Options

The Options selection provides setup Options for Saving Projects, Transferal of Projects and Ladder Editor Settings.

Accessing Options

Options is accessed from the Tools Menu of the Main Menu.

General Tab

As seen in the above graphic, the General Tab allows the user to select the number of recent projects to remember from 0-9 (default = 4). These projects are listed in the FileMenu of the main toolbar and Open a Recent Project panel, as seen below.

Project Save Tab

The Project Save Tab provides the following selections:

1. Automatically save the project to the indicated project location every:  Selecting this option will save the project at the time interval entered in the Minutes text field whenever the Project File Status is Not Saved. The file will be saved to the location where it was last saved. If the Project File Status is Saved the auto save will not save the project at the specified interval.
   
2. Maintain a separate backup copy of the project: Selecting this option will save a backup copy of the project to the Project Backup Location specified when the File > Save Project is chosen or Save icon is chosen after the project is opened for the first time. Choosing File > Save Project or Save icon again will not save the backup file again. The backup file saved will be saved as project file name.backup.adpro. Opening an existing project and saving again will overwrite an existing backup file with the same name. The backup file will not contain any edits made if there are any and will save the project as it was when initially opened.
   
3. Automatically save CSV file: Selecting this option will automatically save any changes in the Tag Database .csv file (this option is selected by default).
4. Save debug breakpoints to project file: Any breakpoints set up in debug are saved to the project.

Project Transfer Tab

The Project Transfer Tab provides the following selections:

1. Transfer Project from CPU Options: The user may select any or all of the following options:

• Upload current retentive values and copy to initial values: When the project is transferred from the CPU, the current retentive values in the CPU will overwrite the initial values in the project file. Use this if you intend to save a snapshot of your CPU project, including values that could be reloaded to the CPU or loaded into a duplicate CPU to replicate the existing system.
   

2. Transfer Project to CPU Options: The user may select any or all of the following options:

• Transfer documentation (instruction and ladder rung comments): Allows all Instruction & Ladder Rung Comments to be transferred and stored in the controller as part of the project. This is very beneficial if you are accessing a controller with a PC/laptop that was not used to create the original project.
• Transfer GS drive configuration: Transfers the GS Drive configurations that were set up using the Hardware Configuration feature of the software to the CPU connected drives.
• Copy current retentive tag values to initial values: During Stop Mode transfer of a project with retentive tags, copies the current value of these tags from the CPU into the initial values of the project being transferred.  For more information see the Copy Current Retentive Tag Values topic.

Ladder Tab

The Ladder Tab provides the following selections:

1. Line Style: The user may select one of the following options: (The Normal option is selected by default.)

• Normal: A solid line with no effects.
• With Shadow: A solid line with a drop down shadow.

2. Line Thickness: The user may select one of the following options: (The Normal option is selected by default.)

• Normal: A single pin line.
• Double: A double pin line.

3. Monitor Mode Display Options:
   • Use Block Fills on Contacts and Coils: Select check box to highlight the ON Status of Contacts and Coils by highlighting the background of the contacts or coils instead of just changing the line color while in the Monitor Mode (this option is not selected by default).
   • Disable Exponent Notation: Select check box to disable scientific notation for all Floating-Point Data in ladder instructions. Sometimes the exponential notation hinders viewing the data in instructions with embedded numeric data (this option is not selected by default).

4. Warning Message Options: The user can chose to have a Warning Message displayed whenever an instruction is replaced (this option is selected by default).

5. Default Columns: Allows user to set the default number of columns for tasks.
   

Note:This setting is only applied to newly created tasks.

6. Optimize Rung Lengths: This setting enables the software to remove excessive white space or empty columns in ladder rungs that exceed the default column count. Rungs wider than the default (11 columns) but containing unused columns will be compressed to at least the default width.

Note: Once selected, this setting is applied on project compile.

Note: To delete empty columns less than column 11 you will have to use the Edit>Delete>Column from the top menu or right click on the column of the rung and choose Delete> Column.

7. Text Options: This section contains options for wrapping tag names and text alignment.

• The Wrap Tag Name option allows the user to choose at what character count to start wrapping the tag name. The tag name will only wrap if the tag name is wider than the column it resides in. Minimum characters is 1 maximum is 32.
• The Text Alignment option allows the user to align all text either left, center, or right justified. For tag names, it will justify within the column the instruction is in.

8. Editor Display Options: The options listed in this section will decide what text is displayed and how much detail to include when working with the programming software and viewing ladder logic.

Note: These are global settings for the GUI and will be applied to all tasks in a project.

• Task Comment, Rung Comment, Instruction Comment, and Tag Name will display any associated text specified for these selections.
• Tag Detail will display any text entered into the comment column in the tag name database and will display the physical address if it is physical I/O.
• Block Detail will display all the tags associated with a block instruction. If none are chosen, then only the block instruction name will be visible.
• Monitor Mode allows the GUI software to go into Monitor Mode automatically rather than having to choose Monitor Mode from each task when the software connects to a CPU and the project is the same in the CPU and the PC.
• Alternate shading adds shading to every other rung in the ladder.
  
  

9. Fonts: These options allow the user to change fonts, justification, font size, and color of each text option individually.

Note: When using Extended ASCII Characters in comments or tags the display font of Tahoma will need to be changed (recommended Arial) for it to be displayed correctly in the ladder editor window.

Data View Tab

The Data View Tab provides the following selections:

1. Dataview Table: The user may select a color for each of the following:

• Tag Edited Not Sent to the CPU: This indicates a value entered in the tag edit column that has not been sent to the CPU.

• Tag Deleted in Local Project: This indicates that a tag has been deleted from the Local project.

• Tag Properties Differ from CPU: This indicates that the Tagname or Tag Data Type has been modified.

Note: If a tag is deleted or modified causing a color indication (mentioned above) and then the tag is added or modified back to it's original state, you will need to delete the tag from the Data View window and add it back in to clear the color indication.

2. Use Block Fills on Discretes: This option will block fill the discrete tags Green when the value is High.

3. Enable Auto Edits: When edits are made in the Data View window, if the value is different than the current value, the edited value will automatically be written to the tag.

4. Clear Edits to Initial Value: When a user clears an edit in Data View, this option will populate the "Edit" column with the initial value assigned for that tag.

5. Splitpane Layout: Allow the user to split the Data View window in two ways:

Horizontal

Vertical

6. Drag mode: Determines the behavior of dragging and dropping tags in the Data View. If the Insert option is selected (default), a drag and drop of a tag will insert it at the new location, between existing rows. If the Replace option is selected, a drag and drop of a tag will overwrite the contents of the new location.

7. Disable Exponent Notation: Select this check box to disable any Exponential Notations. Disables scientific notation for all Floating-Point values in data view. Sometimes the exponential notation hinders viewing the data in fields with embedded numeric data.

Connection Tab

The Connection Tab allows the user to select the amount of time (in seconds) after which a timeout error will occur when attempting to connect to a remote CPU. Note that changes in the timeout setting do not affect the retry count which is fixed to two attempts.

Tag DB Tab

The Tag DB Tab allows the user to select whether or not to receive a warning before deleting a tag marked as 'in use' from the Tag Database. If selected, the following message will appear when trying to delete an 'in use' tag.

The Retentive Tag Options selection allows a user to configure the behavior of the software so that new tags are created as Retentive by default. This setting does NOT affect the creation of a User Defined Structure definition. Nor does it affect the addition of pre-defined structure or user defined structure tag groups. This checkbox also does not affect the retentive setting of tags that are imported.

Version Control Tab

1. Selecting ‘Automatically enable version control on new projects’ : Allows users to:
   • Enable or disable version control globally when creating a new project.
   • Specify the location for the project's Git repository.

Note: If a Git repository does not already exist at the selected location, the system will automatically create one.

2. With Uncommitted Changes

   • On close: The selected option is triggered when a project containing unsaved modifications or saved but uncommitted changes is closed or exited.
   • On transfer: The selected option occurs when transferring a project that includes unsaved changes or saved but uncommitted modifications.

   The above selections have the same three options:

   • Do Nothing: Proceeds with the project transfer or closure without committing changes.
   • Prompt to Commit: If version control is enabled and the project contains uncommitted changes, a prompt is displayed upon closing or exiting:

     

   • Yes – Opens the commit dialog. If the commit dialog is canceled, the project will still close or exit without committing changes.

   • No – Closes or exits the project without displaying the commit dialog.

   • Cancel – Cancels the close/exit operation, retaining the project's current state without committing changes.

      

If the repository contains unsaved changes, the system displays the following options: Waiting for updated image file.

• Save Only – Saves the project file without committing changes to the version control repository.

• Save & Commit – Saves the project file and opens the commit dialog for version control.

• No – Exits without saving the project file or committing changes.

• Cancel – Cancels the close/exit operation, preserving the current state without committing changes.'

 

Open Commit Dialog

Files Affected by the Commit

The Files Affected by Commit section provides the following actions for files modified in a specific commit by right clicking on a file in the list:

• View This File Revision: Opens another instance of the project or file for viewing.
• Export This File Version: Prompts for a file location and exports a copy of the historical project or file to the specified location.

Note: If a project file is exported, its repository location is retained. When opening the exported project file, if it is saved outside the repository location, the user will be prompted to choose a new save location the first time they attempt to save the project.

Commit - Saves project changes to the repository. Users can initiate a commit manually or be prompted to commit changes upon project closure or system exit. Any file type stored within the repository is eligible for committing.

Note: A commit message is required and cannot be blank.

1. All: Selects all files for a commit.
2. None: Deselects all files.
3. This Project: Selects only files related to the current project.
4. Untracked: File(s) have not been previously committed.
5. Inverse: Reverse of currently selected file(s).

Note: Only files with the "Include" checkbox selected are committed, but those files can be committed at a later time.

Note: By default, modified files are selected for inclusion but can be deselected for commit at a later time.

Note: Ignored files (decided by the rules in the .gitignore file, if present) cannot be committed.

3. Save As” with Version Control: Triggered when saving a project outside the current repository location.

   Disable prompt and always use selected default action – Disables prompt if possible and defers to one of the selected defaults below: 

   • Disable Version Control – Deactivates version control for the project and removes the repository association from the project’s metadata.
   • Create a Repository at the Save Location – Automatically initializes a new repository at the specified destination and updates the project’s repository path accordingly.
   • Choose a Different Save Location – Notifies the user that the target location is not a valid repository and prompts them to either select an alternative save location or modify this setting in the options.