Siemens S7/TIA v18: Only allow input of alphanumeric values......

[JesperMP]

This comes from other programming languages (which have inspired ST/SCL) where functions always have a value. The idea is that you can place a function inside a formula, and the formula uses the functions value for the calculating the result.

If you don't need to use that, you can change the type from BOOL to Void.
If you want to use it, you write a line like
#Parse_String := TRUE ;

edit: Yes, parky is right.
edit again: If the function has just 1 output, then use the return value. If the function has several outputs, configure output values and possible set the return value to void.

 

[Mas01]

If I Remember correctly you do not need the output Var fc1_Parse_String as the function it'self is the return.

You've done it!

It now compiles ...now to see if it actually does what it's meant to - that's another question!

Edit: @LD has already tested it out, so unless I've screwed up, it should work.

 

[Mas01]

This comes from other programming languages (which have inspired ST/SCL) where functions always have a value. The idea is that you can place a function inside a formula, and the formula uses the functions value for the calculating the result.

If you don't need to use that, you can change the type from BOOL to Void.
If you want to use it, you write a line like
#Parse_String := TRUE ;

edit: Yes, parky is right.
edit again: If the function has just 1 output, then use the return value. If the function has several outputs, configure output values and possible set the return value to void.

Ah, worth remembering, cheers for this.

 

[L D[AR2P#0.0]]

No, it is no longer a function if it has outputs. Change the data type of the return value to a structure to encapsulate the data you wish to return.

 

[Mas01]

No, it is no longer a function if it has outputs. Change the data type of the return value to a structure to encapsulate the data you wish to return.

Thanks, it is working fine now.
I tweaked the code a bit so that the string length must be exactly 7 alphanumeric characters. Anything less returns FALSE.
It's not possible to enter more than 7 characters because this is limited on the HMI settings.
Cheers