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Contents

Page

Absolute and Symbolic Addressing


...........................................................................................
Symbolic Addressing - Overview
...............................................................................................
Opening the Symbol Table ................................................................................................................ 4
Edit: Find and Replace
.............................................................................................................
View: Filter
....................................................................................................................................
View: Sort
................................................................................................................................
S b lT
Symbol
Table:
bl E
Exportt ...................................................................................................................... 8
Symbol Table: Import ....................................................................................................................... 9
Edit Symbols (in the LAD/STL/FBD Editor)
...............................................................................
Symbol Information (in the LAD/STL/FBD Editor) ............................................................................. 11
Symbol Selection (in the LAD/STL/FBD Editor)
...............................................................................
Leading Symbol"
.........................................................................................................................
Exercise: Creating a Symbol Table for FC 15 .................................................................................. 14

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Symbols

Absolute
Add
Addressing
i

In absolute addressing, you specify the address (e.g. input I 1.0) direct. In this
case you dont
d t need
d a symbol
b l ttable,
bl b
butt th
the program iis h
harder
d tto read.
d

Symbolic
Addressing

In symbolic addressing, you use symbols (e.g. MOTOR_ON) instead of the


absolute addresses.
You store the symbols for inputs, outputs, timers, counters, bit memories and blocks
in the symbol table.

Note

When you enter symbol names, you dont have to include quotation marks. The
Program
g
Editor adds these for yyou.

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Symbols

Global Symbols

Global symbols declared in the symbol table can be used in all blocks of a program.
The name in the symbol table must be unique, that is, a symbolic name must only
appear once in the table.

Local Symbols

Local symbols are declared in the declaration part of a block. They can only be used
within that block.
The same symbolic name can be used again in the declaration part of another
block.

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Symbols

Symbol Table

You open the symbol table by selecting the menu options Options -> Symbol Table
i th
in
the LAD/STL/FBD Edit
Editor.
You can also open the symbol table from the SIMATIC Manager: Select the
program in the left-hand pane of the project window and double-click the Symbols
object.

Table Structure

When you open a symbol table, an additional window is opened. It consists of


columns for the symbol name, the address, the data type and a comment for a
symbol. Each symbol occupies one line of the table. A blank line is automatically
added at the end of the table for defining
g a new symbol.
y

Note

The symbol table is a common database and can be used by different tools:
LAD/STL/FBD Editor
Monitoring and Modifying Variables
Display Reference Data

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Find and Replace

A number of options are available for finding and replacing text in the current window:
Find what:
Enter the text you are looking for.
Replace with:
Enter the replacement text.
From cursor down:
Searches downwards to the last line in the symbol table.
From cursor up:
Searches upwards to the first line in the symbol table.
Match case:
Only searches for the specified text with identical use of upper-case and lowercase letters.
Find whole words only:
Searches for the specified text as a separate word, not as part of a longer
word.
All:
Searches through the whole symbol table, starting from the cursor position.
Selection:
S l ti
Searches only the selected symbol lines.

Note

When you are looking for addresses, you should insert a wildcard after the address
identifier, otherwise the address cannot be found.
Example of Find and Replace (replace all outputs with address 8. with address 4.):
Find what:
Q*8.**
Q*8

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Replace with:
Q 4.
4

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Symbols

Filter

Only the symbols which meet the active filter criteria (symbol properties") are
di l
displayed
d iin th
the currentt window.
i d
You can apply several criteria at once. The specified filter criteria are linked with
one another.

Symbol
Properties

You can select various filters and link them according to the following properties:
Name, Address, Data type, Comment, Operator control and monitoring,
Communication, Message.
Permissible wildcards are * and ?.

Examples

Name: M*
Only the names that begin with "M, and that contain any number of additional
characters, are displayed in the symbol table.
Name: SENSOR_?
Only the names that begin with "SENSOR_" and that contain one other character,
are displayed in the symbol table.
Address: E*.*
Only the inputs are displayed.

Valid, Invalid

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The symbols must be unique, that is, a symbol or an address must only exist once
in the symbol table.
If a symbol or an address appears more than once, the lines in which it appears are
displayed in Bold". If your symbol table is long, and you want to find such
ambiguous
g
symbols
y
or addresses more q
quickly,
y yyou can display
p y only
y these lines of
the symbol table by selecting the menu options View -> Filter and the attribute
Invalid".

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Symbols

Sort

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The entries in the symbol table can be displayed in alphabetical order. You use the
menu options
ti
Vi
View
->
> Sort
S t to
t specify
if the
th column
l
tto be
b used
d as th
the point
i t off
reference for sorting in the current window.
There is an alternative way to sort:
1. Click on the column heading for sorting in ascending order in this column.
2. Click on the column heading once more for sorting in descending order in
this column.

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Symbols

General

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The menu option Symbol Table -> Export enables you to store symbol tables in a
diff
different
t fil
file fformatt so th
thatt you can work
k on th
them with
ith other
th programs. Y
You can
select the following file formats:
ASCII Format (*.ASC)
- Notepad
- Word
Data Interchange Format (*.DIF)
- EXCEL
System Data Format (*
( .SDF)
SDF)
- ACCESS
Assignment List (*.SEQ)
- STEP 5 assignment list

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Symbols

General

The menu option Symbol Table -> Import enables you to import symbol tables that
were created
t d with
ith other
th user programs.
What to do:
1. Activate the menu options Symbol Table -> Import.
2. Select the file format in the Import dialog window.
You will find the same formats as for Export.
3. Select the directory path in the Find in:" list box.
4. Enter the file name in the File Name:" box
5 Confirm with "OK"
5.
OK .

File Types

You can import the following file formats:


ASCII Format (*.ASC)
- Notepad
- Word
Data Interchange Format (*.DIF)
- EXCEL
System Data Format (*.SDF)
- ACCESS
Assignment List (*.SEQ)
- STEP 5 assignment list

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Symbols

Edit Symbols

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The menu option Edit -> Symbol, or a click with the right mouse button on the
address
dd
and
d th
then th
the menu option
ti Edit S
Symbol,
b l enables
bl you tto assign
i symbolic
b li
names to absolute addresses later on. The assigned names are automatically
entered in the symbol table.
Names that are already in the symbol table are displayed in a different color. They
cannot be used again in the symbol table.

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Symbols

Addressing

In the LAD/STL/FBD Editor you can choose to display the addresses in one of the
f ll i ttwo ways b
following
by selecting
l ti th
the menu options
ti
Vi
View
->
> Display
Di l ->
> Symbolic
S b li
Representation:
Symbolic Addressing or
Absolute Addressing .
You can display the symbolic and absolute address assignments used in the
network by selecting the menu options View -> Display -> Symbol Information.
The assignments are found under the network in LAD/FBD and in STL they are
found in the statement line.

Note

If you position the mouse pointer on an address, a "Tooltip" appears with the symbol
information for this address.

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Symbols

Introduction

You can use the menu options View -> Display -> Symbol Selection to simplify the
writing
iti off a symbolic
b li program.
When you label the adddress, a section of the symbol table pops up, as soon as
you enter the first letter of a symbol name. This section contains all symbols which
begin with this letter. By clicking on the desired symbol it is taken into your program.

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Introduction

If you want to change the assignments in the symbol table of an already existing
program, you can also
l d
decide
id whether
h th th
the absolute
b l t address
dd
or th
the symbolic
b li
address has priority.

Selection

In the SIMATIC Manager, select, with the right mouse button, the "Blocks" object of
an S7 program. Select the menu option Properties and then the "Blocks tab.
You can choose between "Absolute Value" or "Symbol" in the Priority" field.

Priority:
Absolute Value

With this setting, the absolute address of an operand does not change, if you
change
g the address assignment
g
in the symbol
y
table later on.
In the example above, the output Q8.0 (symbol name Plant On") was changed to
output Q4.0 in the symbol table. With the Priority: Absolute Value" setting, the
program continues to use the output Q8.0.

Priority: Symbol

With this setting, the absolute address of the operand is changed to the new entry in
the symbol table.
In the example above, the output Q8.0 (symbol name Plant On") was changed to
output Q4.0 in the symbol table. With the Priority: Symbols setting, the address is
changed from Q8.0 to Q4.0 throughout the entire program.
Th changed
The
h
d address
dd
also
l kkeeps itits symbol
b l name. Th
Thatt way you can change
h
th
the
absolute addresses in an existing symbolic user program.

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Goal

To create a symbol table representing the first part of the filling application.

What to Do

Create a symbol table for the FC 15 function in the S7 program "FILL":


1. Open the Symbol Editor in the LAD/STL/FBD Editor by selecting the menu
options Options -> Symbol Table.
2. Edit the symbol table, as is shown in the screen above.
3. Save the symbol table by selecting the menu options Symbol Table ->
Save and return to the LAD/STL/FBD Editor.
4 Open the FC 15 block
4.
5. Select the menu options View -> Display -> Symbolic Representation or
click the
icon in the toolbar.
6. Look at your program in symbolic representation and then select the menu
options View -> Display -> Symbol Information.

Result

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The symbolic names are now displayed for all the addresses in the program to
which you have assigned names
names. You can return to absolute addresses by
deactivating the Symbolic Representation selection in the View menu.

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Symbols

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