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Overview of S7 protocol for MindConnect Nano

The following image shows the data source input window for the S7 protocol:

overview-s7-protocol-nano

You can choose between automatic and manual connection type.

  • Automatic: This mode tries to find slot and rack number automatically.
  • Manual: In this mode you can enter the rack and slot number manually.

For S7 connection type the PG type-programmer-type-connection is used thus you will not be able to make use of PG connection.

Note

For S7 300 : 400 PLCs, CPU can be dynamically located in any slot in the rack, in this case you can use manual configuration to locate CPU instead of auto find.

Symbolic access

This solution does not allow full symbolic access.

S7 data point parameter

To collect the data of your S7 device, click "Add Datapoint" to add new datapoint.

The following image shows the data point parameter window:

s7-data-point-parameter-nano

Requirements for S7-1200 and S7-1500

  • Put/Get communication must be permitted (can be found e.g. S7-1500 -> Properties -> Protection & Security -> Connection mechanisms).
  • The “Optimized block access” of the data blocks that you want to read must be deactivated (can be found in the data block properties).

Address format examples

Detailed examples:

Example address format DB15.DBX6.3:

DB15.DBX6.3

Area indicator Data type Offset address
DB15 . DB X 6 . 3
Datablock address Separator Datablock Bool Offset Byte Separator Offset Bit
Reads 3rd bit of byte 6 of datablock 15

Example address format IW10:

IW10

Area indicator Data type Offset address
I W 10
Process Input Word Offset Byte
Reads a word of input starting from offset 10

Overview

If you want to read data out of other areas, please replace “DB15.DB“ from the examples with the area indicator from the list below:

Attention: only certain address examples work with Inputs and Outputs (see²⁾).

S7 Industrial IoT
Data type Length/unsigned/signed Data type (length) Address example Description
Bool 1 bit BOOLEAN (1 bit) DB15.DBX6.3²⁾ Reads 3rd bit of byte 6 of datablock 15
Byte USInt 1 byte / unsigned INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBB4²⁾
DB15.DBBYTE4
Reads an unsigned byte starting from offset 4 out of datablock 15.
SInt 1 byte / signed INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBB4²⁾
DB15.DBBYTE4
Reads an unsigned byte starting from offset 4 out of datablock 15.
Char 1 byte / signed INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBCHAR6 Reads a char starting from offset 6 of datablock 15.
Word 2 bytes / unsigned INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBW10²⁾ Reads an unsigned word
UInt 2 bytes / unsigned INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBWORD10 starting from offset 10 of datablock 15.
Int 2 bytes / signed INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBINT12 Reads a signed integer starting from offset 12 out of datablock 15.
DINT 4 bytes / signed INT (4 bytes) LONG
(8 bytes) DOUBLE
*(8 bytes)*¹⁾
DB15.DBDINT28 Reads a signed double integer starting from offset 28 of datablock 15.
DWord 4 bytes / unsigned LONG (8 bytes) DB15.DBDW24²⁾ Reads an unsigned double
UDInt 4 bytes / unsigned DOUBLE *(8 bytes)*¹⁾ DB15.DBDWORD24 word starting from offset 24 of datablock 15.
Real 4 bytes / signed DOUBLE (8 bytes) DB15.DBD32²⁾ Reads a floating-point
DB15.DBREAL32 number starting from offset 32 of datablock 15.
String Length of variable, max. 254 bytes STRING (max. 254 bytes) DB15.DBSTRING10 The maximum string length (Byte10) is read first. Then the number of bytes that Byte10 indicates are number read. After that the of bytes that Byte11 indicates are extracted from the byte array that is the result of second read operation.
For example:
- (Byte10)-30
- (Byte11)-4
- (Byte12-Byte15)-TEST
First read result: 30
Second read result: 4TEST
We will extract TEST from the second read result by the second read result by considering Byte11's value.
String Min. 100 bytes , max. 254 bytes STRING (max. 254 bytes) DB15.DBSTRING10,100 Reads 100 bytes of string starting from offset 10.

¹⁾ When DOUBLE is used for integers, they are converted to a floating-point number.

²⁾ For the areas Inputs and Outputs only certain address examples work.

Signed values

If you want to read a signed value, you have to use the respective signed datablock.
Example:
DB1831.DBW508 is unsigned. You can use DB1831.DBINT508 instead.

Real data type

If you want to write a value to REAL data type, you have to use “REAL” instead of “DBD” in the address.
Example:
DB15.DBD32 or DB15.REAL32 can be used for reading. You can use DB15.REAL32 for writing.

Area Types

S7 datapoint addresses must contain an area type.

Area indicator Area types Description
C Counter Reads Counter value of hardware.
DB Datablock Reads datablock value from hardware.
DI Instance Data Reads data directly from hardware.
I Process Input Reads Input value of Process image.
M Memory Reads Memory value of hardware.
PI Peripheral Input Reads Input value directly from hardware.
PQ Peripheral Output Reads Output value directly from hardware.
Q Process Output Reads Input value of Process image.
T Timer Reads Timer value of hardware.

Area Number

S7 datapoint addresses must contain area number.

E.g.: DB10 (10. datablock)

Data Types

The following table shows the data types:

Data type Length Date range
BOOLEAN 1 bit True to False
INT 4 bytes −2147483648 to 2147483647
LONG 8 bytes −9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807
DOUBLE 8 bytes -9.9999999999999999999999999999999999999E+125 to 9.9999999999999999999999999999999999999E+125
STRING 1-255 bytes -9.9999999999999999999999999999999999999E+125 to 9.9999999999999999999999999999999999999E+125

The following table shows the S7 data types:

S7 data types:

Data type Length Date range
Bool 1 bit True to False
Byte (unsigned) 1 byte 0 to 255
Word (unsigned) 2 bytes 0 to 65.535
DWord (unsigned) 4 bytes 0 to 4294967295
Char (signed) 1 byte −128 to 127
Int (signed) 2 bytes −32768 to 32767
DINT (signed) 4 bytes −2147483648 to 2147483647
Real 4 bytes ±1,18e-38 to ±3.40e+38
String 1- 254 bytes ±1,18e-38 to ±3.40e+38

Offset

Variable types must have an offset. Offset is the starting byte number.

E.g. DW4 (a double word starting from byte 4)

String

Data type Length in bytes Format
STRING[n] or STRING n+2 ASCII character of any length. n specifies the length of the character string. A maximum length of 254 characters is permitted. If no length is specified, the default setting is 254 characters.
Data type Examples of format used
STRING[2] 'AB'
STRING[55] 'The character string can consist of up to 55 characters'

Note

You must enclose your character string in single quotation marks.

The following example shows the byte order when specifying the datatype STRING[4] with the output value 'AB'.

byte-order-nano

* Tod

TIME_OF_DAY (Time) 32 Time is in steps of 1 ms TOD#0.0.0.0 to TOD#23:59:59.999 L TOD#1:10:3.3
L TIME_OF_DAY#1:10:3.3

* Time

Returns milliseconds.

Format:

The DT (DATE_AND_TIME) datatype saves the information on date and time of day in BCD format.

The following table shows the properties of datatype DT:

Length (bytes) Format Range of values Example of value input
8 Date and time (year-month-day)

Last update: February 16, 2024