Using Trace Fields in a Playlist

Prerequisites:
If you're using a routine playlist, create your playlist.

If you're using a pallet playlist, place your pallet of parts where the CMM probe can measure each cell of the grid.

Then follow the instructions in "Creating and Configuring a  Pallet Playlist".

A trace field is a value that is passed to a routine. With trace fields, a routine can collect data from the operator or from the playlist configuration. The routine can then do something with that data based on conditions or statements in the routine. For more information on trace fields, see the "Trace Fields Tab" documentation in the "The Playlist Dialog box" topic.

To use trace fields in a playlist, follow this procedure:

  1. From the Playlists screen, edit a playlist to access the playlist dialog box.

  2. From the playlist dialog box, click the Trace Fields tab.

  3. From the Trace Fields tab, under Trace Fields, click Add Trace Field. This adds a row of values.

  4. From the row of values:

    1. In the Name box, define the trace field's name. The software ignores invalid or unsupported characters.

    2. From the Type list, choose the type of trace field.

    3. In the Value box, give the trace field its default value.

  1. Continue to add as many trace fields as you need.

  2. Modify the measurement routine in your measurement software with the trace field IDs you want to use. Add additional commands and statements to do something with that trace field data.

  3. Execute the playlist to pass data stored in the trace fields to the routine.

  4.  If you have any trace fields that require user input, based on the type of playlist, the Playlist Execution Options or Pallet Execution Options screen automatically appears.

    1. In the Pallet Execution Options screen, if you need to see the underlying cell numbers, you can click the trace field name at the top of the screen to hide the screen.

    2. From the trace field names at the top of the screen, define any user-defined values or multiple-choice selections.

  5. During execution, Inspect creates a temporary copy of your routine. It adds a "VARIABLES COMMANDS REGION" into that temporary routine. This section of commands shows all the trace fields values.

  6. During execution, if your playlist uses trace fields and you need to see the trace field values, hover your pointer over the Trace fields button (Trace fields button) located on in the bottom right of routines that have executed or are executing. The software expands a small window just below the button to show the trace field values:

Example of Trace Field Values

Example of Trace field values

When you begin to configure a routine or playlist to support trace fields, you may find it helpful to run PC-DMIS on a separate monitor at the same time. This lets you see what's going on with the trace fields in the temporary routine. When you do this, don't open your routine in PC-DMIS. Let Inspect open the temporary routine.

Serial Number Trace Field Example with Pallet Playlist

Suppose you want pass in a serial number for each part in the pallet's grid and have those serial numbers show up in your reports.

  1. In Inspect, from the your pallet's playlist dialog box, add a User Input trace field for the serial number and give it a name of SN. Type a default value of your choice.

  2. Enable the Support Legacy SOI Interface option to inject the CURRUN trace field into the temporary measurement routine.

  3. In PC-DMIS, open your original measurement routine.

  4. Early in your routine, after the header information, initialize "SN" and "CURR" as PC-DMIS variables. Give them empty values, like this:

ASSIGN/SN = 0

ASSIGN/CURR = 0

(These initialized variable assignments aren't strictly necessary, but they do help when setting up the routine in PC-DMIS first.)

  1. Later, near the end your routine, pass the two values to your report with a report command:

COMMENT/REPT = "The serial number for the part in cell " + CURRUN + " is: " + SN

(CURRUN is a trace field that Inspect automatically passes to the temporary measurement routine. It holds the number ID of the current cell.)

  1. Save and test your routine in PC-DMIS.  It should say, "The serial number of the part in cell 0 is: 0". Since you haven't yet executed the playlist from Inspect, values of 0 are expected.

  2. Now that you have the comment set up and you've verified it's getting the values from those variables, remove or unmark the ASSIGN/SN = 0 and ASSIGN/CURR= 0 variable definitions.

  3. Save the routine, and close PC-DMIS.

  4. In Inspect, execute the pallet playlist.

  5. From the Pallet Execution Options screen, type the serial number values for each cell into the available boxes.

  6. Click Start to begin the actual measurement of the pallet.

  7. During execution, in the temporary routine's VARIABLES COMMAND REGION, Inspect passes the actual values for the SN trace field and for the CURRRUN trace field to the routine.

  8. The COMMENT/REPT command then sends that value to your report.

Related Topics:

Executing a Pallet Playlist

The Pallet Execution Options Screen