Overview

The TwinCAT EAP Configurator is a Visual Studio package that integrates itself seamlessly into Microsoft Visual Studio. The following overview shows the individual components of the EAP Configurator:

• Solution explorer:
  In general, the Solution explorer is part of Visual Studio and it enables viewing and management of all elements within the solution and the projects below. A TwinCAT EAP Configurator project (see overview no. 1) has subordinate element nodes, each of which corresponds to a file (see overview no. 2) describing the configuration of an EAP device.
• Graphical editor:
  The graphical editor (see overview no. 3) visualizes the configuration of all EAP devices of the EAP Configurator project. The graphical editor reproduces the communication links between the EAP devices in a transparent manner and enables the configurations of the EAP devices involved to be modified.
• EAP Config Tool window:
  A complete overview of all configuration data of an EAP device can be displayed in the form of a two-stage table in the EAP Config Tool window (see overview no. 4), referred to as object dictionary.
  This component also contains the operating elements for transferring a modified configuration to the EAP device, in order to activate it.
• Properties window:
  The main properties of a graphical object, which is selected with the mouse in the graphic editor, are shown in the Properties window (see overview no. 5). The properties can then be modified as required.
• Toolbox window:
  The Toolbox window (see overview no. 6) provides the user with the tools required for adding new objects to an EAP device or generating new communication links. This is necessary in situations where further Publisher or Subscriber variables are to be configured.