Add/Edit PDO Dialog

To access this dialog:
In the EtherCAT Editor, in the EtherCAT Explorer pane, select a SubDevice in the list. On the PDO Mapping tab, at the bottom of the window, click Add. Or, in the PDO Mapping box, select a row and click Edit.

The Add PDO or Edit PDO dialog is used to configure the PDO mappings for a SubDevice. The PDOs are an important part of setting up the EtherCAT control network. They define the data going to the SubDevice and the data returning to the MainDevice. See the Process Data Object (PDO) topic for details. The Add PDO or Edit PDO dialog is frequently used during setup to configure the network data. Each SubDevice will have an initial PDO mapping set determined by the ESI file. Sometimes, that mapping will need to be modified by adding or removing data items.

PDO Mappings may or may not be editable, as specified by the SubDevice manufacturer. The Name of a PDO Mapping is always editable.

Note: Consult SubDevice manufacturer documentation before editing PDOs. Each SubDevice may have specific requirements for editing PDOs, and RMCTools has no way of enforcing the rules. For example, the number of PDO Mappings may be limited and the number of entries within a PDO may be limited, and these limitations may not be readily apparent.

Before Using this Dialog

Before using this dialog, the SubDevice must have been added to the network as described in the Creating a New EtherCAT Network topic.

Dialog Components

General section:

Name: Displays the PDO name from the device’s ESI file. This can be edited to provide a descriptive name.

Index: Displays the address at which the PDO definition is stored. Do not change this value.
Flags section:

These flags are set by the SubDevice manufacturer.
- Mandatory: Indicates that the PDO cannot be deleted.
- Fixed Content: Indicates the contents of the PDO cannot be changed.
- Virtual PDO: Indicates that the PDO has no entries.
Direction section:

When adding a new PDO, use this to define whether the PDO is being received by the MainDevice (IN) or sent from the Main Device to the SubDevice (OUT). Once a PDO is created, the Direction cannot be changed.
Optional section:

The Exclude list specifies with a check mark the PDOs which cannot be activated if this PDO is activated.
Entries section:

Displays all the data items currently in the PDO, with their index and bit length. These data items can also be viewed in the CoE Object-Dictionary tab.

When Editing a PDO

These instructions apply when this dialog was opened to edit an existing PDO. To edit a PDO:

Use the Add button to add entries. See the Add/Edit PDO Entry dialog for details.
Use the Edit button to edit existing entries. See the Add/Edit PDO Entry dialog for details.
Use the Up and Down buttons to move the entries. The order of the items doesn’t have any effect on the communications and is mainly for visual organization.
The Name can be edited.
When finished editing the entries, click OK to apply the changes.

The Direction and Flags cannot be changed.

When Adding a PDO

These instructions apply when this dialog was opened to create a new PDO.

Enter a Name for the PDO.
Choose the Direction.

IN is for data transmitted from the SubDevice and coming into the RMC. OUT is for data going out from the RMC and received by the SubDevice.
Below the Entries box, click Add to add a data item. The Add PDO Entry dialog box will open.
In the CoE Object-Dictionary window, choose a data item to add to the new PDO mapping.

Once entries have been added, use the Delete, Edit, Up and Down buttons to modify the entries.

When finished adding entries, click OK to apply the changes.

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