JP5045372B2 - Ladder program development support device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a ladder program development support device that supports development of a user application that operates on a programmable logic controller (PLC).

  When a user creates a ladder program, comment lines are appropriately provided in the ladder program so that the contents of the ladder program can be easily understood.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a ladder program.
A user uses a ladder program development support device to create a ladder program by editing a ladder circuit, inserting a comment, and the like.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example when the circuit folding function is executed in the ladder program of FIG. Here, the circuit folding function is a function for temporarily hiding portions other than the comment line of the ladder program (ladder circuit portion).
In FIG. 5, the ladder circuit portion of FIG. 4 is hidden and only the comment portion is displayed. The line number displayed on the left side of the comment corresponds to the line number in FIG. As described above, the entire image of the ladder program can be grasped by temporarily hiding portions other than the comment line.

JP 2006-293886 A

  In the circuit folding function, since the ladder circuit portion is temporarily hidden, the amount of information that can be displayed is limited to the display range of the circuit editing window, and is about a dozen lines. For this reason, if the program source becomes huge, the total number of comment lines will be several hundred lines, and it will not be easy to grasp the overall picture of the program using the circuit folding function. was there.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and it is possible to display a comment without being limited to the display range of the circuit edit window, and to support the ladder program development that can easily grasp the entire image of the ladder program The object is to realize the device.

In order to achieve such a subject, the present invention is configured as follows.
(1) In a ladder program development support device for a programmable logic controller,
Circuit display means for displaying a ladder program in the circuit edit window;
Comment extracting means for extracting comment information from the ladder program displayed in the circuit editing window and creating comment data;
Comment display means for displaying a comment in a comment window according to the comment data;
Indent processing means for operating indent information of comments displayed in the comment window and changing indent data,
The comment display means outlines the comment based on the indent data ,
The said comment consists of a name part and a content part, and the said comment display means displays the said name part as an outline, The ladder program development assistance apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned .

(2) The ladder program development support apparatus according to (1) , further comprising comment update means for reflecting the change data in a comment in the circuit editing window when the indent data is changed by the indent processing means. .

(3) It has a cursor position determining means for recognizing the line number where the cursor is located on the comment window and moving the cursor position on the circuit edit window to the same position as the line number (1) Or the ladder program development support apparatus according to (2) .

(4) The cursor position determining means recognizes the line number where the cursor on the circuit edit window is located, and if there is no line number corresponding to the comment data, The ladder program development support apparatus according to (3) , wherein the position of the cursor on the comment window is moved to a line number smaller than and closest to the line number on which the cursor on the circuit editing window is located.

The present invention has the following effects.
By providing a comment window specialized for comment display in addition to the circuit editing window, it is possible to easily grasp the entire ladder program.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
A user uses a ladder program development support device to create a ladder program by editing a ladder circuit, inserting a comment, and the like.
The circuit display unit 11 acquires program data from the ladder program storage unit 12 in which the ladder program is stored, and displays a ladder circuit, a comment, and the like in the circuit editing window.

  The comment extraction unit 21 extracts comment information from the ladder program storage unit 12 to create comment data, and stores the comment data in the comment data storage unit 22. Here, the comment information is a comment line number, comment indent position information, comment character data, etc. in the ladder program, and creates comment data in the form of a data table or the like.

The comment display means 23 acquires comment data from the comment data storage means 22, generates a new comment window separately from the circuit editing window, and displays the comment acquired from the ladder program.
In this way, since a new comment window is created, comments can be displayed regardless of the display range of the circuit edit window, and it is easy to grasp the entire image of the ladder program by checking a lot of comment information at once. Can do.

  The indent information can be manipulated by the indent processing means 24 to change the indent position of the comment (the position at the beginning of the comment line), thereby making it easier for the user to see the comment displayed in the comment window. At this time, the indent data is changed according to the indent position.

  The indent information is information for changing the position of the comment line, such as indenting the position of the comment line from other comments. The indent information may correspond to the comment data as indent data, and may be configured separately from the comment data in a format such as a data table, or may be in a format including indent data in the comment data.

  FIG. 1 shows an example in which the indent data in the comment data stored in the comment data storage unit 22 is updated when the indent information is operated by the indent processing unit 24. The comment display means 23 acquires comment data from the comment data storage means 22 and executes comment outline processing based on the indent data in the comment data. As a result, the indent position of the comment displayed in the comment window is changed.

The comment update unit 31 acquires comment data from the comment data storage unit 22 and updates the comment information in the ladder program stored in the ladder program storage unit 12 to information changed on the comment window.
The circuit display unit 11 acquires the updated program data from the ladder program storage unit 12 and displays a ladder circuit, a comment, and the like in the circuit editing window. Thereby, the change information in the comment window is reflected in the circuit edit window, and the comment position in the ladder program is also changed.

The cursor position determination means 41 associates the cursor position on the comment window with the cursor position on the circuit edit window.
The cursor position determination means 41 acquires the line number of the comment where the cursor is located on the comment window from the comment display means 23 and recognizes it. In this case, since the line number of the comment in the comment window matches the line number of the comment in the circuit editing window, the cursor position determination unit 41 notifies the circuit display unit 11 of the line number of the cursor on the comment window. As a result, the circuit display unit 11 changes the position of the cursor on the circuit editing window to the position of the line number transmitted from the cursor position determination unit 41.

  Further, the cursor position determination means 41 acquires the line number of the comment or ladder circuit where the cursor is located on the circuit editing window from the circuit display means 11 and recognizes it. In this case, the ladder edit line number exists in the circuit edit window, but the ladder circuit line number does not exist in the comment window. Comments are intended to make it easier for users to understand the contents of a ladder program. In a ladder program, a comment is usually entered first, and then a ladder circuit corresponding to the comment is written. is there.

The cursor position determination unit 41 searches for whether there is a line number corresponding to the cursor position acquired from the circuit display unit 11 in the comment data.
As a result, when there is a corresponding line number, the cursor position determination means 41 notifies the comment display means 23 of the line number of the cursor on the circuit editing window.
On the other hand, when there is no corresponding line number, among the line numbers existing in the comment data, the closest line number smaller than the line number where the cursor on the circuit editing window is located is transmitted to the comment display means 23. As a result, the position of the cursor on the comment window moves to the same comment position as the comment on the circuit edit window or the comment position corresponding to the ladder circuit on the circuit edit window.

  The cursor in the comment window and the cursor in the circuit editing window may move in conjunction with each other, and when the cursor position of one window is moved, the cursor position of the other window may be automatically moved. In addition, the cursor of each window moves independently. For example, when information in one window is double-clicked with the cursor, the cursor position of the other window moves to the corresponding position. You may make it the position of the cursor of both windows correspond.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the comment window.
Part A shows the position of the cursor corresponding to the position of the cursor (square frame) in the circuit editing window. In this example, since the cursor is on the ladder diagram of the circuit editing window, the cursor on the comment window is positioned at the position of the comment “FTPOPEN” on the ladder diagram.
Part B is a symbol indicating a comment outline, the “−” symbol indicates that the comment information in the lower hierarchy of the corresponding comment is expanded and displayed, and the “+” symbol is a subordinate to the corresponding comment. This indicates that there is comment information in the hierarchy but it is not expanded. In this example, the comment “FTPOPEN” included in the lower hierarchy of the comment name “sub 1.1” is displayed.

Part C represents a state in which comments listed in the circuit edit window are displayed in a list. In this example, comments are managed separately in a name part and a content part and displayed in the comment window.
Part D is a button for indenting information in the comment window, and corresponds to the indent processing means 24 of FIG. Pressing the right button moves the comment at the beginning of the comment line to the right, and pressing the left button moves the comment line at the cursor to the left. In this example, the indent button changes the indent position of only the comment name part. When the right button is pressed, the position of the comment line moves to the right and the comment hierarchy is lowered. Conversely, when the left button is pressed, the comment line moves to the left and the comment hierarchy goes up.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the outline function of the comment window.
An example is shown in which the comment window information in FIG. 2 is expanded and displayed using the outline function.

The indent position of the comment in the comment window may be changed by the description of the comment in the circuit editing window, in addition to the change by the indent button. For example, an identifier (for example, the number of * marks) at the beginning of a comment in the circuit editing window is made to correspond to an indent position in the comment window.
Of the comments in the circuit editing window, if there is a space in the comment, the character part before the space may be recognized as the name part, and the character part after the space may be recognized as the content part. .

  In this way, in the comment window, comments can be managed in a hierarchical manner using the outline function, and the ladder program can be displayed by temporarily deleting the comment display or displaying only the upper comment. It becomes possible to easily grasp the whole picture. In addition, the dependency relationship between comments can be easily known.

  By associating the cursor position in the comment window with the cursor position in the circuit editing window, the user can quickly reach the target program position, and efficient application development such as program creation and debugging can be performed. it can.

It is a block diagram which shows one Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating a comment window. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline function of a comment window. It is a figure which shows an example of a ladder program. It is a figure which shows the example of a display at the time of performing the folding function of a circuit in the ladder program of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Circuit display means 21 Comment extraction means 23 Comment display means 24 Indent processing means 31 Comment update means 41 Cursor position determination means

Claims (4)

In the programmable logic controller ladder program development support device,
Circuit display means for displaying a ladder program in the circuit edit window;
Comment extracting means for extracting comment information from the ladder program displayed in the circuit editing window and creating comment data;
Comment display means for displaying a comment in a comment window according to the comment data;
Indent processing means for operating indent information of comments displayed in the comment window and changing indent data,
The comment display means outlines the comment based on the indent data ,
The said comment consists of a name part and a content part, and the said comment display means displays the said name part as an outline, The ladder program development assistance apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned . If the indented data has been changed by said indenting means, ladder program development support apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a comment updating means to reflect the change data to comment the circuit edit window. 3. A cursor position determining means for recognizing a line number where the cursor on the comment window is located and moving the cursor position on the circuit editing window to the same position as the line number. The ladder program development support device described. The cursor position determination means recognizes the line number where the cursor is located on the circuit editing window, and when there is no line number corresponding to the comment data, the circuit editing out of the line numbers existing in the comment data. 4. The ladder program development support apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the position of the cursor on the comment window is moved to the nearest line number smaller than the line number where the cursor on the window is located.