Tag and address resolution

• Tag tables become folders in Studio.
• The tag name, data type, read cycle and start value are carried over. Read cycles become records in the Cycles table of Studio.
• Array tags become a separate tag for each element (Tag[0], Tag[1] …).
• A tag without a connection becomes an internal tag.
• A tag with an unsupported data type and a second tag with the same name are skipped; both are written to the report.

For the tag rules of Studio see the HMI tags page.

Convert resolves the address according to the definition of the tag:

• For a tag with an absolute address, the leading % is dropped and the address is converted to S7 notation.
• The address of a symbol in a PLC tag table is taken from the table.
• The address of a symbolic tag is calculated from the Offset information in the exported XML of the data block. Nested structure and array members are resolved too.

The resolved address is validated against the driver rule of the connection.

• If the size of the HMI type and the PLC member do not match, the type in the PLC is used; the report writes this as an Info row.
• For bit dynamizations, a separate Bool tag is created for the bit of the integer tag. If the address of the tag is not known, the bit tag cannot be created and the animation is not transferred.

To resolve a symbolic address Convert needs the PLC data: the data blocks used by the HMI tags and the PLC tag tables. When reading from TIA, Convert takes them itself; the PLC card must be selected in the Selection step. With a package source the data sits in the PLC\ folder of the package. When reading from the project folder no PLC data is taken: symbolic addresses are not resolved, and tags with absolute addresses are not affected.

In an optimized data block the byte addresses of the variables are not fixed, so there is no absolute address. Tags bound to the block stay without an address, and Check project (F7) in Studio reports a “No address entered” error; Live does not read these tags. The warning box on the result card counts these tags separately.

If a tag whose address could not be resolved has no description of its own, the reason is written to its Description field. You enter the address by hand in Studio.

Each HMI connection becomes a connection in Studio. The IP address and the driver come from the PLC information taken from TIA. In classic HMI the connections are often “integrated”, so this information can be missing; then Convert infers the PLC partner from the tags:

• The PLC whose data blocks most of the symbolic tags match is taken.
• If there is no match, the PLC that holds the DB numbers of the tags with absolute addresses is taken.
• If the package has a single PLC, that one is taken.

The IP address and the S7 family (S7-1200, S7-1500, S7-300) of the PLC are written to the connection. The inference is written to the report as an Info row; if it is wrong, you correct it under connections. If no PLC partner is found, the IP address stays empty and the report asks you to enter it in Studio.

• A driver that does not exist in FabyaVision is created as S7; correct it in Studio.
• In WinCC Unified a connection defined with a non-S7 driver is created, but its tag addresses stay empty because they cannot be derived from symbolic names.