Concat Ascii to readable text

[Mspeck]

Good morning,

I have an ASCII tag BCData.Data[0] thru [8] Data Type SINT.

How can I combine all values into a readable text ?

This is a Compactlogix processor.

[panic mode]

you cn convert each element individually into a string then concatenate them into one longer string

[Mspeck]

I have been trying this for two days and am getting nowhere,

My string array looks like this . . . 

BCData.Data[0]  currently equals 5

When Copied to a string that string value equals '6828$r$00$00$00$00$00$00$00$00

Why is it not simply copying the 5 that is located in that element

[Ken Roach]

The default STRING datatype in ControlLogix consists of a 32-bit DINT that represents the Length, and a SINT[82] array that represents the data, one character at a time.

In your case it sounds like you have BCData.Data[0] that holds the Length (but it's only 8 bits), then BCData.Data[1],[2],[3],[4] that holds the letters "6 8 2 8".    The last character is shown as "$r" which is shorthand for 0x0D = 13 = Carriage Return.

The easiest way to handle this would be to use a MOV instruction to move the BCData.Data[0] value to the StringTag.LEN tag.     Use the MOV because it automatically converts from SINT to DINT and it's easy to understand.

Then perform a COP instruction, with the Source = BCData.Data[1] and the destination StringTag.Data[0].   Make the Length of the COPY the number of target elements (SINTs), so use StringTag.LEN as the Length.    If you don't want the carriage return on the end, subtract 1.

 

 

[Mspeck]

Thank You Ken, this worked perfectly.

I appreciate you and 'panic mode's' response to my post.

 

[bobuhh98]

Hello, in this example, would we be able to use BCData.LEN as the length in the COP instruction? or would it need to be the StringTag.LEN? I am experiencing a similar issue where I am trying to move the barcode scanner data from a Zebra EA3600 scanner to a string but am occasionally copying a value of "$00$00..." over instead. 

 

[Ken Roach]

Welcome to the MrPLC forum community !

In that case in 2018, there was no "BCData.LEN" element because BCDData was a SINT[8].   So that's not really a question i can answer.

Ideally, create a new thread and provide some details about your application.

Because some modern ControlLogix firmware has changed the way that COP instructions handle dissimilar-typed sources and destinations, please post your firmware revisions too.

When using barcode readers, the function that indicates that new data is present is important.   Sometimes it's a handshake, sometimes an incrementing identfier, etc.