Technical data

Introducing the Product and Installing the Software
1.1 Overview of STEP 7
Programming with STEP 7
Manual, 05/2010, A5E02789666-01 25
Alternative Procedures
As shown in the figure above, you have two alternative procedures:
• You can configure the hardware first and then program the blocks.
• You can, however, program the blocks first without configuring the hardware. This is
recommended for service and maintenance work, for example, to integrate programmed blocks
into in an existing project.
Brief Description of the Individual Steps
• Install STEP 7 and license keys
The first time you use STEP 7, install it and transfer the license keys from diskette to the hard
disk (see also Installing STEP 7 and Authorization).
• Plan your controller
Before you work with STEP 7, plan your automation solution from dividing the process into
individual tasks to creating a configuration diagram (see also Basic Procedure for Planning an
Automation Project).
• Design the program structure
Turn the tasks described in the draft of your controller design into a program structure using the
blocks available in STEP 7 (see also Blocks in the User Program).
• Start STEP 7
You start STEP 7 from the Windows user interface (see also Starting STEP 7).
• Create a project structure
A project is like a folder in which all data are stored in a hierarchical structure and are available
to you at any time. After you have created a project, all other tasks are executed in this project
(see also Project Structure).
• Configure a station
When you configure the station you specify the programmable controller you want to use; for
example, SIMATIC 300, SIMATIC 400, SIMATIC S5 (see also Inserting Stations).
• Configure hardware
When you configure the hardware you specify in a configuration table which modules you want
to use for your automation solution and which addresses are to be used to access the modules
from the user program. The properties of the modules can also be assigned using parameters
(see also Basic Procedure for Configuring Hardware).
• Configure networks and communication connections
The basis for communication is a pre-configured network. For this, you will need to create the
subnets required for your automation networks, set the subnet properties, and set the network
connection properties and any communication connections required for the networked stations
(see also Procedure for Configuring a Subnet).
• Define symbols
You can define local or shared symbols, which have more descriptive names, in a symbol table
to use instead of absolute addresses in your user program (see also Creating a Symbol Table).
• Create the program
Using one of the available programming languages create a program linked to a module or
independent of a module and store it as blocks, source files, or charts (see also Basic