Testing HMI without being connected to a PLC

[Darrell]

I there a way to test your HMI without being connected to a PLC and getting all the connection errors.

I would like to have all communication off until I click a button to connect. maybe this is not an easy thing to do.

[Archie]

With the current version this is not very easy. For example, when the ControlLogix driver first subscribes to a value, it must go to the PLC to get the data type.

In the upcoming version 3.80, the subscription method is being reworked in a way that will allow this by setting the DisableSubscriptions to True in the driver instance. This will cause initial subscriptions to be held off until DisableSubscriptions becomes False. With this you can set it to True in design mode, then use a button to set it to False during run time. The app will start up without trying to communicate to the PLC until you click the button.

[Darrell]

Good stuff Archie , Thanks for the replay , cant wait to see the next version , I been working with Allen Bradley PLC's for over 30 years and had no experience with Visual Basic at all, I was able to get a HMI to work with very little trouble and of course with  help from this forum.

I do a lot of commissioning work, I'm designing my HMI more for that line of work, reading and forcing values , toggling test bits etc, so I don't have to be constantly jumping around my PLC program to do or see things. If some of my questions seem a bit odd or out of the norm, that's probably why.

keep up the good work,
Darrell