To build and report mutually exclusive machine states you have to be able to distinguish between different states of your devices. For machines equipped with Siemens Sinumerik 840D controllers with an MMC with OS < Windows 7 you can use the utility program SinumerikGui.exe to do so.
Please note that this program uses DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange). To be able to access a remote controller from your computer you need an OS that still has the Network DDE service (NetDDE) installed. This usually is the case for older OSes like Windows XP and Server 2003. Despite the limitation there are several benefits:
It works even for oldest controllers with Windows NT OS
It can be installed without starting up the controller in ‘Service Mode’
No additional components or programs like ‘Adapters’ have to be installed at the controller
DOWNLOAD PROGRAM
Although this technique works flawlessly and reliable in production I’d appreciate to get your feedback about the results of testing with your machines, please send an email to support@inventcom.net thank you in advance!
Tip: To be able to verify the results you should use this utility on a laptop with a network connection at the shop-floor in front of the machine.
SETUP
On the querying computer as well as on the controller the Network-DDE Services have to be enabled and started (Startup mode AUTOMATIC):
FIG 1: Start Network DDE on local PC
SETUP DDE SHARE ON CONTROLLER
First open a command line (run -> cmd) on your PC and ping the controller by using it’s DNS Hostname e.g. ‘ping YS70-08-08-ECAS’. Make sure that you get a reply.
Then connect to the controller by typing two backslashes followed by the DNS Hostname of the controller e.g. \\YS70-08-08-ECAS into the explorer’s address bar and log on with the username and password used for the controller. Username is always AUDUSER and password is usually sunrise. Explorer then shows the shares on the controller if any.
Tip: To avoid typing in the username and password used by the controller you can also set up a local administrator account on your PC with the username and password used by the controller and log on with these credentials.
Next, right click ‘My Computer’, select manage, right click ‘Computer Management’ and select ‘Connect to another computer’, type in the IP Address of the controller:
FIG 2: Computer management, connect to remote controller
FIG 3: Enable and startup Network DDE on the remote device
On the remote computer (here 10.34.30.12) select services right click Network DDE set Startup Type to automatic and start the service. Also set the startup type of Network DDE DSDM to automatic.
Next, find out the DDE service name used by the controller. This name is defined in the file MMC.INI. The MMC.INI file can be accessed by typing in \\10.34.30.12\f\mmc2\ if the IP address of your controller is 10.34.30.12. If this does not work you can find MMC.INI directly at the controller in folder F:\mmc2\.
FIG 4: MMC.ini
Open the file MMC.INI with a text editor. Write down the NcddeMachineName, here NCU840D and close the file.
Next, open up a command prompt at your computer (not the controller !) and type in ‘ddeshare’, click on shares and ‘Select Computer’. Type in the IP Address of the controller. Click DDE Shares followed by ‘Add a Share’. Enter the following information into the dialog:
FIG 5: Add a DDE Share
If your NcddeMachineName is NOT NCU840D enter the NcddeMachineName of your controller in all 3 fields under Topic Name. The Share Name always has to be NCU840D$.
Click on ‘Permissions’ and add the user that accesses the share, grant ‘Full Control’. If you’re using the AUDUSER account add this user and grant ‘Full Control’. If NOT the respective user has to be set up as local account with administrator privileges at the controller. In this case you have to add a local user at the controller by starting up the controller in service mode and add it.
If the controller is in a WORKGROUP and your computer is a DOMAIN member please also add user ‘Everyone’ at least with the right to ‘Read and Link’.
FIG 6: DDE Share: Add user
Next, in the main window, select the share and click on ‘Trust Share’, check ‘Initiate to Application Enable’.
FIG 7: Trusted Share Properties
Restart the controller.
Extract all contents of sinumerik.zip to a folder on your Laptop and navigate to this directory.
USAGE
Double click on sinumerikgui.exe
FIG 8: Sinumerik 840D test program
In field ‘IP or Hostname’ type in the DNS Hostname of your controller (1), here SINUMERIK808D.
In field ‘Method’ type in 1, this instructs the program to use Network DDE. If you can run the program directly at the controller you also could use 0, the program then uses DDE only.
Hit enter or click ‘Query’, wait some time for a response, Network DDE is not very fast.
If everything works the program shows data in the output field similar to the following:
DEVICE:
SINUMERIK808D REPLIED!
PROGRAMSTATE:
5
PROGRAMNAME:
_N_PLATE160_MPF
STOPCONDITION:
0
CHANNELSTATE:
0
CONTR_MODE:
2
TOOLNUMBER:
14
SPINDLESPEED:
550.000
SPINDLEOVERRD:
100
FEEDRATE:
2500.000
FEEDOVERRIDE:
100
POSITION_X:
-135.000
POSITION_Y:
-135.000
POSITION_Z:
161.700
ACT_PARTS:
598
TOT_PARTS:
0
SPC_PARTS:
0
REQ_PARTS:
0
TROUBLESHOOTING
If the program outputs an error instead of data ensure that the NetDDE service is started on both the controller and your PC.
It will also be necessary to allow UDP Port 137 and TCP Ports 135 and 139 through the firewall.
