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Configuring the comparison for Siemens SIMATIC STEP 7

Changes in Step 7 Properties Blocks

In order for the changes made to be displayed in Properties Blocks, the compare settings of the S7 component must be changed.

  1. In the Comparison configuration dialog, activate the option Compare content in the DB compare area.

If a new version of the component is now created, the difference will be recognized in Properties blocks.

Code timestamp during comparison

As of Version 3.2, there is no comparison using the code timestamp, as blocks that are created with external editors (e.g. SCL) receive a new code timestamp each time they are compiled.

Exclude/include initial/update values of variables

  1. In the Comparison configuration dialog, activate the Compare content option in the DB compare area. The Variables area is now activated.

  2. In the text field, enter the variables you want to include or exclude by specifying them in the format {DB name}.{Variable name}.

    Examples:

    DB3.STRUCT.Variable
DB3.STRUCT.Variable.*
DB3.*.Variable.*

  3. Use the radio buttons to select whether you want to exclude or include the values of the variables.

Include additional program parts

  1. In the Comparison configuration dialog, select the More options button. The Included when comparing section is displayed in the lower part of the dialog.

    Figure: Comparison configuration dialog, Included when comparing area

  2. Use the relevant checkboxes to specify which program parts should be included in or excluded from the comparison.

Include STL sources in all clients by default

The comparison of STL sources can be activated in the Included when comparing area using the STL source checkbox.

You can also specify on the server side that STL sources are compared by default. To do this, proceed as follows:

  1. Start the AdminClient.
  2. Select the INI files menu item.
  3. The Edit ini file dialog opens.
  4. Select the Classes.ini file. Path to the file: ..\vdServerArchive\VD$A\Configuration\Compare\Classes.ini)
  5. Select the [SimaticS7] section. If this section does not exist, create it at the end of the file.

  6. Assign the value Y to the key 7169.

    [SimaticS7]
7169=Y

Possible values are:

  • Y: AWL sources are taken into account during comparison
  • N: AWL sources are ignored during comparison.

The default value is N.

Comparison of the ES drive

To perform an S7 comparison of drive ES, a valid licensed installation of Microsoft Access, including the ODBC driver, is required.

Comparison of security programs

For safety programs, the checksum generated by the SIMATIC S7 Manager, is compared and displayed in addition to the date of the last compilation of the F program section. Information about CRC and timestamp is stored in a special database, the number of which can vary. It can be identified by its name (F_GLOBDB) and its creation language (F_DB). Generally, the blocks managed by the SIMATIC S7 Manager are ignored during the comparison. These include:

  • Blocks in the languages F_AWL and F_CALL
  • Blocks in the language F_DB, if the author's name has the format FALG{NNNN}. Here, N can be either a digit from 0 to 9 or a hyphen (-).
  • Block in the language F_DB with the name F_GLOBDB. Here, checksum and timestamp are extracted and displayed as described above.

Comparison for LibraryManagement

The following comparisons are carried out in LibraryManagement:

  • Blocks: By content and properties
  • Source: By content and properties
  • CFC: By content or name
  • SFC: By content or name

Comparison of blocks with activated know-how protection

Comparison of blocks that are protected by the S7 Block Privacy Add-on recognizes differences. The differences are not shown in detail.

Differences in messages

Differences in Messages are not displayed.

Differences in the declaration lists of blocks

Differences in the declaration lists of two data blocks are ignored under certain conditions in order to prevent the difference declaration list from being displayed multiple times when the declaration list is changed and the instance DBs are properly updated. The differences are ignored if:

  • The two data blocks instance DBs and the numbers of the assigned function blocks are the same and
  • Both function blocks exist and the respective declaration lists of FB/DB are the same.

Initial values for connections of blocks in CFCs

When a block is connected in a CFC, its initial values are excluded from the comparison if the attribute S7_server is set to alarm_archiv, since these values are controlled by the SIMATIC S7 Manager.

Copying the CFC generates a new message number that differs from the original block, which would otherwise result in false-positive differences during comparison.

Changes in Step 7 HW Config

The hardware configurations made in Step 7 HW Config must be accepted with the Save and Translate command before they are recognized during versioning.

FAQ

Creating a version fails even though the SIMATIC S7 program has already been compiled several times

For SIMATIC S7 programs that are compiled without changes, only the Time of last compilation timestamp is changed. With the default setting of the S7 comparator, this difference is recognized during job execution (backup/backup comparison), but not when creating a new version or comparing two versions (version/version comparison).

If you still want to create a new version, you can either generate a Version without difference or customize comparator configuration. To do this, proceed as follows:

Version without difference

  1. Switch to the Extras tab in the UserClient.
  2. Select the S7 component in the Project tree.
  3. Select Extras -> Version without difference in the tab.

Adapt comparator configuration

  1. Open the Component type editor module in the AdminClient.
  2. In the component Component type library, select the Siemens\SPS\Simatic S7 element.
  3. Add the following entries to the table under Compare these files and save the changes.
Specification Comparator Subdirectories
Gs7prot.out Binary Include
*.log Binary Include