S7-1200/1500 Innovations; Introduction; Terms - Siemens S7-1200 Programming Manualline

2 S7-1200/1500 Innovations

2.1 Introduction

2 S7-1200/1500 Innovations
2.1 Introduction
In general, the programming of SIMATIC controllers has stayed the same from S7-
300/400 to S7-1500. There are the familiar programming languages such as LAD,
FBD, STL, SCL or graph and blocks such as organization blocks (OBs), function
blocks (FBs), functions (FCs) or data blocks (DBs). I.e. already created S7-300/400
programs can be implemented on S7-1500 and already created LAD, FBD and
SCL programs on S7-1200 controller without any problems.
Additionally, there are many innovations that make programming easier for you and
which allow a powerful and storage-saving code.
We not only recommend implementing programs that are implemented for S7-
1200/1500 controllers 1:1 but also to check them for the new options and where
applicable, to use them. The additional effort is often limited and you get a program
code that is, for example,
• optimal in terms of memory and runtime for the newer CPUs
• easier to understand,
• and easier to maintain.
2.2

Terms

General terms using TIA Portal
Some terms have changed in order to make better handling with the TIA Portal
possible.
Figure 2-1: New terms in the TIA Portal
STEP 7 V5.x
Terms for tags and parameters
When it is about tags, functions, and function blocks, many terms are repeatedly
used differently or even incorrectly. The following figure is to clarify these terms.
Programming Guideline for S7-1200/1500
V1.2, Entry ID: 81318674
Symbol table
UDT
VAT table
STEP 7 (TIA Portal)
PLC tags
PLC data types
Watch table
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