Opening an existing PLC project

Opening an existing PLC project

To open an existing PLC project via the Automation Interface, navigate to the PLC node and select CreateChild() with the path to the .plcproj file.

There are three possible values for SubType:

• 0: Copy project to the solution directory
• 1: Move project to the solution directory
• 2: Use the original project location (in this case, pass "" as the project name parameter)

These values correspond to the Yes, No, and Cancel buttons in the corresponding dialog box in TwinCAT XAE. Alternatively, a PLC project archive (.tpzip file) can be specified as a path.

C#:

ITcSmTreeItem plc = systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC");
ITcSmTreeItem newProject = plc.CreateChild("NameOfProject", 1, "", pathToProjectOrTpzipFile);

PowerShell:

$plc = $systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC")
$newProject = $plc.CreateChild("NameOfProject", 1, "", pathToProjectOrTpzipFile)

Saving a PLC project as a library

To save a PLC project as a PLC library, use the ITcPlcIECProject::SaveAsLibrary() method.

C#:

iecProject.SaveAsLibrary(pathToLibraryFile, false);

PowerShell:

$plcProject.SaveAsLibrary(pathToLibraryFile, $false)

The second parameter determines whether the library should be automatically installed in the default repository after saving.

Using online functions (Login, StartPlc, StopPlc, ResetCold, ResetOrigin)

The Automation Interface also supports PLC online functions, such as logging into a PLC runtime and starting, stopping, or resetting the PLC program. These functions are accessible via ProduceXml() and ConsumeXml() on an ITcPlcIECProject node.

XML structure:

<TreeItem>
<IECProjectDef>
  <OnlineSettings>
    <Commands>
      <LoginCmd>false</LoginCmd>
      <LogoutCmd>false</LogoutCmd>
      <StartCmd>false</StartCmd>
      <StopCmd>false</StopCmd>
    </Commands>
  </OnlineSettings>
</IECProjectDef>
</TreeItem>

C#:

string xml = "<TreeItem><IECProjectDef><OnlineSettings><Commands><LoginCmd>true</LoginCmd></Commands></OnlineSettings></IECProjectDef></TreeItem>";
ITcSmTreeItem plcProject = systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC^NameOfProject^NameOfProject Project");
plcProject.ConsumeXml(xml);

Description of the XML nodes:

To use commands such as ResetOriginCmd, you must first run LoginCmd. The procedure is the same as in TwinCAT XAE.

Setting boot project options

This code sample sets boot project options for a PLC project using the ITcPlcProject interface.

C#:

ITcSmTreeItem plcProjectRoot = systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC^PlcGenerated");
ITcPlcProject plcProjectRootIec = (ITcPlcProject) plcProjectRoot;
plcProjectRootIec.BootProjectAutostart = true;
plcProjectRootIec.GenerateBootProject(true);

PowerShell:

$plcProject = $systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC^PlcGenerated")
$plcProject.BootProjectAutostart = $true
$plcProject.GenerateBootProject($true)

C#:

ITcSysManager9 newSysMan = (ITcSysManager9)systemManager;
newSysMan.SaveAsArchive(@"C:\test.tszip");

PowerShell:

$systemManager.SaveAsArchive("C:\test.tszip")

C#:

dte.Solution.AddFromTemplate("C:\test.tszip", @"C:\tmp", "CreatedFromTemplate");

PowerShell:

$dte.Solution.AddFromTemplate("C:\test.tszip", "C:\tmp", "CreatedFromTemplate")

C#:

ITcSmTreeItem plc = sysManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC");
plc.ExportChild("PlcProject", @"C:\PlcTemplate.tpzip");

PowerShell:

$plc = $systemManager.LookupTreeItem("TIPC")
$plc.ExportChild("PlcProject", "C:\PlcTemplate.tpzip")

C#:

plcConfig.CreateChild("PlcFromTemplate", 0, null, @"C:\PlcTemplate.tpzip");

PowerShell:

$plc.CreateChild("plcFromTemplate", 0, $null, "C:\PlcTemplate.tpzip")