This driver provides a network solution for connecting Xpanel devices. The Xpanel in which this driver is loaded serves as a master station, while connected Xpanels act as slave stations. All slave Xpanels must be configured using the “Data Server“ feature (see the Data Server section for more information). Also, note that each slave Xpanel should have a separate station within the I/O device settings of the master Xpanel project.
Communication Setup: Slave Xpanel
The above pictures show how to configure a slave Xpanel as a data server. Each slave Xpanel can have up to 5000 data buffers (0000-4999) and 5000 string buffers (0000-4999). All of these buffers should be assigned to tags as shown in the picture above. For more information, please refer to the Data Server section of the manual.
Communication Setup: Master Xpanel
Create a new device
| To create a new device, select [Tools] → [I/O Devices] or click the  I/O Device Name: Select a device name. This name will be used in the tag configuration window of the database, accompanied by the ‘Station Name’. |
Select a network type | After selecting the [OK] button in the previous step, the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ dialog box will appear as shown below. In this window, set the ‘Device Type’ to ‘CIMON Xpanel’ and configure the remaining Ethernet communication parameters.  See the Communication Configuration section for more information.
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Create a station | Move to the [Station] tab of the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ dialog box. In this dialog box, each connected HMI station can be configured and registered to the Xpanel.  Each field can be configured with the following rules: Station Name: Set a name for the station. This name will be used in the database window, accompanied by the ‘Device Name’. Station Type: Choose ‘XPANEL’ (no other type can be selected). IP Address: Give the IP address of the server (slave) Xpanel using the dotted-decimal format (e.g. 1.2.3.4). Socket Port Number: Give the port number of the data server used by the slave Xpanel. This value must be 10262. See the Communication Configuration section for more information about the remaining parameters. |
icon in the main toolbar. The following picture shows the first step in creating a new device.Address Notation
Tags must be configured on the server (slave) device via the Data Server tool. All tags which you wish to access using this protocol must be registered using the following format:
Type | Format | Example |
Number | [D][Address in decimal number] | D0012 |
String | [S][Address in decimal number] | S0100 |
Once a slave device is registered, tags can be referenced within the master Xpanel tag database using the format described in the table below:
Memory Area | Symbol | I/O Address Range | Applicable Tag Type |
Real Data | D | D000 – D999 | Digital / Analog |
String Data | S | S000 – S999 | String |
Communication Cable Wiring
