OT: A vent about Rockwell software

fenix

Member
Join Date
Jul 2017
Location
Indiana
Posts
22
Man, Rockwell is grating on me.

I've transitioned from a systems integrator where I mainly did work with Mitsu, to an in-house controls engineer in a facility that uses AB only.
I have to say, Rockwell software is some of the most cumbersome, clunky, and inconsistent software I've ever used.
My most recent frustration is the fact that "adding" a rung inserts the new rung after the highlighted rung, but when editing udts "insert" adds a row above the highlighted row.

Honestly, how do you AB guys do it? I always hear how great AB software is, but I sure haven't seen the light yet.
 
Bah... Just wait until you spend a week toying with FactoryTalk. Then you will know what frustrating really is. 🍻

Bubba.
 
All the big players have down falls honestly, you just get use to it.

With that, get use to virtual machines and don't put anything on the host machine.
 
Bah... Just wait until you spend a week toying with FactoryTalk. Then you will know what frustrating really is. 🍻

Bubba.

Oh man, don't even get me started on FactoryTalk. So. much. clicking. Double click into a group, click an object, click once to get to the group behind it, wait long enough for FT to not register a double click, double click to open newly selected group, double click object to open properties, Fail to notice "visibility" since the only way to see it is to right click and look under "animation". Repeat.

*Twitch*

It doesn't help that the software I'm working on is very poorly designed / organized.

All the big players have down falls honestly, you just get use to it.

With that, get use to virtual machines and don't put anything on the host machine.

Yeah, true that. It took a long time before I felt comfortable with Mitsu the way I do.

I'm trying to get my plant to move to VMs. That's all we did at the integrator I used to work at. Only pitfall there is how much storage you need to keep all the necessary VMs.
 
I know this was venting and you weren't necessarily looking for answers. We are all used to what we use regularly and when that changes it can be frustrating. But the nice thing about this community is sharing what you've learned.

....My most recent frustration is the fact that "adding" a rung inserts the new rung after the highlighted rung, but when editing udts "insert" adds a row above the highlighted row.

When you have the ladder editor window open, look in the bottom right corner of the screen. You should see the text "APP". That indicated you are in Append Mode and any new items will be added after the cursor. If you right-click on that text you can select Insert Mode so that new items will be added before the cursor.

To be honest though, I typically drag and drop the objects instead of using the point and click method. So APP or INS is really irrelevant (to me). Likewise in the UDT window they provide a blank line after the last object to append and I take it you are using right-click to insert which would be before the selected object.

As for FactoryTalk View, when working with grouped objects, right-click on an object and select Object Explorer. It exposes all of the nested groups and objects. Anything you would have done by right-clicking on a specific object can be done from the Object Explorer window. Makes working with grouped objects much easier.

OG
 
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Man, Rockwell is grating on me.

I've transitioned from a systems integrator where I mainly did work with Mitsu, to an in-house controls engineer in a facility that uses AB only.
I have to say, Rockwell software is some of the most cumbersome, clunky, and inconsistent software I've ever used.

Gosh you sound like me when I to had to touch Mitsubishi software. I mean could GX Works 3 be anymore buggy and feel 10 years behind what I could do in Logix/Stuido5000? Not to mention who was the genius that thinks red text on a blue background is easy on the eyes!?
 
IMO the only people who have ever had a clue software-wise is Red Lion with Crimson 3.
 
I know this was venting and you weren't necessarily looking for answers. We are all used to what we use regularly and when that changes it can be frustrating. But the nice thing about this community is sharing what you've learned.



When you have the ladder editor window open, look in the bottom right corner of the screen. You should see the text "APP". That indicated you are in Append Mode and any new items will be added after the cursor. If you right-click on that text you can select Insert Mode so that new items will be added before the cursor.

To be honest though, I typically drag and drop the objects instead of using the point and click method. So APP or INS is really irrelevant (to me). Likewise in the UDT window they provide a blank line after the last object to append and I take it you are using right-click to insert which would be before the selected object.

As for FactoryTalk View, when working with grouped objects, right-click on an object and select Object Explorer. It exposes all of the nested groups and objects. Anything you would have done by right-clicking on a specific object can be done from the Object Explorer window. Makes working with grouped objects much easier.

OG

Nice tip on the APP / INS mode in ladder! 🍻 Now I'll be more comfortable AND my coworkers will be more frustrated when they use my laptop. Win-Win! :ROFLMAO:

I must say, I loath the fact that Logix relies so heavily on mouse input. I have always been a "keyboard warrior" in all other software, so it's frustrating to be kneecapped by such a mouse heavy software. I am learning how to navigate with the keyboard a bit better, and have set up the "quick keys" to be similar to Omron's which has helped, but Logix definitely does not lend itself to keyboard navigation.

I've began to lean heavily on the object explorer for my FT needs. But on the existing programs that I haven't touched yet it's almost not a benefit. None of the objects are named, and the grouping really doesn't make sense. Once I get in there and clean it up though, the object explorer really does shine.

I'm all for learning any tips I can!

Gosh you sound like me when I to had to touch Mitsubishi software. I mean could GX Works 3 be anymore buggy and feel 10 years behind what I could do in Logix/Stuido5000? Not to mention who was the genius that thinks red text on a blue background is easy on the eyes!?

GXW3 wasn't quite as easy to use as GXW2, I'll admit that.

Pay attention to the asynchronous scan and task priority....

Oh and here's another thing you will run into where you currently work.

Limit Instruction

Check out Ron's explanation on post #4.

🍻

🍻

So, limit the input fields for the limit instruction. Got it!
 
I must say, I loath the fact that Logix relies so heavily on mouse input. I have always been a "keyboard warrior" in all other software, so it's frustrating to be kneecapped by such a mouse heavy software. I am learning how to navigate with the keyboard a bit better, and have set up the "quick keys" to be similar to Omron's which has helped, but Logix definitely does not lend itself to keyboard navigation.

I have always been an armchair warrior....saying that, keep it light boys it is Friday after all....

🍺🍺
 
I must say, I loath the fact that Logix relies so heavily on mouse input. I have always been a "keyboard warrior" in all other software, so it's frustrating to be kneecapped by such a mouse heavy software.

Have you figured out that you can hit enter on the left power rail of a rung and edit or write using mnemonics? That's a bonus for keyboard guys, at least once you memorize the mnemonics and get the hang of bst and nxb.
 
Man, Rockwell is grating on me.

Honestly, how do you AB guys do it? I always hear how great AB software is, but I sure haven't seen the light yet.


Because if you are forced to eat enough sh*t sandwiches you'll eventually say that's "that sh*t's not too bad."
 
Our guys prefer RSLogix over Siemens anytime. Step7 is powerful after you have had enough ***** sandwiches.

What is very annoying is subtle Ethernet bugs.

Rockwell has now released a full knowledge base article about a bug in their CompactLogix 5370 L1/L2/L3 controllers (i.e. 1769-L1xx, including our 1769-L16ER’s). The bug causes them to send us garbage over EtherNet/IP I/O for the first number of milliseconds. They say that it shouldn’t be a problem because “compliant” EtherNet/IP devices will ignore the data because the “RUN/IDLE” bit is 0 during this time.
What really p!sses me off is when we get tech support calls ant the problems are really in the PLC.

There are no workarounds. We send our Ethernet/IP products to be certified compliant by ODVA.
 

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