Hmmm...a little vague...what do you mean by 'ladder program'? Do you mean one that can be loaded into a real PLC? Or one that will generate a printout that is in a ladder format? If you are just looking for a way to generate documentation and you only have a plug-on or handheld programmer, we have one written in-house. I can probably get you a copy, but be warned, it isn't documented at all and isn't intuitive. It was written by one of our engineers for his own personal use.
Hi,
Your question is not clear, if you mean a text file containing some STL program say written for a STEP 7 environment, then it is possible, just load it in SIMATIC manager's corresponding section and using the view menu set the view to the LAD.
Bye
Reza Hasseli
What is the format of your text file and what
are the tools that the PLC programming software gives you for import/export.
If you're text file is a high-level type language and if you are using one of the PLC programming products that allows import/export of ASCII ladder then it can be done. You will have to write a translator and there you will have to note that there are instructions in ladder (energize coil for example) that don't exist in high level languages.
I did a very limited translator years ago for the Allen-Bradley 1771-DR module so it can be done.
Finally, does the size of your project warrant the effort?
> is there any way to convert a text file into a ladder program ? <
If the text file follows the rules of the PLC you are programming, why not? I know you can build a source file (*.awl) for Siemens S7 PLCs and compile it into an STL program that could be displayed as Ladder; and Allen-Bradley PLC5 Ladder is read/writable as text on every rung. But you will still require a form of compilator to transform the text file into appropriate instructions for the specific PLC: you can't get away from that.
Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier
The answer is "depends on your PLC". AB PLCs have a facility that allows this using thier RSLogix software.
It can be done in Siemens S7 software as well, although I am not quite sure how, but I know a colleague wrote something like 7000 rungs of LD in an S7 once that was all generated from an Excel spreadsheet.
