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How to Import and Export Modbus Tags

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to export a .CSV file from the PLC control software, MapleLogic, then easily import those Modbus tags into your HMI project in EBPro.

Software Required

Hardware Required

  • Maple PLC’S Any Modular or Micro Maple Systems PLC can be used
  • cMT HMIAny Maple Systems cMT HMI can be used

Exporting Modbus Tags from the PLC Project

The following steps will walk you through exporting Modbus tags from MapleLogic into a .CSV file.

Exporting Modbus Tags in MapleLogic Instructions

1. Open your program in MapleLogic

2. Click the View tab and open the Variable Editor window.

3. In the Variable Editor window, click “More”, then “Export”.

4. This is where you would select the registers to export onto a .CSV file.

5. In the sample project, X, Y, and M bit registers are being used and D word registers is being used. Uncheck the registers you don’t want to export.

Note: EBPro will ONLY allow X, Y, M, or D bit or word registers to be imported as Modbus Tags.

6. Click export, name it, and save the .CSV file to your PC.

Formatting the .CSV File

After a .CSV file is exported from MapleLogic, the tag information in the file will need to be formatted a specific way, in order to import the file into EBPro.

Formatting CSV File Instructions

1. Here is the original format for the exported .CSV file from MapleLogic

2. Here is the format you’ll need to arrange the original CSV file into, in order for EBPro to recognize it.

Note: Not all columns need to be filled out to correctly import tags (only columns A, B, C, D, and F are required).

3. Now you can change the exported CSV file into the correct format

  • Tag name (Variable) is moved into column A.
  • Device Name is Modbus TCP/IP Master (device used in EBPro) and in Column B.
  • Address and Type are divided into the C and D Columns.
    • For example: Pressure_Reading is exported as 400002 from MapleLogic but to import that modbus tag into EBPro, it needs to change to 4x_2 which is the same as 400002. 4x in Column C and 2 in Column D. Repeat for the other modbus tags.
  • Column E can be left blank
  • Column F is Undesignated. When the CSV file is imported, EBPro will automatically detect the type of tag (Bit, Word).

Importing Modbus Tags into the HMI Project

Once you change the exported CSV file into the correct format, you can then import the CSV file into EBPro

Importing Modbus Tags into EBPro Instructions

1. In your EBPro project, go to the Project tab and select “Address” to open the Address Tag Library.

2. Click “Import CSV…”

3. Choose to either remove old tags or replace the existing tags with the new ones.

4. Select the exported .CSV file from your PC and open the file to import into your EBPro project.

5. A message will pop up to indicate that all 4 tags have been imported successfully.

6. All 4 tags have been imported into the project and are now in the Address Tag Library as User-Defined Tags.

Assigning Modbus Tags to Objects in the HMI Project

The modbus tags are now imported! Now you can assign those modbus tags to the objects in your project.

Assigning Modbus Tags to Objects in the HMI Project Instructions
  1. Double click on the bit lamp to open the bit lamp properties. Change the device to “Modbus TCP/IP Master” and press the settings button.

2. Check off “User-defined tag”.

3. Choose the Enable Bit for the address type.

4. Press “Apply” and “OK” to assign the Enable tag to the Bit Lamp.

5. Repeat the same steps for the remaining objects in the project.

Sample Projects

The project shown above was designed for the specific hardware mentioned at the beginning of the tutorial and is intended to provide you guidance when programming your unit. If you are using models other than the ones specified in this sample project, similar steps can be duplicated within your own project.

Download MapleLogic Sample Project

Download EBPro Sample Project

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MapleLogic/EBPro Resources

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