DirectSoft5 Program Export Syntax/Reference Documentation

[btribley]

Greetings to all,
I have been tasked with expanding our switching facility, which uses AutomationDirect D4-450 processors. This facility consists of simple repetitious logic applied to about 2k tags.

I see that the ladder logic can be exported and imported as text. So, instead of slaving away at manual ladder diagrams for days I can generate this logic from a tag/variable database then include it in an overall control program that has housekeeping and other logic.

If someone has a reference guide to save me the hassle of reverse engineering the syntax, key words and variable nomenclature of the text-based export it would be great. I didn't see one in the DirectSoft5 Programmer-User Guide.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[franji1]

It's basically the mnemonics, elements, and valid ranges documented in the PLC User Manual for each instruction.

Chapter 3 has PLC Memory Map tables that describe all the various element tables.  Chapter 5 and a few others show each instruction, and a list of valid elements for each parameter.

Here's the link to the 405 User Manual page:
http://www.automationdirect.com/static/manuals/d4user/d4user.html

Specific grammars for scripting instructions like MATH* IBoxes, PRINT, ECEMAIL, etc. are in those specific instructions' Help topic (I don't think those are documented in the manual).

The grammar for Nickname records are basically double-quoted fields
"element", "nickname", "wiring info", "description"
and if any of those contain a double quote, just use two double quotes, e.g. the text for the description
Fred said, "Hello"
would be
"X0", "PumpA", "xyzzy", "Fred said, ""Hello"""

If you have any specific questions on any specific instruction or element, please post it.

If you use any nicknames with spaces, commas, or quotes in the program/mnemonic portion of your program, make sure you enclose the nickname in double quotes (and replace double quotes within nicknames with two double quotes, similar to the Description example above).

Also, you may want to try exporting some of the example projects to get a good feel for the grammar.  You can also generate your own gnarly examples in DirectSOFT and export that to get a better feel for the various grammars.  The export operation generates importable text.

[btribley]

Thanks for the tips. I was focusing on the DirectSoft5 manual, the DL405 manual offers a lot of additional information.