SIMATIC MicroComputing Software V1.0 SP1

The following Readme file contains important information for the installation and use ofthe MicroComputing software. You should read this information before you install andoperate the software.

Contents:

1 Description2 Hardware Requirements3 Software Requirements4 Addendum to the Software Product Certificate5 Documentation for the MicroComputing Software6 Installing the Software6.1 Installing the MicroComputing Software6.2 If a Version of MicroComputing Is Already Installed...6.3 Uninstalling (Removing) the MicroComputing Software6.4 Authorization7 DCOM configuration for Windows 95/98/ME8 Licensing Information9 Known Problems9.1 OLE Containers9.2 Refer to the Documentation (Especially to the List of Known Problems) for Any

Third-Party OLE Container9.3 Detecting the Reconnection of a Lost Connection9.4 Using a PC/PPI Cable (Windows 95/98/ME)9.5 Modem connections9.6 Using Control Arrays in VB to Connect to the Control Engine9.7 Connections to the Control Engine9.8 Troubleshooting: Delayed Responses of Software Using COM9.9 Data Control Cannot Be Used In Microsoft Access9.10 Fractional Numbers Created By the Scaling Feature of the Slider Control Could

Affect the Use of Arrow Keys with the Slider Control 9.11 Using Commas and Periods with the Edit and Slider Controls9.12 Addressing the S7-200 memory area "Counter"9.13 Do Not Use a Sleep Function in Visual C++ to Wait for Updates of Connected

Controls9.14 Error message "Connection Error: State 000004b1"9.15 Error message "Unable to connect to server: State 0x80004005"9.16 SoftContainer does not work with ATI display adapter on Box PC 8409.17 Modification of the properties of the access point using the "Set PG/PC interface"dialog10 Contacting Customer Support10.1 North America10.2 Europe

1 Description

SIMATIC MicroComputing provides access to the process data in the S7-200 controller.MicroComputing provides connections by way of ActiveX controls. You can also purchasean optional OPC (OLE for Process Control) interface for MicroComputing: S7-200 OPCServer, MLFB: 6ES7810-2MS00-0YX0.

2 Hardware Requirements

To run the SIMATIC MicroComputing software, the following configuration isrecommended for your computer (PC):

• Pentium processor, 166 MHz (or faster)

Note: Using the PC/PPI Cable communication option under multi-master mode on aWindows ME or a Windows 2000 operating system, requires at least a Pentium II400 MHz class computer.If you use the PC/PPI Cable communication option on a Windows 95 or aWindows 98 operating system, we recommend a Pentium II 400 Mhz classcomputer or faster.

• 64 Mbytes RAM

• VGA monitor, keyboard, and mouse which are supported by Microsoft WindowsNT/2000 or Windows 95/98/ME

• Approximately 20 Mbytes of additional memory on your hard disk (plus an additional20 Mbytes for temporary use during the installation process)

• At least 1 Mbyte free memory capacity on drive C for the Setup program. (Setup filesare deleted when the installation is complete.)

3 Software Requirements

SIMATIC MicroComputing is a 32-bit application that requires either of the followingoperating systems:

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 (or higher)Service Pack 6 is available as a free download from Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)

• Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 1 (or higher)Service Pack 1 is available as a free download from Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 (or higher) and Microsoft Internet Explorer5.0 (or higher), Windows 98 or Windows MEMicrosoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 is available as a free download from Microsoft(www.microsoft.com)

Note: SIMATIC MicroComputing has been successfully tested on the followingsystems:Windows NT 4.0 SP6, Windows 2000 SP1, Windows 95c, Windows 98 SE,Windows ME.

SIMATIC MicroComputing supports the following version of Microsoft Visual Studio:

• Visual Studio 6 service pack 3 (SP3) or greater (for Visual C++ 6 or Visual Basic 6) --recommended

• Visual Studio 5 service pack 3 (SP3) or greater (for Visual C++ 5 or Visual Basic 5)

Shifting to hibernation mode under Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft WindowsMillennium is not supported by MicroComputing if connections to the control engine areopen.

4 Addendum to the Software Product Certificate

The Software Product Certificate is part of the Agreement concerning the use of softwareproducts acquired against one-time payment which is included in the consignment. It lists,among other things, the licensed software components and their guarantee class.

The customer is not authorized to make modifications to the software during the period ofcontract.

In any correspondence, refer to the identification number shown on the Software ProductCertificate.

5 Documentation for the MicroComputing Software

The SIMATIC MicroComputing User Manual provides you with an overview of thefunction, installation, and startup of the MicroComputing software and should be readbefore working with this product. An electronic version of the SIMATIC MicroComputingUser Manual is installed on your computer when you install this software.

The SIMATIC MicroComputing Quick Study Guide will help you to get started with thisproduct. It will also get installed on your computer in the Simatic Documentation folder.

Note: Acrobat Reader 4.05 (or higher) is necessary to read the documentation.

You can find extensive information about working with SIMATIC MicroComputing in theonline help, which you can access by using the Help menu or by pressing the F1 key toactivate the context-sensitive help.

6 Installing the Software

6.1 Installing the MicroComputing Software

! Caution

Do not install SIMATIC MicroComputing while SIMATIC Computing or WinAC isinstalled on that computer.

Since SIMATIC MicroComputing, SIMATIC Computing, WinLC, and otherelements of WinAC use common files, attempting to install the MicroComputingsoftware when Computing or any of the components of WinAC are beingexecuted by the computer can corrupt the software files. Always assure thatSIMATIC Computing or WinAC products are NOT installed when you install theSIMATIC MicroComputing software.

To install SIMATIC MicroComputing:

Note: In addition to the 20 Mbytes on your hard drive for the SIMATICMicroComputing software, the installation procedure requires an additional 20 Mbytesof temporary space for copying files. This additional temporary space is used onlyduring the installation procedure.

Use the following procedure to install the SIMATIC MicroComputing software:

1. Insert the CD-ROM.

2. Use the Windows Start menu (Start > Run) to open the Run dialog box.

3. Click the Browse button in the Run dialog box and select the Setup.exe icon onthe CD-ROM.

4. Double-click the SETUP.EXE icon to enter it into the Run dialog box, then clickOK to start the Setup program. Follow the instructions displayed by the Setupprogram.

6.2 If a Version of MicroComputing Is Already Installed...

If the Setup program finds another version of MicroComputing on the computer, theprogram reports this and asks you which of the following you want to do:

• Abort the installation so that you can uninstall the old MicroComputing versionand then start the installation again.

• Continue the installation and overwrite the old version with the new version.

Your software will be better organized if you uninstall any older versions before installingthe new version. Overwriting an old version with a new version has the disadvantage thatif you then uninstall, any remaining components of the old version are not removed. If youuninstall the older version of MicroComputing, you must reboot your computer beforeinstalling the new version.

6.3 Uninstalling (Removing) the MicroComputing Software

Use the Windows Add/Remove Programs procedure to remove the MicroComputingsoftware:

1. Select the Start > Settings > Control Panel menu command to display the Windowscontrol panel.

2. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon to display the Add/Remove ProgramsProperties dialog box.

3. Select the entry for "SIMATIC MicroComputing" and click the Add/Remove button.

4. Follow the instructions of the dialogs to remove the MicroComputing software. (If theRemove Enable File dialog box appears, click the No button if you are unsure how torespond.)

6.4 Authorization

During installation, the Setup program checks to see whether an authorization is installedon the hard disk. If no authorization is found, a message appears that the software can beused only with an authorization. If you wish, you can run the authorization programimmediately or continue the installation and execute the authorization at a later date.

Note: You must always install the authorization on drive C.

For more information on authorization, see the SIMATIC MicroComputing User Manual,chapter 3.2

7 DCOM configuration for Windows 95/98/ME

Windows 95/98/ME does not provide the dcomcnfg utility. Running the dcomcnfg utilityon the above operating systems may require additional installation of dcom95.exe anddcm95cfg.exe (for Windows95) or dcom98.exe and dcm95cfg.exe (for Windows98/ME).These files are available as a free download from MicroSoft (www.microsoft.com). Toconfigure your computer as a client or as a server for Windows 95/98/ME perform thefollowing steps:

1. Use the Windows Start menu (Start > Run) to open the Run dialog box.2. In the Run dialog box, enter dcomcnfg and click on the OK button.3. In the "Default Properties" tab of the "Distributed COM Configuration Properties" dialog

box- Check the "Enable Distributed COM on this computer" option- Set The Default Authentication Level to "Connect".- Set the Impersonation Level to "Identify".

4. Click "OK" to enter these changes and to close the Distributed COM ConfigurationProperties dialog box.

For additional information and instructions how to configure your computer for DCOM ona Windows NT/2000 platform refer to Appendix D (Using SIMATIC MicroComputing withDCOM) in the SIMATIC MicroComputing User Manual.

8 Licensing Information

Siemens grants a license to use the enclosed software to the original purchaser. Copiesmay be made for back-up purposes only. Copies made for any other purpose areexpressly prohibited, and adherence to this requirement is the sole responsibility of thepurchaser.

Applications containing the SIMATIC controls (OCXs) of this software may not be sold orredistributed without express written permission from Siemens. Contact your Siemenssales representative for more information.

Siemens makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to this software. Allimplied warranties, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particularuse, are hereby excluded.

Siemens' liability is limited to the purchase price. Under no circumstances shall Siemens,or the authors of this product, be liable for any incidental or consequential damages, norfor any damages in excess of the original purchase price.

9 Known Problems

9.1 OLE Containers

MicroComputing is an open system that may be used with OLE containers and controlsfrom a variety of vendors. The SIMATIC controls have been tested with the followingcontainers:

• Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (SP3 and greater)

• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for the Microsoft Office 97 and MicrosoftOffice 2000 applications

• Microsoft Visual C++ of Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 (SP3 and greater)• WinAC SoftContainer installed with the MicroComputing software

Some other containers from other vendors (such as Borland Delphi 3.0 or 4.0) do notsupport all the necessary ActiveX interfaces to support the "property browsing" functionsof the SIMATIC Data control to other controls. For these containers, you must writeadditional code in your program to support the Microsoft "extended controls" functions forcontainers. Refer to Appendix E in the SIMATIC MicroComputing User Manual for moreinformation about OLE containers and other programming guidelines.

9.2 Refer to the Documentation (Especially to the List of Known Problems) for AnyThird-Party OLE Container

When using the SIMATIC controls within a third-party container, please refer to the list ofknown problems for that container.

For example: under some conditions, Visual Basic 5.0 can cause an exception whenclosing. This will not affect the operation of MicroComputing.

9.3 Detecting the Reconnection of a Lost Connection

After the loss of a connection to the control engine, the SIMATIC Data control reconnectsautomatically if the connection is possible. The Data control provides notification only forthe loss of connection (by generating a ConnectionError event); it does not provide anynotification of a reconnection to the control engine.

If it is necessary for your program to be notified of a reconnection by the Data control, usethe following procedure to detect the reconnection:

1. Include a timer in your program.

2. At a periodic interval (such as 1 second), use the ReadVariable method of the Datacontrol to read a specific variable (such as MB0).

3. Use the status of the ReadVariable method to determine whether the Data control isconnected to the control engine:

• If you receive an error code that the ReadVariable method has failed: You havelost the connection, and your program can then respond to the lost connection.

• If you do not receive an error code: The connection has been restored, and yourprogram can clear or ignore the ConnectionError event.

9.4 Using a PC/PPI Cable (Windows 95/98/ME)

In order to use a PC/PPI cable with SIMATIC MicroComputing running on Windows95/98/ME, you must decrease the size of the receive buffer for the COM port. Use thefollowing procedure:

1. From the Windows desktop, right click the My Computer icon and choose theProperties menu item.

2. From the System Properties dialog box, select the Device Manager tab.

3. From the Device Manager tab, locate and double-click the Ports icon.

4. From the expanded Ports branch, locate and double-click the Communication Porticon for the specific COM port.

5. From the Communication Port Properties dialog box, choose the Port Settings tab.

6. From the Port Settings tab, click the Advanced button.

7. Examine the slider for Receive Buffer. If it is not at the lowest possible setting (1),move it to the lowest setting.

8. Choose OK to confirm your selections and close the open dialog boxes.

9.5 Modem connections

Modem connections are currently not supported by SIMATIC MicroComputing.

9.6 Using Control Arrays in VB to Connect to the Control Engine

If you use a program to create a connection table (using the ConnectObject method in thecode in your Visual Basic program to connect the objects) and then use this connectiontable to connect the elements of a control array to the control engine, any value changedby an element of the control array is not written automatically to the control engine. Whilethe SIMATIC Data control automatically updates changes made by the control engine (byautomatically reading the changed values to the elements of the control array), it does notautomatically write any changed values (made with the control array) to the controlengine.

• If you require that changes made with the control array utilize the "Automatic Update"option of the Data control to automatically write the change to the control engine, usethe "Properties" dialog box of the Data control to create the connections for thecontrol array (instead of writing code using the ConnectObject method in your VBprogram to make the connections).

When you use the "Properties" dialog box of the Data control to browse to theelements of the control array and assign variables in the control engine, changesmade with the elements of the control array are automatically written to the controlengine. (Ensure that the "Automatic Update" option for the Data control is selected.)

If you do not require that changes made with the control array be written automatically tothe control engine, you can implement code in your VB program (for example, in the codefor a Button control) to write the changed value to the control object, using theWriteVariable method or the WriteMultiVariables method to manually update the value inthe control engine.

9.7 Connections to the Control Engine

The S7-200 CPUs 221, 222, 224, and 226 support a maximum of 6 connections (refer tothe documentation of your control engine for detailed information). One of these 6connections is reserved for OP. Using MPI/Profibus on a DP interface (e.g. EM277), theremaining 5 connections are available. Using the Port interface (Port 0/1) over MPI (e.g.CP5611), only 3 connections can be opened at a time. The PPI protocol supports onlyone connection to the control engine at a time. Therefore, you cannot use more than oneOPC client or more than one Data control over the PPI network at a time.

Note: The connection supported by the PPI protocol includes the connection made bySTEP 7-Micro/WIN. If the PPI protocol is used, remember to close STEP 7-Micro/WIN before opening the connection to the control engine.

9.8 Troubleshooting: Delayed Responses of Software Using COM

Your DCOM configuration can affect local COM operations. For example, setting the"Default Authentication Level" to "None" (instead of to "Connect") can delay theconnections to software applications for up to 6 minutes as the Windows operatingsystem performs its security checking. This affects not only MicroComputing and WinACproducts (such as Computing or WinLC), but other software applications that use COM(such as Microsoft Word).

When configuring your computer for DCOM, please use the entries detailed in AppendixD (Using SIMTATIC MicroComputing with DCOM) of the SIMATIC MicroComputing UserManual.

9.9 Data Control Cannot Be Used In Microsoft Access

Because of special requirements for the Microsoft Access container, you cannot use theData control within Microsoft Access.

9.10 Fractional Numbers Created By the Scaling Feature of the Slider Control CouldAffect the Use of Arrow Keys with the Slider Control

If you use use the scaling feature of the slider control, the value for the SmallChangeproperty could be measured in fractional numbers. If the Slider is connected to a variablewith a data type that does not allow writing a fractional value, then the arrow keys cannotmove the slider.

To avoid this problem, adjust the SmallChange property so that the smallest change doesnot produce a fractional number.

9.11 Using Commas and Periods with the Edit and Slider Controls

The Edit and Slider controls have the following behavior for non-integer fields within theirproperty pages:

• If you are using the American (English) version of Windows: Periods (".") are used toseparate the fractional parts of decimal numbers, and commas (",") are automaticallyremoved.

• If you are using the German version of Windows: Commas (",") are used to separatethe fractional parts of decimal numbers, and periods (".") are removed.

Other invalid characters cause error messages.

For example: If you are using the German version of Windows and enter the followingvalue for the Max property of the Slider control (in the Scaling tab of the Properties dialogbox):

1.2..3.45

The Slider recognizes the value 12345 and does not generate an error message.

9.12 Addressing the S7-200 memory area "Counter"

Only the data type "WORD" (default setting) can be used to address the memory area"Counter" on a S7-200 PLC. If the data type "INT" is used, the error message "Unable toconnect property ..." is being displayed when the SoftContainer process form is switchedto Run mode.

9.13 Do Not Use a Sleep Function in Visual C++ to Wait for Updates of ConnectedControls

Programmers using Visual Basic have used a Sleep function in conjuction with a DoEventfunction to wait for updates of connected controls. Since Visual C++ does not support theDoEvent function, this construction is not possible in Visual C++. Other solutions, such asusing the message loop within a thread, should be avoided because the Sleep functionmight block the message loop and cause other problems.

To wait for updates of connected controls, program a Timer instead of a using Sleepfunction. Updates of connected controls can be suppressed within a thread if you use aSleep function.

9.14 Error message "Connection Error: State 000004b1"

If you are using Windows 95/98 and you have selected the PC/PPI cable as the AccessPoint and 9.6 kbps as the transmission rate in the Set PG/PC Interface dialog box, youmay receive the Connection error message above when you attempt to run your program.To correct the error, follow the procedure below.1. In "MicroComputing Configuration" select the "Connection" tab and click on

"Setting the PG/PC Interface".2. Select the used interface parameter assignment under the Access Point

"Computing" (PC/PPI cable).3. Select the "Properties..." button and select the PPI tab.4. In the Timeout field, set the timeout to 10s or 100s. Click on OK.

9.15 Error message "Unable to connect to server: State 0x80004005"

If the error message above appears while you are trying to establish a connection, do thefollowing procedure:

1. Check the cable (PG/PC<->PLC).2. Check the CPU. (Be sure that power is on.)3. Check the Set the PG/PC Interface dialog box. Be sure the access point is

"Computing." Check the settings (address, transmission rate, and other settings).4. Check the Data Control box. Be sure that the name of the control engine is wcS7=x,

where x is the CPU node address.5. If you are using a PC/PPI cable, check the size of the receive buffer. Move it to the

lowest setting (see Section 9.4 above).6. If you are using PPI protocol, this message appears if you try to establish a second

connection. Only one connection is possible with PPI protocol.

9.16 SoftContainer does not work with ATI display adapter on Box PC 840

If the ATI display adapter is used on a Box PC 840, the softcontainer might not workpropperly. In this case the standard Windows display adapter should be used.

9.17 Modification of the properties of the access point using the "Set PG/PC interface"dialog

The properties of the access point in the "Set PG/PC interface" dialog should not bemodified if a connection to the control engine is open.

10 Contacting Customer Support

10.1 North America

Telephone:

• (609) 734-3530

• 1-800 333-7421

Fax:

• (609) 734-3580

E-mail:

• ISBU.Hotline@sea.siemens.com

• simatic.hotline@sea.siemens.com

Internet:

• http://www.aut.sea.siemens.com/winac/

• http://www.aut.sea.siemens.com/simatic/support/index.htm

• http://www.ad.siemens.de/support/html_76/index.shtml

10.2 Europe

Telephone: ++49 (0) 911 895 7000

Fax: ++49 (0) 911 895 7001

E-mail: simatic.support@nbgm.siemens.de

Internet: http://www.ad.siemens.de/simatic-cs