Editing PLC Data

You can edit the data for a PLC at every position in the project where this data occurs: Both on the schematic and on the overview page and in the navigators. It makes no difference where you begin editing. Changing the hardware data (e.g., the connection point designation) in the schematic does not change this data on the overview page.

Note:

If the scale is changed on schematic pages, the property texts for the PLC boxes are visually modified (scaled) in exactly the same way as for other components.
However, a change in the scale does not affect the property texts of the boxes on pages of the type "Panel layout": The corresponding texts remain optically unchanged.

Editing in the schematic

You can create PLC boxes and connection points in the graphical editor or in the device or PLC navigators. You can use the graphical editor to insert PLC boxes or connection points into a schematic or overview page and then edit their properties. The previously mentioned navigators allow you to predefine PLC boxes or connection points with particular properties and then place them at a later time.

PLC connection points can also be inserted without PLC boxes. They are assigned to a PLC box through entry of the DT.

If you insert a PLC connection point on a schematic page and give it a connection point designation that has already been assigned in the overview, then the connection points are cross-referenced and the cross-reference is displayed in the schematic and the overview. The following data from the PLC connection point is identifying for the cross reference:

DT of the PLC card
Function definition
Plug designation
(For bus ports: Bus interface name + Plug designation)
Connection point designation.

If these data are identical, the PLC connection point is additionally identified based on the PLC address.

For bus ports the bus interface name together with plug designation is identifying. If the same bus port exists in multiple representation types in the project, it is necessary that the bus interface name is entered in all representation types for global editing and for reports. With the project correction you can transfer the bus interface names at all representation types of the same bus port by using the Synchronize bus interface names setting.

You can place the plug of a PLC card on a separate schematic page. The connection point designations of the PLC connection points can be transferred via synchronization to the pins connected to these. A corresponding setting is available to this purpose in the project correction.

You can also draw the PLC configuration, the power supply, and the I/O assignments on separate schematic pages. Automatic cross-references between these displays are automatically created and displayed. You can also mix these displays and draw them together on a single page. In this case, a PLC card box is the main function where the cross-references to the other boxes is displayed.

DT adoption in PLC connection points

Functions which have not been assigned their own displayed DT can use the DT from another function. For that reason PLC connection points too have the property DT adoption: Search direction. With regard to this, the following special features of PLC connection points should be noted:

For PLC connection points, the search direction is not only used to adopt the DT, but also to adopt the plug designation from another PLC connection point.
In overview pages the search direction is always upwards, regardless of the orientation of the plot frame. Searching to the left can be forced by toggling the search direction directly on the PLC connection point.

Editing in the overview

As well as schematics, the PLC documentation frequently includes overview pages providing a different view of the cards in a PLC. A PLC card overview shows the physical cards of the PLC, which are represented in the schematic as individual PLC boxes that are often drawn distributed over the schematic. It graphically displays which inputs / outputs are occupied and which are available, which function they perform, and on which schematic page they are displayed. This type of overview can contain a different number of inputs and outputs, depending on the manufacturer and type.

You draw PLC card overviews on pages of type "Overview". A synchronization in the form of cross-references occurs between the PLC card overview and the schematic pages. All of the PLC connection point data can be entered in both the overview and in the schematic.

You can draw a PLC card overview at any time, even when no PLC functions have been placed in the schematic. In this case, the cards and PLC connection points are created and can be later re-used in the schematic.

It is also possible to place connection points in the PLC card overview that have already been placed in a different manner (e.g. in the graphical editor, the PLC navigator, or the device navigator). In this case, the cross-reference to the corresponding existing connection point is displayed. The identifying properties for the cross-reference are the DT of the PLC card, the plug designation (for bus ports: Bus interface name + Plug designation) and the connection point designation. This means that A1:1 is not the same as A1:1, when separately entered as plug X1 and X2.

Reports

In reports, it is possible to display the data of a connected PLC connection point for all devices. For this, in forms you can use the properties offered when entering placeholder text for the "Connected PLC connection point" element. In EPLAN, the following PLC-specific reports can be generated:

PLC diagrams
PLC card overviews.

Synchronize properties

When synchronizing properties between multi-line and single-line representations and overview pages, automatically determined properties, e.g. the function text and the symbolic address, are not overwritten.

Function text

If during synchronization the function text of a PLC connection point in the schematic is transferred to the same connection point in the overview and the function text of the PLC connection point in the schematic does not exist then the value found in the schematic path is transferred, i.e. the path function text. If no value is present there, then nothing is transferred.

If the reverse occurs during synchronization and the function text of a PLC connection point in the overview is transferred to the PLC connection point in the schematic, then it is only transferred to locations where a function text already exists. If (e.g.) function text already exists for a PLC connection point in the schematic, then this is overwritten. If no function text exists for the PLC connection point, then the path function text is searched for. If this exists, then it is overwritten. If none exists, then the function text at the PLC connection point is filled.

Symbolic address

If during synchronization the symbolic address of a PLC connection point in the schematic is transferred to the same connection point in the overview and the symbolic address of the PLC connection point in the schematic does not exist, then the value found by the sensor / actuator search is transferred.

If the reverse occurs during synchronization and the symbolic address of a PLC connection point in the overview is transferred to the PLC connection point in the schematic, then the symbolic address at the PLC connection point is always changed.