ProSoft Technology ProSoft i-View - Manual (Page 17)

ProSoft i-View ♦ Mobile Process Monitoring and Control Application Data Source Files
Version 2.0.2 User Manual
ProSoft Technology, Inc. Page 17 of 106
September 29, 2011
EIP/Native protocol (AB Logix controllers) Legacy Note
Prior to ProSoft i-View version 1.5, EIP/Native tag names used to be specified in Column
A. However, with the incorporation of expressions and in order to favor a general syntax
for all protocols, this has been deprecated. From ProSoft i-View version 1.5, it is
obligatory to adhere to the General Rule if you want to use tags in expressions. In this
case you must specify EIP/Native as communication protocol and you have to set the
actual PLC tag name in Column C instead of column A. The name that you enter in
Column A can be used then in expressions. If you are not going to use expressions you
can still enter a EIP/Native PLC tag name in Column A and write "TAG" in column C as in
pre 1.5 versions. Although this is still allowed and existing source files will continue to
work, it is recommended for integrators to switch to the new syntax for new projects and
to start a transition plan for existing ones.
For example, myStructData[2,3].intMember may refer to an integer value referenced by
the intMember member of element (2,3) of an array of structures. Look at the
EIP_TAG_Examples.csv template for more examples of how to specify tag names for
Allen Bradley Logix controllers.
As a general rule, any Tag name path that refers to a scalar value (BOOL, SINT, INT,
DINT, REAL) in a Logix Controller will be accessed by ProSoft i-View.
Note that ProSoft i-View performs a Validation Code security check before any other
attempt to access any tags is made; therefore, it is mandatory to have a tag named
SMValidationCode of type INT in your PLC. For more information, see Validation Codes
(page 81).
Tag Scope
Tags can be defined to have a local or global scope
Local tags are identified as per the general specification of variable names, that
is beginning with a letter. Global tags are identified by placing a $ sign before
their actual name.
Examples:
local_var
$global_var
Local tags have a scope limited to the data source file they are in. When a local
name is found in an expression its definition is looked for only in the same file the
expression appears, therefore you can use the same names and expressions in
several source files without conflicts.
Global tags have an application wide scope so you can only have single
instances of them across all selected source files. The advantage of using them
is that you can access to their values from anywhere in your project even if the
project is made of several source files.