Product description

TwinCAT XAE configurations can be automatically generated and edited via programming/script codes using the TwinCAT Automation Interface. The automation of a TwinCAT configuration is available thanks to Automation Interfaces, which can be accessed via all COM-capable programming languages (e.g. C++ or .NET) and also via dynamic script languages such as Windows PowerShell, IronPython or even the (obsolete) VBScript. These Automation Interfaces are linked to the Visual Studio automation model, a Visual Studio extended with TwinCAT 3 functions.

The TwinCAT Automation Interface enables an efficient development process by offering customers the possibility to automate the configuration of a comprehensive TwinCAT solution.

Previously, in the traditional engineering mindset, a machine configuration had to be manually adapted to each new project or even created from scratch, which not only meant a huge development effort associated with high costs, but was also accompanied by a considerable susceptibility to errors caused by human intervention.

Thanks to the TwinCAT Automation Interface, the process of adapting TwinCAT configurations to a new environment or even creating completely new TwinCAT configurations according to customer requirements can be automated.

The reader should now turn to the following topics:

Basics

Topic	Description
Creating/Loading TwinCAT XAE configurations	Describes how to create or open a TwinCAT configuration
Navigating TwinCAT XAE	Describes how to navigate through a TwinCAT configuration
Custom tree item parameters	Describes how to access custom parameters of an item. This is important to access configuration parameters of a TwinCAT tree item.
Implementing a COM message filter	Describes how to implement an own COM message filter to circumvent rejected COM calls

Best practice

Topic	Description
Creating and handling PLC projects	Describes how to handle PLC projects
Creating and handling PLC POUs	Describes how to handle PLC objects/code
Creating and handling PLC Libraries	Describes how to handle PLC libraries, repositories and placeholder
Creating and handling MOTION projects	Describes how to create TwinCAT Motion projects (NC-Task, Axes, ...)
Creating and handling EtherCAT devices	Describes how to create EtherCAT devices and connect them to an EtherCAT topology
Creating and handling TwinCAT Measurement	Describes how to handle TwinCAT Measurement projects.
Creating and handling TcCOM modules	Describes how to handle TcCOM modules.
Using templates	Describes the process of template generation and template usage.
Creating and handling network variables	Describes how to create network variables (publisher/subscriber variables)
Creating and handling Tasks	Describes how to create Tasks and link them with other objects (PLC-Projects, ...)
From offline to online configurations	Some IO devices need physical address information before the configuration can be activated. This article explains how to retrieve and set this information.
Accessing the Error List window of Visual Studio	The Error List can be very helpful for debugging and diagnostic purposes
Accessing window tabs in Visual Studio	Describes how to get access to Visual Studio windows.
Handling different versions of Visual Studio	Describes how different Versions of Visual Studio can be used for Automation Interface
Attaching to running Visual Studio instances	Demonstrates how you can attach to existing (already running) Visual Studio instances to use Automation Interface
Setting TwinCAT target platform	Describes how to set the TwinCAT target platform for compilation.

Additionally, this documentation also includes a full API reference of all interfaces. The How to and Sample sections offer a free composition of script code fragments, configuration steps and demo projects. They also contain an unsorted and growing list of "real-world" samples.