when setting up a BOOL tag, many (most?) people would prefer to set the “style” for “decimal” rather than for “binary” ... the “style” setting basically just determines how the tag is displayed on the screen ... think of it as something like the “radix” setting on RSLogix5 and RSLogix500 if you’re already familiar with those software packages ...



here are examples of two BOOL tags ...







notice that tag “X” has its “style” set for “binary” ... the “2#” notation in the value column just means that the data is being displayed in “binary” notation ... all of those extra (unused) positions are usually quite confusing to a technician who is just looking for a simple indication of the BOOL tag’s “1” or “0” status ...



notice that tag “Y” has its “style” set for “decimal” ... since “decimal” is the default style, there is no special notation shown in the value column - just the simple “1” or “0” status that most technicians are expecting to see when they monitor this BOOL tag’s value ...



finally ... you can easily change a tag’s “style” setting even after the tag has been defined and used ... just click the appropriate cell in the tag’s style column and you’ll get a pull-down list of choices ... note that changing the “style” this way will not change how the controller functions ... it only changes the way that the data is displayed on your screen ...