Window Monitor XPF

Modbus Monitor XPF application allows communication using a Windows-based Personal Computer to Modbus devices. The application is distributed in the Microsoft Store and can be downloaded from ModbusMonitor.com. The application can be downloaded and installed on a trial basis to try the features before purchasing the full license.

 The Modbus Monitor XPF application contains two applications in one. The application contains Modbus Client and Modbus Server.  In addition, the application supports Serial and TCP protocol options for each option. 

This guide helps you start the essential operation and covers some advanced scripting commands for purchased applications.

Main UI

The Main Screen is divided into three parts (1)  Control Panel  (2) Navigation Panel (3) Monitor Point List Table

1. Control Panel
   • Shows Options for Tab chosen in Navigation Panel
   • Details for each option in the control panel can be found in later sections of this document. 
2. Navigation Panel
   • Shows Main Features of the application as Tabs (Shows List, Master, Server, etc.) similar to File Menu in classic Windows Application.
   • Details of each Tab or feature can be found in sections listed in this document
3. Monitor Points List Table
   • Shows all monitor points defined for Modbus Master and/or Server mode
   • Add or Remove monitor points in the List Tab

Home Tab

File

• Save: Saves Current File in CSV format
• Save As: Saves File with another name in CSV format
• Open: Open Another File Saved earlier with Modbus Monitor XPF (CSV Formatted).
• Online:   View and Download Online Modbus Maps from either (1) Released by Modbus Monitor or (2) Uploaded by Online Community
  • To Download Files:
    1. Click on the ModbusMnitor.com Factory Icon (1) and wait for the list to update from the cloud.
    2. Click on the File Name from the list of available devices; the file name appears in the text area (6)
    3. Click on the Download button (4).  
    4. The Modbus Map of the devices automatically opens when the file successfully opens after the green check mark (5) appears and the online button closes.
  • To Upload File:
    1. Click on Community icon (2)
    2. Click on the Share Icon (3) and choose the local XPF Modbus Map data file
    3. Green Check shows (5) when the file is successfully uploaded.
    4. Click on the Community Files Maps icon (2) to refresh the list of files in the window.

Clipboard

• Paste: Paste Clipboard Row or Item or Monitoring Points to the end of the list
• Copy: Copy the Selected Single or Multiple Row(s) to Clipboard. Multiple sequential rows can be selected with Shift-Click’s first and last row. Multiple rows can be selected using the Control-Click in any order. 
• Cut: Copy the Content of the current item to the clipboard and delete the item from the list.

List

• Manage Monitor Points (also called Row or Item)
• + Add: New Monitor Point with Default Values
• – Remove: Selected Monitor Point from Monitor Point List Table
• Delete All: Delete All monitoring points from the Monitor Point List Table 
• Offset:  Set One Based mode. Set Offset to 1 or 0 for the Modbus Address listed in the Address Column.  In other words, address values in the list start with 1 (1-65536) or  0 (0-65535)

Filter

• Left Number: Shows the row number of the currently selected row. 
• Filter Box: Filter the list matching the value in the Name or Address columns.

Log

• Show or Hide Communication Log
• The same button is also available in the header menu.
• Turn off the log when not using it to save memory usage

• Click on Show Log button to show the Log Window
• Start/Stop Button: Click Start to Start the communication logging in comma delimited text
• Clear: Clear all logs
• Save As: Save displayed log to text file
• Errors: Show only communication events with Errors
• Scroll: Scroll to the latest communication log.
• The events in the windows are time-stamped with UTC.

Monitor Points – Columns

1. Name
   • Text or String value of the Register for easy cross reference. Example: “Water Temperature”
   • Extra Magic Key Codes can be added to enhance polling and processing further. Add these Extra codes at the end of the string with action.
     • String Length: “:” (Colon + RegCounts)
     • Add Colon and Number of Registers
     • Poll Update Rate: “@” (at symbol + milliseconds)
     • For example: Name = Model Name@1000 (poll at 1000 milliseconds)
     • @0 (don’t poll), @-1 (poll once).  See Poll Rate – Poll Section (below) for additional combinations and explanations
     • Bit Fields or Mask Bit Write: ” . ”  (Period or Point + bit number)
     • Add “.n” to the end of the Register name. n is a bit number from 0 to 15.
2. Address
   • 6 Digit Modbus register value 
   • Integer Value (0 to 465536)
   • Address is 0 based or 1 based depending on the “One Based” check-mark in the List Tab
   • Example: 000001 or 100001 or 400001 or 300001 
   • 4x Example: 400001 (One based checked, 1st Register, Function 3, Read/Write)
   • 4x Example: 400000 (One based un-checked, 1st Register, Function 3, Read/Write)
   • 3x Example: 300001 (One based checked, 1st Register, Function 4, Read-Only)
   • 0x Example: 000001 (One based checked, 1st Register, Function 1)
   • 1x Example: 100001 (One based checked, 1st Register, Function 2)
3. Unit ID
   • Unit ID or Slave ID of the register for Master and Server 
   • Byte Value (1-247)
   • Example: 1
4. Gain, Offset

1. Value to be multiplied and Offset Added to result obtained from the Server
2. Server Mode: Gain and Offset will be applied before the value is sent to remote Master 
3. Float Value Column = Gain x [Modbus Value Obtained] + Offset  (Linear Formula)
4. Example: 1.00 (default Gain, Multiple 1), 0.00 (Default, no Offset)

5. Data Type
   • Converted Data Value from Modbus poll
   • Example: BIT
   • 2 Registers are polled for 32-bit Data Type 
   • 4 Registers are polled for 64-bit Data Type
   • Displays value based on the selection:
   • BIT = Binary value
     • [Bit Fields] See Name column above to set Bit Fields or Masked Read/Write
     • INT16 = Display as 16-bit Signed value
     • UINT16 = Display as 16-bit Unsigned value (Default)
     • INT32 = Display as Signed 32-bit value
       • Two Registers are automatically polled
     • UINT32 = Display as Signed 32-bit value
     • FLOAT32 = Display as 32-bit Float
     • INT64 = Display as 64-bit Integer
     • UNIT64 = Display as 64-bit Unsigned Integer
     • DOUBLE64 = 64-bit Double Float
     • HEX = Display as Hex value (16-bits)
     • STRING = Display as Text Value
6. Swap Type
   • Byte and Word Swap when multiple registers are polled based on the Data Type 
   • Swaps multiple Registers based on the selection:
     • ABCD_BE: ABCD swap or Big-Endian (Default)
     • CDBA_LE: CDBA swap or Little-Endian
     • BADC_BEBS: BADC swap or Big-Endian Byte Swap
     • CDAB_LEBS: CDAB swap or Little-Endian Word swap
7. Value
   • Red Border shows on error or special message from the scanner. Click on the cell (edit) to see the special message.
   • Display Value from Master based on Data Type
   • Send Value to Server based on the Data Type 
   • Modbus Master: Shows value polled from the remote device after applying Swap type, Gain/Offset, and Data Type
   • Modbus Server: Value to send to the remote Master device. Click a cell to change send the new value to send to remote Master (All conversions are applied per settings before sending the new value) 

Modbus Client (Tab)

The Modbus Master or Client Mode (tab) polls remote Modbus TCP or RTU devices and displays data in the selected format.

Interface – Settings

1. Interface
   • TCP
     • DEFAULT: Modbus TCP over TCP/IP
     • RTU: Modbus RTU over TCP/IP
     • ASCII: Modbus ASCII over TCP/IP
   • UDP
     • DEFAULT: Modbus TCP over UDP
     • RTU: Modbus RTU over UDP/IP
     • ASCII: Modbus ASCII over UDP/IP
   • Serial
     • DEFAULT or RTU: Modbus RTU over serial COM port
     • ASCII: Modbus ASCII over serial COM port
     • Set Serial Ports related Settings

TCP 

1. IP Address  
2. • IP Address or Hostname of remote TCP server 
   • Connection Timeout: Timeout before reconnecting to the remote host after connection is lost
3. Port Modbus 
4. • Port: Modbus Port for remote server 
5. Timeout – TCP Connection
6. • Time in milliseconds before closing the current TCP connection

Time Out – Modbus Packets Timing

1. Response Time out
   • Modbus Frame waiting time to gather all bytes from the remote server
   • For example: Wait 3000ms or 3 seconds to gather all bytes up to CRC or tag short frame error
2. Inter-Frame
   • Delay before sending the next frame or time to wait between each item in the list, in milliseconds. 
   • For example: Wait 20ms before polling the next item in the list
3. Poll Rate
   • Delay before starting full list scan or time to wait before polling full list, in milliseconds.
   • For example, Wait for 1 second before polling the entire list again
   • Poll Rate for each Monitor Point can be controlled by adding “@” followed by a millisecond numeric value to the Name Column (at the end of the string). For example, if the text value in the Name field cell contains “Logistic String @-1,” it means
     • @-1 = Poll Once the Start button is pushed
     • @0 = Always skip monitor points during polling
     • @3000 = Poll Monitor point at 3000ms poll
     • Combining String Length + Poll Rate
     • “Logistic String @-1:31″ = Poll Once during the start with a string length of 32 registers (64 bytes or characters)

Write – Modbus Write Function Codes Settings

1. Auto
   • Atomically Select Single or Multiple Coil or Registers based on the Data Type selected
2. Enable
   • Enable Write from Value Column
3. Coil Write
   • Manually select function code for Write for Coil(s) from 5 (0x05) or 15 (0x0f)
4. Register Write
   • Manually select function code for Write for Register(s) from 6 (0x06) or 16 (0x10)

Scanner – Settings

Poll remote server to discover new Modbus Addresses or build Modbus Map for devices without public Modbus Maps.

1. Start – Start Address to start scanner in 6-digit format
2. Regs – Number of registers or polls to serially scan
3. Data – Assumed Data Type. The program automatically calculates the number of registers (1, 2, 4) to request depending on the Data Type selected
4. Swap – Data Swap for 32 or 64-bit data values
5. ID – Server ID to start scanning

Restore

Writes current Modbus Maps to a remote server by sending a write request for each Monitor Point in the Modbus Map list.  Be careful using this feature when using critical systems, as it may operate unintendedly.

Clear

Clears the data in the Value Columns before starting the poll. 

Server

Modbus Server or Slave can simulate devices. The Modbus Server can be started simultaneously on both Interfaces (TCP and Serial).

TCP Section (Modbus/TCP or UDP server)

• Choose either TCP or UDP interface for the server to use 
• Choose one from three available protocols for the server:
  1. Default = Modbus TCP
  2. RTU = Modbus RTU over TCP 
  3. ASCII = Modbus ASCII over TCP
•  Enable Button Enables Modbus/TCP server options (In addition to Serial Interface if used)

Serial Section (Modbus RTU)

• Choose Serial Ports for the Modbus Server.  (Check marks shows).  
• Click on the COM port to configure the other Communication parameters, such as Baud Rate, Data Bits, Stopbits, and Parity.

Note: Modbus RTU Server can start on multiple COM ports simultaneously. 

• Choose one from three available protocols for the server:
  1. Default = Modbus RTU server (same as RTU option
  2. RTU = Modbus RTU over Serial Port
  3. ASCII = Modbus ASCII over Serial Port

Server (Start/Stop) 

• Both the Modbus TCP server (when Enabled) and Modbus RTU server start simultaneously (when the COM port is selected). 

Capture (Modbus Maps Wizard)