Add-On Instructions

Add-On Instructions are best used for encapsulating and reusing complex logic. They allow you to create a self-contained block of logic that can be used multiple times within a program, improving code readability and maintainability.

Add-On Instructions are commonly used for:

Modularizing Code

. Add-On Instructions help break down complex programs into smaller, manageable modules. This makes it easier to troubleshoot and update specific parts of the program without affecting the system.

Improving performance

. By encapsulating logic, Add-On Instructions can reduce the amount of code that needs to be executed during each scan cycle to help improve performance.

Reusability

. Add-On Instructions can be used across different projects to save development time and ensure consistency in logic implementation.

Simplifying maintenance

. Add-On instructions help manage and maintain code to ensure changes in logic only need to be made in one place.

Add-On Instruction can be used by any controller application in a project and enable reuse between different controller applications. Define the instructions, use instructions provided by another user, or copy instructions from another project. Once defined in a project, Add-On Instructions behave like built-in instructions in

FactoryTalk Design Studio

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Add-On Instructions are commonly used to represent reusable blocks of common code. FactoryTalk Smart Objects are used to represent hierarchical designs of your system.

Add-On Instructions can contain a maximum of 2 megabytes of data.

Add-On Instructions allow you to:

Reuse Code	Use Add-On Instructions to promote consistency between projects by reusing commonly used control algorithms. Place the code for an algorithm to be used multiple times in a project or across multiple projects in an Add-On Instruction to make the code modular and easier to reuse.
Provide an understandable interface	Place complicated algorithms inside an Add-On Instruction and then provide an interface that is easier to understand by making only essential parameters visible or required. Reduce documentation development time by automatically generating instruction help.
Simplify maintenance	Simplify code maintenance by viewing tag values relative to a specific instance of an Add-On Instruction.