Overview
When the solution is running, and the Designer is connected with the runtime, the Devices Monitor page will show the basic status of its communication Nodes
Overview
This page introduces three essential diagnostic tools Module Information, Property Watch, and Trace Window for device management.
Module Information provides insights into module operation, Property Watch allows access to tags and internal properties, and Trace Window displays vital system messages. Emphasizing the importance of negative error codes, the document offers guidance on leveraging these tools effectively for troubleshooting and device management.
On this page:
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Monitoring Device Nodes Status
You can access the monitor by navigating to Devices → Devices Monitor.
When the solution is running, the monitor will display a table of properties with real-time information about the Device Module Nodes.
Devices Monitor Table Columns
The information in this table is constructed from the runtime properties of the object: Device.Node.<NodeName>.
Additionally of showing in the monitor table, the properties can be accessed on Displays or Scripts, using the following syntax
| Code Block |
|---|
@Device.Node.<NodeName>.<PropertyName> |
Devices Nodes Monitor Table | |
|---|---|
Property | Description |
ActivityCounter | Counter up on any activity on the node. |
Disable | Status of the node Disable Property |
LastErrorCode | 0 means no errors. Code for Last Error. Negative numbers means no connective, positive numbers are protocol specific errors. |
LastErrorDateTime | Timestamp of the error on previous column |
InvalidAddresses | In the case the node and addresses not resolved by the Device, they are available in the property. |
| Info | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
For Module Information and Property Watch |
Using Diagnostic Tools on Devices
Once you start the project in the Startup window, select one of the diagnostic tools. These are:
- Property Watch (Watch).
- Trace Window (Trace).
- Module Information (Info).
You can also start the diagnostic tools on the Runtime → Diagnostics and Runtime → Startup pages by left-clicking the desired tool's icon. If menus are enabled for the display, you can also access the tools menu.
Module Information
The Module Information tool provides information about the operation of the modules. Choose the devices module and a specific channel. You will see information regarding the function of the communication channel. The "Read Groups Information" is essential because it provides information about the virtual reading groups, the run time of each item, the quantity of the readings, and the readings that have failed. It also reports on the code and date/time of the last error.
These are the typical steps to use the Module Information tool:
- Go to Read Groups Information to look at the number of successful and failed communication events and to identify the communication blocks quickly.
- Suppose you have systematic errors in all of the blocks or status codes with negative values. In that case, it typically means you cannot access the remote device. Check if the node address is correct.
- If you have specific blocks with systematic errors, verify the tags and addresses that are connected to the blocks. Use the TraceWindow with the Device information to collect information about the communication errors.
- For some protocols, like OPC, the discarded items will show as the wrong address in the configuration.
Keep in mind that you can only READ from a field device when an Enterprise application is running in test mode. This makes it worthwhile to run the application with ONLINE CONFIGURATION enabled because you do not need to start and stop the driver when modifying the configuration. You can modify PLC addresses, AccessTypes, and most of the applications, and you can see the results in real-time on your running application. You can use the Startup window or the PropertyWatch tool to start and stop only one module instead of restarting the entire runtime system.
Property Watch
Property Watch is a diagnostic tool used to access the tags and internal properties of the system for reading or writing. Type the name of the property in the Object column, and its value will be found in the Value column.
For example, in the screen shown below, select Device.Channel and the value of these objects will be shown. To the right side, additional properties are displayed for the selected object.
The Trace Window tool displays system messages in a data grid interface. If you enable the module devices in the settings, information will be available about the status of reads, writes, unsolicited input, TX frames (sent), and RX frames (received).
For ControlLogix devices, it is very important to use this tool, as the system will present here the invalid addresses on the configuration. If you click the settings button in the configuration dialog, you can select which message types and modules to display. You can see the data in the data grid or save it to a file. It is also possible to configure a tag in ObjectName, and click the Add button to display a menu to select that object and include it in the monitoring.
| Info |
|---|
When checking the devices CheckBox in the Settings, enable only the Error, Info, and Warning information. Do not enable the Debug information, or you will create too much data. |
Error Codes
For the Module Information and Property Watch tools, there are negative error codes that represents specific messages that can help to find the root cause of the error. |
In the Module Information, refer to the LastErrorCode column. |
On Property Watch, refer to @Device.Channel.ChannelName.Status. |
The following table lists all Error codes with their descriptions:
See below the list of negative error codes:
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In this section:
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