Hi,
I’ve been trying to understand the GDS. Frankly, I’m having a very unpleasant time working with variables in PLCnext Engineer. It feels like there’s too many places to define a variable.
Anyways, this user manual that I’ve found has been of great help: User manual UM EN PLCNEXT TECHNOLOGY
However, I haven’t been able to find it on a website hosted by Phoenix Contact. Can someone point me to where they officially are? I’m hoping there is a newer version.
Well that’s a blast from the past!
That document was released around the time of the first LTS firmware release for PLCnext Control devices. Since then, the contents of that document have been transferred to the PLCnext Technology Info Center, which is constantly updated with the latest information. The table of contents in the original document roughly corresponds to the menu items on the left side of today’s Info Center. That document isn’t available from Phoenix Contact as a PDF any more, but hopefully you’ll find that the Info Center - and the other resources that it links to - is an even better alternative.
As for the problems with variable definitions in PLCnext Engineer - I agree, it can be confusing when coming from PLCs from other manufacturers. This is partly due to the evolution of Phoenix Contact’s PLC programming software, from PC WORX to PLCnext Engineer, where “old” features (like global variables) have been retained, and new features (like GDS Port Variables) have been added. Perhaps other Forum users can give some tips on how they define variables in their PLCnext Engineer projects.
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