B&B Electronics MODSCAN32 - Manual - Manual (Page 33)

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Connection Menu
The Connect menu offers the following commands:
Connect Attaches the ModScan application to a modbus network, enabling data collection. Use
this command to connect the ModScan application to a modbus network. A dialog box
will prompt you for information relative to the connection. You may use ModScan to
connect directly to a modbus device via one of four Windows COM ports, or via a
modem or TCP/IP network. The possible ways to connect are presented in the drop-
down list contained within the connect dialog box.
If you select a direct connection, you must specify the associated baud rate, parity and
control line selections which match your modbus devices. If a modem connection is
selected, you must supply the dialing number and if a network selection is made, you
must supply the necessary IP address for the connection.
The protocol selections button allows to specify either the modbus RTU or ASCII
transmission mode and the time-out associated with the expected slave response to a
query.
Disconnect Detaches the ModScan application from the network, freeing up resources for other
Windows applications.
Setup Menu
The Setup menu offers the following commands:
Data Definition
Defines the document properties of the modbus data to be scanned. Use this
command to define the characteristics of the data to be monitored for the active
document. You may select up to 128 data points for display.
Display Options Allows the document data to be viewed in a variety of formats.
Extended Options Provides the ability to write data to a connected slave device.
Text Capture Begins collecting modbus data to a specified text file. Use this command to store
the results of each modbus query to an ASCII text file. Data is written to the
specified file, (one scan per line), in the format selected for display in the lower
splitter view, (i.e. decimal, hex, float). If an error was encountered during the
polling transaction, the error message will be logged to the file rather than the
data. There is no “wrap-around” feature for collecting data. New data is
appended to the file on each query and the file can become very large vary fast if
used with a short scan frequency.
Dbase Capture Begins collecting data into a defined database table. The ability to save modbus
data directly to a database is an optional feature of ModScan. If the feature is
unavailable, the Database Capture menu selection will be grayed out and not
accessible. If enabled, this command allows you to store the results of each query
into an active Microsoft compatible database for interfacing modbus data with
custom designs.
Capture Off Stops data collection. Use this command to stop the document from updating the
capture file.
Reset Counters Clears all modbus message status counters in all documents. Use this command to
reset the modbus message counters for all active documents.