JP2011192088A - Plc program development support apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a support apparatus which enables even a programmer who does not know or is unfamiliar with a concept of name space to easily prepare a user program using a grouping of "word" of name space method, without considering a concept of name space. <P>SOLUTION: A word is selected from one or two or more words belonging to one word group of listed word groups displayed on a first display area A3. Then, according to a given manipulation to an input means 3 for deploying the word on a desired position on a graphic display on a second display area A2, the apparatus describes a selected word MOV associated with the desired position, in the user program. The apparatus also automatically adds information for identifying the name space Std to which the word belongs to the user program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a PLC having a function for supporting development of a control program (hereinafter referred to as “user program”) to be incorporated in a programmable controller (hereinafter referred to as “PLC”) in order to realize a desired control specification. The present invention relates to a program development support apparatus.

  Name space method, which is one of the grouping methods of “words” in an arbitrary language, is not a data type of “words” but gives a plurality of spaces for the names of “words”. It is a mechanism that allows duplicate names. According to this namespace method, it is allowed to declare a namespace separately from its name. In addition, according to this namespace method, a namespace structure is effectively created by giving a namespace to all “words” in the language and declaring the namespace name in another namespace. Can be realized. Therefore, according to this name space method, there are advantages such as easy increase / decrease of members, the ability of the programmer to set access control, and navigation with respect to names due to the hierarchical structure.

  By the way, recently, each company that provides PLC provides a development environment using language specifications according to the IEC61131-3 standard. However, since the IEC61131-3 standard does not have an explicit name space, "instruction" is used. POU (abbreviation of Program Organization Unit) such as “FB” and “word” that can be used globally such as “variable” cannot have the same name or structure name.

  Therefore, when providing an instruction library, it must be said that a POU with the same name must not be provided when the library is provided, and that a structure name with the same name must not be provided for a “variable” included in the library. When using a global variable, there is a constraint that it is not allowed to have the same name in a variable of global scope (variable held by CONFIGURATION of IEC61131-3 standard). This means that the same “reference” name, “FB” name, and structure name that can be globally referenced cannot be duplicated.

  In this way, the restriction of not allowing duplication of the same name for “word” is the same as “instruction”, taking over the “instruction” of the other company's PLC as in the case of introducing its own PLC instead of the other company ’s PLC. It becomes a big problem when requesting additional support.

  Therefore, if a name space method, which is a grouping method of “words”, is introduced into the field of PLC programming of the IEC61131-3 standard, names may be duplicated, the usability will not be reduced, and the range of access control will be determined by the programmer. Various advantages such as being adjustable, having a navigation function for accessing names, and the like are expected.

  Note that a user program for providing a desired control specification using a PLC is provided with display means having a predetermined display screen and input means such as a pointing device and a keyboard in terms of specifying input / output. A certain “variable”, a “command” that is a word type for specifying an operation content applied to input / output, and a “function block” (hereinafter referred to as “FB”) that is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function Conventionally, a PLC program development support apparatus that supports a description operation using a PLC programming language including a plurality of word types is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-276525 A

  However, the above-mentioned name space method is a relatively new technology that does not exist in the IEC61131-3 standard. In particular, in addition to low recognition for users of FA (Factory Automation), a specific word is used. When "words" existing in a space are described in a program, a declaration statement of the word space is described in order to specify the word space to which the "word" belongs in the "word" unit or "program" unit. Therefore, the existing PLC programming requires an operation that does not exist. Therefore, in order to introduce the above-mentioned name space method into the program development support apparatus, some kind of user-friendly mechanism is necessary to prevent the programmer from feeling uncomfortable. Become.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described technical background, and its purpose is to be aware of the concept of the name space, even if the programmer does not know the concept of the name space or is not familiar with it. It is another object of the present invention to provide a PLC program development support apparatus that can easily create a user program by using a “word” grouping technique based on a name space method.

  Still other objects and operational effects of the invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art by referring to the following description of the specification.

  It is considered that the above technical problem can be solved by a PLC program development support apparatus having the following configuration.

  That is, the PLC program development support apparatus includes a display unit having a predetermined display screen and an input unit such as a pointing device or a keyboard, and a user program for realizing a desired control specification using the PLC. “Variable”, which is a word type for specifying input / output, “Instruction”, which is a word type for specifying the operation content applied to input / output, and “Word”, which is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function This is to support a description work using a programming language for PLC including a plurality of word types such as “function block (FB)”.

  In the program development support device, the first display area on the display screen of the display unit displays a list of one or more words belonging to the one word type according to a name space to which the first word type belongs. Means for displaying graphically corresponding to the user program in the second display area on the display screen of the display means, and the first list displayed in the first display area. In a predetermined operation of the input means for selecting one word from one or more words belonging to the word type and placing it at a desired position on the graphical display performed in the second display area Accordingly, the selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position, and “information” for automatically specifying the name space to which the word belongs is automatically added. Means and include That.

  According to such a configuration, one word is selected from one or more words belonging to the one word type displayed in the list in the first display area, and the second display area is selected. The selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position in response to a predetermined operation of the input means for placing it at a desired position on the graphical display. Since it has a function to automatically add and describe “information” for specifying the name space to which it belongs, the programmer who is the user is conscious of “information” for specifying the name space to which the word belongs. ”(For example, a declaration statement in a word space) is not required to be described in the program.

  In addition, by providing the name space itself as a metaphor, it is possible to use the name space naturally only by remembering it as a metaphor rather than learning the concept of the name space. Examples of metaphors are: (1) Use the device structure name as a namespace metaphor in “Variables”; (2) Internal auxiliary relay, the user as a namespace metaphor in global variable names on data memory Use familiar programming tool section names, and (3) use the CPU hardware name and application name as the name space metaphor in the instruction name. Used as the top level).

  Therefore, according to the present invention, even a programmer who does not know the concept of the name space or is unfamiliar with the user can use the “word” grouping method by the name space method without being particularly aware of the concept of the name space. Programs can be created easily.

  In a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, the “information” is used to specify a name space to be applied to all words belonging to the one word type described in the user program. It may be additionally described. According to such a configuration, it is convenient to define a word space of “words” used in user program units.

  In a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, the “information” may be additionally described as specifying a name space to be applied only to the described word. According to such a configuration, it is convenient to define a word space of “words” used in units of words.

  In a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, a display corresponding to the “information” may be added to the word symbol on the graphical display performed in the second display area. According to such a configuration, the word space to which each word symbol belongs on the graphical display can be understood at a glance.

  The present invention viewed from another aspect can also be understood as a computer program for causing a computer to function as a computer program for causing the computer to function as the above-described PLC development support apparatus.

  That is, the computer program includes an image display having a predetermined display screen, an input operation unit having a pointing device, a keyboard, and the like, and a central processing unit including a semiconductor memory, an external storage device, and an arithmetic processing unit. Is a word type for specifying a user program for realizing a desired control specification via a PLC, “variable” which is a word type for specifying input / output, and an operation content applied to the input / output “Instructions”, a PLC that supports the work of describing using a programming language for PLC that includes a plurality of word types such as “function block (FB)”, which is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function It is intended to function as a development support device.

  The function realized by the computer program is to display a list of one or more words belonging to the one word type in a first display area on the display screen of the image display device according to the name space to which the word belongs. Listed in the first means, second means for performing a graphical display corresponding to the user program in the second display area on the display screen of the image display, and displayed in the first display area. The input operation unit for selecting one word from one or more words belonging to the one word type and arranging the selected word at a desired position on the graphical display performed in the second display area In response to the predetermined operation, the selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position, and “information” for automatically specifying the name space to which the word belongs is automatically added. Third to It is included and the means.

  According to such a configuration, one word is selected from one or more words belonging to the one word type displayed in the list in the first display area, and the second display area is selected. The selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position in response to a predetermined operation of the input means for placing it at a desired position on the graphical display. Since it has a function to automatically add and describe “information” for specifying the name space to which it belongs, the programmer who is the user is conscious of “information” for specifying the name space to which the word belongs. ”(For example, a declaration statement in a word space) is not required to be described in the program.

  In addition, by providing the name space itself as a metaphor, it is possible to use the name space naturally only by remembering it as a metaphor rather than learning the concept of the name space. Examples of metaphors include: (1) using device structure names as name space metaphors in IO, (2) internal auxiliary relays, familiar to the user as name space metaphors in global variable names on data memory (3) Use the CPU hardware name and application name as a name space metaphor in the instruction name (this CPU hardware name and application name are the top level of the instruction category) Can be used).

  Therefore, according to the present invention, even a programmer who does not know the concept of the name space or is unfamiliar with the user can use the “word” grouping method by the name space method without being particularly aware of the concept of the name space. Programs can be created easily.

  In a preferred embodiment of the program of the present invention, the “information” is used to specify a name space to be applied to all words belonging to the one word type described in the user program. It may be additionally described. According to such a configuration, it is convenient to define a word space of “words” used in user program units.

  In a preferred embodiment of the program of the present invention, the “information” may be additionally described as specifying a name space to be applied only to the described word. According to such a configuration, it is convenient to define a word space of “words” used in units of words.

  In a preferred embodiment of the program of the present invention, a display corresponding to the “information” may be added to the word symbol on the graphical display performed in the second display area. According to such a configuration, the word space to which each word symbol belongs on the graphical display can be understood at a glance.

  According to the present invention, one word is selected from one or more words belonging to the one word type displayed in the list in the first display area, and the selection is performed in the second display area. The selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position according to a predetermined operation of the input means for placing the desired position on the graphical display, and the name to which the word belongs Since a function for automatically adding and describing information for specifying a space is provided, a programmer who is a user is aware of information for specifying a name space to which the word belongs (for example, a word space). The operation to describe the declaration statement) in the program is not necessary.

  In addition, by providing the name space itself as a metaphor, the name space can be used naturally only by learning the concept of the name space rather than learning the concept of the name space. As an example of a metaphor, (1) the device structure name is a metaphor as a name space metaphor in IO, (2) it is familiar to the user as a name space metaphor in a global variable name on the internal auxiliary relay and data memory (3) The CPU hardware name and application name are used as metaphors as a name space metaphor in the instruction name (this CPU hardware name and application name are the top of the instruction category). Used as a level), and the like.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, even a programmer who does not know the concept of the name space or is unfamiliar with the user space can use the “word” grouping by the name space method without being particularly aware of the concept of the name space. Can be easily created.

It is a hardware block diagram of the apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing (the 1) which shows the example of a display on a display screen. It is explanatory drawing (the 2) which shows the example of a display on a display screen. It is explanatory drawing of description operation of "variable". It is explanatory drawing which shows the various setting flags on memory as a table | surface. It is a flowchart of a program creation process. It is a flowchart of an automatic declaration process of “word space”. It is explanatory drawing (the 1) of the mnemonic row | line | column of a program creation process. It is explanatory drawing (the 2) of the mnemonic row | line | column of a program creation process. It is explanatory drawing (the 3) of the mnemonic row | line | column of a program creation process.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a PLC program development support apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  A hardware configuration diagram of an apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIG. This device is a user program for realizing a desired control specification using a PLC, a “variable” that is a word type for specifying input / output, and a word type for specifying the operation content applied to the input / output It is configured to support a description operation using a programming language for PLC including a plurality of word types such as “instruction” and “FB” which is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function. ing.

  The apparatus of the present invention can be realized by incorporating a computer program having a predetermined software configuration (hereinafter referred to as “tool software”) into a computer having a predetermined hardware configuration. Here, as a computer, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, the hardware configuration of a commercially available portable personal computer (PC) can be used as it is.

  As is well known to those skilled in the art, the hardware configuration of a portable personal computer such as a notebook personal computer has a PC body 1, a keyboard 2, a pointing device 3 such as a mouse, and a display screen of a predetermined size. The image display 4 includes an external storage device 5 such as a hard disk, a CD-ROM, or a USB memory.

  As is well known, the PC main body 1 communicates with a CPU 11 composed of a microprocessor and various ASICs, a memory 12 composed of a semiconductor RAM and ROM, and a communication node such as a PLC via a network. And a communication interface 13 is provided.

  This type of tool software incorporates various functions to be used for designing the hardware configuration and software configuration necessary for the construction of a desired PLC system, and the functions for realizing the device of the present invention are also included. One of such functions is incorporated in the tool software. The tool software is provided to the user in a state where it is stored in, for example, a portable recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM, a USB memory, etc.). The user installs the software on a hard disk of a personal computer and then starts it by a predetermined operation. Thus, the program development support apparatus according to the present invention is realized.

  FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams showing display examples on the display screen after the tool software is activated and a predetermined preparation operation is performed. In these figures, the first menu display area A11 is located at the lower end of the display screen S, and the character string “configuration” is displayed as the title on the upper side. A character string “program” is displayed as a title in the second menu display area A12, in the center, and a large rectangular area elongated in the left-right direction is in the work screen display area A2, right end, A vertically elongated rectangular area is a “word” list display area A3. Here, since “instruction” is adopted as the word type, the character string “instruction list” is attached as the title. However, when “FB” is adopted as the word type, the title becomes “FB list”. In addition, when “variable” is adopted as the word type, it should be understood that the title is “variable list”.

  The first menu display area A11 is a device configuration design menu in which design item names necessary for designing a device configuration for constructing a desired PLC system are arranged in a hierarchical structure (in a tree form in the figure). In the second menu display area A12, design item names necessary for designing a program configuration for constructing a desired PLC system are arranged hierarchically (in the form of a tree). A menu for program configuration design is displayed.

  In the work screen display area A2, when any design item is selected from the menu display areas A11, A12, a work screen corresponding to the selected selection item is displayed. In this example, “step process” is selected as the design item from the second menu display area A12, and a part of the ladder diagram (schematic display) corresponding to the user program is displayed as the corresponding work screen. Yes.

  The “word” list display area A3 is provided with a “word” list display in which one or more words belonging to one word type are displayed in a list according to the name space to which the word belongs. Here, as described above, the “word type” includes “variable”, which is a word type for specifying input / output, and “command”, which is a word type for specifying the operation content applied to the input / output. , “FB”, which is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function, is included. The list display mode when “variable” is adopted as the “word type” will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Next, the operation of the apparatus according to this embodiment will be schematically described. As described above, if a conventional method of introducing a name space into a PLC program development support device without any consideration is given, the programmer will try to describe a name corresponding to each “word” in the program. For example, each time or at the beginning of the program, it is required to consciously describe a declaration statement indicating the name space to which the “word” belongs in the program.

  However, in this apparatus, a command list is displayed in the display field A3 on the display screen S as shown in FIGS. This instruction list displays one or two or more “instructions” (MOV, MOVL...) According to the name space (Std, CJ,...) To which the instruction belongs. Then, a namespace such as Std, CJ, etc. is only recognized as some kind of instruction category. That is, those “commands” (MOV, MOVL...) Simply recognize a certain category (Std, CJ,...) To some extent, and do not need to recognize them. In the example of FIG. 2, all “instructions” belong to the same category “Std”. In the example of FIG. 3, “instructions” belonging to the category “Std” and “instructions” belonging to the category “CJ” coexist, and “instructions” having the same name exist between these categories.

  First, when a program is described using only “instructions” belonging to the category “Std”, a desired “instruction” can be set by dragging and dropping (Drag & Drop) the mouse as shown in FIG. What is necessary is just to select from the command list of display area A3, and to move to the desired position of the ladder diagram displayed on area A2.

  Then, at a desired position on the ladder diagram, a circuit symbol corresponding to the “instruction” (for example, transfer instruction, double-length transfer instruction, etc.) is attached with a character string (MOV, MOVL, etc.) corresponding to the “instruction”. It is arranged in the state that was done.

  At the same time, a mnemonic (for example, MOV, MOVL, etc.) corresponding to the “instruction” is described on the mnemonic string in the program description area in the memory 12. In addition, a namespace declaration statement (for example, Usage Name Space ---) corresponding to the namespace name to which the “instruction” belongs is described in the program in a predetermined manner. At this time, according to a predetermined declaration mode (“program unit” / “word unit”), the namespace can be declared in the “instruction” unit or in the program unit including the “instruction”. Here, the program unit may be each partial program unit when the user program is composed of a plurality of partial programs.

  By simply repeating the above operations, you can effectively execute the program while grouping “instructions” using the namespace effectively, without having to be aware of the concept of the namespace or performing the description operation of the namespace declaration statement. Can be described.

  Next, when a program is described using not only “instructions” belonging to the category “Std” but also “instructions” belonging to the category “CJ”, as shown in FIG. A desired “command” may be selected from the command list in the display area A3 and moved to a desired position in the ladder diagram displayed in the area A2 by an & drop (Drag & Drop) operation.

  Then, at a desired position on the ladder diagram, a circuit symbol corresponding to the “instruction” (for example, transfer instruction, double-length transfer instruction, etc.) and a character string (MOV, MOVL, etc.) corresponding to the “instruction” are displayed. Arranged in the attached state.

  At the same time, a mnemonic (for example, MOV, MOVL, etc.) corresponding to the “instruction” is described on the mnemonic string in the program description area in the memory 12. In addition, a namespace declaration statement corresponding to the name of the namespace to which the “instruction” belongs is described in the program in a predetermined manner. Also in this case, the namespace can be declared in the “instruction” unit or the program unit including the “instruction” by switching the predetermined declaration mode (“program unit” / “word unit”). .

  On the other hand, when the “instruction” having the same name in a different category is used, such as using the transfer instruction “MOV” in the category “CJ” after using the transfer instruction “MOV” in the category “Std”. The namespace declaration changing process is performed in accordance with the switching state of the predetermined word space changing mode (program unit / word unit).

  Assuming that the word space change mode is set to “word unit”, the name space is declared as the category “CJ” only in the transfer command “MOV” of the newly appeared different space (CJ). For “instructions” included in other programs, the namespace is still in the category “Std”. In this way, by setting the word space change mode to “word unit” in advance, the main “instruction” category of the entire program is maintained in the category “Std”, but the specific “instruction” having the same name is maintained. The name space can be expanded by setting the category “CJ” only for “”.

  On the other hand, if the word space change mode is set to “program unit”, the name space is set to the program unit in response to an operation of dragging and dropping the “instruction” of the different space (CJ). The name space of each “instruction” in which category “Std” was changed from category “Std” to category “CJ” and category “Std” was previously declared is declared in category “Std” in units of each word. . In this way, by setting the word space change mode to “program unit” in advance, every time the same name in a different space appears, the same name up to that point will not be flawed and the entire program will be By changing the main “command” category to a new appearance category “CJ”, the name space can be expanded.

  Next, the relationship between the instruction description operation outlined above and the computer program executed in response thereto will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 and the mnemonic strings of FIGS. To do.

  When a mouse drag-and-drop operation by the programmer is detected (steps 601, 602 YES, 603 YES), the selected “word” (for example, “MOV”) from the cursor start point is shown in the ladder diagram from the cursor end point. The “description position” of each is identified (steps 604 and 605), and by referring to a predetermined table prepared in advance, the “word space (name space)” (for example, “word (command)” to which it belongs (for example, , Std) is identified (step 606).

  The mnemonic (MOV) corresponding to the “word” specified in this way is described in the mnemonic string of the program creation area in the memory 12 (step 607), and then the word space which is the main part of the present invention. Automatic declaration processing (step 608) is executed.

  Turning to FIG. 7, when the automatic declaration process is started, first, the “word space” declaration mode is referred to (step 701). If it is determined that the reference result is in units of “words” (step 701 “word” units), a “word space” declaration is made only for the “words” described in this way (step 705).

  An example of the mnemonic string created at this time is shown in FIG. First, when a MOV that is an “instruction” belonging to the namespace (Std) is described, a namespace declaration statement (Std.MOV) is described only for the “instruction”, as shown in FIG. Then, when the MOV that is the “instruction” of the name space (CJ) is described next, as shown in FIG. 5B, only the “instruction” has the namespace declaration statement (CJ.MOV). Described.

  Note that the description method of (name space declaration sentence: Std.MOV, CJ.MOV) is not limited to this as information for designating the “word space” belonging to the “word”, and for example, it corresponds to each “word”. A table that defines the relationship with the “word space” may be provided.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the reference result is “program unit” (step 701 “program”), on the condition that it is the first “command” that appears in the program being created (step 702), After the processing (step 703) for describing the “word space” declaration statement (Usage Name ace Std) in the “program” unit is executed in the program, the declaration statement in the program unit is updated by the appearance of the subsequent “instruction”. The initial flag is reset so as not to be performed (step 704). FIG. 8A shows an example in which a “word space” declaration sentence in “program” units is described in this way. As shown in the figure, a “word space” declaration statement (Using Name Apac Std) in units of “programs” is arranged at the top of the program. Thereafter, as long as the “instructions” appearing do not overlap in different spaces (step 702 NO, step 706 NO), the “word space” declaration sentence insertion processing (steps 703, 708 to 710) is skipped and the “word” in “program” units is skipped. The "space" declaration statement is never updated.

  In this state, if it is determined that there is an overlap of “words” that are different spaces in the program (eg, MOV (Std) to MOV (CJ)) (step 706 YES), the contents of the “word space” change mode immediately. Is referred to (step 707).

  Here, if it is determined that the content of the “word space” change mode is in “word” units (step 707 “word” unit), “word space” declaration sentence insertion processing in “word” units (step 710). Is executed. FIG. 8B shows an example in which the “word space” declaration sentence in the “word” unit is inserted while the content of the “word space” declaration in the “program” unit is maintained. As shown in the figure, a declaration word (CJ.MOV) of “word space” “CJ” in “word” units is described at the position of the “instruction” MOV that appears second.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the content of the “word space” change mode is in “program” units (step 707 “program” unit), the “word space” declaration sentence change processing in “program” units ( Step 708) and a process of changing the “word space” declaration sentence of the existing “word” from the “program” unit to the “word” unit (step 709) are executed. In this way, after changing the content of the “word space” declaration in the “program” unit, the “word space” declaration sentence in the “word” unit is changed from the “program” unit to the “word” unit for the existing “word”. An example after the change is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the “word space” declaration sentence arranged at the head of the program is changed from the word space (Std) to the word space (CJ), and the “instruction” MOV that appears first is located at the position. , A “word space” (Std) declaration statement (Std.MOV) in units of “words” is arranged.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, a ladder diagram is displayed in the display area A2 by selecting one word from one or more “commands” displayed in a list in the display area A3. In response to a drag-and-drop operation for placing it at the desired position above, the selected “instruction” is described in the user program in association with the desired position, and the name space to which the “instruction” belongs ( Std, CJ, etc.) are provided with a function for automatically adding information (namespace declaration statement) for specifying the information, so that the programmer as a user is conscious of the name to which the “instruction” belongs. An operation for describing information for specifying a space (for example, a declarative sentence in a word space) in the program becomes unnecessary.

  In addition, by providing the name space itself as a metaphor, the name space concept can be used naturally only by learning the name space concept instead of learning the name space concept. As an example of a metaphor, a section of a programming tool familiar to the user as a metaphor of a name space metaphor in a global variable name in an internal auxiliary relay, data memory as a metaphor of a name space metaphor in IO Use the name as a metaphor, use the CPU hardware name as the metaphor of the namespace in the instruction name, the application name as the metaphor (this CPU hardware name, the application name is used as the top level of the instruction category), etc. Can be mentioned.

  Therefore, according to this embodiment, even a programmer who does not know the concept of the name space or is unfamiliar with the user can use the grouping of “words” by the name space method without being particularly aware of the concept of the name space. A program can be easily created.

  In addition, particularly in this embodiment, the “word space” declaration mode and the “word space” change mode are appropriately set to switch the namespace declaration in the “program” unit and the “word” unit. Even if the name is “word”, the word space to be used can be expanded while appropriately limiting the “word space” to which the name belongs.

  In the above embodiment, the case where “command” is used as the “word” has been described, but the present invention can be extended to “variable” and “FB”. An example in which “variable” is adopted as “word” is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, when “variable” is adopted as “word”, as a metaphor of the namespace, “processing device”, “infeeder”, “palletizing”, “lifter”, “ The hierarchical name of the structure such as “conveyor” can be used as it is.

Also, as the name space concept becomes more proficient, if the declaration of use of the name space is made for the “instruction” name, “variable” name, and “FB” name from the beginning of programming, By combining them, a more convenient device can be configured. In this case, various flags are provided in the memory 12 in order to facilitate the declaration of the name space. These flags include the following.
・ [Name space usage declaration for instruction names]
Flag F11 Std: (IEC 61131-3 standard) presence / absence of space usage flag F12 NX: presence / absence of usage declaration of space Flag F13 Presence / absence of usage declaration of space CJ (OMRON CJ compatible instruction) Flag F14 Used Whether or not the instruction category of the instruction is automatically declared. [About the use declaration of the namespace related to "variable"]
Flag F21 Presence / non-use of infeeder space Flag F22 Presence / non-use of sorter space Flag F23 Presence / non-use of machining hand space Flag F24 Presence / absence of use of all “variable” spaces About Declaration]
Flag F31 Presence or absence of usage declaration of the program space Flag F32 Presence or absence of usage declaration of all FB name spaces

  A user-friendly program development support apparatus can be realized by appropriately operating these flags. By appropriately setting the flags F11 to 13, the flags F21 to 23, and the flag F31 in advance, the respective namespaces are set as existing settings, and the flags F14, F24, and F32 are appropriately set to automatically Spatial declaration processing can be started.

  In this case, the following application examples can be considered. For example, the screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display screen S, and a check box provided for each item is activated, and a corresponding flag can be arbitrarily set or reset by a mouse click operation.

  If the flag F11 (Std) is set by clicking the mouse in this state, the MOV that is an “instruction” belonging to the category “Std” is transferred from the keyboard 2 to the “M” in the state where the screen of FIG. 2 is displayed. If keys are entered as “O” and “V”, the instruction MOV is recognized as an instruction of the category Std and is described in the program.

  If both the flag F11 (Std) and the flag F13 (CJ) are set by clicking the mouse, the display screen can be displayed by inputting MOV as "M", "O", "V" from the keyboard 2. On S, a screen for inquiring which of the category “Std” and the category “CJ” is selected is displayed. When the user selects one of the categories, the instruction MOV selects the selected category. Are recognized in the program.

  Even in this application example, even a programmer who does not know the concept of the name space or who is not familiar with the concept of the name space can use the “word” grouping by the name space method without being aware of the concept of the name space. Can be easily created.

  According to the present invention, even a programmer who does not know the concept of name space or is unfamiliar with it can easily make a user program by using “word” grouping by the name space method without being aware of the concept of name space. Can be created.

1 PC Main Body 2 Keyboard 3 Pointing Device 4 Image Display 5 External Storage Device 11 CPU
12 Memory 13 Communication Interface S Display Screen A11 First Menu Display Area A12 Second Menu Display Area A2 Work Screen Display Area A3 “Word” List Display Area

Claims (8)

A user program that includes a display unit having a predetermined display screen and an input unit such as a pointing device or a keyboard, and is a word type for specifying input / output of a user program for realizing a desired control specification using a PLC. Includes multiple words such as “variable”, “instruction” which is the word type for specifying the operation content applied to input / output, and “function block” which is the word type for specifying arbitrarily defined functions A PLC development support device for supporting a description using a programming language for PLC,
First means for displaying in a first display area on the display screen of the display means a list of one or more words belonging to the one word type according to the name space to which the word belongs;
Second means for performing a graphical display corresponding to the user program in a second display area on a display screen of the display means;
Desired on the graphical display performed in the second display area by selecting one word from one or more words belonging to the one word type listed in the first display area In accordance with a predetermined operation of the input means for arranging at a position, the selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position, and a name space to which the word belongs is specified. And a third means for automatically describing "information". A PLC development support apparatus, comprising:   The "information" is additionally described as specifying a name space to be applied to all words belonging to the one word type described in the user program. Item 4. A program development support apparatus for PLC according to Item 1.   2. The PLC program development support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the "information" is additionally described as a name for specifying a name space that should be applied only to the described word.   The PLC program development support according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a display corresponding to the "information" is added to a word symbol on a graphical display performed in the second display area. apparatus. A computer having an image display having a predetermined display screen, an input operation unit having a pointing device, a keyboard, and the like, and a central processing unit including a semiconductor memory, an external storage device, and an arithmetic processing unit;
A user program for realizing a desired control specification via the PLC is a “variable” that is a word type for specifying input / output, and a “command” that is a word type for specifying the operation content applied to the input / output ”Functions as a PLC development support device that supports the work described using a programming language for PLC including a plurality of word types such as“ function block ”which is a word type for specifying an arbitrarily defined function A computer program for causing
A first means for displaying a list of one or more words belonging to the one word type in a first display area on a display screen of the image display device according to the name space to which the word display belongs;
Second means for performing a graphical display corresponding to the user program in a second display area on a display screen of the image display;
Desired on the graphical display performed in the second display area by selecting one word from one or more words belonging to the one word type listed in the first display area In accordance with a predetermined operation of the input operation unit for arranging at a position, the selected one word is described in the user program in association with the desired position, and a name space to which the word belongs is specified And a third means for automatically describing the "information" of the computer program.   The "information" is additionally described as specifying a name space to be applied to all words belonging to the one word type described in the user program. Item 6. The computer program according to Item 5.   The computer program according to claim 5, wherein the “information” is additionally described as a name for specifying a namespace to be applied only to the inserted word.   The computer program according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a display corresponding to the "information" is added to a word symbol on a graphical display performed in the second display area.

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