master ladder reference relative to sheet number

[abali]

is there anyway to set the master ladder reference value relative to the sheet value in a project? by this i mean, sheet number 4 will have ladders that start with master ladder reference value 400 and page 5 with 500, 6 with 600 and so on.

i tried entering %S00 when inserting a ladder but a "%S" just shows up as the prefix for the rung numbers.

[dougmcalexander]

You can indeed do that. You need to select this option in Drawing Properties prior to inserting any ladders. It's a good idea to do this in your template drawing if this is your standard. However you can set it up in Project Properties and Apply Project Properties to all drawings in a project. There are two things to note though:

1. Any ladders that are already inserted will not be changed to the new method. The reason is because the setting in Drawing Properties determines which symbol block is inserted for the first line of a ladder. You would have to swap the block for the one that is used for sheet and numbers referencing.

2. By default PLC tags are based upon the reference number portion of the line reference number. So if you have a line reference number of 412, meaning sheet 4 and line 12, the PLC tag will be PLC12. You could add the %S to the PLC tag format of each module you use and then the PLC would be tagged as PLC412.

I have attached a screenshot of the Drawing Properties dialog where you select to merge sheet and number together as line references.

[abali]

thanks for that tip, it makes life very easy. However, when doing cross references for source and destination signals, the entire rung number does not show up. For example, if im in sheet 2, rung 3, (line 203), and i want to cross reference sheet 3, rung 5 (305), the source says 03 and the destination says 05, not 203 and 305. Any ideas as to how to make this work? An example screenshot is attached.

Thanks in advance.

[abali]

thanks for that tip, it makes life very easy. However, when doing cross references for source and destination signals, the entire rung number does not show up. For example, if im in sheet 2, rung 3, (line 203), and i want to cross reference sheet 3, rung 5 (305), the source says 03 and the destination says 05, not 203 and 305. Any ideas as to how to make this work? An example screenshot is attached.

Thanks in advance.

[abali]

nevermind, i think i solved it - had to change the "Cross-Reference Format" in the Project properties to %S%N.

[dougmcalexander]

Don't you just love it when you figure it out? Remember that %N is only the rung number. If you want your rungs to appear as sheet and line number using the standard ladder style, you need to add the sheet number into the line reference. So if you want rung 00 to represent 00 on sheet 1 you name the rung 100. Now that you have switched to a ladder style that used the %S or sheet value plus the %N, the %N will only need to be 00. But, as you have discovered, your crossreferences will also need the %S added. The PLC modules normally reference %N only so you will need to edit the PLC modules using the PLC Database Editor and add the %S to their tag format as well. If you need it, I have a lisp routine that can do a search and replace thorught the PLC database, so you don't have to change each PLC module's tag format one at a time. You contact me via my web site at www.ecadconsultant.com.

[automationstar]

There is another way to do this.

Its been a while since I last configured ACE for an employer to do this, so bear with me and maybe someone else can fill in the blank here.

I seem to recall that there is a place in the project and/or template *.wdp mdb file where the rung number can be hard coded in.

This gives a different result than changing the drawing properties, where the drawing properties setting will use SS-NNN format or SSNNN format, it will actually start the NNN number with the sheet number.  THe benefit of this is that you end up with a smaller character count footprint for the rung number.

To clarify, the NNN number is the only number used, but it starts with the sheet number, for example:

Normally rung 100 on sheet 5 would be 5-100 or 5100 using the drawing properties.

What I am talking about is starting the NNN number with the sheet number, so the NNN would actually be just 500.

Anyone familiar with a cheatsheet on the wdp line settings help me out or share this content?

[mbrown26HUM]

BUMP

I think what he is talking about is changing a variable so that the PROJECT-WIDE update/renumber ladder references based on the sheet value rather than entering it in each sheet manually.

See screenshot for what is not working as expected.

[mbrown26HUM]

One of the ?[x] variables in the WDP file can be changed to make this work as a project-wide retag of ladders, I just cannot remember which one.