GETTING STARTED

MODBUS SIMULATOR (Mdbus) FOR WINDOWS 95/98/NT/2000

Modicon, An AEG Company, Modicon Modbus Protocol Version

Calta
Computer Systems Limited
 Index

INDEX.................................................................................................................. 2
GENERAL............................................................................................................. 3
HOST MODE.........................................................................................................5
SLAVE MODE........................................................................................................6
MONITOR MODE................................................................................................... 6
TASKBAR STATUS TRAY AREA...............................................................................6
MODBUS RTU/TCP COMMUNICATIONS..................................................................7
DDE GENERAL.................................................................................................... 8
DDE POKE COMMANDS........................................................................................9
DDE REQUEST COMMANDS................................................................................11
EXCEL EXAMPLES.............................................................................................. 12
EXCEL MACROS................................................................................................. 13
EXCEL LANGUAGE CONFIGURATION.....................................................................17
CONTACT INFORMATION...................................................................................... 18
MONITOR CONNECTION DRAWING.......................................................................19

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General

The program can be installed on any IBM or compatible PC equipped with a 386 or higher
microprocessor. The machine must be running Windows 95 or NT with at least one available
serial communications port or a network card. The 3 1/2 inch floppy contains an installation
program which can invoked via the "Start - Run" option of the DeskTop Manager by typing either
A:\setup or B:\setup in the open space as required.

For familiarization purposes, two instances of Mdbus can be run at the same time in the same
machine and be made to communicate if two serial ports are available and TX and RX are
crossed from one serial port to another. The two instances can also communicate via TCP/IP
protocol. One instance should be configured as a Master and the other as a Slave. It is possible
to invoke up to four instances of the program simultaneously if memory and serial ports or
network cards are available. The first instance of MDBUS is named MDBUS, the second -
MDBUS0, the third MDBUS1, and the fourth - MDBUS2.

When the program is invoked for the first time, the Configuration Window will appear. If the Ok
button is pressed, the following conditions will apply. The Mode will be MASTER (ie. will poll a
Slave). The Slave will be polled via communications port one at 1200 baud with no parity and
RTU format. The Slave polled will have an address of 1. MDBUS will raise RTS for 55
milliseconds before any characters are transmitted (in case communications is via a 202 type
modem or Radio link). It will poll for 200 coil status starting at point 1 (index 0), 200 input status
starting at point 1 (index 0), 30 input registers starting at register 1 (index 0), 100 holding
registers starting at register 1 (index 0), and no floating point or long integer values. Note that
Mdbus takes the starting point number for each Data Type, subtracts 1, and uses this as
the start register address in its poll requests. It will attempt each poll three times if
necessary for a successful response. If the default configuration is not suitable, it can be
modified. Pressing the Help button will bring up the Windows Help Facility program. Via the
Search feature of this window, a full explanation of each configuration item can be obtained. If
the "Main Always On Top" box is checked, the Main MDBUS Window will always be on Top of all
Windows for quick reference. Unique Configurations can be kept via the Master/Slave
Configuration-Database File (i.e. enter master1 for the File Ident. and press the Save File(s)
button. This file can be later recalled by entering master1 in the File Ident. edit box and pressing
the Load File(s) button.

If the On menu item on the Main Window is invoked, MDBUS will begin polling the Slave. The
word after Comm. on the second line of the Main Window should be Nrml (steady). If it is Fail
(steady), no successful communications is occurring. If it alternates between Fail and Nrml, one
or more of a Database type's configuration is wrong for the slave being polled. To determine the
problem, select Off on the Main Window. Under the Display Menu, the various Windows for
displaying the values for the different Data Types can be invoked. If the Header line of a
Window is displayed in Red, the data was not successfully retrieved. The Configuration should
now be checked to ensure that the number and start of the errant Data Type is correct.

The data retrieved from a Slave can be viewed by invoking the appropriate Window via the
Displays menu item. Any Data type with a number of zero will be grayed. Communication
statistics can be viewed by invoking the Statistics Menu item. Statistics can be reset by Double
clicking anywhere on the Statistics Window. Transmitted and received messages can be viewed
by selecting the Monitor Display. Data in any Display Window can be viewed by using the scroll
buttons, the page up/down keys, the cursor up/down/right/left keys, tab, and the ctrl home/end
keys. Any display window can be printed. Clicking on the icon in the upper left-hand corner of a

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Display Window and selecting the Print item will do this.

Controls (Coil, Holding Register, Floats, and Longs) can be sent to the Slave by selecting the
Control menu item.

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Host Mode

In Master Mode, Mdbus is set up to poll one Slave. However, Mdbus can be configured to poll
multiple Slaves. On the Main Mdbus Window is the Menu item "Host". It is only enabled when
Mdbus is Off. Clicking on this item will bring up the Host Configuration Window. There are 32
slots available for defining the File Ident. configuration of a Slave to be polled. The Idents. must
have been saved via the Main Configuration Window. The Idents. could have been set up for 32
different Slaves or 32 different configurations for the same Slave or any combination. Clicking
on a slot will bring up a File Dialog for selecting the Ident. of a configuration to poll. If the Cancel
button is selected in the File Dialog instead of a configuration, the slot will be cleared. A saved
File used as an Ident. in the Host Configuration Window must be defined as Master, Normal
type, and not have the Invalid CRC/LRC box checked.

If the "Prime" box is checked, the following parameters from the first configuration are used for
polling all configurations:

Comm. Port, Fmt./Bd./Py., RTS/TX Delay, No Resp. T.O., Fail Try Count, Poll Delay, Excel DDE,
Excel Sprdsht, DDE T.O., Macro DDE, Appl,Topic, Macro, TCP Enable, IP Address,
Regs./Request, RTS Extra, and CTS Enable.

If the “Excel DDE” box is checked, all data from all configurations will be dumped into Excel after
all configurations are polled. The first configuration's data goes into columns 1 to 6, the second's
into columns 7 to 12, etc.

If the "Prime" box is unchecked, each configuration is standalone. After a Poll, each
configuration's data is dumped into the specified spreadsheet if the Excel DDE box is checked.

If the "One Scan" box is checked, only one poll of all configurations will be done and then Mdbus
will turn off automatically.

The “DCD Alerts” box has meaning only if an AT modem is being used for communicating with
Slaves. If the box is checked, Mdbus will produce an Alert Box and turn Off if DCD (Data Carrier
Detect) is not obtained upon dial out or if DCD is lost after a successful dial out to a Slave.

When the "Poll Configurations" box is checked, Mdbus is now in Host Mode. When Mdbus is
turned On, The Host Control/Display Window will appear. This window allows a configuration in
the poll list to be selected. Once a configuration is selected, data can be viewed from and
controls can be sent to the selected configuration.

Please note that when sending commands to Mdbus via DDE in Host mode you must also select
the configuration to which the control is being sent. See DDE POKE and the CONTROL Item
(page 10).

In Host mode, the configuration currently being polled is shown on the Main Window.

A particular configuration can be enabled or disabled from polling via DDE the poke commands
HOSTENAB and HOSTDISB. If the Host Window is shown, a disabled from polling configuration
is shown in red.

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Slave Mode

If MDBUS is configured as a SLAVE and the appropriate serial port is specified or Modbus/TCP
is enabled, it will respond to requests from a Master. It responds to requests for the address
contained in the Modbus Slave No. in the Configuration Window when the On menu item is
invoked. A Modbus Slave No. of 255 is a special case. For this value, Mdbus will respond to all
addresses received from a Master. Data sent to the Master can be changed via a data display.
Double clicking on a point in a Data Display Window will bring up a Change Window for altering
the value. The Change Window also allows data values to be perturbed for a few scans or
continuously for testing the way a Master responds to changes. If the Control Menu item is
selected, the Coil, Holding register, Floats, and Long Controls sent from a Master can be viewed
in a Window. The Control messages are tagged with the current time.

In Slave Mode, Mdbus can provide a simple Modbus Interface to another computer system via a
serial interface or TCP/IP connection. Data to be sent by Mdbus can be supplied via DDE pokes
by another application. Up to 1000 values of one data type can be updated in Mdbus by the
application with one DDE poke.

Monitor Mode

If MDBUS is configured for MONITOR mode (serial communications only), messages incoming
on the RX line of a serial port can be viewed in Hex using RTU protocol and in ASCII using ASCII
protocol. Both TX and RX lines of a communications port can be monitored if they are diode
coupled before being connected to the RX of the communications port configured to monitor.
Selective messages can be configured for viewing based upon Slave number, function code, and
CRC errors. Messages can also be logged to a capture file. Please review “FIFO Notes” (click
on Icon in mdbus folder) or Help on FIFO for information on detecting messages.

Taskbar Status Tray Area

The Main Window of Mdbus can be hidden. If the right mouse button is clicked when the cursor
is in the two-line status area of the Main Window, Mdbus will be reduced to an icon in the
Taskbar Status area. Passing the cursor over the Taskbar icon will display a line of status
concerning Mdbus. Clicking the right mouse button over the Mdbus icon in the Taskbar Status
area will unhide Mdbus. Clicking the left mouse button will bring up the display menu for
selecting displays while Mdbus has been reduced to a Taskbar icon. If Mdbus is hidden via a
DDE command it cannot be unhidden except via a DDE command.

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Modbus RTU/TCP Communications

Mdbus can be a Master or a Slave utilizing Modbus/TCP protocol. Modbus/TCP protocol utilizes
port 502. The Modbus RTU/TCP Comm. Box should be checked. When this is done, all serial
communication parameters are grayed. In Master mode, the IP address of the TCP device to be
polled is required. Two instances of Mdbus (one set as Master, the other as Slave) can
communicate using TCP protocol on the same machine for testing. The IP addr. 127.0.0.1
should be set on the instance that is Master.

Opto 22 (Temecula, California – 909-695-3000, www.opto22.com) have an excellent web site for
demonstrating Modbus/TCP. This site showcases their SNAP Ethernet I/O. The site can be
found at http://www.internetio.com/cam1frameset.shtml. On the web page is a Web Camera that
shows a rack of I/O, a light bulb, wheel, and meter value. The Camera updates constantly.
HTML links on the page turn the light on or off, stop or start the spinning of the wheel, and
change the value on the meter. These same changes can also be done with Mdbus using
Modbus/TCP.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Bring up the Opto 22 demonstration page (Browser/HTML if selected from

www.internetio.com) (http://www.internetio.com/camera1frameset.shtml) using a Web
Browser.
2. Now start up Mdbus (Start/Run C:\mdbus\mdbus.exe, etc.).
3. Load the Configuration file opto22 that is included with the Mdbus installation into Mdbus
from the Configuration Window (enter opto22 in the File Ident. Box and press Load File).
When you do this, Mdbus will be configured in Master mode, the Modbus TCP box will be
checked, and the IP Addr. Box will contain 206.126.152.40. Now click Ok.
4. Now turn Mdbus On. It will connect to the Opto 22 I/O using Modbus/TCP protocol.
5. Under displays, bring up the Float, Longs, and Coil Windows. Float number 1 is the
temperature and Float number 25 is the meter value. Coil number 5 is the state of the light
and coil number 6 is the state of the wheel (1 is on). Long Integer 401 is the value of the
wheel revolutions.
6. To turn the light on or off, bring up the Control Window of Mdbus. Enter 5 in the Coil Pt. No.
and click On. The bulb will turned On. Click Off, and the bulb will be turned Off. For the
Wheel spinning, use Pt. No. 6. To change the meter value (0 to 10), enter 25 in the Float Pt.
No. and the number 0 to 10 in the Value box and press Send.
7. When Mdbus is turned off it will disconnect from the Opto 22 I/O.

Note!

If there are problems with the Opto 22 demonstration page (lower frame does not appear) in step
1 above, an alternate demonstration page (http://www.internetio.com/camera2frameset.shtml)
(Browser/XML if selected from www.internetio.com) can be tried. The IP address for the
Modbus/TCP interface on this page is 206.126.152.41.

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DDE General

Mdbus in Master Mode can be easily set up to poke its data into an Excel SpreadSheet. This
includes all the Database values as well as Time and Poll Statistics. Each Database type is
stored in a column under a heading defining the Mdbus Instance and the type. A cell with the
word "End" terminates a column. If the Heading includes a *, the data has not been successfully
retrieved from the Slave. To enable this feature, check the Excel DDE box and supply an Excel
spreadsheet name in the Configuration Window. When Mdbus has data to be sent to Excel, it
will make a DDE connection to Excel. Excel must be up and running with the specified
spreadsheet. In both Master and Slave mode, Mdbus can be made to turn On or Off via pokes
from Excel or any other program supporting DDE pokes. The Slave number and the Database
points (start and number) can also be changed. These changes are temporary and are not saved
but remain in effect until Mdbus is closed. Via pokes, Mdbus in Master Mode can be made to
send out Coil, Holding Register, Floating Point, and Long Integer control commands. Mdbus can
execute a Macro in another application that supports DDE Execute. Examples of supporting
applications are Excel, Access, and Word for Windows. Mdbus will also respond to DDE
Requests for data. Requested data can be Database values, time, polling statistics, and
communication status. Mdbus does not support DDE Hot Links.

For all poke/request commands the DDE application name is MDBUS, MDBUS0, MDBUS1, and
MDBUS2 depending on the instances in use. The DDE topic is always POKE.

A problem exists with the DDE connection between Mdbus and Excel when dumping data into
Excel (Excel DDE box is checked) and also running an Excel macro (Macro DDE box is
checked). The spreadsheet that Mdbus dumps its data into should not be the first sheet on the
sheet tab.

Mdbus can be made hidden via a DDE poke command. When this happens, an icon is added to
the Taskbar Status tray. Moving the mouse cursor over the icon will produce a tooltip text box.
The text will indicate whether Mdbus is On or Off, its communication state, and the number of
polls and errors. Clicking the left mouse button will bring up a menu for display selection. When
Mdbus is unhidden, the Taskbar Status tray icon will be removed.

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DDE Poke Commands

The following details the DDE POKE commands (Item and Data) which Mdbus will accept.

Item Data Meaning

STATE ON Turns Mdbus on

STATE OFF Turns Mdbus off
STATE CLOSE Closes out Mdbus
STATE HIDE Hides Mdbus(icon added to the Taskbar Status tray)
STATE UNHIDE Unhides Mdbus
SHCONF ON Brings up Mdbus Configuration Window
SLAVE xxx Sets Slave number to xxx (0 to 255)
PHONE ATxxxxxxx Sets Phone no. - must start with AT
STATISTICS 1 Clears Statistics
COIL yyy x Control Coil yyy to x (either 1 or 0) (Mdbus must be
ON in Master Mode)
COIL yyy x,x,x Sets Coil yyy, yyy+1, etc. to x (either 1 or 0)
(Mdbus must be in Slave Mode)
HREG yyy xxxx Control Holding Reg. yyy to xxxx (+ or - 32767)
(Mdbus must be ON in Master Mode)
HREG yyy xxxx,xxxx Sets Holding Reg. yyy, yyy+1, etc. to xxxx (+ or –
32767)(Mdbus must be in Slave mode)
FLOA yyy xxx.xxx Control Float yyy to xxx.xxx (Mdbus must be ON in
Master Mode)
FLOA yyy xxx.xxx,xx.xx Sets Float yyy, yyy+1, etc. to xxx.xxx, xx.xx, etc.
(Mdbus must be in Slave Mode)
LINT yyy xxx Control Long yyy to xxx (+/- 2147483647) (Mdbus must
be ON in Master Mode or in Slave Mode)
LINT yyy xxx,xxx Sets Long yyy, yyy+1, etc. to xxx (+/- 2147483647)
(Mdbus must be in Slave Mode)
STAT yyy x,x,x Sets Status yyy, yyy+1, etc. to x (either 1 or
0)(Mdbus must be in Slave Mode)
IREG yyy xxxx,xxxx,xxxx Sets Input Reg. yyy, yyy+1, etc. to xxxx (+ or –
32767) (Mdbus must be in Slave mode)
NOCOIL xxxx Sets no. of Coils to xxxx
STCOIL xxxx Sets start no. of Coils to xxxx
NOSTATUS xxxx Sets no. of Status to xxxx
STSTATUS xxxx Sets start no. of Status to xxxx
NOIREG xxxx Sets no. of Input Regs. to xxxx
STIREG xxxx Sets start no. of Input Regs. to xxxx
NOHREG xxxx Sets no. of Holding Regs. to xxxx
STHREG xxxx Sets start no. of Holding Regs. to xxxx
NOFLOAT xxxx Sets no. of F.P. Regs. to xxxx
STFLOAT xxxx Sets start no. of F.P. Regs. to xxxx
NOLINT xxxx Sets no. of L.I. Regs. to xxxx
STLINT xxxx Sets start no. of L.I. Regs. to xxxx
AT212 ON Enables 212 AT modem
AT212 OFF Disables 212 AT modem
CONFIG xxxxxxxx Where xxxxxxxx is the File Ident. Config. to load.
xxxxxxx must have been previously saved via the
Configuration Window. (Mdbus must be OFF, and the

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 Configuration Window must be closed.)
HOST ON Turns Host mode on
HOST OFF Turns Host mode off
CONTROL xxxxxxxx Where xxxxxxxx is the File Ident. configuration used
for Control and Display in Host mode. xxxxxxx must
have been previously saved via the Configuration
Window. (Mdbus must be ON and in Host Mode.)
MUCO ON Sets function code 15 for Coil commands
MUCO OFF Sets function code 5 for Coil commands (default)
MUHR ON Sets function code 16 for H.R. commands
MUHR OFF Sets function code 6 for H.R. commands (default)
HOSTDISB x This disables a configuration from polling in Host
Mode. x is the configuration slot to disable (0 to
31).
HOSTENAB x This enables a configuration from polling in Host
Mode. x is the configuration slot to enable (0 to
31).
TMDN 4995 0 Send time to a Daniel’s Flow Computer

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DDE Request Commands

The following details the valid DDE REQUEST commands that Mdbus will accept. Some
request commands support multiple values. In multiple value cases, commas separate the
values.

Item Meaning

TIME Returns time in the following format dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss.

ONOF Returns the state of Mdbus, either ON or OFF.
HOST Returns the Host state of Mdbus, either ON or OFF.
MUCO Returns the state of Coil function code 15, either ON or OFF.
MUHR Returns the state of H.R. function code 16, either ON or OFF.
STTS x y Returns Communication Statistics where x=1, 2, 3, or 4 for
Requests, Incompletes, CRC errors, No Responses respectively and y
is the number to return. If all are required, set x to 1 and y to
4. If only requests are required, set x to 1 and y to 1.
COMM xxxx Returns Communication state where xxxx is COIL, STAT, IREG, HREG,
FLOA, or LINK. A 0 (comm. O.K.) or a 1 (comm. bad) is returned for
the database type selected.
COIL xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Coil point xxxx. The
values are 0 or 1. yyy is the number of Coils requested.
STAT xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Status point xxxx. The
values are 0 or 1. yyy is the number of Status requested.
IREG xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Input reg. point xxxx. The
values range from a maximum /minimum of + or - 32767. yyy is the
number of Input registers requested.
HREG xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Holding reg. point xxxx.
The values range from a maximum /minimum of + or - 32767. yyy is
the number of Holding registers requested.
FLOA xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Floating reg. point xxxx.
The values consist of a maximum of 15 digits. yyy is the number of
Floating Point values requested.
LINT xxxx yyy Returns the database values starting at Long Integer point xxxx.
The values are + or - 2147483647. yyy is the number of Long
Integer values requested.
CMND Returns the number of controls in the queue to be sent. If this
number is 100 (the queue size), and controls are sent, they will
overwrite those currently in the queue.

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Excel Examples

This following is an example of an Excel spreadsheet showing the data that has been poked into
it by Mdbus.

The following is an example of an Excel auto open macro used to start up Mdbus and obtain the
DDE identification of Mdbus.

Dim channel
'
' auto open macro
'
Sub auto_open()
Shell ("c:\mdbus\mdbus.exe") 'start up mdbus
channel = DDEInitiate("mdbus", "poke") 'initiate dde channel to mdbus
End Sub

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Excel Macros

The following are examples of Excel macros used to poke commands into Mdbus.

'
'Turn Mdbus On
'
Sub mdbus_on()
DDEPoke channel, "state", "definitions!r3c1" 'turn mdbus on
End Sub
'
'Turn Mdbus Off
'
Sub mdbus_off()
DDEPoke channel, "state", "definitions!r4c1" 'turn mdbus off
End Sub
'
'Close Mdbus
'
Sub auto_close()
DDEPoke channel, "state", "definitions!r2c1" 'tell mdbus to close
DDETerminate channel 'close dde channel to mdbus
End Sub
'
' set f.p. value
'
Sub set_fp()
Dim fpval
Dim fpno
fpno = Application.InputBox("Enter Floating Point Register No.", "Floating Point
Change", , , , , , 2)
fpval = Application.InputBox("Enter Floating Point Register value", "Floating Point
Change", , , , , , 1)
Worksheets("definitions").Cells(2, 2).Value = fpval
DDEPoke channel, "FLOA " + fpno, "definitions!r2c2" 'set f.p. value
End Sub
'
' set coil value
'
Sub set_coil()
Dim coilval As Integer
Dim coilno
coilno = Application.InputBox("Enter Coil Point No.", "Coil Change", , , , , , 2)
coilval = Application.InputBox("Enter Coil value (either 0 or 1)", "Coil
Change", , , , , , 1)
Worksheets("definitions").Cells(3, 2).Value = coilval
DDEPoke channel, "COIL " + coilno, "definitions!r3c2" 'set coil value
End Sub

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'
' set holding register value
'
Sub set_hr()
Dim hrval As Integer
Dim hrno
hrno = Application.InputBox("Enter Holding Register Point No.", "Holding Register
Change", , , , , , 2)
hrval = Application.InputBox("Enter Holding Register value (+ or - 32767)", "Holding
Register Change", , , , , , 1)
Worksheets("definitions").Cells(4, 2).Value = hrval
DDEPoke channel, "HREG " + hrno, "definitions!r4c2" 'set holding register value
End Sub
'
' Set Slave Address to value in definitions sheet row 5 column 1
'
Sub set_slave()
DDEPoke channel, "slave", "definitions!r4c1" 'set slave address
End Sub
'
' Miscellaneous Sample Initialization (See Load Test Config. below for an easier way)
'
Sub misc_init()
mdbus_off ' turn mdbus off
DDEPoke channel, "slave", "definitions!r2c5" 'set slave address to 3
DDEPoke channel, "nocoil", "definitions!r3c5" 'set no. of coils to 5
DDEPoke channel, "stcoil", "definitions!r4c5" 'set start coil to 2
DDEPoke channel, "nostatus", "definitions!r5c5" 'set no. of status to 11
DDEPoke channel, "ststatus", "definitions!r6c5" 'set start status to 3
DDEPoke channel, "noireg", "definitions!r7c5" 'set no. of status to 12
DDEPoke channel, "stireg", "definitions!r8c5" 'set start status to 4
DDEPoke channel, "nohreg", "definitions!r9c5" 'set no. of status to 13
DDEPoke channel, "sthreg", "definitions!r10c5" 'set start status to 5
DDEPoke channel, "nofloat", "definitions!r11c5" 'set no. of status to 14
DDEPoke channel, "stfloat", "definitions!r12c5" 'set start status to 6
DDEPoke channel, "phone", "definitions!r13c5" 'set phone no. to atdt-403-555-1212
DDEPoke channel, "statistics", "definitions!r14c5" 'clear statistics
mdbus_on 'turn mdbus on
End Sub
'
' Load Test Configuration (Note!!! This is the easiest way of changing Mdbus’s config.)
'
Sub load_test()
mdbus_off 'turn mdbus off
DDEPoke channel, "config", "definitions!r6c1" 'load configuration test
mdbus_on 'turn mdbus on
End Sub

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The following is an example of an Excel macro used to set up the Control Configuration. This is
required for all Control from Excel in Host mode.

'
' Set Host Control/Display Configuration
'
Sub control_display()
DDEPoke channel, "control", "definitions!r6c1" 'Set Host Control/Display
End Sub

The following are examples of Excel macros used to request data from Mdbus. Please note that
for these examples to work, you must have at least 20 holding registers starting at 1 and 15 coils
starting at 1 configured in Mdbus.

'
' request holding reg. macro
'
Sub request_hreg()
Dim datamg
Dim i As Integer
datamg = DDERequest(channel, "hreg 1 20") 'get data array from mdbus
For i = LBound(datamg) To UBound(datamg)
Worksheets("data request").Cells(i + 1, 1).Formula = datamg(i) 'xfer data to data
request
Next i
End Sub
'
' request coils macro
'
Sub request_coil()
Dim datamg
Dim i As Integer
datamg = DDERequest(channel, "coil 1 15") 'get data array from mdbus
For i = LBound(datamg) To UBound(datamg)
Worksheets("data request").Cells(i + 1, 2).Formula = datamg(i) 'xfer data to data
request
Next i
End Sub

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The following details the values from the definition spreadsheet used in the previous Excel
macros.

The following is an example of Excel macro that can be called from Mdbus.

'
' test_beep
'
Sub test_beep()
Beep
End Sub

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Excel Language Configuration

The following portion from the Configuration Window shows that data will be poked into an Excel
Workbook test.xls and Worksheet scada and an Excel macro called test_beep will be executed.
Different language versions of Excel abbreviate row and column with different letters than
R and C. For instance, the French version of Excel uses letters L and C, the German version
uses letters Z and S, the Spanish version uses letters F and C, etc. Mdbus needs this
information to successfully poke data into an Excel spreadsheet. The French version of Excel
requires [test.xls]scada,1, the German version of Excel requires [test.xls]scada,2, the Spanish
version of Excel requires [test.xls]scada,3, the Dutch version of Excel requires [test.xls]scada,4,
and the Polish version of Excel requires [test.xls]scada,5 instead of [text.xls]scada (English
default) in the Excel Sprdsht edit box.

The following portion from the Configuration Window shows that data will be poked into an Excel
Workbook test.xls and Worksheet scada and an Access macro called macro1 will be executed in
the database db1.mdb. Note that the database extension is not used.

The following portion from the Configuration Window shows that data will be poked into an Excel
Workbook test.xls and Worksheet scada and a Word macro called macro1 will be executed in
the document doc1.doc.

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Computer Systems Limited
Contact Information

For technical support or suggestions for future enhancements, please contact

Calta Computer Systems Limited

Suite 230, 550 - 71st Ave. S.E.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2H 0S6

Phone - 403-252-5094
Fax - 403-252-5102

E-mail - [email protected]
Web Site - http://www.calta.com/

Calta Getting Started With Modbus for Windows, Rev. 3.31 2000-Dec-17 Page 18
Computer Systems Limited
Monitor Connection Drawing

M o n it o r I n t e r c o n n e c t A s s e m b ly

1 5
6 9
2 4
7 8
3 T X 3
T o P L C 8 7 T o P C
4 R X 2
9 6
5 G N D 1

D B 9 M D B 9 F

1 6 2 7 3 8 4 9 5

D B 9 F

T o M o n it o r P C r u n n in g M D B U S

C a lt a C o m p u t e r S y s t e m s L im it e d

T it le

M D B U S M o n it o r C o n f i g u r a t io n

S iz e D o c u m e n t N u m b e r R E V

A C A B L E IN T E R C O N N E C T 1 .0

D a te : J u n e 1 8 , 1 9 9 7 S h e e t 1 o f 1

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Computer Systems Limited