# Converting DINT to ascii - Calling all bit wranglers **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [July 19, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074 "2022-07-19T16:54:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/1 "2022-07-19T16:54:43Z")
Hi, I having trouble converting a DINT to ascii. I have a recipe that is represented in the PLC across 5 array elements in the following form: Recipe[5] = 22355 Recipe[6] = 13620 Recipe[7] = 13620 Recipe[8] = 12832 Recipe[9] = 12337 Where each DINT represents two ascii chars. For example, looking at element 5 in binary we have 22355 → 0000 0000 0000 0000 0101 0111 0101 0011 The first byte 0101 0111 is the first ascii char, “W” The second byte 0101 0011 is the second ascii char “S” I need to convert the first two bytes of each 32-bit word into ascii chars and then concatenate all the chars to form the recipe. I am not sure what is the most efficient way to go about this. I.E. using scripting on a tag change event or the expression language. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Patrick ---
**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/2 "2022-07-19T18:37:42Z")
If you were going to do this in a tag change event then you could use this script. Note this script will work in Version 7 or 8. For Version 7 you would need to change from `system.tag.*Blocking()` to `system.tag.*All()`. ```python import struct #read all tag values needed. qValues = system.tag.readBlocking(['path/to/tag1','path/to/tag2','path/to/tag3','path/to/tag4','path/to/tag5']) #convert to Ascii string strVal = ''.join([struct.pack(qValue.value) for qValue in qValues]) #write value to new holding tag system.tag.writeBlocking(['path/to/strTag'],[strVal]) ``` You could do this in an expression to, though I haven't worked that out. You could use the expression from this post for some inspiration, it isn't exactly the same but it does take care of the conversion and concatenation. I think I prefer the script in this case. > [@Label - Expression to conditionally format Hex value](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/label-expression-to-conditionally-format-hex-value/61621/2): > > This expression will do the trick: stringFormat('%02X:%02X', ({KasaTMMC/Final4/F4-TL/P1\_S001A} \>\> 8), ({KasaTMMC/Final4/F4-TL/P1\_S001A} & 255) ) An explanation of how this works. The stringFormat expression accepts format strings which utilizes the Java String Format Syntax, found [here](https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/11/docs/api/java.base/java/util/Formatter.html). Esentially, this string is saying it will take 2 arguments and format them both as a Hexadecimal Integer with zero padding to a width of 2 characters. This: {tag} \>\> 8 performs a right bit shift… ---
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/3 "2022-07-19T19:12:51Z")
That Irose, I was trying something similar, but I wasn’t privy to the struct module. I tested the code, when I try to print the resulting string, strVal, I am getting am not getting a empty string. I don’t actually need to write back to a holding tag as the recipe will only be used for visualization in Ignition. Not sure why I am getting a blank string, but I don’t think it would have to do with writing to a holding tag. Thanks for you help. I really appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/4 "2022-07-19T19:17:47Z")
`system.tag.readBlocking()` will return a list of values, assuming that those values match what you gave, when I ran this code I got `WS54542 01`. if you provide the code as you used it, then I can help trouble shoot it. I believe the script does work thogh, and strVal would only be “blank” if all the tags are 0. ---
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/5 "2022-07-19T19:27:44Z")
Hi Irose, I just double checked to make sure they didn’t change the recipe on me. It is still populated, and the returned string is correct. I wonder what I am missing. Please note the tag values are returned as DINTs. I am not sure if they need to be Binary. I.E. [22355, Good, Mon Jul 18 11:52:53 PDT 2022 (1658170373008)] Here is this code below that is producing the empty string: ```auto import struct paths = ['[default]Tags/Recipe_' + str(i) + '_' for i in range (5,10)] qValues = system.tag.readBlocking(paths) strVal = ''.join([struct.pack(qValue.value) for qValue in qValues]) print strVal ``` ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/6 "2022-07-19T19:32:47Z")
You might like the performance of this one better: ```auto from java.nio import ByteBuffer, CharBuffer from java.nio.charset import StandardCharsets, CodingErrorAction def wordsAscizBE(*args): bb = ByteBuffer.allocate(2 * len(args)) for arg in args: if not arg & 0xff00: break bb.putShort(arg) if not arg & 0xff: bb.position(bb.position() - 1) break bb.flip() decoder = StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1.newDecoder().onMalformedInput(CodingErrorAction.REPORT).onUnmappableCharacter(CodingErrorAction.REPORT) cb = CharBuffer.allocate(bb.limit()) decoder.decode(bb, cb, True) cb.flip() return str(cb) ``` You can call this from runScript like so: ```auto runScript("someLibraryScript.wordsAscizBE", 0, {tagpath.to.word1}, {tagpath.to.word2}, {tagpath.to.word3}) ``` It stops without error at the first null or unconvertible character. ---
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/7 "2022-07-19T20:00:40Z")
Hi pturmel, I created a project script named “Dint\_to\_ascii\_converter” and copied the above code. I then created an expression tag (type:String) in Ignition with the following arguments: ```auto runScript("Dint_to_ascii_converter.wordsAscizBE", 0, {[.]Tags/Recipe_5_}) ``` The tag is returning “Error\_ExpressionEval” ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/8 "2022-07-19T20:19:24Z")
> [@Patrick\_Costello](#): > > Dint\_to\_ascii\_converter Is this script in the project that is designated as the Global Scripting Project? Expression tags can only call functions in that project's library. ---
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/9 "2022-07-19T22:03:38Z")
pturmel, that was it. I set the project as the Global Scripting Project and the tag evaluated correctly. Thanks for the help. I am still curious why the solution that Irose provided is not working on my system them. It is odd to me that it is returning blank from the print statement. ---
**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/10 "2022-07-19T22:53:08Z")
> [@Patrick\_Costello](#): > > It is odd to me that it is returning blank from the print statement. Where did you run the script from? `print` doesn’t work the same in all scopes. The tags being integers is expected. Glad you’ve got a solution working. ---
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Costello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Patrick\_Costello](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Patrick_Costello)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/11 "2022-07-22T21:03:45Z")
Hi Irose, For testing, I ran the script from the actionperformed event handler on a simple button. ---
**Author:** ![Neil\_Carty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90ced4/32.png) [@Neil\_Carty](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Neil_Carty)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/12 "2023-07-18T18:42:50Z")
How would you do this for a 32 bit DINT to covert to ascii. Using pturmel project script i am only getting two characters (i know that was all the original post was asking for). How can i modify the script to get the other two characters ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/13 "2023-07-18T19:32:37Z")
Change the `bb.putShort(arg)` to `bb.putInt(arg)`. ---
**Author:** ![Neil\_Carty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90ced4/32.png) [@Neil\_Carty](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Neil_Carty)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/converting-dint-to-ascii-calling-all-bit-wranglers/62074/14 "2023-07-18T19:53:58Z")
That did it. Thank you