How to Add Bit Instructions to a Routine

In Studio 5000 Logix Designer, the actual application code is written in routines. In this edition of Learn Logix, we will see how to add bit instructions to a routine using three different techniques.

Let's start by opening the routine in our Logix Designer Project.

Open a Routine

In Studio 5000 Logix Designer, routines are located contained within programs and programs are contained in tasks. When we created our Logix Designer project, a routine called MainRoutine was automatically created for us. This routine is a part of the MainProgram program which is a part of the MainTask task.

To access the routine, we expand the Tasks folder of the Logix Designer project as shown here and double click on MainRoutine.

When you open a new routine, a rung is automatically added to the routine. Select the rung by clicking on the area to the left of the power rail as shown here.

Add an Instruction to a Routine with Drag and Drop

The most common way to add an instruction to a routine is by dragging the instruction from the Language Elements Toolbar and dropping it in the correct position on a rung.

The Language Elements toolbar is located above the routine and contains all of the instructions available for a programming language organized by category.

Bit level instructions are available in both the Favorites and Bit tab of the Language Elements Toolbar.

Let's add an Examine On, also known as XIC, instruction to our routine.

To start, click and hold the XIC instruction icon

Then drag the instruction into the routine. As you are dragging the instruction, valid positions where the instruction can be placed on the rung are shown as grey dots. When you hover your mouse over a valid position, the dot turns green to indicate where the instruction will be placed on the rung.

Once a position is shown in green, release your mouse to add the instruction to the routine.

Add an Instruction to a Routine with a Single Click

You can also add an instruction to a routine by simply clicking on the instruction in the Language Elements toolbar. The instruction is automatically added to the right of the selected instruction on a rung.

Add an Instruction to a Routine with the Insert Key

Finally, we can open a browser to search for a specific instruction using the Insert key.

To open the Add Ladder Element Browser, select an existing instruction and press the Insert key.

In the Add Ladder Element Browser dialog box, you can use the search bar to find a specific instruction, such as the OTE or Output Energize instruction. Once you have found the correct instruction, select it in the list and click OK.

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The instruction is added to the right of the selected instruction on the rung.

Wrap Up

In this tutorial, we learned how to add Bit instructions to a routine in Studio 5000 Logix Designer.

Although we focussed specifically on adding bit instructions to a routine, this same approach can be used to add almost any kind of instruction to a routine based on any programming language available in Studio 5000 Logix Designer.