Ladder Editor Window

The Ladder Editor Window, also known as the Task Window or Task Pane, is the area where all program tasks are written using ladder logic programming and utilizing the more than 80 Boolean & Function Block style instructions.

By default you will see a “New Task” window open when you start a new project. This task is located in the Run Every Scan folder under the Task Management panel in the lower left of your default screen configuration.

The Ladder Editor Window shown below is divided into two areas; the “Header” and the “Editor”.

1. The Header provides the user with some basic viewing and scan priority options. Enabling and disabling details, Zoom viewing controls and a Task Management selection tool are a few of the features available.
2. The Editor area is where the Ladder Logic program code is written, edited and monitored.

The Header

The drop down arrow to the right of the header icons provides the Show Icon Descriptions option. When selected, the Show Icon Descriptions option will populate the header with icon descriptions as seen below.

The following section describes each of these header options. Either scroll down to the desired option or click on any of the header options in the following diagram to view its detailed description.

1. Task Comment is a single comment which is used to provide a general description for the entire task in question. The maximum number of characters in this field is 2048. This will only be seen in the specific task which you are currently editing.



To add a Task Comment, right mouse click on the task you want to add a comment to and select Task Properties. Then enter your description into the Comment field of the Task Properties Window.

When Task Comment is selected, this comment will be displayed at the top of the task in the editor window.

Rung Comment is a single comment for any given ladder rung in the program. The Maximum number of characters in this field is 512. This comment will only be seen in the specific task which you are currently editing. To add a Rung Comment, select the Rung Comment option in the header and then double left mouse click in between the rungs to open the Current Rung Comment editing box.

2. To view all of the Rung Comments in the selected task, open the full Rung Comments editor. This can be done in two ways:
1. Select Rung Comments from the Application Tools pallet on the top left side of the default layout in the Productivity Suite programming software.

2. Select Edit Menu > Rung Comments.

3. Use Keyboard Shortcut key <Ctrl+K>.

When the Rung Comments editor is opened, the Task name will be shown in [brackets] on top of the editor window as seen below. The numbers in the left column correspond to the rung numbers in your task. The blue high-lighted field in this editor represents the rung location of your cursor when you opened the rung comments editor window.

In order to simplify your documentation process even further, you can import your rung comments in a .csv file format by selecting the File Menu > Import > Rung Comments.

3. Instruction Comment is designed to give the user specific details regarding this instance of this instruction. This is not a global comment and does not pertain to other instances of this instruction or the tags contained within the instruction, but rather describes the action performed by this specific use in its current location.

To add an instruction comment, enable the comment field of the instruction by selecting the Show Instruction Comment option.

With Instruction Comment selected in the Header, the comments added to the instruction will be displayed in the Ladder Editor as seen below.

4. Tag Names is the descriptive name of each controller memory variable as defined by the user either in the Tag Database or in the instructions when programming (see Tag Database for detailed descriptions on available data types and assigning Tag Names). Many traditional Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) have what is known as Fixed Memory Addressing. In these controllers, you are allocated a block of memory for the supported data types, for example, you may have memory allocated for 128 timers and 128 counters regardless of whether you need more or less. With a Tag name based system you have a total memory limit, but no limitation on how you define it. You may need 220 timers and only 14 counters and with this type of system you are free to assign tags to the data types you need without the fear of exceeding data boundaries.



Tag names are descriptive and defined by you, the user, so they make sense to you for the application you are designing. The following table shows that when comparing this system to a fixed memory addressing system there are clear advantages.

Tag Name: Tag Out131

(user defined tag name)

System ID: DO-0.1.3.1

(default tag name for discrete inputs & outputs)

5. Tag Details shows the defined Comments & Wire Labels for each tag name in the Tag Database. These details are displayed in the ladder editor below the Tag name as indicated by bullet “e” in the following diagram. Wire Labels are only valid for physical Input & Output points.

6. Block Details allows the user to view or hide the details within the Function Block instructions. This option applies to all block instructions within the current task you are viewing. The diagrams below show a function block instruction before and after the Block Details option is selected.

7. Zoom controls gives the user more flexibility to format the display based on monitor size, display resolution and personal preference.

• The Fit Width to Window button gives you the maximum viewing perspective for the current window size and display resolution while keeping the complete ladder rungs in view.
• The Normal Width button will restore the fit width state and does not change the zoom value.
• The Zoom Scale ranges from 33% to 300% in viewing perspective. The slider bar allows for easy adjustment and the mouse over feature gives you the exact zoom value of the current view.

To quickly restore zoom to 100%, right-click on the slider and select 'Zoom to 100%'.

8. Tasks Folder Selection gives you the ability to change the Task Management Panel folder location of the current task you are working with and shows the current folder in which the task resides. Any changes made with this tool will be reflected in the Task Management Panel.

9. Monitor Mode gives you a graphical representation of the logical state of your tags as they appear in the ladder logic. These logical states are represented in two ways:

• The contacts and coils will be highlighted with either a red or green color.
• A numerical 1 or 0 (1=On, 0=Off) will be displayed above the contact or coil indicating its binary state.

Note: There are 16 groups containing 64 tags each (1024 total tags) available for Data View and Data Monitor to share.

For example: If the number of visible tags in Data View and each of the task windows does not exceed the limit of 64 tags, there can be a total of 16 task windows, or 15 task windows with Data View, monitoring at the same time. Once the 64-tag limit is reached in one group, the set of tags are split into multiple groups and the number of available monitoring windows starts to decrease.

In addition, array element tags use a different set of groups from the regular tags with the same maximum number of groups and the same maximum number of tags in each group.

Monitor Mode also enables the viewable tag values in the function block instructions. The following diagrams show the effects of monitor mode on the ladder editor.

Monitor mode offers two display options. The default (shown below) reflects the various states of the contacts and coils with Green (ON) or Red (OFF) line color. This option may be preferable when programming and troubleshooting on a desktop.

The second option, known as Block Fill, can be selected from the Tools Menu > Options > Ladder Tab > Monitor Mode Display State Options. This option will reflect the varying states with Green (ON) fill or Red (OFF) line color for your contacts & coils. This option makes viewing the states of your logic much easier on plant floors and when monitoring the logic from a distance.

The Editor

The Editor area is where the Ladder Logic program code is written, edited and monitored. There are four major areas to the Editor.

1. Columns are numbered across the top of the ladder editor window. By default there are 11 columns per rung of ladder code; however, as you program and surpass the allotted amount, additional columns are added for you.

Note: The last column on the ladder rung is where all output coils and function block instructions must reside.

Note: Maximum number of input columns is limited to 127 & output columns 1.

2. Rows or Rungs as they are referred to in ladder logic, are numbered along the left side of the editor window. Each rung may have multiple Sub-Rungs or Branches off the main rung. These are indicated by a decimal separator, e.g., 5, 5.1, and 5.2 are all part of rung #5.

Note: The maximum number of rungs allowed per task is 4096.

3. The Power Rail is the dark main line on the left most side of every rung. This is the starting point for every rung and indicates separation from rung to rung with a minor separation in the power rail (not a complete break).

4. The Cursor Position is indicated by a blue line square.

Drag n Drop in Ladder

Productivity Suite Software allows the ability to drag already placed instructions in ladder and drop them into to another location in the same ladder window.

Copy and Drag n Drop in Ladder

All of the above apply for this section. However, by pressing and holding the "Ctrl" key while clicking and dragging the Instruction, a Copy of the selected Instruction will be made and dropped into the location where it is dragged to in the same ladder window.

Note: Ctrl+Click can also be used to expand or reduce a selection one adjacent element or section at a time. Ctrl+Click a non-adjacent element or section will reset the selection to what has just been clicked. Shift+Click or Shift+Arrow Key can be used to select a range of rungs, elements, or sections.

Note: Copy and Paste of partial rungs will insert the partial rungs at the selected paste location and shift existing elements on that rung down to new subrungs, as needed.

Instruction Popup Menu

Right-Click on any Instruction in the Editor window and a convenient popup menu will appear that provides a number of shortcuts to quickly access software features related to the Instruction.

1. Copy Tagname: Copies the tag in an instruction so it can be pasted elsewhere onto an existing instruction tagname field from the ladder editor.
2. Cut: Completely removes the Instruction from the Rung. However, it is Saved in the clipboard until something new is Copied or Cut.
3. Copy: Makes a Copy of the Instruction and Saves it in the clipboard until something new is Copied or Cut.
4. Paste: Allows a Copied or Cut Instruction to be pasted on the selected Rung location.
5. Select Rung: Displays a secondary menu that allows you to Select the current rung or a series of rungs.
6. Insert: Displays a secondary menu that allows you to Insert rungs above the selected rung, Insert a subrung for the current rung, or Insert a new Column in the current rung.
7. Delete: Displays a secondary menu that allows you to Delete the current rung, Delete a subrung for the current rung, Delete a Column in the current rung, or Delete the selected Instruction from the rung.
8. Erase with Cursor: Displays a secondary menu that allows you to select to Erase the selected Instruction and move the Cursor to the direction selected from the secondary menu.
9. Wire: Sometimes when removing Instructions or if Delete is pressed while a part of the Wire is selected, there will be a blank space. This selection allows the user to add a Wire line where needed.
10. Force: Displays a secondary menu that allows you to Force ON, Force OFF or Remove Force from the selected Instruction. The Force selections are only available if the selected Instruction is Forcible. See Forcing Tags topic for more information.
11. Go To: When selected it allows you to jump to a different part of the ladder based on Task, Rung Number, and Column Number.
12. Tag Search for "xxxxxxx": Opens the Find/Replace window, which can be used to search for locations of specific Tag Names.
13. Help: Opens this Help File on the topic for the specific Instruction you right-clicked from.
14. Tuning: Allows user to make adjustments to constants in instructions without requiring a project transfer. Saving constants will require a transfer to maintain.
15. Properties: Opens the Configuration window for the specific Instruction you right-clicked from.
16. Disable Rung: Will gray out the selected rung and Disable it. Disabled Rungs are not loaded to the CPU as part of the ladder. They act as if they do not exist. When the Rung is Disabled, this selection changes to Enable Rung.
17. Edit Rung Comment: Opens the Current Rung Comment window where a new Comment may be entered or an existing one can be edited or deleted.
18. Edit Instruction Tags: Opens an instruction’s tags in a dialog similar to the Define Tags dialog to change a tag’s properties from the ladder editor.
19. Print: Opens the Print window with selections to Print. See the Print topic for more information.
20. Ladder Options: Directly opens the Ladder tab of the software’s Options dialog.
21. Monitor in Data View: Allows you to add the specific Instruction to Data View as a new Tab or Append to an existing Data View Tab for monitoring.
22. Show in Tag Cross Reference: Opens the Tag Cross Reference window with the selected Instruction Cross Reference information. See Tag Cross Reference topic for more information.
23. Toggle Bit: Toggles a Boolean tag from the ladder editor. This is identical to adding a tag to Data View and toggling the value there. If the program is overwriting the value of the bit, the program will override user input.