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The IEC 61131 Non-standard

July 11, 2008
I have written about IEC for 4 issues. I would like to share a thread from the Automation Control List as an exclamation point to my columns!! The user is programming in Step 7 (Siemens) . The names have been removed. Be sure to read the very last line. I have always said that IEC 61131 is a great concept, but I don't try to sell it as a silver bullet for automation programming. I am trying to export a POU but Export function is grayed out. I have tried to right-click on my MAIN (%OB1) block and select Export, but it is grayed out and I cannot figure out what i am doing wrong. I am trying to do this in IEC-1131 mode. Thanks! Reply to this post... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORT and EXPORT only work in SIMATIC Mode, Why do you want to use it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was hoping to port the logic over to another IEC program editor and reuse the code. It would be a lot easier than retyping the code from scratch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can export the logic over as a text file in stl code and then maybe you can import that into your other application. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IEC is a standard, but it's not that standard. :( The export only exports in a proprietary format anyway.
I have written about IEC for 4 issues. I would like to share a thread from the Automation Control List as an exclamation point to my columns!! The user is programming in Step 7 (Siemens) . The names have been removed. Be sure to read the very last line. I have always said that IEC 61131 is a great concept, but I don't try to sell it as a silver bullet for automation programming. I am trying to export a POU but Export function is grayed out. I have tried to right-click on my MAIN (%OB1) block and select Export, but it is grayed out and I cannot figure out what i am doing wrong. I am trying to do this in IEC-1131 mode. Thanks! Reply to this post... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORT and EXPORT only work in SIMATIC Mode, Why do you want to use it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was hoping to port the logic over to another IEC program editor and reuse the code. It would be a lot easier than retyping the code from scratch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can export the logic over as a text file in stl code and then maybe you can import that into your other application. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IEC is a standard, but it's not that standard. :( The export only exports in a proprietary format anyway.
About the Author

Jeremy Pollard | CET

Jeremy Pollard, CET, has been writing about technology and software issues for many years. Pollard has been involved in control system programming and training for more than 25 years.