Hello anotherone;
The i nformation in your last post is correct, as per the Step 7 v. 5.4 manual:
What You Should Know About Access Protection
As of STEP 7 V5.4, you have the option of restricting access to projects and libraries by assigning a passwords to them. In order to do this, you must have installed "SIMATIC Logon".
You can also enable, disable and display a change log.
If SIMATIC Logon is installed on your computer, you will have access to the following menu commands in the SIMATIC Manager. You can use these commands to manage access protection for a project or library:
•
Access Protection, Enable
•
Access Protection, Disable
• Access Protection, Manage Users
•
Access Protection, Adjust in Multiproject
• Remove Access Protection und Change Log
To enable access protection, go to the SIMATIC Manager and select the
Options > Access Protection, Enable menu command. This menu command opens a dialog box in which you can enable access protection by assigning a project password. Once the password has been assigned, this password will have to be entered before the project or library concerned can be edited.
The
Remove Access Protection and Change Log menu command removes access protection as well as the change log for a password-protected project or library. After having removed the access protection you can once again edit projects with a STEP 7 version prior to V5.4.
Note
• In order to enable or disable access protection, you must be authenticated in SIMATIC Logon as a project administrator.
• When access protection is first enabled, the project format is changed. You will receive a message informing you that the changed project can no longer be edited with older versions of STEP 7.
• The Options >Access Protection >Remove Access Protection and Change Log function allows projects or libraries to be once again edited with a STEP 7 version prior to V5.4. However, in this case, you will lose information about the users who have access to the project or library as well as all change logs.
• The currently logged on user is shown in the status bar of the SIMATIC Manager.
• The currently logged on project editor who enables the access protection is entered as the project administrator and is then prompted to assign a project password.
• To open an access-protected project, you must be authenticated in SIMATIC Logon as a project administrator or project editor. Access protection must also be enabled or you must know the project password.
So basically, it looks like it would do what you need to do, if you are authenticated as the (sole) Administrator of the PLC program. You will have to ensure that the programmers have a level giving them access to the PLC though (as project editors), so you will have to deal with permissions and access rights.
Thanks for the info,
Daniel Chartier