Digital Input Configuration (Release 3.3 and Prior)

Owned by Nina Cardillo (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 26-Oct-2022 by Nina Cardillo
7 min read

For SmartServer 3.4 and higher, see Digital Input Configuration.

You can specify the input mode for each of the eight digital input and configure each input to operate in one of the following modes:

  • Level – the input is either on or off. You can specify non-inverted or inverted logic. The default is non-inverted logic where an input value above the specified threshold results in a true value and a low voltage input results in a false value. You can specify inverted logic where an input voltage above the specified threshold results in a true value and a low voltage input results in a false value.
  • Counter – reports a count of the specified transitions of the input signal, either high-to-low or low-to-high.
  • Frequency – reports the average frequency of transitions of the input signal.
  • Toggle – reports a true or false value that toggles with each specified transition of the input signal, either high-to-low or low-to-high.

This section consists of the following:

Level Mode

You can configure a digital input to report a true or false value based on the voltage level of the input signal with a configurable voltage threshold and using non-inverted or inverted logic. To select level mode, set the di block mode datapoint type value for the digital input to level, set the mode  level.trigger_level to LEVEL_3V for an input voltage range of 0 – 3V, LEVEL_5V for an input voltage range of 0 – 5V, LEVEL_12V for an input voltage range of 0 – 12V, LEVEL_24 for an input voltage range of 0 – 24V, or LEVEL_31V for an input voltage range of 0 – 31V, and select non-inverted or inverted logic by setting the level.invert value to false or true. 

You can monitor the digital input level by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by monitoring the datapoint in a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by reading the digital input block using the CMS Datapoint Browser. 

To configure the digital input as a level input or to monitor the level input with the CMS Datapoint Browser, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoint Browser.

    Note: To best view all of the information on this widget, click the Expand button (  ). 


  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital input block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n] – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: di
    3. Block Index: 1 – 8 for digital input (DI) 1 through 8 

To configure the digital input as a level input, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoint Browser widget and select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to level.



  3. Set the mode datapoint trigger_level value to LEVEL_3V for an input voltage range of 0 – 3V, LEVEL_5V for an input voltage range of 0 – 5V, LEVEL_12V for an input voltage range of 0 – 12V, LEVEL_24 for an input voltage range of 0 – 24V, or LEVEL_31V for an input voltage range of 0 – 31V.



  4. Set the mode datapoint invert value to false to select non-inverted logic with a true output specifying a low output, or set invert to true for inverted logic with a true output specifying a positive output.

  5. Click SAVE.

To get the input level using the CMS Datapoint Browser, read the input datapoint level value. The input level value will be true or false. The value reports the state of the external digital input as follows:

  • If the mode invert value is false, a true input level reports the digital input is above the threshold, and a false input level reports the digital input is below the threshold.
  • If the mode invert value is true, a true input level reports the digital input is below the threshold, and a false input level reports the digital input is above the threshold.

Counter Mode

You can configure a digital input to count the pulses received on the digital input and report the accumulated count on demand. To select counter mode, set the di block mode datapoint type value for the digital input to counter.

You can monitor the accumulated count by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by monitoring the datapoint in a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by reading the digital input block using the CMS Datapoint Browser. 

To configure the digital input as a counter input or to monitor the accumulated count with the CMS Datapoint Browser, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoint Browser.

    Note: To best view all of the information on this widget, click the Expand button (  ). 



  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital input block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n] – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: di
    3. Block Index: 1 – 8 for digital input (DI) 1 through 8



To configure the digital input as a counter, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoint Browser widget and select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to counter.



  3. Click SAVE.

To get the accumulated count using the CMS Datapoint Browser, read the input datapoint pulse_counter.counter value. 

Frequency Mode

You can configure a digital input to report the frequency of the digital input.  To select counter mode, set the di block mode datapoint type value for the digital input to frequency.

You can monitor the digital input frequency by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by monitoring the datapoint in a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by reading the digital input block using the CMS Datapoint Browser. 

To configure the digital input as a frequency input or to monitor the digital input frequency with the CMS Datapoint Browser, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoint Browser.

    Note: To best view all of the information on this widget, click the Expand button (  ). 



  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital input block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n] – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: di
    3. Block Index: 1 – 8 for digital input (DI) 1 through 8



To configure the digital input as a frequency input, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoint Browser widget and select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to frequency.



  3. Click SAVE.

To get the measured frequency using the CMS Datapoint Browser, read the input datapoint frequency value. 

Toggle Mode

You can configure a digital input to report a true or false value that toggles with each pulse of the input signal with a configurable voltage threshold and using non-inverted or inverted logic. To select toggle mode, set the di block mode datapoint type value for the digital input to toggle,set the mode  toggle.trigger_level to LEVEL_3V for an input voltage range of 0 – 3V, LEVEL_5V for an input voltage range of 0 – 5V, LEVEL_12V for an input voltage range of 0 – 12V, LEVEL_24 for an input voltage range of 0 – 24V, or LEVEL_31V for an input voltage range of 0 – 31V, and select non-inverted or inverted logic by setting the level.invert value to false or true. 

You can monitor the digital input level by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by monitoring the datapoint in a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by reading the digital input block using the CMS Datapoint Browser. 

To configure the digital input as a level input or to monitor the level input with the CMS Datapoint Browser, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoint Browser.

    Note: To best view all of the information on this widget, click the Expand button (  ). 



  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital input block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n] – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: di
    3. Block Index: 1 – 8 for digital input (DI) 1 through 8



To configure the digital input as a toggle input, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoint Browser widget and select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to toggle.



  3. Set the mode datapoint trigger_level value to LEVEL_3V for an input voltage range of 0 – 3V, LEVEL_5V for an input voltage range of 0 – 5V, LEVEL_12V for an input voltage range of 0 – 12V, LEVEL_24 for an input voltage range of 0 – 24V, or LEVEL_31V for an input voltage range of 0 – 31V.



  4. Set the mode datapoint invert value to false to toggle the output value when the input transitions from true to false, and set the toggle.invert value to true to toggle the output value when the input transitions from false to true.



  5. Click SAVE.

To get the input toggle value using the CMS Datapoint Browser, read the input datapoint pulse_counter.toggle value. The toggle value will be true or false. The toggle value will change based on transitions of the external digital input as follows:

  • If the mode invert value is false, the output value toggles when the digital input transitions from high-to-low.
  • If the mode invert value is true, the output value toggles when the digital input transitions from low-to-high.