JP5303391B2 - Program creation support apparatus, program creation support method, and computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a program creation support apparatus, a program creation support method, and a computer program that support creation of a control program that operates with a programmable controller that realizes various functions by connecting a plurality of controlled devices.

  Conventionally, I / O units that extend I / O devices, communication units that add communication functions, positioning units that control the positioning of devices to be controlled, and expansion units such as temperature control units that adjust temperature 2. Description of the Related Art A programmable controller that controls the operation of an expansion unit using a control program is widely used. As functions diversify, control programs for controlling the operation of each expansion unit have become larger and more complex year by year, and the amount of information handled by creators of control programs has also increased year by year. Therefore, when the control program coding work is performed, the knowledge that the control program creator should have, the ability to have, etc. have become more advanced, and the programming work depends on the control program creator. It is inefficient by itself, and the burden on the creator of the control program becomes excessive.

  Therefore, as a method for assisting the coding work of the control program, not only the provision of a manual but also a method of displaying an explanatory text for the input program code on the screen according to the coded content is often used. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a character string to be coded (command word, etc.) is specified by designating a label, a device, etc., and searching a past program code input history, a predetermined database, etc. A way to search is also considered.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-083206

  However, simply expanding the search target as in Patent Document 1 described above increases the flexibility of search processing, but the search time increases due to the expansion of the search target, making it difficult to narrow down the search results. There is a problem that the search processing load increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by specifying the search target according to the connection status of the controlled device, it is possible to reduce the search processing load and effectively narrow down the search results. An object of the present invention is to provide a program creation support apparatus, a program creation support method, and a computer program.

  In order to achieve the above object, a program creation support apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises an expansion unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and a programmable controller that sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device. In a program creation support apparatus that supports creation of a control program to be executed, a command word storage unit that stores a command word used in the control program, and related information that stores related information related to the command word in association with the command word Storage means having a storage unit separately for each type of extension unit, configuration information acquisition means for acquiring configuration information including one or a plurality of types of extension units constituting the programmable controller, and acquired The command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the configuration information are searched for Search target specifying means, input receiving means for receiving input of a character string, and search for searching the specified instruction word storage unit or the related information storage unit according to the order of the character string received. Means and a selection receiving means for receiving selection of the command word or the related information from a search result of the search means.

  The program creation support apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the program creation support apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the storage means includes the instruction word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to one or a plurality of the extension units constituting the programmable controller. And the search target specifying unit extracts the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the configuration information acquired by the configuration information acquisition unit as a search target. It is characterized by.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the program creation support apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the configuration information acquisition unit acquires the configuration information every time the search unit starts a search. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the program creation support device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the search means uses the command word searched when the command word storage unit is a search target as key information. As described above, the related information storage unit is searched.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the program creation support apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the CPU stores an instruction word and related information specific to the expansion unit stored in the expansion unit. Information copying means for copying and storing in the unit, and an instruction word and related information stored in the expansion unit, or an instruction word copied and stored in the CPU unit according to the character string received. And related information, selection means for selecting either as a search target.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program creation support apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, a usage rate calculating means for calculating a usage rate of an instruction word used in the control program, and a calculated usage rate. And classifying means for classifying search results based on the search results.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program creation support apparatus according to the sixth aspect, further comprising history information storage means for storing the received character string as history information, wherein the classification means stores the stored history information. It is characterized by prioritizing classification.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the program creation support device according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the input interval detection means detects an interval for accepting input of a character string, and the detected interval exceeds a predetermined time. Input interval determining means for determining whether or not the input interval determining means determines that a predetermined time has been exceeded, and the search means starts searching.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the program creation support apparatus according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, wherein the search means performs a partial match search or a fuzzy search.

  Next, in order to achieve the above object, a program creation support method according to the tenth aspect of the present invention comprises an extension unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device. In a program creation support method that can be executed by a program creation support apparatus that supports creation of a control program executed in a programmable controller, the program creation support apparatus corresponds to an instruction word used in a control program, and the instruction word The related information related to the attached instruction word is stored separately for each type of the extension unit, and the configuration information including one or more types of the extension units constituting the programmable controller is acquired and acquired. Search the instruction word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the configuration information Identify the command word, accept the input of the character string, search the specified command word or the related information according to the order of the character string received the input, and select the command word or the related information from the search result It is characterized by accepting.

  Next, in order to achieve the above object, a computer program according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention comprises an expansion unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and a programmable controller that sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device. In a computer program that can be executed by a program creation support apparatus that supports creation of a control program executed in the program, the program creation support apparatus includes an instruction word storage unit that stores an instruction word used in the control program, and an instruction word And a related information storage unit for storing the related information related to the instruction word separately for each type of the extension unit, and the program creation support device constitutes the programmable controller Configuration information including one or more types of the extension units Configuration information acquisition means to be acquired, search target specifying means for specifying the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the acquired configuration information as search targets, input receiving means for receiving input of a character string, receiving input Search means for searching for the specified command word storage unit or the related information storage unit according to the order of the character string, and selection for accepting selection of the command word or the related information from the search result of the search means It is characterized by functioning as a receiving means.

  In the computer program according to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the eleventh aspect of the invention, the storage unit includes all the instruction word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to one or a plurality of the extension units constituting the programmable controller. The search target specifying means functions as means for extracting, as search targets, the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the configuration information acquired by the configuration information acquisition unit. And

  A computer program according to a thirteenth aspect is characterized in that, in the eleventh aspect, the configuration information acquisition means functions as means for acquiring the configuration information every time the search means starts a search.

  A computer program according to a fourteenth invention is the computer program according to any one of the eleventh to thirteenth inventions, wherein the search means uses the command word searched when the command word storage unit is a search target as key information. It is made to function as a means to search the said related information storage part.

  A computer program according to a fifteenth invention is the computer program according to any one of the eleventh to fourteenth inventions, wherein the program creation support device is stored in the extension unit, and the instruction word unique to the extension unit and related Information copying means for copying information to the CPU unit and storing it, and depending on the character string accepted for input, the instruction word and related information stored in the expansion unit, or copying and storing in the CPU unit It is made to function as a selection means for selecting either a command word or related information as a search target.

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program according to any one of the eleventh to fifteenth aspects, wherein the program creation support device calculates a usage rate calculation means for calculating a usage rate of an instruction word used in the control program, And a function of classifying search results based on the calculated usage rate.

  A computer program according to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention is the computer program according to any one of the eleventh to sixteenth aspects, wherein the program creation support device has an input interval detecting means for detecting an interval for accepting input of a character string, and the detected interval is An input interval judging means for judging whether or not a predetermined time has been exceeded, and when the input interval judging means judges that the predetermined time has been exceeded, the search means functions as a means for starting a search.

  In the first invention, the tenth invention, and the eleventh invention, the instruction word used in the control program and the related information related to the instruction word associated with the instruction word are stored separately for each type of the extension unit. Keep it. Configuration information including the type of one or more extension units constituting the programmable controller is acquired, and an instruction word and related information corresponding to the acquired configuration information are specified as a search target. The input of a character string is accepted, the specified instruction word or related information is searched according to the order of the character string received, and the selection of the instruction word or related information is received from the search result. Thereby, based on the acquired configuration information, it is possible to specify the instruction word and the related information to be searched, and to search only the specified instruction word or related information according to the order of the character string received input Therefore, the search processing load can be reduced, and the search results can be narrowed down effectively according to the connection status of the expansion units.

  In the second invention and the twelfth invention, all instruction words and related information corresponding to one or a plurality of extension units constituting the programmable controller are stored in advance. By extracting the command word and related information corresponding to the acquired configuration information as a search target, it is possible to specify the command word and the related information to be searched based on the acquired configuration information, and the character that has received the input Since only the specified instruction word and related information can be extracted according to the sequence of the columns, the search processing load can be minimized, and the search results can be effectively used according to the expansion unit connected to the CPU unit. Can be narrowed down.

  In the third and thirteenth inventions, each time a search is started, the configuration information is acquired to store in advance command words and related information corresponding to a plurality of controlled devices connected to the programmable controller. There is no need, and every time the search is started, unnecessary command words and related information are not stored by acquiring the configuration information, so there is no need to narrow down the search target. Therefore, the search processing load can be further reduced.

  In the fourth and fourteenth inventions, by searching for related information using the searched instruction word as key information, the search time can be shortened and the calculation processing load of the search processing can be reduced.

  In the fifth and fifteenth inventions, the instruction word and related information specific to the expansion unit stored in the expansion unit are copied and stored in the CPU unit. Either a command word and related information stored in the extension unit or a command word and related information copied and stored in the CPU unit is selected as a search target according to the character string received. Thus, depending on the function of the instruction word, the instruction word and related information stored in the expansion unit are selected as search targets, or the instruction word and related information stored in a copy by the CPU unit are searched as search targets. It is possible to specify whether to select, and the search process can be executed at higher speed.

  In the sixth invention and the sixteenth invention, the usage rate of the instruction word used in the control program is calculated, and the search result is classified based on the calculated usage rate. As a result, the search results can be displayed in order from the command words that are frequently used in the control program, and it becomes possible to support the creation of the control program in accordance with the usage frequency of the creator of the control program.

  In the seventh aspect of the invention, the history of the received character string is stored as history information, and the stored history information is preferentially classified so that the command word and related information used in the past as a search result. Can be preferentially displayed, and it becomes possible to support the creation of a control program in accordance with the usage status of the creator of the control program.

  In the eighth invention and the seventeenth invention, an interval for receiving an input is detected, and a search is started when the detected interval exceeds a certain time. As a result, it is possible to search when a certain time or more has elapsed after accepting the input of an instruction word, etc., and search at an appropriate timing when the creator of the control program is at a loss for the next character string to be input. By displaying the result, it becomes possible to support the creation of the control program in accordance with the input status of the control program creator.

  In the ninth invention, by performing a partial match search or a fuzzy search, a reliable command can be obtained even when the input character string is an incorrect character string, or even when only a part of the character string is unclear. Words and related information can be displayed.

  According to the above configuration, based on the acquired configuration information, it is possible to specify the command word and the related information to be searched, and only the command word or related information specified according to the order of the character string received input. Since the search can be performed, the search processing load can be reduced, and the search result can be effectively narrowed down according to the connection status of the controlled device.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the programmable controller used as the creation assistance object of a control program by the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure at the time of comprising the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention using control parts, such as CPU. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an illustration figure which shows the relationship between the kind of extension unit of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention, and the search object file corresponded to an instruction word memory | storage part. It is an illustration figure of the character string which receives an input. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the input interval judgment process of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the candidate character string selection process of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an illustration figure of the screen on which the candidate character string searched by using the searched command word as key information in the control program of a ladder format was displayed. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the classification process based on the utilization rate of the candidate character string of the control part of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an illustration figure of the screen on which the candidate character string was displayed by making the searched relevant information into key information in the control program of a ladder format. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of the program creation assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the copy process of the command word memory | storage part and related information memory | storage part which concern on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a program creation support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a programmable controller that is a support for creating a control program by the program creation support apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the programmable controller 1 includes a CPU unit 2 and a plurality of expansion units 3, 3,. Are connected to controlled devices 5, 5,... To be controlled for each function, and each controlled device 5 is controlled according to a command from the CPU unit 2. To control the operation.

  The CPU unit 2 includes a CPU that sends commands to the connected expansion units 3a, 3b,... According to a control program stored in the built-in memory 21. Further, the expansion units 3a, 3b,... Control the operation of the connected controlled devices 5, 5,. The parameter information for controlling the operation of the controlled devices 5, 5,... Is stored in the memories 31a, 31b,.

  The program creation support apparatus 4 is connected so as to be able to perform data communication with the CPU unit 2, and transmits the created control program to the CPU unit 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration when the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is configured using a control unit such as a CPU.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the program creation support apparatus 4 according to the first embodiment includes at least a control unit (CPU) 41, a memory 42, a storage device 43 such as a hard disk, an I / O interface 44, a video interface 45, and a communication interface. 46, a portable disk drive 47, and an internal bus 48 for connecting the hardware described above.

  The control unit 41 is connected to each hardware unit as described above of the program creation support apparatus 4 via the internal bus 48, and controls the operation of each hardware unit described above and stores it in the storage device 43. Various software functions are executed according to the computer program 100. The memory 42 is composed of a volatile memory such as SRAM or SDRAM, and a load module is expanded when the computer program 100 is executed, and stores temporary data generated when the computer program 100 is executed.

  The storage device 43 includes a built-in fixed storage device (hard disk), a ROM, and the like. The computer program 100 stored in the storage device 43 is downloaded by a portable disk drive 47 from a portable recording medium 90 such as a DVD or CD-ROM in which information such as programs and data is recorded. To the memory 42 and executed. Of course, a computer program downloaded from an external computer connected to the network via the communication interface 46 may be used.

  The storage device 43 includes an instruction word storage unit 431, a related information storage unit 432, and a system configuration information storage unit 433. The command word storage unit 431 displays command words (commands) for instructing operations of the controlled devices 5, 5,... Connected to the expansion units 3 a, 3 b,. Are associated with the expansion units 3a, 3b,. Therefore, it is possible to extract a command word as a selection candidate by searching the command word storage unit 431 using the character string received as input when creating the control program as key information.

  The related information storage unit 432 stores related information related to the command word in association with the command word. The related information to be stored is, for example, all the related information necessary to make the instruction word function, such as information on the grammar of the instruction word, information on the syntax, information on the argument, etc. corresponding to the instruction word. The history information storage unit 434 stores, as history information, the history of the character string received by the input receiving unit described later.

  The system configuration information storage unit 433 stores system configuration information constituting the programmable controller. Here, “system configuration information” refers to information related to the type of connected expansion unit 3, unit ID for identifying the connected expansion unit 3, serial number, port number to which the expansion unit 3 is connected, and the like. This includes not only information related to the expansion unit 3 but also information related to constraints on the system configuration. The system configuration constraints include, for example, that there is one CPU unit 2 in one system, and that the CPU unit 2 can be placed only at both ends or next to the power supply unit or error output unit. It means the general constraint conditions.

  The I / O interface 44 is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 441 and a mouse 442 and receives data input. The video interface 45 is connected to a display device 451 such as a CRT monitor or LCD, and displays a predetermined image.

  The communication interface 46 is connected to an internal bus 48, and is connected to an external network such as the Internet, a LAN, or a WAN, so that data can be transmitted / received to / from an external computer or the like. In addition, data can be transmitted / received to / from the CPU unit 2 via a communication line.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the configuration information acquisition unit 301 acquires system configuration information of the expansion unit 3 connected to the CPU unit 2.

  The search target specifying unit 302, for example, a command word for instructing an operation of the controlled device 5 connected to the expansion unit 3 based on information on the type of the expansion unit 3 included in the acquired system configuration information, and the command word The instruction word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432 storing the related information related to the are specified as search targets.

  The related information includes, for example, the meaning of the instruction word corresponding to the instruction word, an explanatory sentence describing the grammar, the comment given to the device, the variable, etc. by the creator of the control program, the memory space information of the expansion unit 3, These are instruction words unique to the expansion unit 3 and their explanations, information on constants having a specific meaning on the control program (magic numbers), and the like.

  FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram showing a relationship between the type of the extension unit 3 of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to the first embodiment of the present invention and the search target file corresponding to the command word storage unit 431. As shown in FIG. 4, the configuration of the programmable controller and the extension unit ID are stored in association with each other, and a search target file to be searched for is stored in association with each extension unit ID. By setting it as such a data structure, a search object file can be specified at the time of acquiring the system configuration information including the information regarding the type of the expansion unit 3. The search target file corresponding to the related information storage unit 432 can also be specified by the same method. In the example of FIG. 4, the expansion unit ID “0” is collectively managed as the CPU unit 2. The numbers of the configuration of the programmable controller indicate the connection order corresponding to the actual connection state of the extension units 3, 3,..., The CPU unit 2 is “0”, and the end unit is blank. .

  Note that the timing for acquiring the system configuration information is not limited to the point in time when the expansion unit 3 is connected to the CPU unit 2, but is connected every time the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 starts the search process. The system configuration information of a certain extension unit 3 may be acquired. As a result, the system configuration information corresponding to the connection status of the latest extension unit 3 can always be acquired, and the creation of the control program can be reliably supported. Further, the system configuration information may be set from the program creation support device 4.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the input receiving unit 303 receives an input of a source code of a control program including an instruction word by using an input device such as a keyboard 441 and a mouse 442. FIG. 5 is an illustration of a character string that accepts input.

  In the first embodiment, input of a character string is accepted in the character string input area 501 of the display device 451. In the first embodiment, the control program is a so-called ladder format program, and the first character string is an instruction word. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the input of one character string “COMMAND” is received in the character string input area 501, the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 determines that the character string “COMMAND” is an instruction word. It is determined that it is a character string.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, when a plurality of character strings “COMMAND A1 A2...” Are received in the character string input area 501, the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 is blank ( The presence of a space) is detected, and it is determined that the character string “COMMAND” up to the first blank is a character string related to the instruction word. Further, by sequentially specifying character strings such as a second character string “A1”, a third character string “A2”,... By a blank, each character string is a character string related to instruction word related information. It can be judged sequentially.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the input position determination unit 311 detects the presence of a blank in the character string that has been input, and determines the position from what character to what character each character string is. To do. Then, the character string determination unit 312 determines which command word and which related information the character string at each position is, so that the character string related to the determined command word and the character string related to the related information are respectively sent to the command string. It can be used as key information for referring to the word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432.

  Of course, it is not limited to the method of determining the position of the character string by detecting the presence of a blank, but can be changed according to the grammar of the instruction word. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the input of the character string “COMMAND (A1, A2,...)” Is received in the character string input area 501, the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 The position of the character string is determined by detecting a comma within the range enclosed in parentheses after detecting.

  Further, whether or not acceptance of input of a character string has ended may be determined at an interval of accepting input. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of input interval determination processing of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 starts monitoring key-in operation of the keyboard 441 (step S601). The control unit 41 detects the start of the key-in operation (step S602), and simultaneously starts time measurement using a built-in timer or the like (step S603).

  The control unit 41 determines whether or not a certain time has elapsed (step S604), and when the control unit 41 determines that the certain time has not elapsed (step S604: NO), the control unit 41 performs a new key-in. It is determined whether or not an operation has been detected (step S605). When the control unit 41 determines that a new key-in operation has been detected (step S605: YES), the control unit 41 determines that the key-in operation is continuing and resets the time measurement (timer resets to zero) ( In step S606), the process returns to step S604.

  When the control unit 41 determines that a new key-in operation has not been detected (step S605: NO), the control unit 41 returns the process to step S604. When the control unit 41 determines that a certain time has elapsed (step S604: YES), the control unit 41 detects the end of the key-in operation (step S607). That is, in the functional block diagram of FIG. 3, as an input interval detector 313 that detects an interval from the start to the end of a key-in operation, and an input interval determiner 314 that determines whether or not the detected interval exceeds a certain time. Function.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the search unit 304 first searches the command word storage unit 431 using the command word as key information for the input character string, extracts a command word as a selection candidate, and displays the command word on the display device 451. To do. In the first embodiment, since the first character string is an instruction word, the instruction word storage unit 431 is searched using the first character string as key information. The search in the instruction word storage unit 431 may be a complete match search, but is not particularly limited to this, and needless to say, it may be a fuzzy search or a partial match search.

  Next, the related information storage unit 432 is searched using the next character string of the command word as key information, and related information that is a selection candidate is extracted and displayed on the display device 451. In the first embodiment, since the first character string is an instruction word, the related information storage unit 432 is searched when the second and subsequent character strings are used as key information. The search in the related information storage unit 432 may be a complete match search, but is not particularly limited to this, and needless to say, it may be a fuzzy search or a partial match search.

  In addition, when the instruction word storage unit 431 is a search target, it is preferable to search the related information storage unit 432 using the searched instruction word as key information. This is because only relevant information corresponding to the command word extracted as a selection candidate can be searched.

  The selection receiving unit 305 receives selection of a command word or related information from a candidate character string that is a result of the search. Thereby, even when the creation of the control program is started depending on ambiguous memory, the candidate character string to be originally coded can be reliably displayed and selected.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of candidate character string selection processing of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 acquires system configuration information of the expansion unit 3 connected to the CPU unit 2 (step S701).

  The control unit 41 searches the instruction word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432 in which related information unique to the expansion unit 3 is stored based on information on the type of the expansion unit 3 included in the acquired system configuration information. The target is specified (step S702). That is, the instruction word storage unit 431 that stores the instruction words of the extension units 3, 3,... Connected to the CPU unit 2, and the extension units 3, 3,. The related information storage unit 432 storing the related information of the command word is specified as a search target. It is also possible to store in advance all the instruction words and related information of the expansion units 3, 3,... To be searched, and extract the instruction words and related information to be searched from among them. The specified instruction word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432 may be searched.

  The control unit 41 receives an input of a character string (step S703), and classifies the input character string into an instruction word and other related information (step S704). The method for classifying both is the same as the method illustrated in FIG.

  The control unit 41 searches the command word storage unit 431 using the command word as key information as a search target, and extracts a candidate character string (step S705). FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of a screen on which a candidate character string searched using a command word as key information in a ladder-type control program is displayed. In the example of FIG. 8, a candidate character string of an instruction word to be used in the control program is displayed by a pull-down menu 82 with respect to the character string “buffer” received in the character string input area 81. The creator of the control program can easily select a command word according to the work he / she desires.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 classifies (sorts) the extracted candidate character strings according to a predetermined rule (step S706), and accepts selection of candidate character strings (step S707). The rules for classifying candidate strings are not particularly limited, but ranking is performed based on the degree of relevance to a specific command word, half-width / full-width, uppercase / lowercase, etc. It is sufficient to display it.

  Further, ranking may be executed based on the number of times of use, the frequency of use, etc. in the control program being created. That is, the usage rate calculation unit 306 in FIG. 3 calculates the usage rate of a command word or related information used in the control program, and the classification unit 307 searches for candidate character strings that are search results based on the calculated usage rate. Are classified and displayed in descending order of usage rate.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the classification process based on the usage rate of the candidate character string of the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 9, the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 calculates the usage rate in the control program for each candidate character string (step S901). The usage rate calculation method is not particularly limited. For example, for each candidate character string, a value obtained by multiplying the number of times of use of the candidate character string by the number of words of the candidate character string is obtained and divided by the number of words of the control program. To calculate the usage rate.

  The control unit 41 classifies the candidate character strings in descending order of the calculated usage rate (step S902) and displays them on the display device 451.

  Further, history information regarding character strings that have been accepted in the past may be taken into consideration for classification of candidate character strings. This is because the same control program is likely to be used by the same control program creator. In this case, for example, the input reception unit 303 shown in FIG. 3 stores the input character string as history information in the history information storage unit 434, and the classification unit 307 gives priority to the stored history information. Can be classified.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 determines whether or not the character string is confirmed (step S <b> 708). That is, it is determined whether selection of candidate character strings has been accepted for all character strings. When the control unit 41 determines that the character string is not finalized (step S708: NO), the control unit 41 searches the related information storage unit 432 using the related information as key information and searches for the candidate character string. Extract (step S709).

  FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a screen on which a candidate character string searched using the searched related information as key information in the ladder-type control program is displayed. In the example of FIG. 10, a candidate character string to be used as a device is displayed in the pull-down menu 102 for the character string “positioning” accepted in the character string input area 101. The creator of the control program can easily select a device according to his / her work.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 classifies (sorts) the extracted candidate character strings according to a predetermined rule (step S710), accepts selection of the candidate character strings (step S711), The process returns to step S708. The rules for classifying candidate strings are not particularly limited, but ranking is performed based on the degree of relevance to a specific command word, half-width / full-width, uppercase / lowercase, etc. It is sufficient to display it. Further, ranking may be executed based on the number of times of use, the frequency of use, etc. in the control program being created.

  When the control unit 41 determines that the character string is confirmed (step S708: YES), that is, when it is determined that the program code of the control program is confirmed, the confirmed character string is stored in the storage unit 43 as the program code. (Step S712), the coding operation of the next command is continued.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, based on the acquired system configuration information, it is possible to specify a command word and related information to be searched, and specify according to the order of the character strings received. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the search processing load and effectively narrow down the search results according to the connection status of the expansion units.

  In Embodiment 1 described above, the storage device 43 of the program creation support apparatus 4 includes the command word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432. However, the command word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432 include As long as the control unit 41 of the program creation support apparatus 4 can perform a search via a network or the like, the program creation support apparatus 4 may be stored anywhere. For example, the created control program may be stored in the memory 21 built in the CPU unit 2, or may be stored in the memories 31a, 31b,... Built in the expansion units 3a, 3b,. .

  The system configuration information may be set via a system configuration information setting unit 315 shown in FIG. The system configuration information setting unit 315 displays a selection screen for accepting the selection of the expansion unit 3 on the display device 451 and accepts the selection by operating the mouse 442 or the like, so that information regarding the expansion unit 3 that has accepted the selection is displayed in the system configuration. The updated system configuration information can be added to the information or deleted from the system configuration information, and the updated system configuration information is stored in the system configuration information storage unit 433. By doing so, the system configuration information can be changed with or without the extension unit 3 being attached or detached, and it corresponds to the type of the extension unit 3 and the instruction word storage unit 431. It is possible to easily expand or change the search target file.

(Embodiment 2)
The configuration of the programmable controller 1 that is a target for supporting the creation of a control program by the program creation support device 4 according to the second embodiment of the present invention and the configuration of the program creation support device 4 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Detailed description is omitted by attaching the reference numeral. In the second embodiment, the instruction word and the related information are stored in the extension unit 3 and the CPU unit 2 that control the operation of the controlled device 5, respectively, and the stored instruction word and the related information are searched. It differs from the first embodiment in that it is selected as a target.

  FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 11, functional blocks having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the program creation support apparatus 4 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention does not include the instruction word storage unit 431 and the related information storage unit 432 in the storage device 43 but configures the programmable controller 1. Instruction words and related information are stored in the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2 and the memories 31a, 31b,... Of the expansion units 3a, 3b,. That is, the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2 stores instruction words (commands) for instructing operations of the controlled devices 5, 5,... Connected to the expansion units 3a, 3b,. A storage unit 22 and a related information storage unit 23 storing related information related to the instruction word are provided. Similarly, the memories 31a, 31b, ... of the extension units 3a, 3b, ... operate the controlled devices 5, 5, ... connected to the extension units 3a, 3b, ..., respectively. Instruction word storage units 32a, 32b,... That store instruction words (commands) that indicate the command and related information storage units 33a, 33b,. I have.

  The information copying unit 1101 copies a command word and related information specific to the expansion unit 3 to the CPU unit 2 when the expansion units 3, 3,... Are newly connected to the CPU unit 2. Specifically, the instruction word storage units 32a, 32b,... Provided in the memories 31a, 31b,... Of the expansion units 3a, 3b,. The instruction words and related information stored in the storage units 33a, 33b,... Are copied to the instruction word storage unit 22 and the related information storage unit 23 of the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2, respectively.

  The search target selection unit 1102 of the input reception unit 303 includes a command word storage unit 32a included in the memories 31a, 31b,... Of the expansion units 3a, 3b,. 32b,..., And related information storage units 33a, 33b,..., Or whether the instruction word storage unit 22 and the related information storage unit 23 of the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2 are to be searched. select. That is, depending on the instruction word, it is sufficient to search only the instruction word unique to the extension unit 3 and the related information, and the instruction word storage unit 22 and the related information storage unit 23 of the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2 are to be searched. , And the instruction word storage units 32a, 32b,... And the related information storage units 33a, 33b provided in the memories 31a, 31b,... Of the directly corresponding expansion units 3a, 3b,. By using the command word and related information stored in the item as a search target, the search processing load can be further reduced and the search response can be improved.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a copy process of the instruction word storage unit 22 and the related information storage unit 23 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, when a plurality of extension units 3a, 3b,... Are connected to the CPU unit 2, the instruction word and related information stored in the memory 31a of the extension unit 3a, the extension unit 3b The instruction word and related information stored in the memory 31b are copied to the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2. Thus, the control unit 41 of the program creation support device 4 directly searches the memories 31a, 31b,... Of the expansion units 3a, 3b,. It is also possible to search the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2.

  For example, if the input character string is the instruction word “LD”, the control unit 41 searches the memory 21 of the CPU unit 2 because the instruction word “LD” is not an instruction word unique to the extension unit 3. Select as target. On the other hand, when the input character string is the instruction word “U_WRMD”, the instruction word “U_WRMD” is an instruction word unique to the extension unit 3, and thus the control unit 41 determines that the instruction word “U_WRMD” and the instruction word The memory 31a (31b) of the expansion unit 3a (3b) in which the related information “U_WRMD” is stored is selected as a search target.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the instruction word and related information stored in the extension unit 3 that controls the operation of the controlled device 5 are searched for according to the input character string. It is possible to select whether to search for instruction words and related information unique to the expansion unit 3 copied and stored in the CPU unit 2, and to search faster by reducing the search processing load. Is possible.

  The present invention is not limited to Embodiments 1 and 2 described above, and it goes without saying that various modifications and replacements are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, the instruction word and the related information are not limited to being stored in the storage device 43 of the program creation support device 4 and stored in the CPU unit 2, the expansion units 3, 3,. The instruction word and related information may be stored in a virtual disk on the network.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Programmable controller 2 CPU unit 3, 3a, 3b Expansion unit 4 Program creation assistance apparatus 5 Controlled device 21, 31a, 31b Memory 41 Control part 42 Memory 43 Storage device 44 I / O interface 45 Video interface 46 Communication interface 47 Portable type Disk drive 431 Command word storage unit 432 Related information storage unit 433 System configuration information storage unit 434 History information storage unit

Claims (11)

In a program creation support device configured to include an expansion unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and supporting creation of a control program executed in a programmable controller that sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device.
An instruction word storage unit for storing instruction words used in the control program;
A storage unit that separately stores related information related to a command word in association with the command word, for each type of the extension unit;
Configuration information acquisition means for acquiring configuration information including one or a plurality of types of the extension units constituting the programmable controller;
Search target specifying means for specifying the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the acquired configuration information as a search target;
An input receiving means for receiving input of a character string;
Search means for searching the specified instruction word storage unit or the related information storage unit according to the order of the character string received input;
And a selection receiving means for receiving a selection of the command word or the related information from a search result of the search means. The storage means has all the instruction word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to one or a plurality of the extension units constituting the programmable controller,
2. The search target specifying unit is configured to extract the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the configuration information acquired by the configuration information acquisition unit as search targets. Program creation support device.   2. The program creation support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information acquisition unit acquires the configuration information every time the search unit starts a search.   4. The search unit according to claim 1, wherein the search means searches the related information storage unit using the command word searched when the command word storage unit is a search target as key information. The program creation support device according to claim 1. Information copying means for storing a command word and related information unique to the expansion unit, stored in the expansion unit, and copied and stored in the CPU unit;
Depending on the input character string, either the instruction word and related information stored in the extension unit or the instruction word and related information copied and stored in the CPU unit is selected as a search target. The program creation support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit that performs the selection. Usage rate calculating means for calculating a usage rate of an instruction word used in the control program;
The program creation support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a classifying unit that classifies search results based on the calculated usage rate. A history information storage means for storing the input character string as history information;
7. The program creation support apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the classification means classifies the stored history information with priority. An input interval detecting means for detecting an interval for accepting input of a character string;
Input interval determination means for determining whether or not the detected interval exceeds a certain time, and
8. The program creation support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the input interval determination unit determines that a certain time has passed, the search unit starts a search.   9. The program creation support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search unit performs a partial match search or a fuzzy search. It is composed of an extension unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and is executed by a program creation support device that supports creation of a control program executed in a programmable controller that sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device. In a program creation support method capable of
The program creation support device includes:
A command word used in the control program and related information related to the command word associated with the command word are stored separately for each type of the extension unit,
Obtaining configuration information including one or a plurality of types of the extension units constituting the programmable controller;
Identify the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the acquired configuration information as a search target,
Accepts input of strings,
In accordance with the order of the character string that accepted the input, the specified instruction word or the related information is searched,
A program creation support method, wherein selection of the command word or the related information is received from a search result. It is composed of an extension unit and a CPU unit connected to a controlled device, and is executed by a program creation support device that supports creation of a control program executed in a programmable controller that sequentially controls the operation of the controlled device. In computer programs that can
The program creation support device includes:
An instruction word storage unit for storing instruction words used in the control program;
A related information storage unit for storing related information related to the instruction word in association with the instruction word, and for each type of the extension unit,
The program creation support device,
Configuration information acquisition means for acquiring configuration information including one or a plurality of types of the extension units constituting the programmable controller;
Search target specifying means for specifying the command word storage unit and the related information storage unit corresponding to the acquired configuration information as a search target,
Input accepting means for accepting input of a character string;
Search means for searching the specified command word storage unit or the related information storage unit according to the order of the character string received the input, and selection of the command word or the related information from the search result in the search means A computer program that functions as a selection receiving means for receiving a message.

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