Technical information

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Presentation
Unity EFB Toolkit is the software for developing EFs and EFBs in “C” programming
language. As an option with Unity Pro, it can be used to extend the standard Unity
Pro function blocks in order to increase functionality. This software comes with
Microsoft Visual Studio, which can be used to debug the function blocks developed
in the Unity Pro PLC simulator. Unity EFB Toolkit also includes a service for creating
and managing families of function blocks and integrating them in Unity Pro.
Setup
Unity EFB Toolkit manages the whole process of developing Unity Pro function
blocks:
b User-friendly graphical user interface with automatic le organization
b Powerful tools for testing and debugging
b Management of compatibilities and software versions of created functions
b Generation of executable les for subsequent installation of functions on different
Unity Pro stations
Managing function block families
The software can be used to create function block families. The function blocks
developed, also known as EFs/EFBs, are stored in families. This makes it possible to
create an organized library of functions written in “C” language. Once created, these
function block families are installed on the Unity Pro stations for the purpose of
extending the standard Unity Pro libraries. Integration in Unity Pro can be executed
from Unity EFB Toolkit or via the tool for updating Unity Pro libraries, which allows
these families to be distributed without the use of any other software.
Developing function blocks
The EFB Toolkit software allows the user to create a function block as follows:
b Declaration of the function block interface in the same way as for the DFBs in
Unity Pro
b Denition of all data types needed (elementary, structures, tables)
b Support of public and private variables
b Generation of all les and the block “C” coding frame (the user only adds
functionality to this frame)
b Granting access to numerous internal PLC services, such as the real-time clock,
PLC variables and data, system words and math functions, including high-precision
numerical processing in “double” format
b Structure of the function block family (compilation/link for all Unity Pro automation
platforms)
b Provision of a debugging environment: the function blocks created can easily be
debugged in Microsoft Visual Studio by downloading a Unity Pro application
containing the function developed in the Unity Pro PLC simulator. The debugging
functions in Microsoft Visual Studio, especially breakpoints, step-by-step operations,
display of the code/data and manipulation of the data, can be accessed without
restriction.
b Support for managing Unity Pro versions, important during the function block
maintenance phase
Note: GNU compiler is used to generate the code for a Modicon M340, M580 and Momentum
platform. It is supplied with the Unity EFB Toolkit.
Compatibility
Unity EFB Toolkit is compatible with Unity Pro Small, Large and Extra Large. EFs
and EFBs can be developed for Modicon Premium, Quantum, M340, M580 and
Momentum platforms.
The latest available EFB Toolkit version is V8.0:
b OS compatibility Windows
®
7(32-bit, 64-bit) and Windows
®
X P.
b Minimum supported version of Unity Pro is V6.0 and above if installation is on the
same system.
b The generated libraries can be installed on lower Unity Pro versions with different
systems.
Presentation,
setup
Software
Unity Pro software
Unity EFB Toolkit software
Unity EFB Toolkit
EFB Toolkit: Managing function block families
EFB Toolkit: Editor
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