theripley Posted March 16, 2015 Report Posted March 16, 2015 Hi. A new client have a requirement for an automated system, which involves plc programming & computer programming (for automatic inventory system). They wanted us to do the plc programming (easy for us), and they hired a separate team for the computer programming. The computer programming team requires us to do an sdk so they can link our program to their inventory system. I have never tried it before, but I am sure someone in here knows a lot about it. Please enlighten me about this sdk-making-scenario. Thank you. Quote
JRoss Posted March 16, 2015 Report Posted March 16, 2015 SDK is a software development kit, and it's a library of ready-made functions for a computer programming language (VB.net, C++, etc.) to interface with a specific piece of software or hardware. There is a Mitsubishi protocol manual that you can use to build your own library, but that would take a lot of engineering time. What you are need for is MX Components from Mitsubishi. Quote
theripley Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Posted March 16, 2015 This MX components is the library for the sdk this client is requiring? I just have to buy it & give it to the computer programming team. Is that all? Quote
kaare_t Posted March 16, 2015 Report Posted March 16, 2015 Correct regarding the MX Components. That's easier and most likely cheaper than spending a lot of hours on creating or implementing a software developed protocol. As an alternative, you could use a ModbusTCP card in the PLC, and specify that to the computer developers. There's a lot of ModbusTCP computer implementations on the internet, and a ModbusTCP card is pretty easliy configured on the PLC side. Quote
Crossbow Posted March 17, 2015 Report Posted March 17, 2015 kaare_t, He did not say which Mitsubishi PLC. They don't have ModbusTCP for all of them. And in the case of the Q Series, that card is far more expensive than MX Component. Quote
theripley Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Posted March 17, 2015 I have read that MX components supports vba, visual basic & c++. Does it support .net applications as well? Quote
theripley Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Posted March 17, 2015 Have anyone heard of AdvancedHMI? Have you used it to interface with Mitsubishi PLC? Quote
JRoss Posted March 17, 2015 Report Posted March 17, 2015 Yes MX Components supports VB.net. Yes, I have heard of AdvancedHMI. I haven't used it, but they do not have a Mitsubishi communications driver. You could use it with a Mitsubishi processor, but only with a protocol conversion gateway of some sort, which would be cumbersome. Quote
theripley Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Posted March 17, 2015 Thanks JRoss. Btw, how long have you been using Mitsubishi PLC? Is it your personal preference? Quote
JRoss Posted March 18, 2015 Report Posted March 18, 2015 I've been programming Mitsubishi PLCs for over 11 years. In general I find preference has more to do with familiarity than anything. That said, I like the Allen-Bradley RSLogix5000 programming environment to be about the easiest to use of the various packages I have any kind of experience with. But Mitsubishi is a solid choice. They are competitively priced, reliable, and the programming package does it's job with a minimum of headaches. Quote
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