Instance-related and PLC-related information and actions within Instances view

The Instances →view provides:

information on the selected →PLC (below of PLC Information).
a hierarchical view onto the →instances and →variables of the Neuron Power Engineer →projects (below of Global Variables and Program Instances).

Use this view on the one hand for PLC-related actions possible, such as to load the application onto the PLC, and on the other hand to learn which instances and variables are used in the application. Moreover, you can quickly go to the appropriate declaration and it is also possible to insert variables into Values of Variables view (there you can monitor the current values of variables on the →PLC).

A typical view onto PLC information, instances and variables:

The Instance view is visible when you open one of the →perspectives for application creating or application testing.
If Instances view is not visible in your application, you can add it to the current perspective: Select Window – Show View – Instances.

Good to know
Your used →target system might influence the usage of this view in Neuron Power Engineer (see "Properties and restrictions specific to the target system"). You might want to use the Object Browser view to find out whether and where an object (e.g. a →variable, a →POU) is used in the application and to browse to the declaration of this object. Depending on your Neuron Power Engineer configuration and the used target system, the Instances view might provide additional buttons (e.g. to pause/continue the application). Contact your system integrator, if you require information on such buttons/actions.

Good to know

(grey lightbulb) Your used →target system might influence the usage of this view in Neuron Power Engineer (see "Properties and restrictions specific to the target system").

(grey lightbulb) You might want to use the Object Browser view to find out whether and where an object (e.g. a →variable, a →POU) is used in the application and to browse to the declaration of this object.

(grey lightbulb) Depending on your Neuron Power Engineer configuration and the used target system, the Instances view might provide additional buttons (e.g. to pause/continue the application). Contact your system integrator, if you require information on such buttons/actions.

In this article:
Instance-related and PLC-related information and actions within Instances view Components of Instances Columns in view Context menu and toolbar for view Elements in view Possible execution states

Articles in this section:

Components of Instances

If the Instances view does not provide all components, a possible cause is that the system integrator has changed the default configuration to hide components (e.g. lines or values concerning a target system).

Columns in view

The following columns are visible within Instances:

Column Object lists the elements.
Column Value provides the appertaining element.
Column Details provides the base type of the →derived data type.

If you do not need some items of information, you can hide the appropriate column:

Click (right of the columns) and select the appropriate column in the list (Checked columns are visible. Unchecked columns are hidden.)
If you require the items of information again, click again and select the appropriate column in the list.

It is possible to change the order of the columns as follows:

Point to the header of the column that you want to move. Then press and hold the primary mouse button, drag the column before or after a different column and release the primary mouse button.

Context menu and toolbar for view

Right-clicking on an element inside the view opens a context menu. Moreover, the view provides a toolbar with buttons. The context menu as well as the buttons allows you to perform actions. See the "Actions for view" for a list of possible actions.

Elements in view

The elements are grouped according to the PLC information or the instances and global variables. The instances are listed with the hierarchical levels (starting with the project). The value for instances or variables is the appertaining →data type.

Icon

Meaning

→project

→configuration (from within a PLC-object)

IEC-resource (from within a PLC-object); see →resource
The displayed value is the fingerprint for the programming created in Neuron Power Engineer by default. It is possible that the fingerprint is hidden in your variant of Neuron Power Engineer.

Compare the fingerprints displayed as values for the IEC-resource and for Code identification. If they are different, usually the version on the PLC differs from the one in Neuron Power Engineer.
Possible causes for different fingerprints are listed under "When is the fingerprint for an application not changed and when is it changed?".

Modifications outside the application make "Refreshing" necessary.

If you edit/create →resources outside of Neuron Power Engineer, refresh the view in the project explorer afterwards!
This triggers Neuron Power Engineer to refresh the view of the resources and its children and the fingerprint for the application created in Neuron Power Engineer.
Alternative for refreshing: Open the edited/created resource in Neuron Power Engineer.

the following state information of the PLC, listed below of PLC Information:

connection state (e.g. Online)
details on connection (e.g. Connected to PLC or No connection to PLC)
Moreover, this line gives some reference points, if a communication via →Gateway did not succeed. In case of a failed connection attempt via Gateway, one of the following texts is displayed: Gateway does not reach PLC or no application loaded, Gateway cannot be reached or No connection to Gateway
execution state (e.g. Running or Demo mode)
code identification
The value is the →fingerprint for the application loaded onto the PLC. It is possible that the line for the code identifcation is hidden in your variant of Neuron Power Engineer
information which user has loaded the application onto the PLC
information on the channel
information on the used runtime system on the PLC (type and version) as well as a recommendation which version should be used for the application

→global variable from within a PLC-object, listed below of Global Variables
Such global variables are resource-global or configuration-global variables (see "Declaring global variables for resource or configuration and using them").

instance of the →program (from within a PLC-object)
The instances and all following elements are listed below of Program Instances.

instance of a →function block (e.g. from within an ST-object)

instance of a →class (e.g. from within an ST-object)

internal →variable

→input variable

→output variable

→in-out variable

→global variable
Such global variables are program-global variables (see "Declaration of global variables in ST").

→external variable

variable with →user-defined data type

element from user-defined data type

, , ,

→reference variable of the respective kind, e.g. for reference input variable

variable based on an interface

(warning) It is not possible to insert variables based on an →interface from the Instances view into the Values of Variables.

Displayed array elements

The display for an array variable in the Instances view is restricted to the base type. If you wish to insert array elements into the Values of Variables view in order to monitor its values, but these array elements are not provided in the Instance view, just drag the base type into the Values of Variables view and modify the inserted item (complete it by the requested array index).

Display for a variable with nesting/recursion due to "REF_TO"

The display for a variable with a nesting/recursion due to REF_TO in the Instances view is restricted to 50 levels. If you insert such a variable into the Values of Variables view, these displayed sub-elements will be inserted.

Possible execution states

The following execution states are possible for an application:

Execution state	Meaning
Running	This execution state is activated, when the PLC is started/restarted or the application is started. When this execution state has been activated, it is possible to change values within the Values of Variables view to write them to the PLC. When an application is loaded onto the PLC, there is an automatic restart of the PLC. Hence, this execution state is also activated, after the application is loaded.
Stopped	This execution state is activated, when you stop the execution of the application on the PLC.
Demo mode	This execution state informs that a runtime system version without an activated license is currently used. Demo mode is displayed instead of Running, if the application runs on a PLC with a runtime system version without license.
License expired	This execution state informs that the demo mode has expired. Without activated license, you can operate the runtime system as demo version only – as a full version for 3 hours after starting the runtime system. For a longer operation, it is recommended that you request and install a license.
Paused	This execution state is activated, when you pause the execution of the application on the PLC or execute a single cycle of the code execution on the PLC. This execution state is only possible, when the cycle stepping feature is enabled so that the Instances view provides e.g. the buttons for pausing the execution of an application and for executing a single cycle.
Unknown	The execution status could not be determined. If this execution status is permanently displayed, contact Neuron.
Running (operation)	These execution states are possible when using the →runtime system logi.µSRTS. They replace the execution state Running or complement the execution state Stopped respectively. See the documentation on logi.µSRTS for details on the execution states that are relevant for logi.µSRTS.
Running (test)
Stopped (error)