About SteffenR-

Fasten the engineering time by using partial exports instead of the full export in Control plus Studio. For example just export the PLC or HMI without all other runtimes and services: By the way: If you edit an existing view and you don't add new variables or labels an HMI export is not necessary. Just save and deploy.   For the PLC you can even export only some single units or tree areas in Control plus Studio: And while the export is running you can still work in the PLC editor. For example after creating a new enumeration in Control plus Studio, run the export and continue coding while the export is running. ... View more

One of the most common errors: You want to change the operation mode, but the HMI sticks in the old operation mode. It looks like the machine or HMI does not react. The reason is that an unit or add-on sticks in the ExecState CANCEL. You can find the origin easily in the sequence analysis view (every station must have this view!). The newer HMI versions can even filter for specific ExecStates with the filter symbol. Alternatively you can check the StateOverview PRG while you are logged in. The StateOverview PRG is a PLC-side solution of the HMI sequence analysis. ... View more

Beginning with Control plus Studio 5.3 you can automatically create constants for the maximum value of an enumeration: This is a great feature to use the constant as an array limit, for example for the axis teach points in station data and for FOR loops in the PLC. ... View more

During commissioning all manual functions need to be tested. There are two possibilities to get an overview of what has been tested: Generate a list of manual functions like you can do for the digital IO. Mark all manual functions that you have tested in the printed list.   A smarter solution uses the manual function conditions in the methods OnManRelease: Create a global variable called CommissingActive: Use Search & Replace in the PLC editor (CTRL+H): Find what: FALSE;               // add your conditions here Replace with: CommissioningActive; Now you can release all manual functions by setting the commissioning variable TRUE (but be careful!): When testing a manual function replace the commissing variable with the real condition. At the end of the commissing the variable should not be used anymore and can be removed again. Additional tip: Create a commissioning BinIo flag in Control plus Studio and use a Set Event Addon to automatically show a warning if the commissioning flag is set: ... View more

If you have two or more machines that are (almost) identical you can manage them in one Control plus Studio project. The target system settings can be managed in this menu: There are several options to manage two identical machines in one production line or two identical machines in different production lines, for example:   ... View more