Using The Spreadsheet To PLC I/O Utility (4:36 min)

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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For the last thing that we're going to look at with PLCs,

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I want to show you the amazing automation that

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can happen in your project set utilizing

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a tool called the spreadsheet to PLC I/O Utility.

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When I go to that utility, it's located under the import export

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data tab of the ribbon.

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There's a lot of great tools inside this tab.

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Please take a look at them as you start

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exploring electrical more.

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But the one I'm going to focus on is this PLC I/O Utility.

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The first thing I'm going to do is open up this Excel file.

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Now I need to select it to be able to use it in this dialog

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box, but I also want to show it to you

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so you can see what it's utilizing

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to build this automatI/On.

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This is what that file looks like.

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It is a very large Excel file that

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carries information about each PLC type,

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the code for that PLC, rack and slot information addressing

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information even whether or not you want a spacer

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or a break to happen, the five lines of description

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per each I/O point.

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And then, it can actually insert up

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to nine inline components with that I/O point.

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So it will know then what devices you need inserted

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and you can put as much informatI/On in here

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as you want to have those devices get

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pre-populated with catalog information, their description

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text, location codes, all of that.

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In this case, we have it pretty basic,

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where we just have the tag, the description,

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the block that it's inserting, and the location code.

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But you can add as many attributes

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as you want by putting in the codes of D1

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and then the attribute type, D2, and so on.

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You can have this build as much as you want.

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And in our settings for this, we will

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define how this gets built across multiple drawings.

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So once I choose it, I then come into the spreadsheet

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to PLC I/O Utility.

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And I can look at my setup to define

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how I want my ladders placed, how many ladders

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per my drawings, what the width of those

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are, the distance between them, how many rungs

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per ladder, whether or not I'm suppressing

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any part of the ladder, even what the PLC styles will be,

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with the I/O spacing is, and even

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what the spacing between the inline devices

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are, and then even what the drawing template is

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going to be.

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In this particular case, it's utilizing the existing drawing

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template that comes with electrical

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so you will see the title back end up in model space.

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We can also define what our first ladder

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numbers are going to be.

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In this case, I'm going to make this 1,100.

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And I am going to tell it that I want it

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to create brand new drawings.

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So I want it to start withdrawing 11 of this project.

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I will let it do a free run.

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I don't need it to pause between each drawing

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and it will start on sheet 11.

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You do want to make sure these get

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added to your active project by check marking this box.

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Then I will click Save and start.

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And you will see that based off of that spreadsheet,

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it is going to create three new drawings for me

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with all of the PLC information and all of those inline devices

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already defined.

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There is a lot of power to this utility.

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Most of it is built around the ability

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to have an export from your PLC programming system

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to then be able to import that into electrical to build

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your drawings.

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So if you're designing first there,

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you can then have it come in here to build the schematics.

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It is also a great way to do automation across your drawing

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package regardless of whether or not

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you're putting it into your PLC programming first.

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If you're interested, there have been some very exciting,

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we'll call them hacks, on the spreadsheet to PLC I/O

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Utility that have been done around automating

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your entire schematics.

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And even in AU class that I did a few years back

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on this very same thing with a customer of ours.

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And there you have it.

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Three brand new drawings pre-built into my project list

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already done and completed with ladders, symbols,

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and all of the PLCs.

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Please take a moment to do the exercise on the spreadsheet

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to PLC I/O Utility.