Variable-related information and actions in Values of Variables view

The Values of Variables →view provides selected →variables and their values on the →PLC. Use this view to see the current values of variables on the PLC.
Conditions for "Monitoring current values for variables"

A typical view onto values of variables:

The Values of Variables view is visible when you open the →perspective Application Testing.
If Values of Variables view is not visible in your application, you can add it to the current perspective: Select Window – Show View – Values of Variables

Observe that your used →target system might influence the usage of this view in logi.CAD 3 (see "Properties and restrictions specific to the target system").

More to follow in this arcticle

Components of Values of Variables

Input field for filter

Use the input field above the columns to filter the view.

Columns in view

The following columns are visible within Values of Variables:

  • Column Variable lists the variables incl. the hierarchical levels (starting with the project).
    Moreover, the instance path is provided within this column. The elements of the instance path are separated from each other by this character: .
    If only parts of the instance path or of the name is displayed for the variable, see the possible workarounds as described within the troubleshooting article "Values of Variables view truncates an instance path with more than 259 characters".

  • Column Data type provides the →data type of the variable.
  • Column Value provides the current value of the variable, if logi.CAD 3 is able to successfully execute the data request.
    Observe:
    • In case of →character string literals, special characters, such as umlauts, are displayed as they have been entered.
    • →bit string literals are displayed in hexadecimal format.
    • If this column displays NaN, the values have the result "NaN" (for "Not a Number"). In case of +Infinity or -Infinity, the values have the result "Infinity". (grey lightbulb) You might want to use the IS_VALID block in your application to check the validity of ANY_REAL values.
    • Values < DATE#0001-01-01 and DT#0001-01-01-00:00:00.000_000_000 respectively are displayed in seconds in the format OVF(number), relative to DATE#1970-01-01 and DT#1970-01-01-00:00:00.000_000_000 respectively. 
    • If this column displays ---, this indicates an error in the data acquisition. The best practice in this case is to built the application and load into onto the PLC.

    If the column is listing values for some variables but --- for others, see
    ""Values of Variables" view does not display all values because the limit has been reached" for possible solutions.
  • Column Prepared value provides the value of the variable that is forced, i.e. that is written to the PLC by force. Details: See "Forcing the values of variables".
  • Column Last Refresh indicates the time of the last refresh per PLC-object. The points of time result from the cycle time
     entered within the PLC-object.
    If the time of the last refresh is highlighted with red font, the version on the PLC differs from the one in logi.CAD 3

If the icon  is displayed in a column and the column content is highlighted with red font, logi.CAD 3 has not sufficient information on the variable. Messages (see "Errors for variables within Values of Variables view") inform about the basic problem, they are displayed in column Last Refresh.

Elements in view

IconMeaning

→project

→configuration (from within a PLC-object)

IEC-resource (from within a PLC-object); see →resource

internal →variable or an element of a →user-defined data type

→input variable

→output variable

→in-out variable

→global variable
The instance path is the only visible clue in the Values of Variables view in which object the global variable has been declared. Of course, double-clicking a global variable in the view differs as it brings you to the respective object.

→external variable

→reference variable

Toolbar for view

The view provides a toolbar with buttons. Use the toolbar buttons to perform some of the actions that are listed in the following section.

Actions for view