Developer PC - TPC2212 Connection

[Nathacarrasco]

When having a Developer PC-TPC2212 Ethernet connection I cant target the touch panel from LabVIEW 2014. It doesn't appear in MAX, neither in LabVIEW (TPC and PC are in the same subnet).

I have LabVIEW, RT Module, DSC and LabVIEW RT Engine installed (all 2014).

Particularly i would like to emulate the things done in this NI tutorial: https://ni.adobeconnect.com/p46992444/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal. Hope you can help, thanks.

[Bob_Schor]

Can't see the tutorial.  As far as I can tell, the TPC2212 is perhaps obsolete.  However, it is an NI product, so you might be able to get help by calling NI Support.  It looks like it has (only) a COM port for communication.  Have you tried plugging the COM port into your PC (assuming your PC has a COM port)?  Does it show up in MAX?  If you send something out the COM port from the TPC, can MAX read it (and vice versa)?

Bob Schor

[Nathacarrasco]

Thanks for answering.

TPC2212 description in available in this link: https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.tpc-2212.html

The NI videotutorial is called Developing an HMI for cRIO if you want to google for a new link.

It has a serial port but i havent tried communication through it. Ive been trying only PC-TPC Ethernet connection and today I tried PC-cRIO-TPC using a switch. Both of them failed, I cant target the TPC from LabVIEW.

Also I thought that maybe I was in the wrong way to create an HMI application. So I create an executable application and copy it in TPC. When I launch it I get 1700 error which is associated to shared variables I'm using. I think it is also a communication problem with TPC.

I hope you can help me.

[Bob_Schor]

Sorry, I get a "Page Not Found" from both Chrome and Internet Explorer.  However, since you gave me the title of the Video, I did find it.  Bear with me while I watch it (and eat dinner) ...

BS

[Bob_Schor]

Sorry, I get a "Page Not Found" from both Chrome and Internet Explorer.  However, since you gave me the title of the Video, I did find it.  Bear with me while I watch it (and eat dinner) ...

BS

[Bob_Schor]

Oops, didn't mean to post twice the same message.  Well, that was a very informative video, and I now think I can make (what I hope are) some useful suggestions.

By design, the Touch Panel doesn't appear in MAX.  This is designed to be the "body-less" (or "Head-only") companion to a "Head-less" LabVIEW-RT system, such as a Compact-RIO.  What ties them together is a PC running LabVIEW.  Within a LabVIEW Project, both the Touch Panel TPC-2212 "Head-end" and the CompactRIO "Head-less" platform show up, code is developed for both, and code is deployed to both.

The idea is that within the LabVIEW Project, you develop code on the cRIO that communicates via TCP/IP with the Touch Panel PC, programming both systems to understand what is being sent back and forth and handling it appropriately.

In the Demo shown on the Video, the communication pathway was LabVIEW's Shared Variable, with the Shared Variable Engine (I'm pretty sure) hosted on the cRIO.  Within the LabVIEW Project, the Shared Variable Library was created on the cRIO, and when code was developed on the Touch Panel PC, the variables were "dragged" from the Project to the Front Panel of the code being developed for the TPC, effectively "connecting" them to the Shared Variable Engine running on the cRIO.

Recall that the program on the cRIO was started first -- it read the Shared Variables (initially with inputs set to 0, so nothing happened) and produced outputs (again, initially 0).  Code was then developed on the Host PC for the Touch PC that used these Variables as though they were controls and indicators for the routine running on the cRIO (which doesn't have a Front Panel).

When the code was deployed to the TPC and started, it functioned to update controls and indicators, with the Controls being sent to the cRIO, and the indicators being "fed" from the cRIO.  The connection between the TCP and the cRIO is Ethernet -- both machines must be connected to the Network (which is how the "Programming (or LabVIEW) PC" can "see" them and download programs to them), and the LabVIEW code loaded into them effectively provides them the TCP/IP addresses they need to see each other directly.  They use this direct TCP/IP communication path when they are running -- the LabVIEW PC can be disconnected (or even turned off) once code is running on both the TPC and the cRIO.

Hope all that is clear, and you can now proceed with your development process.

Bob Schor

[Nathacarrasco]

Thanks again for your answer,  I understand every word you said, that's exactly how the system should work.

So, summarizing:

• It is normal that TPC doesn't appear in MAX.
• TPC should appear as a target in "Targets and devices" in LabVIEW (but it doesn't automatically, I have to manually select it and configure its IP later)

I attach my project so you can check it, It's the same that the NI videotutorial works on. My problems with it are:

• I can't deploy TPC, it says it can't connect to the touch panel. cRIO deploys with no problems.
• When I build the .exe file and run it from TPC I get the 1077 error which is associated to shared variables.

I've check a million times if all the hardware (cRIO-TPC-PC) are in the same subnet and they are (192.168.0.xxx).

[Nathacarrasco]

I don't know how to attach more than three files (maybe you can't), so I post it here.

[Bob_Schor]

---

@Nathacarrasco wrote:

I don't know how to attach more than three files (maybe you can't), so I post it here.

---

I think that's why people sometimes post ZIP files ...

BS

[Nathacarrasco]

I tried attaching a .rar file but it didn't allow me, next time I'll do it with .zip