Configuring Hardware and Communication Connections STEP 7.pdf

7.3 Exporting and Importing CAx Data
Saving, Importing and Exporting Configurations
As of STEP 7 V5.4, you can export stations in a format that is "understood" by CAx
systems, where they can be processed further.
Similarly, you can also export station data from a compatible CAx system and
import them into a station in an STEP 7 project.
In this sense, "CAx" stands for CAD, CAE, E-CAD and E-CAE and refers to the
data used in these special programs.
This feature saves you from having to enter the same data twice.
What is Exported?
• SIMATIC stations (S7-300, S7-400, S7-400H, PC stations)
• GSD-based modules (PROFIBUS DP, PROFINET IO)
• Subnets
What is Not Exported?
The CAx interface does not supply parameters of objects. For this reason, the
export is not complete, which means that you will have to expect data loss after a
station has been exported and then imported. The export is intended to make data
from Hardware Configuration in STEP 7 usable in CAx systems.
In particular, the following items are not exported:
• Blocks, parameters and connections
• CiR submodules (for configuration changes in RUN mode)
• Intelligent DP slaves (I slaves) that are configured in their own station
Export Files
For each station, an export file is created in XML format. This XML file follows the
SimaticML-CAx-v1.0-xsd scheme.
If there are slaves or IO devices in the station that are integrated by means for
GSD files, these files are also copied into the target folder.
Configuring Hardware and Communication Connections with STEP 7
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