Barcode Scanner questions?

Hey All,
So I was just informed that i need to tell the PLC information about a block EX: size, strength, weight. We have a system called Movex which is our ERP/Inventory system.....personally i dont know much about the system other than the data resides in a MS SQL server and we use ODBC connection to connect to the database. My questions are what more information do i need to know from the IT guys about our system, how can i use an in-line barcode scanner to scan the barcode as it enters a convayor to tell the PLC information about the block, and what type of instruction will i be using???

currently on the machine we have a Micrologix 1100, it is not hooked up to ethernet...in the future we will be upgrading to control logix...

Our process would be as follows.....

a block that needs to be cut down to a smaller size enter convayor.
block gets scanned in; report to PLC: block ID, size to be cut, and strength of block.
block moves to a strength testing machine and gets tested if passed moves to next area of convayor....block gets cut to size.....block moves to block height measuring machine nd gets tested......if passed block gets sent to shipping. PLC reports to ERP/Inventory system of size and strength and passed or failed.


thank you

Is the information encoded in the barcode directly or is that just an ID number?

i will ask but i believe its just an ID number.

Ok, well if you need to do an ID number lookup you'll need some kind of interface back to your database. We do this through our SCADA in a lot of cases.
PLC reads the barcode, SCADA notes a new barcode and looks it up via the ODBC call back to the database(select data1,data2,data3 from data_location where barcode_id = 'stuffgoeshere'). Needed information is then checked for sanity and then pushed to the PLC along w/ a bit saying look up successful.

If reading from SQL is a bit of PITA, you can have the IT folks generate a lookup table in text format and push it to the SCADA daily.

Alternatively, Have a 2nd barcode label slapped on the block w/ all the information you need encoded in it. Read THAT directly into the PLC and skip all the SCADA lookup fun.

so they said they dont want to use the other barcode....which sucks for me cause now i am going to need to do a ton of research so i know what im talking about....cause i am not at all familiar with scada or odbc or any of this stuff......the erp tech here said he wants it so when the block is scanned it looks up the ID number through the SQL data table. what would be easier this or having the plc look it up throuhg excel??

what even is scada? and what type of scanner will i need ethernet, usb, serial?? cause they said based on the capital their going to be buying a control logix processor for this line.


i know im in the field that i was ment to be.....but i continuously feel like im in way over my head.....thank you all for this your guidence and help along my learning journey will keep me at my current job and have me not run away in fear.

i think what i need are some of RON's bootcamp classes haha

Well a SCADA(supervisory control and data acquisition) is typically a computer running a software package that lets you monitor the process. They have screens you build to look at the state of tags,bits,etc. Often they collect data from your process and store it for historical purposes. Read up a bit here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA

Scanner, You have lots of options. The ControlLogix line has communication modules for Ethernet I/P, Data Highway, ControlNet, Devicenet, etc.
I use some of the SICK Clv4 series scanners here. Mostly via Ethernet I/P.

ok I think i have more of an understanding of what i need to do.....currently we have rsview32 as our HMI can i use that to generate the information i need then send it to the PLC?? meaning, is there a way i can use a string input from the barcode scanner, send that to rsview32, have rsview32 take that number and search the SQL database for the info we need than send those numbers to the PLC??

Sure, Read the barcode at the PLC, Pull that tag into RsView32.

From RsView32 it gets a little more complicated.
Lookup the following Knowledgebase Article on the AB site(http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com)
"4821 - VBA Sample - Interoperation with RSView32 and an Access Database"

They use access as their example, but it works just as well w/ SQL server.

Once you get your data, Push it back to the PLC along w/ a bit saying that the barcode lookup was good.

:-/ it says that answer is locked. do you have a copy of it??

You need a techconnect contract to view it and there are files to download. So if you have a contract you can just associate your account w/ it on the AB site.

what is this something you have to buy??

Tech Connect? yeah, that's the rockwell support contract. Basically if you keep your software in support(so you can rev versions and download stuff) you have it already.


The gist of it is you'll need to write some VBA code to handle talking to the datasource. If you are comfortable in VBA, This won't be too hard.

As an aside, If you aren't opposed to spending some money there are a number of software packages that make this pretty easy.

I believe both Kepware and Matrikon's OPC server lines can talk to SQL.
I know Ignition from Induction Automation can(cause this is how I did it)
and I/Gear can also do it(someone else on my site did it this way).

hey going thrugh factory talk se....they have in the data tree, under connections database. when setting up a new database it says tyle and there is SQL.....would switching from RSView32 to factory talk se be a much wiser decision for this project?