Copying multiple Networks in S7

I've got a part of a program that I need to repeat many times, which covers multiple networks (this is in the FM352-5, which can only be programmed in FB and ladder, so you're forced to split everything up into quite small Networks). Trying to copy more than one Network at a time doesn't seem to work, I can only get objects within a single Network to highlight. Since I need to copy four Networks, doing it one at a time is a real pain in the neck, what with all the scrolling up and down that's necessary.

Is there any way to copy multiple Networks all at once?

Just answered my own question, but I guess I might as well go ahead and post it anyway, in case it can help somebody else.

The answer is to highlight the Network number of the first Network, scroll down to the last Network you want to copy, hold down the SHIFT key and click on the Network number again - hey presto all Networks in between are also highlighted and can now be copied.

As usual, it's all easy when you know how!

That is a standard Windows way of selecting objects (try selecting files in Explorer that way too).

SHIFT + Click:
Adds additional objects to the allready selected.
All objects between the allready selected and the last clicked will be selected.

CTRL + Click:
Adds additional objects to the allready selected.
Only the last clicked will be added to the allready selected (allows you to selectively pick networks or files).

CTRL + A:
Selects all objects in one go.

Yes, I know, I should have thought of it sooner, but I have got so used to "lassooing" things in S7, I'd forgotten all about the normal Windows methods.

I suspect I may not be the only one, which is why I decided to post anyway.

I've had another peculiar problem occupying me for the last half-hour or so.

Since I'm making quite a lot of critical changes at the moment, I'm making fairly frequent backups. I was on about my fourth one today - archive to Disk on the Laptop, copy to CD-RW. Move the CD over to the Network PC to copy the file to the Network - funny, in the directory, time says 12:50 - it's actually about 15:30. Press F5 to refresh the directory - no change.

Back to the Laptop, CD in the drive wait for the directory to come up - sure enough the timestamp for the file is now 15:25! Try F5 - again no change.

To cut a long story short, after trying it twice more, paying particular attention to remembering to go through the "Write data to CD" phase, I eventually got a new CD-RW and copied it over successfully.

I've been using this CD-RW for about four or five months now as a transfer disk, but I'm pretty sure I haven't written it more than about a 100 times, certainly not the regularly quoted 1000 times! The only thing that occurs to me is that for the back-ups I've always been using the same file name, so maybe it's always been writing the same area in the FAT. The 1000 writes lifetime will certainly be assuming random distribution.

The really weird thing is that I get the two different times reliably on the two different PCs, how they manage that I can't imagine! Oh, BTW, I did recover the archive just to check and sure enough it was the old copy. At no time was there any sort of error message, but as I assume there would only be simple parity checking (if anything), then that's probably not surprising.

Next time I make a REAL Backup which is then going to land in the desk drawer for months, till it's needed,

1) It'll go on a new CD
2) I'll read it back down and make sure that what is on the CD is what I think is on it!

PS, I think this problem may have crept up on me slowly. I've found myself down in the test hall with this CD a few times in the last few weeks being surprised to discover the old version of the file on the CD. I always assumed that I had forgotten the "Write to CD" phase - maybe I hadn't, at least not every time!

I think that your CD-RW is no longer reliable. And that CD-Rs (and CD-RWs) behave differently in different drives is not unheard of.

Well they also said that regular CDs will last forever. HA HA HA.

Imagine all the "backups" that are stored on CD-R media. Family pictures, important documents, lists of contacts etc.
And some people are moving their VCRs to CDs or DVDs thinking that they have saved the precious movie of juniors first steps "for good".

Myself, I am either "archiving" directly to the server drive, or to a USB flash disk. But I dont expect the USB stick to last forever.

In such a situation I usually put the reused code in a function that I call several times instead of rewriting the code over and over.

In such a situation I usually put the reused code in a function that I call several times instead of rewriting the code over and over.

Click to expand...

In a normal CPU program, so would I, but this was a special situation in programming the FM352-5. The FM has it's own memory , with no direct access to CPU memory and has no JMP or CALL commands so no subroutine calls are possible. If you need to write the same code (with different parameters) for each of the eight DOs the FM has, you've no choice but to write the code out 8 times, or in my case, 21 times in 3 FM352-5s. Under those circumstances, you very quickly find yourself wanting cut & paste facilities!