Simatic S7 upload station option

[odonnea2]

I'm working with a Siemens C7-633P (S7-300 integrated with OP7 HMI) and Simatic Manager V5.3, SP3.
My problem relates to uploading the software from the PLC. When i do so using the "PLC> Upload to Station to PG" function a new folder is created containing the uploaded station. As the symbol table is not downloaded to the PLC it is not contained in this new file. Therefore when i try to open an FC on the uploaded station i get the following message "there are no parameter and local variable names available because their descritpion is not available or cannot be displayed".
I want to use this uploaded station as the master software as upon comparison (before the upload) there were differences in the variables in the data files. Obviously there will be a lot of expected differences however there are some parameters that are configurable via the HMI and I want to retain these values as they now are.
So my question is...
1) is there a way to integrate the uploaded station into the existing station so i can use the symbol table etc. (Note: i have tried importing the symbol table from the original file into the uploaded station and i receive the same message as before, upon opening any blocks.

2) The system data on the uploaded station is different from the original file (see attached screen shots). Does this imply a different station configuration?

I am new to Siemens and would appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance...

 

[JesperMP]

Cannot see your screenshot, as I am in an airport lounge at the moment (tip: Post as GIF, it is the most compact and can be viewed anywhere).

1) to make a long story short. Use the compare offline/online tool. Forget about uploading and merging symbols etc. etc. The compare tool allows you to ignore differences in DBs, and it will let you step thru the code differences one-by-one.
You can then identify each difference and make an educated decision on wether to keep the old or or the new version of the code. And you dont have to worry about symbols etc.

2) The HW config that is on the CPU is more simple than the one that you generate in STEP7. For example, the module type nos are only partly defined. (As I cannot see your screenshot, I cannot tell if there can be more important differences).

 

[odonnea2]

1)It is the differences in the DBs that i am concerned about. There are a wide range of parameters that were configurable from the HMI. Is there an option in the compare function to list the specific differences in the DBs. The result of my comparison is as follows "Time stamps are identical" - "The actual value of one or more variables is different". If something was changed thru' the HMI would I still get the same message "Time stamps are identical". I need to ascertain what setpoints are different so I can then update these in the original file. In my project there are a lot of data files, and i have a lot of different pieces of equipment to do. I was just hoping to get a quick way of replacing the offline info with the online info. This was the reason i was hoping to upload and merge with the existing symbol table. Is using the compare and then investigating the individual diffirences the most appropriate way.

2)The online system data contained two additional line items from the offline system data: SDB1 (of Type:1), SDB 2 (of Type: 2). The created by column is blank for both. (Note: both the online and offline contain SDB0 and SDB100, both created by Step7). I am not familiar with Step 7 so not aware if this difference is significant at all.

Once again thanks for your help....

 

[JesperMP]

1) You are not alone with this particular problem.
It is in theory possible to simply drag-and-drop the online DBs onto the offline DBs. But too many times I have found that the symbols are lost when I do so. Not allways; but often. I dont know what triggers this.

Anyone want to join a petition to Siemens for a simple way to copy the actual values from an online project to the actual values of the offline project without losing the symbols ?

2) Try to open the HW configuration of the uploaded project. You can then see where the differences are. Most probably they are what I mentioned before.
Not sure, but I think that one SDB is the HW config, and the other is the configured connections.

 

[krk]

Anyone want to join a petition to Siemens for a simple way to copy the actual values from an online project to the actual values of the offline project without losing the symbols ?

Jesper,

I've been using this for a few months and it seems to work OK.

http://www.runmode.com/s7dbinitializer.html

If anyone is tempted to buy it though, just be aware that it doesn't support:

1. ARRAYs
2. Variables within STRUCTures
3. UDTs


Kevin H

 

[JesperMP]

Hi Krk.

Interesting, but it does something different than what I and odonnea2 asks for.
What the utility does: Copy ACTUAL OFFLINE values to INITIAL OFFLINE values.
What we want to: Copy ACTUAL ONLINE values to ACTUAL OFFLINE values
The utility from runmode could be quite useful, but I think that both of the above functions should be standard features in STEP7.
(27 Euros is not a problem, it is the principle of it.)