- HMI Model: cMT-3108xp
- EasyBuilder Pro Version: V6.09.02.338
- Serial Number or supplier: Rohtek Automation
For some reason I cannot get EBPro Online Simulation to work with Codesys. It behaves just the same as an Offline Simulation.
When I download the application to the HMI, everything works fine. I can see Codesys variable values change as I interact with the HMI. However, when just running an Online Simulation, the simulation does not appear to be communicating with Codesys.
Is there a setting I could be missing to allow this to work?
Hi @JDControlsLLC,
What device are you attempting to communicate with and which Codesys driver are you using in your EBPro project (Weintek built-in CODESYS, CODESYS V3 (Ethernet))?
It’s Weintek built in Codesys and I’m attempting to communicate with the device itself (the Weintek HMI).
Recently I did a project for a customer that used an Allen Bradley PLC with a Weintek HMI and I was able to do online simulation before downloading to the HMI and everything worked as expected.
With this project, the online simulation does not communicate with Codesys. As a simple example, a numeric display just shows a value of zero rather than the value of that variable in Codesys. If I download the EBPro project to the HMI, it works correctly.
Hey @JDControlsLLC,
Online simulation will not work with our “Weintek built-in CODESYS” driver because it communicates with the CODESYS runtime built-in to our device. Since the PC does not have our CODESYS runtime built-in, it cannot communicate with it during online simulation.
So does this mean the only way to test HMI changes is to download to the HMI every time?
I can do that but it’s a bit cumbersome. Seems like it’d be more efficient to run a quick simulation of things to verify the control/animation is what I expected, then download to the HMI. Is there currently no way to achieve this if I’m using the Weintek built-in Codesys?
To test changes faster, you can deselect “Runtime” within the download menu of EBPro and uncheck the “reset” options. This should allow the HMI project to download in just a few seconds.
Cody,
Are there plans for maybe an upgraded version of EBP that allows for online simulation with Codesys? Multiple downloads at home during development, though a bit cumbersome, work fine.
However, in a production environment this may not be an acceptable thing to do. Sometimes customers want changes made to the HMI during production. Being able to simulate HMI changes before downloading is definitely necessary in that scenario.
We appreciate your feedback on the matter and will forward it to our factory. I’m sure they will find it useful and it may inspire change in the future.
