S7 Moving on from FBs... how to create/manage custom libraries and gen lib questions.

I had a thread going as I explored the development of my own FB intended for reuse. http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=67140

I can do my own research in the meantime... but why not post my next goal on here. Again this is a learning exercise. So I am at the point where I would like to take a FB I have been writing (it has not been cleaned up or completed... but it has the minimum tested functionality that instead of refactoring/enhancing the code- at this point, I would rather invest energy in understanding the next step...) and move into into a library so that I can reuse it in other projects.

I created a SIMANICS Library in the project that has the FB in the program. (The FB 'FB78' is located in an S7 Program in the project.) How do I get it into the library? I thought this would be easy.... but (and I am at the 'just taking a whack and it and diving into this' stage wrt the whole library thing...) but as I was going to say I can't figure out how to put ANYTHING in the library... I thought a drag and drop would be it... but what was I thinking this is SIEMENS... the people who need to create their own time datatype, because what is good enough for everyone else, well just doesn't work for them (sorry I can't let that one go.)

I sure hope I don't hear that FB's can be put in libraries... and that I should have built something else in the first place.

Follow-up questions are likely to be how do I copy the library to common place in the file system, and how do I import it into a project. I am thinking it should be easy-ish to figure that out... but this is SIEMENS.

I noticed you can create a project of type "Library..." but... still tinkering with that.

...So I am able to copy and past the FB from the "Project" project to the "Library" project... I made another project... now I am just trying to figure out how to bring the library in....

Ok... I created a new S7 Program in the project to test the use of the library... I opened OB1 and it is in the Libraries folder... strange... what is the purpose of creating a "SIMANICS library" in a project... there seems to be nothing you can do with them...

Thinking out loud again.

Nick Birke said:

the people who need to create their own time datatype, because what is good enough for everyone else, well just doesn't work for them (sorry I can't let that one go.)

Click to expand...

S5Time is a legacy format which was helpful when people were changing over from Step 5 to Step 7 (1990's). At its conception (Step 5, 1980's) there was no standard time format.

As you now know they have IEC timers in the libraries (the libraries contain blocks that do many of the functions that many people complain about is missing in the Siemens instruction set, Siemens use the blocks instead of instructions).

The help PDF's files that come with Siemens contain a wealth of information on the library files, the instructions and the data formats used.

Nick Birke said:

I noticed you can create a project of type "Library..." but... still tinkering with that.

...So I am able to copy and past the FB from the "Project" project to the "Library" project... I made another project... now I am just trying to figure out how to bring the library in....

Ok... I created a new S7 Program in the project to test the use of the library... I opened OB1 and it is in the Libraries folder... strange... what is the purpose of creating a "SIMANICS library" in a project... there seems to be nothing you can do with them...

Thinking out loud again.

Click to expand...

You can create your 'company' standards library and store them for people to import into their projects.

Also as people have stated, saving code in libraries takes a whole lot less disk space when you want to post code for people to look at on here.

I can't by the way, I'm now on the wrong side of the pond for Siemens, everyone here is AB and Modicon and I miss Step 7. I'm doing my first project with Honeywell's new PLC and I wonder where they dug this turkey up from.

LOL... now I am hungry... I missed the CA thanksgiving... now I have to wait over a month!

Nick Birke said:

I noticed you can create a project of type "Library..." but... still tinkering with that.

...So I am able to copy and past the FB from the "Project" project to the "Library" project... I made another project... now I am just trying to figure out how to bring the library in....

Click to expand...

Once you have created a library, the library appears in the Overview pane from the block editor. You drill down into the library you require and then drag'n'drop the block onto your line of ladder. A copy of the library block will also now appear in your blocks folder.

And what do those libraries tell about ld

TurpoUrpo said:

And what do those libraries tell about ld

Click to expand...

How about:

The Devils Work = Many people considder STL to be the language of satan.

Idiots and Fools = Answers to stupid questions

Babes in Arms = Shouldn't this be a Rockwell Library? My First PLC?

Nick

I'm still trying to find out where you can create the Simanics library.
If it's a Sinamics library you're talking about, then you're not on the right track. Sinamics are Siemens Drives, not PLC's.