Using Excel 97 as a Low Cost HMI

For an XPL+ with SmartLinx Modbus RTU and MDBUS by Calta computer systems.
This application guide describes how to set up a system to pass information from Milltronics XPL+, to a computer running Excel 97 and MDBUS driver. This is a low cost method of getting level information remotely (a low cost HMI (Human Machine Interface)). This setup would work largely the same way with any other Milltronics product equipped with Modbus.
The computer used to develop this application was a Pentium running Window 95, Excel 97, and MDBUS Version 3.24 (made by Calta computer systems, www.calta.com). The AirRanger used was an XPL+ (software version 5.00) with a SmartLinx Modbus RTU card installed. Three types of connection were tested and described here: RS-232 direct cable, RS-485 cable with RS232-RS485 converter at the computer side, and dial-up modems (3com PCM/CIA modem at the computer side and a 56K Sportster modem at the XPL+ side). MDBUS is a low cost DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) Modbus driver designed to interface with Excel using VBA (Visual BASIC for Applications) macros. VBA comes as part of Excel 97. Level information passes from the XPL+ through the Modbus holding registers (4xxxx) on the SmartLinx module, across the serial connection, through the MDBUS driver (using DDE), and into the Excel spreadsheet.

RS-485 XPL+ SmartLinx RS-232 MDBUS

DDE Excel 97

Accompanying this application brief is an example Excel file complete with the macros described here. Figure 1 below shows a typical application.

Communicating to AiRanger 99007-2 Page 1 of 9 Keywords: SmartLInx Modbus RTU, Excel, DDE, remote telemetry, RS-232, RS-485, MDBUS, PC, Modbus Driver, Cheap HMI, modem

Figure 1 Typical Configuration

Description:
Programming the XPL+ After programming the XPL+ for the application, only three parameters need to be set to configure the SmartLinx Modbus RTU module. They are: P751 = 3 (for 9600 baud) P752 = 0 (no parity) P753 = 1 (for station 1) P758 = 15 (Interframe spacing for modem use only) Please note that these parameters are not accessible if the SmartLinx Modbus RTU module is not installed. Also, if a direct connection using RS-232 or RS-485 is used, then the interframe spacing, P758, should remain at the default of 0. There is also one dip switch on the SmartLinx board that needs to be set to determine if RS-232 or RS485 are used. SW1 of 8 is off for RS232 and on for RS-485 (See SmartLinx manual for more details). The setting of this switch depended on the cable used. If a modem or RS232 direct connection was used, then the setting for RS-232 was used. If a RS-485 connection was used, then the RS-485 setting was used.

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Cabling For RS-232 direct connection: SmartLinx Connector TB 1 RXD TB 2 TXD TB 3 GND Computer Port (DB-9) Pin 3 TXD Pin 2 RXD Pin 5 GND

For Modem connection: SmartLinx Connector TB 1 RXD TB 2 TXD TB 3 GND For RS-485 connection: SmartLinx Connector TB 3 GND TB 4 A TB 5 B RS-485 Converter GND A B Modem DB-25 Connector Pin 3 RXD Pin 2 TXD Pin 7 GND

The RS-232 to RS-485 converter used is a port-powered converter made by B&B Electronics (Milltronics Part# 20150159). The device is wired as above then plugged into the RS-232 port on your computer.

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Configuring MDBUS: After installing MDBUS, run MDBUS from the start menu by clicking Start/Programs/Modbus 32 Simulator/mdbus. To configure MDBUS, click on configure in the top selection and you will get a screen like:

The settings are: Mode: Master Type: Normal Comm. Port: Com1 (depends on application and setup of computer) Fmt/Bd/Py: RTU 9600 N Modbus Slave No.:1 (address of XPL+, see P753) RTS/TX Delay (ms.): 55 Invalid CRC/LRC: not checked 212 AT Modem: (checked for modem application, unchecked for others) Coil Start: 1 Coil Number: 0 Status Start: 1 Status Number: 0 I Regs. Start: 1 I Regs. Number: 0 H Regs. Start: 1 H Regs. Number: 45 Floats Start: 1 Floats Number: 0 Longs Start: 1 Longs Number: 0 Modicon format: checked No. Resp. T.O. (m.s.): 1000 Fail Try Count: 20 Poll Delay (sec.): 1 Excel DDE: not checked Macro DDE: not checked

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For Modem applications, the 212 AT Modem box is checked and the following setting done: Phone No AT: AT&C1&D2DTaaaa where aaaa= phone number Dial Try Count: 15 Dial T.O. (sec.): 90 The Excel example given here is using the advanced features of MDBUS to get level, volume, and temperature information form the XPL+. However, if the user only wants the level information, then change the following in the MDBUS setup: Excel DDE: checked Excel Spdsht: sheet2 DDE T.O. (sec.): 15 This will have the Holding registers 1 to 45 sent Excel and stored on sheet 2 starting in column 4 row 4. The levels would then be stored started at column 4 row 5 to row 15. The levels are in % of span and set to two decimal places (i.e. 4500 would mean 45.00 %). With the Excel DDE box checked, the level information will be updated automatically every second.

Excel Setup Excel is set up with three sheets named Display, Rdata, and Def. The Display sheet is used to display the data and call the macros used to get the data. The Rdata sheet is used to place the data from the DDE transfer. The Def sheet is used to store some values used by the macros for DDE commands. There are a total of 4 macros: Loadmdbus, Runmdbus, Update1, UpdateC. These macros are shown below for completeness. Loadmdbus loads the driver program called mdbus: Sub Loadmdbus() 'This command loads mdbus driver Shell "C:\mdbus\mdbus.exe", vbNormalFocus End Sub Note: you must change the directory given above if you did not accept the MDBUS defaults. Communicating to AiRanger 99007-2 Page 5 of 9 Runmdbus runs the MDBUS driver. This will use the last configuration set in MDBUS. Therefore this routine is dependent on the configuration of MDBUS being done first and not being changed. This program could be modified to set up the configuration itself using the DDE link. Sub Runmdbus() 'run the driver which has already been loaded

channel = DDEInitiate("mdbus", "poke") DDEPoke channel, "state", "Def!r1c1" 'we want to wait 2 seconds before proceeding to give 'time for communications to start start = Timer Do While Timer < start + 2 Loop End Sub

Update1 uses the multiple parameter access method (MPA) to get the level information in units, volume, and temperature of the 10 tanks. For more detail on how MPA works please see the SmartLinx users manual. Sub Update1() Dim channel Dim start Dim datamg Dim MPApar As Integer

'set up MPA DDEPoke channel, "HREG 035", "Def!r5c1" DDEPoke channel, "HREG 034", "Def!r4c1" DDEPoke channel, "HREG 033", "Def!r3c1" 'start a loop to go through readings, volume and temperature For I = 1 To 3 If I = 1 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 921 End If If I = 2 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 924 End If If I = 3 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 664 End If 'Select Parameter for MPA DDEPoke channel, "HREG 032", "Def!r2c1" Communicating to AiRanger 99007-2 Page 6 of 9 ' Wait for the MPA to get to the AirRanger start = Timer Do While Timer < start + 1 DoEvents Loop 'get reg. table datamg = DDERequest(channel, "hreg 1 45")

' Wait for dderequest to be done start = Timer Do While Timer < start + 2 DoEvents Loop 'put reg. table in excel For j = LBound(datamg) To UBound(datamg) Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 3, 4).Formula = datamg(j) Next j ' move %span into other cells and scale them for display For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 85, 1).Value= Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 4, 4).Value / 10000 Next j

' get the MPA parameter number so we know which value we are getting MPApar = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(35, 4).Value

' Depending on what Parameter we requested determines where we put the values If MPApar = 921 Then 'move the MPA for P921 (Level measurment in units) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 50, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If If MPApar = 924 Then ' move the MPA for P924 (Volume measurement in units) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 62, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If If MPApar = 664 Then move the MPA for P664 (Temperature in deg. C) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 74, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If Communicating to AiRanger 99007-2 Page 7 of 9 UpdateC is the same as Update 1, except there is an infinite loop in it so that the program will continuously go out and get the data. Next I End Sub

Sub UpdateC() Dim channel Dim start Dim datamg Dim MPApar As Integer

'set up MPA DDEPoke channel, "HREG 035", "Def!r5c1" DDEPoke channel, "HREG 034", "Def!r4c1" DDEPoke channel, "HREG 033", "Def!r3c1" 'Loop to get data For K = 1 To 10 ' want to loop forever so we reset K K=1 'start a loop to go through readings, volume and temperature For I = 1 To 3 If I = 1 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 921 End If If I = 2 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 924 End If If I = 3 Then Worksheets("Def").Cells(2, 1).Value = 664 End If 'Select Parameter for MPA DDEPoke channel, "HREG 032", "Def!r2c1" ' Wait for the MPA to get to the AirRanger start = Timer Do While Timer < start + 1 DoEvents Loop datamg = DDERequest(channel, "hreg 1 45") 'get reg. table ' Wait for dderequest to be done start = Timer Do While Timer < start + 2 DoEvents Loop 'put reg. table in excel For j = LBound(datamg) To UBound(datamg) Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 3, 4).Formula = datamg(j) Next j

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' move %span into other cells and scale them for display For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 85, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 4, 4).Value / 10000 Next j

' get the MPA parameter number so we know which value we are getting MPApar = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(35, 4).Value

' Depending on what Parameter we requested determines ' where we put the values If MPApar = 921 Then ' move the MPA for P921 (Level measurment in units) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 50, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If If MPApar = 924 Then ' move the MPA for P924 (Volume measurement in units) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 62, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If If MPApar = 664 Then ' move the MPA for P664 (Temperature in deg. C) For j = 1 To 10 Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 74, 1).Value = Worksheets("Rdata").Cells(j + 24, 4).Value Next j End If Next I Next K End Sub

Note: The information in this document is intended as a guide only. Milltronics assumes no responsibility for its application.

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