In a schematic project, you now have the possibility to replace a placed macro variant by a different variant of the same macro. To this purpose, the new Exchange macro variant popup menu item is available at the macro box below the Update macro popup menu item.
In order for a macro variant to be exchanged, the macro boxes have to be inserted as well during the insertion of the macros, and the type of usage of the macro box has to be set to "Referencing" or "Not specified".
After the selection of the popup menu item the new Exchange macro variant dialog is opened. Similar to the Update macros dialog, you can configure settings here for exchanging a macro variant. To this purpose, use the [...] button to open the corresponding settings dialog. The same settings as for updating macros are used for exchanging a macro variant. Therefore, the settings dialog has been renamed from Settings: Update macros to Settings: Update macros / Exchange macro variant.
The desired variant can be selected and exchanged - if existing - by using the Variant drop-down list also existing in the Exchange macro variant dialog. The selected variant is displayed in the graphical preview.
Exchanging a macro variant on P&I diagram pages
When exchanging a macro variant, the objects in the placed macro variant are reassigned. This assignment is carried out by default on the basis of the function definitions or the graphical placement. The new Macro ID property is available so that the objects can be uniquely identified and assigned to each other during the exchange of macro variants. This is particularly useful for macros on P&I diagram pages, since several similar objects with the same function or segment definitions are often available there in the macro variants (for example valves, PCT loops, etc.). Identify the PCT loops and functions in the macro variants with a unique macro ID. This way, the device tags, designations and the assignment to the segments in the pre-planning for the functions and PCT loops existing in the variants are retained during the exchange.
When exchanging macro variants on P&I diagram pages it is possible that the selected macro variant contains more or fewer segments than the original variant. This can result in the creation of new segments or the removal of existing ones. In the first case, the familiar Select structure dialog is opened for the assignment of the newly added segments into the structure of the pre-planning. If segments have been removed, the new Delete planning objects dialog is now displayed. Here, you can decide whether you want to delete these planning objects.
Macro ID when creating the detailed planning
The macro ID is also taken into consideration when creating the detailed planning from macros. This way, functions in the macro can be assigned better to the functions and templates at the planning object.
In addition, during detailed planning, the macro ID also allows PLC connection points in the macro to be assigned to the PLC addresses of a planning object. To this purpose, the new Macro ID column is available in the PLC tab of the planning objects. For a successful assignment, the same values must be entered in the Macro ID property at the PLC connection point and in the Macro ID column at the planning object.
See also
