Settings tab
Target Archive
In the Target Archive group box you can specify which information is transferred to the target system together with other data when you create a boot project.
Login Information | COMPILEINFO file containing the compiler information of the PLC project. |
Suppress Temporary | If the user also deselects the "Update boot project" option when logging onto the target system, the COMPILEINFO file is temporarily not loaded onto the target system. This speeds up the download/online change. |
Project Sources | Source code files of the PLC project in readable source code form. |
Compiled Libraries | Libraries that are used in compiled form in the PLC project. |
Source Libraries | Libraries that are used in legible source code form in the PLC project. |
File/E-Mail Archive
In the File/E-Mail Archive group box, you can specify what information is stored when Archiving a PLC project, a TwinCAT project or a Solution. If you activate the corresponding checkbox, the files described in the following table are stored in the project archive.
Login Information | COMPILEINFO file containing the compiler information of the PLC project. |
Project Sources | Source code files of the PLC project in readable source code form. |
Compiled Libraries | Libraries that are used in compiled form in the PLC project. |
Source Libraries | Libraries that are used in legible source code form in the PLC project. |
Core dump | Core dump file, which is located in the PLC project directory, and the compile info files, which are located in the "_CompileInfo" folder in the project directory. Note: The compile info files are also saved in the archive if the Core Dump setting is activated, as these files are needed in order to be able to use the core dump. |
 | Transfer of source code If you have configured the target or file/email archive settings to include the project sources and/or source libraries in one of these archives, please note that the project sources and/or the source libraries (*.library) used in the project are contained in the ZIP archive in readable source code form when passing on/delivering the target system or when passing on the file/email archive. Keep this in mind when configuring the settings described above and when storing and referencing libraries (*.library vs *.compiled-library). For more information on library management, see section Using libraries. Information about source code encryption can be found in the documentation on Security Management. |
Target Files
In the Target Files group box you can set which information is transferred to the \Boot\Plc folder when you create a boot project on the target system.
TMC File | TMC file (TwinCAT Module Class) of a PLC project |
TPY File | TPY file (contains, among other information, project information, routing information, compiler information, target system information) |
Boot Project
In the Boot Project group box, you can set whether the boot project on the target system should be updated by default on download or online change.
Update Boot Project on Online Change | During an online change, the boot project on the target system is updated by default. |
Update Boot Project on Download | During a download, the boot project on the target system is updated by default. |
Target Behavior
In the Target Behavior group box, you can set how the target system handles persistent data.
Clear Invalid Persistent Data | The backup of the stored persistent data is ignored. This ensures that any invalid data is not accepted but instead discarded. |
Backup of persistent data
Persistent data is regularly stored in a .bootdata file in the TwinCAT\Boot folder during a TwinCAT system stop/shutdown. At the next system startup (TwinCAT Run mode) this file is read, and the persistent variables in the runtime system are initialized with the values from the file. The system renames the .bootdata file to .bootdata-old.
This backup file (.bootdata-old) of the persistent data is read at system startup if the file (.bootdata) containing the persistent data does not exist. This is an exception, but it can occur, for example, if an IPC without UPS experiences a power failure and TwinCAT could not shut down properly.
- If it is foreseeable that the contents of the backup file cannot be used at a new system startup, you can enable the option Clear Invalid Persistent Data to ignore the backup file. This can be the case, for example, if batch information or tool data has be stored in a production facility and has to be up-to-date.
- If the structure of the persistent data (its data types or symbol paths in the program code) is changed due to online changes, it makes no sense to subsequently load an obsolete persistent data file. In this case, you should enable the Clear Invalid Persistent Data option in advance.
In both cases, you should also ensure that a current persistent data file is available. Function blocks such as FB_WritePersistentData (PLC Lib Tc2_Utilities) and UPS protection against sudden power failures are available for this purpose.
When using persistent data, the corresponding flags (BootDataLoaded and OldBootData) from the global structure PlcAppSystemInfo should always be evaluated (see documentation on System > Global Data Types).
If neither the regular file nor the backup file can be loaded or if they don't exist, the variables marked as PERSISTENT are reinitialized in the same way as other "normal" variables, either with their explicitly specified initial values or with the standard initializations.
See also:
- PLC documentation: Remanent Variables - PERSISTENT, RETAIN