Book Image

PLC and HMI Development with Siemens TIA Portal

By : Liam Bee
Book Image

PLC and HMI Development with Siemens TIA Portal

By: Liam Bee

Overview of this book

With automation requirements on the rise, Siemens’ TIA Portal development environment is almost a necessity for any automation engineer. The Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) environment helps seamlessly integrate all things automation, from PLC hardware and software design to HMI development. This book helps you understand the tools available in the TIA toolbox and shows you how to write code effectively. The book begins by introducing you to the TIA environment, covering the layout and tools available. Once you’ve got to grips with the environment, you’ll find out how to create hardware to write programs against, including adding IO modules and assigning memory for input and output. Next, you'll develop logic in all of the languages that TIA Portal offers, such as Ladder, Function Block Diagram, and Structured Text (SCL) (note that Statement List is not covered as a deprecated language), as well as the newest language, Cause and Effect (CEM). You’ll also discover how to store standard code in libraries, creating a version control system that is easy to manage and aids standard design. Finally, following the PLC design chapters, you’ll learn how to develop HMI applications in TIA Portal’s latest unified hardware. By the end of the book, you'll be well equipped to use all of the features that TIA Portal V17 offers.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Section 1 – The TIA Portal – Project Environment
5
Section 2 – TIA Portal – Languages, Structures, and Configurations
11
Section 3 – TIA Portal – HMI Development
16
Section 4 – TIA Portal – Deployment and Best Practices

Creating interfaces

Just as with function blocks in the PLC environment, faceplates also have an interface, by which information is passed into the faceplate.

There are two types of interfaces in faceplates, as outlined here:

  • Tag interface: Connectss HMI tags to the faceplate
  • Property interface: Sets properties of objects and elements in the faceplate

By using these two types of interfaces, faceplates can be customized both in the data that the faceplate has access to and the behavior of internal screen objects via their properties.

Tag interface

Tag interface is accessed by clicking the tab in the top right of the main window, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Figure 11.6 – Tag interface tab

This tab contains interface elements that allow the parent screen to pass data types and associated values to the faceplate.

When passing information to the faceplate from the parent screen, the Faceplate instance must be...