Vision PLCs are able to connect to 3rd party devices via serial RS232/RS485 or TCP/IP such as frequency converters, RFID cards readers, bar-code readers, and printerswith the help of the FB protocol funtions that are located on the FBs menu of VisiLogic.
If you know the protocol's structure of the device, you can use the Protocol FB to structure messages accordingly. This enables a Vision controller to exchange data with the device using the device's own protocol.
Note that before you can use Protocol operations, you must configure the COM port to be connected to the external device in accordance with the device's requirements. This is done by placing a COM Port Init FB in your Ladder application.
In case you will connect via TCP/IP, the controller must comprise an Ethernet card. You must initialice the card and a socket as TCP/IP.
The elements that comprice the FB protocol funtions are:
You can find more information on VisiLogic help file under Home>Communications>Communications FBs > FB protocol and FB protocol TCP/IP.
Sample applications may be found in the VisiLogic Examples folder, located on the VisiLogic Help menu. This folder contains field-tested VisiLogic (.vlp) sample applications.
You can view a video tutorial on the next link