The Project view shows all elements of a project in structured form in various pro- cessing windows. You can move from the Portal view to the Project view using the Project view link at the bottom left of the screen, or STEP 7 automatically switches to the Project view depending on the selected tool.
Fig. 1.15 shows the windows of the Project view in an example of block program- ming. Different window contents are displayed depending on the currently used editor.
a Main menu and toolbar, shortcut menu
Underneath the title bar is the main menu with all menu commands. The menu commands available for selection depend on the currently marked object; menu commands which cannot be selected are displayed in gray. The same functionality is available – somewhat user-friendlier – with the shortcut menu: If you click on an Fig. 1.14 Start page of the information system
object with the right mouse button, a window is opened with the currently select- able menu commands. Underneath the main menu is the toolbar with the graphi- cally represented “main functions”. The main menu and the toolbar are always present in all editors.
Using Options > Settings in the main menu, you can adapt the user interface. For example, under “General” you can define the user interface language in which STEP 7 is used, and the mnemonics (the representation of the operands: “I” for input in English, or “E” in German).
s Working window
In the center of the screen is the working window. The contents of the working win- dow depend on the editor currently being used. In the case of device configuration, the working window is divided in two: the objects (stations and modules) are dis- played in graphic form in the top part, and in tabular form in the bottom part. When programming the PLC, the top part of the working window contains the interface description of the block, and the bottom part the program. You use the working window to configure the hardware of the automation system, generate the user program, or configure the process screens for an HMI device.
Fig. 1.15 Components of Project view using example of block programming
d Inspector window
The inspector window underneath the working window shows the properties of the objects marked in the latter, records the sequence of actions, and provides an over- view of the diagnostics status of the connected devices.
During configuration or programming you set the object properties in the inspec- tor window, for example the addresses and symbol names of inputs and outputs, the properties of the PROFINET interface, tag data types or block attributes.
f Project tree
The project tree window is displayed with the same content for all editors. Its hier- archical structure contains all project data and the required editors. With the proj- ect open, it shows the folders for the PLC and HMI stations included in the project, and further subfolders within these folders, e.g. for program blocks, PLC tags, and watch tables with a PLC station or, for example, the process images and the HMI tags in the case of an HMI station.
A double-click on an object with project data automatically starts the associated ed- itor. The project tree also includes editors such as Add new device, Device configura- tion, or Online & diagnostics, which you can start directly by means of a double-click.
The lower section of the project tree contains a details view of those objects, which are present in the hierarchy underneath the object marked in the project tree.
g Task window
To the right of the working window is the task window with the task cards. This con- tains further objects for processing in the working window. The contents of the task window depend on the currently active editor. In the case of the hardware configu- ration, for example, the hardware catalog with the available components is shown here, in the case of PLC programming the program elements catalog appears, with online & diagnostics the online tools, and with the visualization the library for the process image control and display elements.
You can also call the libraries in this window: Global libraries supplied with STEP 7, or the project library in which you can save reusable objects such as program blocks, templates for process images, or control elements with special configura- tions.
h Editor and status bar
At the bottom left of the Project view you can change to the Portal view. In the mid- dle you can see the tabs of the open windows. Clicking on a tab results in its contents being displayed in the top level of the working window. This makes it easy to change quickly between different window contents. The far right of the status bar indicates the current status of project processing.