Reference project

Basis for reference projects

Introduction

In addition to the current project, you have the option of opening other projects or local sessions as references. These reference projects can be used as follows:

You can drag individual objects from the reference project into the current project and then edit them.
You can open specific objects, for example blocks of code from a reference project, as read-only. However, this is not possible for all elements.
You can use offline/offline comparison to compare the devices of the reference project with those of the current project.

Please note that reference projects are read-only. Reference project objects cannot be changed. Therefore, pending changes, such as object name changes, cannot be applied to the reference object until the project is opened as a normal project. Once the changes have been applied, you can continue to use the project as a reference project.

Projects created with an older version of TIA Portal or from another installation package can also be opened as reference projects. The same compatibility rules apply here as when normally opening a project from an older version of TIA Portal. Project archives can also be opened as reference projects.

Opening and closing the reference project

Introduction

You can open projects and locally saved sessions as reference projects.

Opening the reference project

To open the reference project, follow these steps:

In the 'View' menu, tick the 'Reference projects' checkbox.

The 'Reference projects' palette will be displayed in the project tree.
In the "Reference projects" palette in the project tree, click on "Open reference project" in the toolbar.

The "Open reference project" dialog box opens.
Navigate to the desired project folder and open the project file or project archive.
- TIA Portal V16 projects have the extension ".ap 16". Older TIA Portal projects have the extension ".ap [version number]".
- TIA Portal V16 project archives have the extension ".zap 16". Older TIA Portal project archives have the extension ".zap [version number]".
- Projects from the Multiuser Engineering context have the extension ".als 16".
- Local sessions from the Multiuser Engineering context have an ending of "..._ LS.als 16".
- Local sessions from the Exclusive Engineering context have an ending of "..._ ES.als 16".
Click "Open".

The selected project or project archive will be opened as a read-only reference project.

Closure of the reference project

To close the reference project, follow these steps:

In the 'Reference projects' palette in the project tree, select the reference project you wish to close.
Click 'Close reference project' on the toolbar.

The selected reference project is closed.

Comparison of reference projects

Introduction

Devices from reference projects can be compared both with devices from the current project and from the same or another reference project or library.

Note

Please note the following:

Actions cannot be specified for comparison objects because reference projects are write-protected.
You can perform a detailed comparison of comparison objects if the type of comparison object generally allows a detailed comparison.
When comparing reference projects, you can always switch between automatic and manual comparison.

Procedure

To compare the objects of the reference project with the device data in the current project, perform the following steps:

In the project tree, select the device whose data you want to compare with that of the reference project and which enables offline/offline comparison.
From the shortcut menu, select "Compare > Offline/offline".

The comparison editor opens and the selected device is displayed in the left-hand area.
Open the "Reference projects" palette in the project tree.
Select the device from the reference project that you want to compare with the device data from the current project.
Drag the device from the reference design to the right-hand drop area of the comparison editor.

The status of objects can be identified by the symbols in the status and action area. When an object is selected, the properties of the object and the corresponding object of the assigned device are clearly visible in the property comparison.

At any time, you can drag other devices from the current project, library or reference point into the drop areas to start a new comparison. It does not matter which device you drag into the drop area.
If necessary, make a detailed comparison of the objects for which this type of comparison is possible.

Note

You can start a detailed comparison directly from the reference design for blocks, PLC tags and PLC data types. Additional information can be found in the chapter "PLC programme comparison".

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Reference project

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