop down to launch the “Select Recent Path” dialog. This button,
along with the Online button both provide tool tips, too!

38. This is an oldie but a goodie. Once you get to Who Active, note the “Set Project
Path” button. This will set your currently path to be “the” path for the project.
Close the Who Active window.

Online Bar (I’ve heard of online gambling, but never an online bar)
39. Below is what is known as the Online Bar. It is shown in its default state (Mode).
We have already looked at the Controller Properties icon. You’ve probably
noticed the nice picture of the keyswitch that moves along with the real key
switch. This Online Bar is even more interesting with a Logix5555 because there
is a fourth tab for Redundancy with lots more status information.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 8 07/19/16
 Redundancy tab goes
here for L55

40. Notice the background of Mode, currently “Rem Run,” is a lighter shade of gray
than “No Forces” or “Edits Present.” That is because Mode is currently selected.
Let’s select the “Edits” part of the Online Bar. Click on the “Edits Present” tab.
Notice the change in the graphics to the right. Notice the “Find Edits” icon which
now appears next to the “Controller Properties” icon:

41. Go To rung #0 of the Main Routine.

42. Click the “Find Edits” icon in the Online Bar. Click on “Find All” once your
window matches the one below:

43. Notice that in the Search Results window it says that 3 occurrences of an edit was
found. Scroll up the Search Results pane until you see:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 9 07/19/16
44. Double click in the Search Results pane right on the text that says “Rung 9”.
Notice that the caret is now on the line that has the edit. You can now double click
on either of the other lines in the Search Results window to go to those edits.

45. Go back to the Online Bar and Click on the text “No Forces.” Notice that the
“Find in Routines” window is still opened.

46. Click on the “Find all Forces” icon:

47. Notice that the same “Find in Routines” window is still there, but in the “Limit
to” box, the selection has been changed from “Edit Zones” to “Forces.” In other
words, the “Find” window opens with the correct “context.”

48. Currently, there are no forces, so let’s add one. Go to rung #9, right click on the
input contact, and select Force On from the dropdown menu. (You didn’t even
need your mouse for these steps.)

49. Forces are now installed but disabled. Click on the red triangle next to the word
“Forces” in the Online Bar

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 10 07/19/16
50. Under I/O Forcing, click “Enable All Forces” and click “Yes” to the warning.

51. Scroll back up to rung #0 without closing the “Find in Routines” window.

52. This time, click “Find Next” instead of “Find All,” which takes you directly to the
force rather than giving you a list in the Search Results pane.

One more great thing that the “Find In Routines” window can do for you. And, by the
way, this came directly out of one of those Friday morning HOT sessions with the
RSLogix 5000 team:

53. With the Find In Routines window still opened, change the “Limit To:” box to
“References to Tag”

54. Click on the ellipses next to “Find What:”

55. Select “a_timer.ACC”:

56. Click OK.

57. Select “Find All” or “Find Next.” To find all instances of that tag. The ability to
find tags like this was directly the result of Friday morning HOT sessions. Thanks
for your feedback.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 11 07/19/16
Miscellaneous Topics

How Type Ahead can help with the Analog Input Data Tag Issue

58. Go offline.

59. Right click on the I/O Config treeAdd Module”Clear All” buttoncheck
“Analog”click OK (we want to select 1756-IF16)

60. Fill in as shown:

61. Click Finish.

62. Click on rung #8.

63. Press Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V. This Copy and Paste wasn’t even covered in the
keyboard shortcuts because it is a trivial, but a fast, way to cut and paste.

64. You are now on rung #9. Double click on the Source tag for our MOV, which is
conv_timer.ACC. We want to change this tag. We really want to use Channel 0
from the Analog Input module.

65. Click on the arrow to get the pull down menu of tags, then select Channel 0 Data
from the slot 7 Analog Input module. You will find the Channel 0 Data after all
the individual channel faults, after the module faults, after the individual
channel’s over-range tags, under-range tags, high alarms, low alarms, high high
alarms, high low alarms, well, you get the idea.

66. With Type Ahead, the situation is greatly improved. Click on rung #8, we’ll start
over on the source, conv_timer.ACC, to show you the equivalent:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 12 07/19/16
67. Again, bring up the pull down menu for the source of the MOV instruction. Type
an “L”

68. We don’t want this “LAB_CAM” tag, so type the letter “o”, not a zero, but an
“o”. We are taken to “Local…”. Arrow down to “Local:7:I”, which is fully
collapsed, so that you cannot see all the individual tags. Your screen should look
like this:

69. Expand Local:7:I, but this time, double click on the second tag down
(Local:7:I.Ch0Fault) in the Analog Input module’s input tags, as shown below.
This tag was chosen because it was so close to the top and we recognize it as
being awful similar to the tag we REALLY want.

70. Double click on the Source tag so that it becomes highlighted:

You can get this same

affect without ever using
the mouse. Type ahead
works at each substring of a
reference.

71. Highlight just the part of the text that says “Fault” in this tag.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 13 07/19/16
72. Type a “d”. Type Ahead will fill in text for the first tag that matches
Local:7:I.Ch0d , which is Local:7:I.Ch0Data. Press Enter.

Type Ahead works in a lot of situations. It is a very useful feature for fluent users of
RSLogix5000. It probably won’t help the user who is pecking around for the first
time.

New Component Menu List

73. Press the Alt key to activate the main menu.

74. Press the “F” key to drop down the File menu.

75. Press the “W” to highlight New Component. We knew to hit “W” to get there,
because “W” is underlined in “New Component.” These techniques work in 5000,
MS Word, and just about any other software that is following Windows standards.
These access keys are also available on all dialogs. Note: In Windows 2000/XP,
the underscores might not show until you press the Alt key.

A list appears of New Components that you can create. From just about anywhere in the
software, at just about anytime, you can create any one of these components using
this method. Later in this lab, we will see the “New Component” Toolbar, which puts
this list of components into a neat little toolbar, great for when you are starting a
project from scratch.

76. We won’t use New Component here, but it is always there if you need it. Click on
the ladder to close the dropdown menus.

Customize Language Element Toolbar “Favorites”

77. Right click on the Language Element Toolbar and select Customize. This will
automatically select the Favorites tab and allow you to group your most
frequently used elements on a per language basis (Ladder, FBD and ST):

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 14 07/19/16
78. Add the TON instruction into your Favorites. Note that the instuction will be
added to the resulting toolbar in the highlighted location.

79. Click on Function Block Diagrams under Language.

80. Click “Yes” to the dialog about Applying changes to Ladder Favorites tab.

81. You can now add or remove favorites from the Function Block Diagrams tab.
Add a few instructions.

82. Click OK to shut down this dialog.

Warning: RSLogix5000 remembers your Favorites after you shut down, so don’t just go
and remove all the instructions from Favorites.

Bookmarks (a special Go To)

83. Before we get to bookmarks, move some of your toolbars around: drag the Path
Bar somewhere, drag the Online Bar somewhere, drag the Language Element
(Instruction) Bar somewhere. It is all screwed up now, isn’t it?

84. Press Alt, then V for View, then press Enter for Toolbars. Notice the “Restore
Factory Toolbar Layout” button. Click this button to restore order to your screen.
Notice that all of your “Favorites” customizations are still there.

85. With the Toolbars window still opened, check each of the toolbars that is
currently unchecked. Each in turn will appear, showing a set of icons that a user
may or may not want to display at anytime.

86. Pay special attention to the New Component toolbar. This toolbar is especially
useful during the design phase of a project:

87. Make sure “Language Editor Editing” is checked and click OK.

88. “Language Editor Editing” is a fancy name for bookmarks. Highlight the “4” in
rung #4 in the main routine.

89. Click on the Insert/Remove Bookmark icon:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 15 07/19/16
90. Highlight rung #0 of the “more_ladder” routine.

91. Click on the Insert/Remove Bookmark icon again.

92. Add more bookmarks if you wish. Then, click the Prev Bookmark and Next
Bookmark icons to scroll through all of your bookmarks.

93. Click on View All or Goto Bookmark to go directly to a bookmark:

94. Go into a structured text routine and add a bookmark. Sorry, Charlie, you cannot
add bookmarks to structured text routines, but you can add them to:
 Ladder
 Function Block Diagrams
 SFCs

95. Save your project to the desktop and close RSLogix5000.

96. Reopen the same project and look for your bookmarks. They are not there.

Bookmarks are helpful, but the only two limitations are: 1. bookmarks cannot be put into
structured text 2.bookmarks are not saved when you close a program.

Quick View Pane

97. Make sure you can see the pane beneath the Controller Organizer, this is called
the Quick View Pane:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 16 07/19/16
The Quick View Pane provides an “at a glance” description of the component that is
selected in the Controller Organizer.

The contents of the “at a glance” description vary for each component. For example:
1. It shows what module tags are associated with the selected module.
2. It shows the fault description for the module selected.
3. It shows what axes are associated with a selected motion module.
4. It shows what motion module is associated with a selected axis.
5. It shows a textual description for the associated icon and icon decorations, e.g.
main routine, fault routine.
6. It shows the description for the component.
7. It shows the size of the selected data type.
8. It shows the “top-billing” properties for each component.
9. Etc.

98. Ever have a customer who can’t remember the difference between a DINT, and
INT and a SINT? Here’s how you can help them. Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a
day, but teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Rather than telling him the
difference, show him the Quick View Pane, which is located under the Controller
Organizer. Drill through Data TypesPredefinedselect DINT and look at the
Quick View Pane below. Do the same for INT and SINT. Try others if you’d like
These are especially helpful for referencing the size of user-defined data types and
strings, at a glance:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 17 07/19/16
99. The Quick View Pane is also used for displaying those Descriptions that you can
give to routines, I/O modules and the like. Double click on the 1756-IB16D in the
I/O Configruation tree, and give it a Description of “Inputs for Sta 2 and maybe a
few inputs for Sta 3, but certainly no inputs for Sta 4” (we purposely want it to be
long):

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 18 07/19/16
100. Click OK to close the Module Properties window. Notice that in the Quick View
Pane under the Controller Organizer, the Description shows up:
If the description is longer
than the width of the
Controller Organizer, no
problem. Just hover over the
description as shown here
and a tool tip will show the
description in its entirety.

This little description can be

very handy for showing a
troubleshooter what a module
is used for

Ladder Scrap Files and Documentation

101. “Restore Down” or “Un-Maximize” RSLogix5000. What we are really trying to

do is see some desktop to the side of RSLogix5000.

102. Click on rung #4 of the main program and drag it to the desktop. A Scrap file is
created.

103. Open another instance of 5000 and create a new project as shown below:

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 19 07/19/16
104. Once the project is created, open the main routine and drop the scrap file into rung
#0. The logic is there and complete. Scrap files are only supported in ladder. At
this point, the tags are all undefined, so those will have to be taken care of
separately.

105. We can now use cut and paste to augment the scrap file functionality. Go back to
the first instance of 5000, go to Edit Tags, select all the tags and do a Ctrl+C.
Then go into edit tags in the second instance of 5000 and do a Ctrl+V. That
worked fairly well, until we tried to copy a UDT, which we didn’t create yet in
the new project:

106. Now use Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V to copy and paste the “tank” UDT, as well.

Congratulations, you now know a lot of tips and tricks that will help make selling Logix
even more fun and rewarding!

Extra Task: Create a trend for conv_timer.ACC, but don’t start capturing data until the
value of conv_timer.ACC is greater than 10,000 and stop when the value is greater
than 25,000. (Hint: use Triggers (no, not Tiggers, use Triggers.)) Sampling data is
what Triggers do best. We might just be interested in what happens right before and
right after that, so set up pre-sampling and post-sampling both to 1 second. Log all
this data into a time-based streaming file (put the file on the desktop so you’ll be able
to find it easily) so that it can be viewed offline, then view it offline. Hint: Right click
on the Trends folder in the Controller Organizer, then click Open Trend Log. Run the
trend again, but log the data as a .csv file and view it in an Excel spreadsheet. The

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 20 07/19/16
 spreadsheet will then show you Start and Stop Trigger values in addition to number of
Pre-Samples and Post-Samples.

How does Sampling Period affect the number of data points? If you put in a Sample
Period of 10 ms, and click on the Samples radio button, the highest number that you
will be able to put in is 720,000 Samples. Try to put in a higher number and you will
get a message telling you that the maximum is 720,000, because you can’t squeeze
more than 720,000 samples into 2 hrs if you are taking a sample every 10 ms. If you
put a Sample Period of 1 ms, then the highest number of sample will be 7,200,000.
Again, if you put in a higher number, you’ll get a message.

The math behind this:

2 hrs = 7,200,000 ms: 2 hrs * (3600 sec/hr) * (1000 ms/sec) (2 hr buffer is constraint)
if our Sample Period is 10 ms, then 7,200,000 ms / (10 ms/sample)= 720,000 samples
max. (we get samples every 10 ms until 2 hrs is filled up)
if our Sample Period is 1 ms, then 7,200,000 ms / (1 ms/sample)= 7,200,000 samples
max. (we get samples every 1 ms until 2 hrs is filled up)
and so forth.

Extra Task: When doing online edits, do your customers have trouble remembering
what those letters mean by the LH power rail? There are I, R, D, e, i and r. You can
execute a find for each of these types of edits. When you select the type of edit, it
gives a short explanation of what the letters mean. Go into the “Find in Routines”
window to see this. (We used “Find in Routines” for both Edits and Forces.). Hint:
Select a blank line in “Find Where:” in order to activate “Find What:”

Extra Task: Copy some logic in any language and paste special (select “Picture” type
into Word or Powerpoint). This is a great technique for salespeople to put logic into a
presentation. Of course, it won’t look like a full-blown screen capture, but it is a good
alternative if you don’t have screen capture software.

________________________________________________________________________
RSLogix5000: Tips and Tricks: Part 2
Page 21 07/19/16