Changing channel types

Description

This tutorial is an appendix to the Block generator and Using PLCs tutorials.
This tutorial covers how to change a channel type from one type to another; e.g. from a DI to an AI, or generic terminal to communication port.

Topics covered

Channel, IO, change IO, change channel, IO type, configurable IO, configurable channel

Main content

This tutorial is split into two parts; 1) changing channel types in the block generator and 2) changing channel types on the graphical block in the schematics.

Part 1 - Changing channel types in the block generator

In the block generator, you can change the channels you added from one type to another. For example, let's say we're creating a part in the block generator and realise that we accidentally added digital inputs instead of analog inputs. Here's how to change those DIs to AIs:

1. Select a DI, go to the Block Generator tab and select Explore Channel
2. Select the drop-down menu in the Type cell and choose the type you want to change the IO to (e.g. AI)

Note: A none-IO type channel (generic terminal or communication port) can not be changed to an IO type channel, and vice versa.

Part 2 - Changing channel types on the graphical block in the schematics

This is most commonly done on components that have configurable IO.
For example, let's say we have a component with configurable IO; e.g. certain channels can be configured as either digital (transistor) output or relay output.
Firstly, when we create the component in the block generator, there is no option to add 'configurable IO'.
So, for those configurable IO, we add channel types that those IO would most often be configured to, then generate the graphical block once ready.

When we insert the graphical block onto a sheet, those configurable IO channels will be consider to be digital outputs by default, and they will be listed as such in the IO list. If we want to change one or several of them from DO to RO, we can either:

1. double-click on the channel on the block and select the channel we want from the drop-down menu in the Type cell or
   
   
    
2. do so from the IO list (select the project > Show > IO) by selecting the channel we want from the drop-down menus in the Type cells

Note: A non-IO type channel (generic terminal or communication port) can not be changed to an IO type channel, and vice versa.

Related Tutorials

• Using PLCs (7:21)
• Block generator (8:22)