JPH0916218A - Programming device of programmable controller, and its sequence program preparing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To facilitate input operation by displaying the contents of a file which contains data addresses and identification names and using indicated addresses and identification names which are displayed instead of data addresses and identification names which are inputted before. CONSTITUTION: A 1st indicating means indicates a display of >=1 couple of data addresses and identification names stored in the data identification name allocation information file 33. A 1st display control means displays the data addresses and identification names stored in the data identification name allocation information file 33 on the display screen of a display device 60 according to an indication. A 2nd indicating means indicates circuit symbols displayed on the display screen. A 3rd indicating means indicates one of the data addresses and identification names displayed by the 1st display control means. A 2nd display control means displays the indicated data addresses and identification names by adding them to the circuit symbols indicated by the 2nd indicating means. Consequently, a user can input the addresses and identification names through single operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programmable controller programming device for creating a sequence program for a programmable controller to automatically control electronic equipment, and a sequence program creating method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a sequence program executed by a programmable controller for automatic control is created by a programming device in order to make the control contents variable (programmable). The sequence program is created in the form of a sequence circuit diagram called a ladder diagram.
More specifically, a graphic (symbol) of a circuit component forming the ladder diagram, for example, a graphic of a contact or a coil is displayed by operating a dedicated graphic symbol key on the keyboard. The identification name of the circuit part and the memory address for storing the operating state of the circuit part are given to the programming device in such a figure by using the character keys of the keyboard (see the display screen example of FIG. 1).

[0003]

However, in the conventional apparatus, the user must also assign the memory address (also called data address) and the identification name on another display screen. Therefore, the user must perform the operation of inputting the same data address and identification name twice in the work of assigning the data identification name and data address and the work of creating the sequence program. This operation is an example, but there is still room for improvement in operability in the conventional programming device. Therefore, there is a problem that the program creation efficiency is low.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a programmable controller programming device and a sequence program creating method thereof, which are improved in operability with respect to inputs related to creation of a sequence program such as input of a data address and a data identification name. To do.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention of claim 1 displays a ladder diagram in which a circuit symbol, its data address and its identification name are combined on a display screen. In a programming device of a programmable controller that prepares a file that stores a data address and the identification name as a pair for creating a sequence program, a command for displaying one or more pairs of the data address and the identification name stored in the file is provided. A first display control means for displaying a data address and an identification name stored in the file on a display screen in response to the instruction; and a first display control means for designating a circuit symbol displayed on the display screen. 2 the instruction means and one of the data address and the identification name displayed by the first display control means. And a second display control means for adding and displaying the designated data address and identification name to the circuit symbol designated by the second designating means. To do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of types of circuit symbols are prepared, and a fourth type indicating the type of the circuit symbol is provided.
And the first display control means is the fourth display control means.
The data address and the identification name corresponding to the type instructed by the instructing means are extracted from the file for display.

The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that the first display control means displays the data address and the identification name in the form of a window during the display of the ladder diagram.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a ladder program in which a circuit symbol, its data address and its identification name are combined is displayed on a display screen, and a file storing the data address and the identification name as a pair is a sequence program. In a method of creating a sequence program of a programming device of a programmable controller prepared for creation, an instruction is given to display one or more pairs of data addresses and identification names stored in the file, and the file is stored in the file according to the instruction. The data address and the identification name are displayed on the display screen, the circuit symbol displayed on the display screen is indicated, and one of the data address and the identification name displayed by the display control means is indicated. Displayed by adding the specified data address and identification name to the designated circuit symbol And wherein the Rukoto.

[0009]

According to the invention of claims 1 and 4, the contents of the file storing the data address and the identification name are displayed, and the indicated one is used instead of the manually input data address and the identification name. To do.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the content of the data address to be displayed is limited according to the type, so that the display amount is also limited and the display screen having a fixed size is effectively used.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by displaying the data address and the identification name on the window screen, the ladder diagram being created can be compared with the window screen, and the operation becomes easy.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

A system configuration of a programming device to which the present invention is applied is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the CPU 10
Executes the system program stored in the system memory 20 to control the entire system, and also executes the sequence program creation program stored in the hard disk 30 to create the sequence program instructed by the user on the hard disk 30. To do. The hard disk 30 is shown in FIG.
An area for storing the three files shown in (1), that is, the ladder symbol information file 31, the data address information file 32, and the data identification name allocation information file 33 in the character code form is provided. The hard disk 30 also stores a font pattern table for converting characters and symbol codes into images, menu display data, and the sequence program creation program.

The image memory 40 stores the image of the ladder diagram displayed on the display screen. These images are converted into images from the character code of the above-mentioned file as in the conventional case. The input device 50 is composed of a character input keyboard having a function of inputting a position on the display screen such as a cursor movement key or a character input keyboard usable with a pointing device such as a mouse as in the present embodiment. The display device 60 displays a sequence program (ladder diagram form) being created, and also displays a ladder symbol and a data identification name that can be used in this sequence program.

The operation of the programmable controller and the user's operation executed in such a system configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is a part of the sequence program creating program, and is executed by the CPU 10.

Prior to creating the sequence program, the user displays the data identification name selection screen (window form) shown in FIG. 3 by using a menu bar or the like on the display screen or a shortcut key. The CPU 10 reads the data described in the data identification name allocation information file (file of the present invention) 33 of the hard disk 30,
Display in the list of data identifiers. When a new sequence program is created, the data identification name assignment information file 33 is blank at this point.

Therefore, the data identification name list is also blank. The user uses the keyboard to write the data address (X000, etc.) and the data identification name in this list.

Finally, when the user operates the execute button of FIG. 3, the CPU 10 writes the given data address and identification name in the identification name allocation information file 33. The data address is also described in the data address information file 32 (see FIG. 1, steps S20 → S30).

The user designates a sequence program creation screen, and then creates a ladder diagram using the ladder symbol selection screen. More specifically, the ladder symbol selection screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 4 by using the menu bar or the shortcut key (step S60). The user designates the type of circuit symbol (ladder symbol) to be selected, that is, "sequence" in the illustrated example, with the mouse. In response to this designation, the CPU 10 corresponds to the “sequence” and displays all usable circuit symbols in the command list (steps S40 → S50 → S60).

For this purpose, the hard disk 30 is provided with a table in which circuit symbol codes are described so as to correspond to each instruction type. The CPU 10 refers to this table to obtain a desired graphic code and converts it into an image. Then, the instruction list area of the image memory 40 is written. As a result,
On the display screen, all the circuit symbols corresponding to the "sequence" are displayed in the instruction list.

The user selects a desired circuit symbol from the above with the mouse. The example of FIG. 4 shows a state in which the A contact is selected. The CPU 10 writes the circuit symbol code corresponding to the selected circuit symbol in the ladder symbol information file 31, and displays the selected circuit symbol at the designated position on the sequence program creation screen (steps S70 → S80).

When the user sequentially selects the circuit symbols to be used in the ladder diagram on the ladder symbol selection screen, the CPU 1
0 is stored in the ladder symbol information file 31 by repeatedly executing the processing of steps S60 to S80, and the image of the circuit symbol is displayed at the designated position on the display screen. To form.
In this way, when the data identification name is added to the circuit symbol on the ladder diagram displayed on the display screen, the user first clicks the circuit symbol to be added with the mouse (the second symbol of claim 1). After instructing with the (instructing means), the menu bar or the shortcut key (the first instructing means of claim 1)
Is used to instruct the display of the data identification name selection screen (step S50). Thereby, the CPU 10 displays the data identification name selection screen of FIG. At this time, the display of the data identification name list is blank. Therefore, the user designates the type of the circuit symbol having the identification name additionally displayed from the guidance display of the data area displayed on the left side of the screen of FIG. 3 with the mouse (the fourth designating means of claim 2). Indicate "input / output relay" as shown. In the conventional programmable controller, the type of the first alphabet used in the data address is predetermined corresponding to the type of the circuit symbol, so that the CPU (first display control means of claim 1) 1
Based on this correspondence relationship, 0 extracts a data identifier having the initials “X” or “Y” corresponding to “input / output relay” from the data identifier name allocation information file 33 by searching,
The data identification name list (see FIG. 3) on the data identification name selection screen is displayed (step S90).

When the user selects a desired data identification name with the mouse (the third instruction means of claim 1) and operates the execution button, the CPU (second display control means of claim 1)
Reference numeral 10 synthesizes on the image memory 40 an image in which the selected data identification name and data address are added to the designated circuit symbol. Thereafter, the user performs the same operation to give the identification name and the data address to the circuit symbol to which the identification name and the data address are not added (step S10).
0).

If necessary, the user instructs the CPU 10 to modify, add, or delete the data identification name or data address on the data identification name list, and causes the CPU 10 to change the data identification name allocation information file.

By performing such processing, the same display as the conventional display can be obtained on the sequence program creation screen on the display screen, as shown on the left side of FIG. Thereafter, when the user gives an instruction to convert the sequence program into a machine code, the CPU 10 uses the ladder symbol information file 31, the data address information file 32, and the data identification name allocation information file 33 in the machine code form in the same manner as in the conventional case. Create (compile) a sequence program.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the user once inputs the data to be stored in the data identification name assignment information file, the data can be used to display it on the ladder diagram creation screen. This frees the user from the trouble of manually inputting data twice.

The following example can be carried out in addition to this embodiment.

1) In this embodiment, the ladder symbol selection screen and the data identification name selection screen are displayed separately, but if the display screen is large, it may be a single window screen.

2) On the data identification name selection screen, the initials of the data address to be used may be displayed as a guide according to the type of circuit symbol, that is, the type of input / output relay or auxiliary relay.

3) It is also possible to prepare a document in which the operation procedure of the selection screen described in the present embodiment is described in the hard disk 30 and display the document by the instruction of the shortcut key, so as to have a so-called help function.

4) In this embodiment, the data identification name selection screen and the ladder symbol selection screen are displayed in a part of the display screen of the ladder diagram in the form of a window screen, but the display screen is divided into two. The ladder diagram may be displayed on one side and the selection screen may be displayed on the other side in a switchable or fixed manner.

[0032]

As described above, according to the first and fourth aspects of the invention, the contents of the file storing the data address and the identification name are displayed, and the indicated one is manually input. Used in place of the data address and distinguished name.
As a result, the user can input the data address and the identification name with one operation, so that the input operation is simplified as compared with the conventional operation of inputting characters.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the content of the data address to be displayed is limited according to the type, so that the display amount is also limited and the display screen having a fixed size is effectively used.

According to the third aspect of the invention, by displaying the data address and the identification name on the window screen, the ladder diagram being created can be compared with the window screen, and the operation becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a ladder diagram of a display screen and contents stored in a file.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of a window screen displayed for creating a ladder diagram.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of a window screen displayed for creating a ladder diagram.

5 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the CPU 10 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 CPU 20 System Memory 30 Hard Disk 40 Image Memory 50 Input Device 60 Display Device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A file for displaying a ladder diagram in which a circuit symbol, its data address and its identification name are combined on a display screen, and storing the data address and the identification name as a pair for preparing a sequence program. In the programming device of the programmable controller, the first instruction means for instructing display of one or more pairs of data addresses and identification names stored in the file, and the data addresses and identifications stored in the file according to the instruction. First display control means for displaying a name on a display screen, second instructing means for instructing a circuit symbol displayed on the display screen, data address and identification displayed by the first display control means Third indicating means for indicating one of the names, and the indicated data address and identification Said second
And a second display control means for displaying in addition to the circuit symbol instructed by the instruction means. 2. A plurality of types of circuit symbols are prepared, and a fourth instructing means for instructing the type of the circuit symbol is provided, and the first display control means is operated by the fourth instructing means. 2. The programmable controller programming device according to claim 1, wherein a data address and an identification name corresponding to an instructed type are extracted from the file for display. 3. The programmable controller programming device according to claim 1, wherein the first display control means displays the data address and the identification name in the form of a window during the display of the ladder diagram. 4. A file for displaying a ladder diagram in which a circuit symbol, its data address and its identification name are combined on a display screen, and storing the data address and the identification name as a pair for preparing a sequence program. In a method of creating a sequence program of a programming device for a programmable controller, the method of instructing display of one or more pairs of data addresses and identification names stored in the file, and the data addresses and identifications stored in the file according to the instruction Displaying a name on a display screen, designating a circuit symbol displayed on the display screen, designating one of a data address and an identification name displayed by the display control means, and designating the designated data address. And an identification name is added to the designated circuit symbol and displayed. How to create a programmable controller of the sequence program to be.