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In this video we’ll use the tag integration
method to bring Do-more tags into a point of view project so we can control and monitor
the Do-more based system. Let’s start a new project. Point of View button, New. I have a folder on My C drive I’m using
for these demo projects – but you can put yours anywhere you want. Looks like I have two licenses available,
we’ll use the 1000 tag license for this project. We’re going to use a small screen so it
is easy for us to see in this video. You would want to choose the screen size that
works best for you. Now beware, you need to pick this wisely – it
is NOT easy to change later … Great we have a new empty project that we
can use to talk to a Do-more series controller. Let’s flip over to a Do-more project. Here’s a simple little project that will
allow Point of View to control this output coil by writing to this Motor_Enable tag,
display the status of that motor coil with an indicator, set a numeric value to drive
this coil, and display the scaled version of an analog input. All of the basic kinds of operations you would
normally want to do. All we do is export those tags to a file. When talking to Point of View, make sure you
select the C-more version of the CSV file. You can put it where ever you want, but you
will save yourself some major headaches if you put it in your Point of View project folder. That’s because every time you start the
development software, Point of View re-loads the tags from this file. If you develop the app on your computer and
let’s say you put the tag file in your documents folder. Then you send the app to someone else to work
on. Well, Point of View won’t be able to find
the tags on his PC because it will be trying to find YOUR documents folder on your PC. And when it doesn’t find the tags, it DELETES
THEM and now you have to start over. In the previous video we saw that Tag Integration
is easy, you just export a csv file from the Do-more Designer Project and then tell Point
of View where to find that file, which you would normally put in your Point of View project
folder. In this video we’ll take a look at a couple
things you need to be aware of before using Tag integration with a Do-more controller,
and we’ll also cover a few general items that apply to all controllers. One of the cool things about the Do-more is
you can add as many structured heap items as you want – things like Timers, Counters,
Strings, PID loops, anything that uses the DOT notation to select member elements. You’re not stuck with a fixed memory plan
like you are in other controllers, you can add as many timers or PID loops as you want. The good news is Point of View gives you access
to those heap items you created so you can use them in Point of View just like you would
in the Do-more. That’s awesome, BUT …
There are a couple things you need to be acutely aware of before using Tag Integration with
the Do-more … First, each time you modify any portion of
memory – add a tag, delete a tag, create a new memory element, create or delete a program
or task, add a heap item – anything that modifies memory - the Do-more uses that as
an opportunity to optimize memory usage. Which means it moves everything around to
best fit memory every time you make a change. So anytime you make a change – whether point
of view is going to use it or not - make sure you re-export the csv file, or Point of view
may not be able find what it is looking for because there is no guarantee that the memory
element will be at the same address as it was before. The second Do-more specific caveat is if you
use any member of a Do-more structured heap item in Point of View – like this Timer
done bit – then Point of View will deduct the total member element count from your tag
license. In this timer example, if we use this one
timer done element in Point of View, Point of View will reduce the tag license count
by five because there are 5 elements total in this heap item. If you use a single PID element, like the
set point, Point of view will deduct 19 tags from your license and if you use a single
Program element, like the Program Done bit, you will lose something like 147 tags off
your license because that how many member elements there are in that structure. If that’s a problem for your project, then
take a look at the next video on the Main Driver Sheet – The main Driver Sheet gives
you a way to use one element at a time without the entire structure element count going against
your tag license. That’s all the Do-more specific caveats. Let’s look at a few general items that apply
to all controllers. You can’t edit a tag that was imported using
the Tag Integration method. What you import is what you get. If you need to change the tag, then you have
to do it on the controller end and then export the tags again and then tell Point of View
to use that new file. If you think you will need to change tags
manually in point of view, then check out the next video on the Main Driver Sheet, it
will show you how to do that. You can’t automatically scale a tag in Point
of View that was brought in via Tag Integration. Again, use the Main Driver Sheet for any tags
you want to scale automatically as the come into Point of View. If you accidentally delete or move the csv
file so Point of View can’t find it, Point of View will DELETE all of the tags if you
VERIFY the project or you select “Remove all unused tags” when you start the development
software. In either case, all the integrated tags will
be lost and you will have to start over. So make sure you keep track of where that
CSV file is. One way to help avoid this is to get in the
habit of storing the CSV file in your project folder. In the global view – you have the project
specific tags – which we haven’t created any yet in this project – the built in system
tags and the shared tags where you will find the tags the project is sharing with the Do-more
controller. This project is using these 4 Do-more tags. If you want to see ALL of the controller’s
tags that are available to the project, then click on the object finder button which is
under the home tab, over here. Black tags are being used by the project and
count against the tag license. Gray tags are available to the project but
they aren’t currently used anywhere in the project so they don’t count against your
tag license. If you need any help, please call AutomationDirect’s
Free, Award winning tech support during regular business hours – they will be happy to help. And don’t forget the forums – there are
lots of folks there that love to share their years of experience. Just don’t post any questions directed at
AutomationDirect’s support team there, they don’t monitor the forums on a regular basis.
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