Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By : Mason White
Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By: Mason White

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a new feature of PLC programming that has taken the automation world by storm. This book provides you with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern automation programming environment. The book is designed in a way to take you through advanced topics such as OOP design, SOLID programming, the software development lifecycle (SDLC), library design, HMI development, general software engineering practices, and more. To hone your programming skills, each chapter has a simulated real-world project that’ll enable you to apply the skills you’ve learned. In all, this book not only covers complex PLC programming topics, but it also removes the financial barrier that comes with most books as all examples utilize free software. This means that to follow along, you DO NOT need to purchase any PLC hardware or software. By the end of this PLC book, you will have what it takes to create long-lasting codebases for any modern automation project.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1 – An Introduction to Advanced PLC Programming
6
Part 2 – Modularity and Objects
10
Part 3 – Software Engineering for PLCs
14
Part 4 – HMIs and Alarms
19
Part 5 – Final Project and Thoughts

Final project – creating an HMI

The easiest way to create an HMI project is to simply create a standard project as we have done throughout the book. Once you create a project, you will want to right-click Application, navigate to Add Object, and select Visualization as in Figure 11.3.

Figure 11.3 – Adding an HMI to a project

Figure 11.3 – Adding an HMI to a project

When you do this, you should be met with Figure 11.4.

Figure 11.4 – Add screen

Figure 11.4 – Add screen

Click Add and wait a few minutes for the controls to render. Once you are done, you will be met with a new area to the right of the screen with HMI controls in it, similar to Figure 11.5. As can be seen in the figure, there are many different controls, such as LEDs and switches to choose from.

Figure 11.5 – HMI controls

Figure 11.5 – HMI controls

There are also many different tabs that each have different types of controls grouped by functionality. To add a control to the screen, you simply click...