Overview
This document provides an overview of using diagnostic tools with devices, focusing on three primary tools: Module Information, Property Watch, and Trace Window. The Module Information tool offers insights into the operation of the modules, while Property Watch is used for accessing tags and internal properties for reading or writing. Lastly, the Trace Window tool displays system messages in a data grid interface, providing essential information about the status of various communication events. The document also highlights the importance of negative error codes in diagnosing issues and offers guidance on how to use these tools effectively for device management and troubleshooting.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.
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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
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@Device.Node.<NodeName>.<PropertyName> |
Devices Nodes Monitor Table | |
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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. |
Using Diagnostic Tools on Devices
After you start the project in the Startup window, select the diagnostic tools. These are: PropertyWatch (Watch), TraceWindow (Trace), and ModuleInformation (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. If you choose the devices module and a specific channel, you will see information regarding the function of the communication channel.
The "Read Groups Information" is important 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 in order to quickly identify the communication blocks.
If you have systematic errors in all of the blocks or status codes with negative values, it typically means you cannot access the remote device. Check if the node address is right.
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 a wrong addresses 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 useful 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 application, 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.
Tag.Coils or Device.Channel.modbus.Status . The value of these objects will be shown. To the right side, additional properties are displayed for the selected object. | Info | ||
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For Module Information and Property Watch, 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. See below the list of negative error codes:
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In this section:
Trace Window
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).
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. 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.
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