Programming instructions

109
LESSON 15 – Documentation & Printing
The programs that have been written so far have been fairly simple, and you, the
programmer have been present as they were written. This makes it fairly simple to
troubleshoot these programs if there is a problem. Imagine if the program is 4000
steps, written by someone who left the company 2 years ago. Without any program
documentation, it would be nearly impossible to troubleshoot a problem. This is why
documentation of the program is a very important step in program creation.
Lesson Objectives: At the conclusion of this lesson, you will be able to…
9 Describe the 4 types of documentation.
9 Add documentation to a program.
9 Describe the various options for printing a program
Materials: FX-Series PLC Training Manual
GX-Developer offers 4 types of documentation: Comments, Statements, Notes, and
Device Labels.
Note: It has been shown earlier that it is possible to add and modify devices by double-
clicking on the rung or device. This function will not work when a form of documentation
has been enabled.
15.1 Comments
Comments are attached to a device to provide a name or description. Typical
comments for an input are: Start Push Button, Load Recipe, etc. Typical
comments for a coil or internal bit are: Fault Light, Engine 1 On, and Process
Enabled. Comments can be 3 lines by 5 characters per line, 2 lines by 8
characters per line, or 4 lines by 8 characters per line. This is set in Comment
format selection under the View pull-down menu.
By default, the only options listed are the 3 x 5 and the 4 x 8. To enable the 2 x 8
it is necessary to go to the Tools pull down menu, select Options, click on the
Whole Data tab, and select 16 in the Common Device Comment dialog box.
When the Comment format selection is reopened, the options are now 3 x 5 and
2 x 8.
Comments are added by double clicking on the device and filling out the dialog
box that opens.
Comments are the only form of documentation that can be downloaded to the
PLC. If another programmer uploads a program that contains comments from a
PLC, those comments will be available to that programmer as well. Notes and
statements reside in the program on the laptop. If another programmer desires
access to these, it is necessary to have a copy of the program on that hard drive.