This guide will explain step by step, how to set up a Location (also sometimes referred to as a Device) in OnPing using an Allen-Bradly Micro820 as an example PLC. Locations correspond to a specific individual device such as the Micro 820.
Creating a ComponentLogix Location and Device in OnPing
Step 1: Selecting a Lumberjack – (OnPing’s edge computing platform)
Step 4: Adding Tags to Location
Step 5: Adding Parameter to a new HMI
Step 1: Selecting a Lumberjack – (OnPing’s edge computing platform) #
A device’s data is usually pulled from the Lumberjack and pushed into the cloud. This ensures accurate data capturing. For this example, Lumberjack 6 will be configured.
To select Lumberjack 6, click the checkbox in the first column next to Lumberjack 6 (as shown below). A dropdown window with more information will appear displaying the Lumberjack’s attributes, which include Identity, Network, and Date/Time summary.
To ensure that the example Lumberjack 6 is online, confirm that it is updating in real-time. Click the List icon
Step 2: Prepare a Location #
Navigate to the ‘Admin Links’ tab under the Project Name. For this example our Project is named ‘Video Demo’.
Note: if ‘Admin Links’ cannot be found, please contact OnPing support for additional set up.
Next, Navigate to the Admin Table under and click ‘Add a ControlLogix’ under ‘Links’. This will open the ControlLogix Locations.
Next, select a company from the company table. For this example, the company ‘Demo’ is selected. This will display the Sites available for that company in the Sites Table to the right. To quick search for a company, type the name into the search bar above the company table.
In this example, Demo Site 3 (ControlLogix) is selected. This will display the Locations available for that Site in the Locations table to the right. To search for a specific Site, type in the name of the Site in the search bar.
Next, select a Location for the Site. In this example, a New Location is going to be created. Navigate to and click the button titled ‘+ New Location’ on the left side of the screen, just above ‘Existing Locations’.
Step 3: Create New Location #
Enter the ControlLogix Name for the new location in the Name bar. For this example, the name for this location is ‘Example for Video’.
Next, enter the PLC URL. This is the URL that is pointed to the device. To grab the PLC URL, Navigate to the Locations for the devices. For this example, Demo3 Micro820 is selected. Click the checkbox to the left of the location name for a dropdown window to appear with more information such as the PLC URL and Port, Lumberjack URL and Port, Poll Time, coordinates and more.
Copy the PLC URL and paste it into the PLC URL bar, immediately under the Name bar. In this example the PLC URL is:
192.168.4.20
Next, copy the PLC Port and paste it into the PLC Port bar. In this example the PLC Port number is:
44818
Next, copy the Lumberjack URL and paste it into the Lumberjack URL bar. In this example the Lumberjack URL is:
10.7.5.11
The Lumberjack Port should not need to be changed unless there is a conflict with the existing port number and the same port number used for another purpose.
Next, enter the Poll Time (in seconds). This is how often the data will be polled. In this case, 60 seconds is the default.
Select the Company Name. In this example the company name is ‘Demo’
Select the Site for this location. In this example the site name is ‘Demo Site 3 (ControlLogix)’
Select the Group for this specific device (if applicable). In this example ‘stagingUser’ group is selected.
Coordinates can be added if map functions are desired for this specific device. In this example, coordinates are not needed.
Double check all the entered information is correct, then click the green button labeled ‘Add’. If the location information was saved successfully, a pop up window will appear in the bottom right corner of the window indicating the location was saved.
To ensure that the location was saved successfully, unselect all sites. In this example ‘Demo Site 3 (ControlLogix)’ was previously selected. This will refresh the locations table to the right. Now the location ‘Example for Video’ should be visible in the locations table.
Step 4: Adding Tags to Location #
Navigate back to the main ‘Video Demo’ page. On the top right corner of the window, select ‘Edit Dashboard’ in order to create a new Widget to the panel on the left side of the window.
This will open the ‘+ Add Panel’ window on the left side of the window. For this example, the Panel Type default will work for this application. The title of the new Panel is ‘Control Logix’. Select an icon for the new Panel. In this example the ‘cog’ icon is appropriate for this purpose. Multiple widgets can be added to a single panel, but for drivers it is helpful to have each driver on its own panel.
For more information about setting up Panels, follow this tutorial: Setting up Panels
Now that the new panel is created, navigate to the top right side of the screen and click ‘+ Widget”
Next, find the controller from the Controller table and select the ‘Control Logix’ controller by clicking the ‘Add’ button to the right of the controller name.
Once the Controller Widget has been added, click ‘Save’ in the top right corner of the window.
Now that the dashboard has been saved, click ‘Exit Edit Dashboard’ to return to the new dashboard created.
Navigate to the ‘Control Logix’ dashboard that was just created and select the company. In this example, Company ‘Demo’ is selected. Next, select the Site: ‘Demo Site 3’. Finally, select the Location: ‘Example for Video’.
This will bring up a window on the bottom of the screen for editing and adding parameters to the device. Additionally, parameters can be imported from an Excel Spreadsheet.
In this instance, no parameters are selected. Parameters can be found by clicking the button on the bottom of the window ‘Edit Parameters’ and then selecting the button ‘+Show Device Browser’.
Note: not all drivers possess a device browser. Device browsers are conditional to the device. In this case ‘Control Logix’ has a device browser available.
For this example, the ‘Comm_Rotator’ tag is selected by clicking the button on the last column of the Parameters table, labeled ‘Select’. This will open the tag in the table currently displaying ‘No Parameters Selected’.
The Tag Name will be automatically filled based on the name in the RS5000 (or similar) software.
The Tag Index indicated the type of array assigned to the tag. In this example, the index is a 0 dimensional array, using the scalar value 0.
The Description is automatically generated with the Tag Name, but can be modified by entering text into the Description bar. In this example, the Description will be changed to ‘Comms Number’
The On Change value permits updates to happen only when a change of more than the amount indicated. For example, if a tag returns 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.02 and On Change is 0.1 The tag will not update in OnPing and will remain 0.01 until the threshold is exceeded… 0.2 for instance.
Navigate to the bottom left side of the window and click ‘Update’ to display the current value and time last updated. In the event that the values are not displayed, click the ‘Refresh’ button on the top right of the window:
Now this parameter is set up and can be used anywhere else in OnPing.
Step 5: Adding Parameter to a new HMI #
In order to create a new HMI, navigate to the top right side of the window and click ‘Edit Dashboard’
Now select the button ‘+Widget’.
Under the HMI category, click the button ‘Add’ next to HMI. This will open the HMI window.
Select the appropriate aspect ratio for the HMI from the dropdown menu and click ‘Next’
Navigate to the top left section of the window and click the green arrow button to open the HMI function and edit options. For this example, a label will be created for the parameter. Click the icon labeled ‘Label’
This will open a tab on the right side of the screen to customize the label properties. In this example, the value from the parameter created will be used for this label.
Navigate to the parameter by selecting the Company ‘Demo’, Site ‘Demo Site 3 (ControlLogix)’ and Location ‘Example for Video’. This will bring up the parameters available to be assigned to the label. Click the checkbox to select the parameter. In this example, Comms Number parameter is selected. Lastly, click the green button labeled ‘Confirm Parameters’. Note the result for the parameter is ‘53’.
Confirm that the result ‘53’ is shown in the label box at the top of the ‘customize label’ tab. Then click ‘Save’ at the bottom right of the tab.
The label will now appear in the HMI window.
Note: for some parameters, a mask may be needed in order to truncate the result to a specific number of decimal places.
