Downloading Issues- First HMI edit in WinCC/Step 7 (Video Linked)

At the end of the day today I did my first program edit in my customer's Simatic Manager project. It was the simplest of edits... add a bit with a symbolic address to the PLC program, along with a few Network edits. Download.... done! Tested... works!

Now I needed to add an on/off switch to the MP277 HMI. I couldn't find the symbol library, so I copied and pasted a switch element from another page and changed the tags to reference the new bit. I wasn't quite sure the tag was referenced in the right spot because it was different than the videos I watched last night. But the copied switch was referencing a bit in a DB, so I assumed that was the right place to put the new tag I created. I quickly checked the settings that might hide the switch, and nothing was enabled. So as you see in the video, I did the steps I saw them do in the video last night. Compiled, saved, and downloaded. I assumed the IP address that came up was from previous edits, so I accepted it. It looked like it went through all of the steps to download, but the guys on the floor said the RT screen never changed. I tried closing the HMI program before "Transferring" the new file, but still nothing changed.

I checked the HMI and the switch graphic is not on the screen. I'm wondering if I have to take the laptop to the HMI and hook up to it directly. The PLC edit had no issue over the network, but I know the HMI considerations are different than the PLC... just like AB. Anyway, I'm hoping someone with some experience can easily see what I'm doing wrong. I'm just learning the Siemens way of doing things, and some of it is pretty cool, ...and some not-so-much. Either way, I really like this opportunity to get to know the Step 7.

Here is the video I took before leaving the plant for the day: https://youtu.be/ayX2jF0fPYU

Finally... yes, I probably do sound like a dork on the video.

Check there is nothing in the Prooperties > Animations > Visibilty section of the switch.

The copy / paste switch may of had something in there to make it appear / disappear linked to a tag.

In theory, you should be able to download to an HMI remotely, at least depending which of the communication drivers you used (Ethernet, i think). I'm assuming the output window actually had some text that the transfer was complete?



With the Siemens panels, you sometimes need to do Project -> Compiler -> Rebuild All. The button in the tool bar just does the quick delta compile. It's faster, but sometimes it misses things. It's helpful for finding errors while you're coding, but you should probably always do the Rebuild All before you download.


There's probably a note buried in the help file somewhere helpfully mentioning that, not that I could find it.

A quick update: I did check the animations and visibility, its not that.

MK42: There are multiple HMIs on the system, so I was cautious about affecting other HMIs. But I know that the screen where I compiled was for that HMI's project, not just the screen I edited. I can only assume that's good enough.

Thinking about this more, I'm pretty sure my issue is in the downloading. It doesn't end with any dialog box to tell me it was either successful or unsuccessful. A progress window comes up which makes me think it's working, but when it's done... nothing. The HMI never even blinks. I'll go back on Monday and try again. Hopefully I'll have some more info by then on possibilities.

AutomationTechBrian said:

A quick update: I did check the animations and visibility, its not that.

MK42: There are multiple HMIs on the system, so I was cautious about affecting other HMIs. But I know that the screen where I compiled was for that HMI's project, not just the screen I edited. I can only assume that's good enough.

Thinking about this more, I'm pretty sure my issue is in the downloading. It doesn't end with any dialog box to tell me it was either successful or unsuccessful. A progress window comes up which makes me think it's working, but when it's done... nothing. The HMI never even blinks. I'll go back on Monday and try again. Hopefully I'll have some more info by then on possibilities.

Click to expand...

The result might be in the "Output" window which is often sort of hidden in WinCC Flex, from what I remember. It's been a while since I worked with Flex, so I can't recall if there is a popup once it is complete or not.



The Rebuild All option will only affect the one HMI you are working on, if it turns out that the download did theoretically complete.

I went back to the customer's today and promptly found the issue. I was poking around and found some orange fields in the "connections". This made me look at the IP address of the MP277. ....it ended in 151. This orange field address ended in .51. It threw me that the actual download connection got the IP address correct. But it needs to be correct here to compile correctly.

Once I corrected the IP address, it downloaded just fine.

....now to post the result of today's visit: Missing Profibus node addresses.