Technical data

Introducing the Product and Installing the Software
1.1 Overview of STEP 7
Programming with STEP 7
26 Manual, 05/2010, A5E02789666-01
Procedure for Creating Logic Blocks and Basic Information on Programming in STL Source
Files).
• S7 only: generate and evaluate reference data
You can make use of these reference data to make debugging and modifying your user
program easier (see also Overview of the Available Reference Data).
• Configure messages
You create block-related messages, for example, with their texts and attributes. Using the
transfer program you transfer the message configuration data created to the operator interface
system database (for example, SIMATIC WinCC, SIMATIC ProTool), see also Configuring
Messages.
• Configure operator control and monitoring variables
You create operator control and monitoring variables once in STEP 7 and assign them the
required attributes. Using the transfer program you transfer the operator control and monitoring
variables created to the database of the operator interface system WinCC (see also
Configuring Variables for Operator Control and Monitoring).
• Download programs to the programmable controller
S7 only: after all configuration, parameter assignment, and programming tasks are completed,
you can download your entire user program or individual blocks from it to the programmable
controller (programmable module for your hardware solution). (See also Requirements for
Downloading.) The CPU already contains the operating system.
M7 only: choose a suitable operating system for your automation solution from a number of
different operating systems and transfer this on its own or together with the user program to the
required data medium of the M7 programmable control system.
• Test programs
S7 only: for testing you can either display the values of variables from your user program or a
CPU, assign values to the variables, or create a variable table for the variables that you want to
display or modify (see also Introduction to Testing with the Variable Table).
M7 only: test the user program with a high-level language-debugging tool.
• Monitor operation, diagnose hardware
You determine the cause of a module fault by displaying online information about a module.
You determine the causes for errors in user program processing with the help of the diagnostic
buffer and the stack contents. You can also check whether a user program can run on a
particular CPU (see also Hardware Diagnostics and Displaying Module Information).
• Document the plant
After you have created a project/plant, it makes sense to produce clear documentation of the
project data to make further editing of the project and any service activities easier (see also
Printing Project Documentation). DOCPRO, the optional tool for creating and managing plant
documentation, allows you to structure the project data, put it into wiring manual form, and print
it out in a common format.