WinCC Basic Instructions

WinCC Basic is a software package from Siemens used to create HMI and SCADA applications. To use it, you create a new project and define the hardware configuration. You can create screens, add tags for data acquisition, configure alarms, and analyze trends. WinCC Basic supports programming languages such as WinCC Scripting Language, Visual Basic Scripting, and C++. Once the project is completed, it can be tested in simulation mode before deploying it to the target system. Overall, WinCC Basic is a powerful and flexible tool for creating intuitive and user-friendly interfaces for monitoring and controlling various industrial processes.

Copying and pasting in the data area

In WinCC Configuration Studio, you can copy text from table cells and paste these to different table cells. This lets you exchange data between WinCC Configuration Studio and other programs such as text editors or spreadsheet programs. You may also copy and paste data records within WinCC Configuration Studio.

Procedure

Copying and pasting in the data area

Copying and pasting in external applications

Export language-dependent texts WinCC

Use the Text Distributor to export language-dependent texts to CSV files or TXT files. The Text Distributor creates several files that all begin with the same name.

Note

No import of texts with WinCC V6 format to WinCC as of version V7.2

WinCC as of V7.2 supports Unicode:

You cannot import texts in WinCC V6 format to WinCC as of version V7.2.

Texts that you simply export from WinCC as of version V7.2 can’t be imported with an older version.

Text file export settings

Check the export settings for text files. For this purpose, select the project in WinCCExplorer and then select “Project properties” > “Options” from the shortcut menu. “Export Text files as Unicode” is about automatically by default.

Example

Enter the name “Mixing_station” within the “File prefix” field. Select the “*.txt” format within the “File format” field. The following files are going to be created among others:

Mixing_station_Languages.txt

Mixing_station_AlarmLogging.txt

…

Notice

Invalid file format

If you’re using “*.csv” because of the export format, Excel converts the Unicode file into an ANSI file.

If you would like to edit the exported data with Excel, select the “*.txt” file format during export.

Languages available for export and import

The Text Distributor offers all languages that are listed within the Text Library. You can export and import languages that originate from different regions.

For example, if you want to export Asian text from WinCC < V7.2, the corresponding system locale (operating system language) must be set in your operating system. Only then will the associated languages be available.

“English” is always available.

Note

WinCC V6 format

If you want to obtain an export file compatible to WinCC V6 when exporting, select the “Export” command in the “Tools > TextLibrary V6.x format”.

Unknown objects

If an image contains “unknown objects”, the export or import of the image is aborted immediately and “Unknown” appears within the information window.

Procedure

Open the Text Distributor by double-clicking in the WinCC Explorer or select the menu command “Tools > Text Import & Export…” in Graphics Designer.

Select or clear the editors from which you want to export text. If necessary, check or uncheck the individual objects of the editors.

In the “Export files” area, select the trail where the export files are to be saved.

Enter a meaningful name within the “File prefix” field.

All export files are created with a reputation that begins with this description.

Select the desired format,”*.txt” or “*.csv”, in the “File format” field.

Specify the settings for the text export within the “Graphics Designer” editor.

Activate the “Select pictures” option if you simply want to export the text from selected pictures. Select the specified pictures using the “Selection” button.

Activate “One file per picture” to make a separate export file for every picture.

Activate the “Update referenced texts” option after having edited or configured the “Text list” and “AlarmControl” in Graphics Designer. This updates the texts linked to the Text Library before the export.

If you’d wish to export individual languages, select the languages within the “Languages” section using the “Selection” button.

Specify the way to handle existing texts within the “Existing texts” section.

Activate the “Delete existing texts” option to delete existing export files.

Activate the “Replace existing texts” option to replace existing export files.

Activate the “Keep existing texts” choice to prevent overwriting of existing export files.

Start the text export by clicking the “Export” button.

The export files are created and saved within the select path.

Properties of a user archive

In WinCC Configuration Studio, you edit the properties of a user archive in the “Properties”

area of the “User Archive” editor.

General properties

Name The name can only include numeric and alphabetic characters and the underscore

character “_”. The first character must be a letter.

Alias Any Unicode characters can be used as alias.

Multilingual alias Option selected:

The alias is copied into the TextLibrary.

When the language is changed in Runtime, the alias of the archive name is also displayed

in the corresponding language.

The fields can be edited in the “Translation Alias” section. Translations are displayed

here.

Type The “Limited” option can be used to restrict the number of data records in the archive.

Max. number Number of data records in the archive if “Limited” is selected as type.

Last change Display only: Time stamp of last change

Communication

Communication type Raw data tag:

Enter a freely selectable “PLCID” as unique name of the user archive.

Select a raw data tag under “Tag name”.

Data manager tags:

Configure the assignment of tags when creating the user archive fields.

PLCID The “PLCID” must consist of exactly 8 ASCII characters and must be unique within the

WinCC project.

The “PLCID” is required in order for the automation system to send the process data

back to the correct user archive. Do not use the “R_ID” configured in the raw data tag,

since “R_ID” is only relevant for communication with the automation system.

Tag name Selection of the raw data tag in communication type “Raw data tag”

Authorizations and flags

Read rights By default, the user archive has no access protection.

Here you configure the access rights for read and write access to the user archive.

Select an authorization provided by the “User Administrator” from the drop-down list.

If you want to use a separate authorization, you must first create the authorization in

the User Administrator.

Access protection for the user archive is queried in Runtime on opening the screen of

a UserArchiveControl.

Write rights

Field – last access Option activated:

In the archive, a field is generated where the time stamp of the last access is stored.

The field is displayed in the table area under “Archive data”. The field values and

properties cannot be edited.

If the user archive is synchronized through a redundant system, the “Field – last access”

option must be selected.

Field – Last user Option selected:

In the archive, a field is generated where the name of the last user is stored.

The field is displayed in the table area under “Archive data”. The field values and

properties cannot be edited.

Sequence

The property “Position” cannot be edited.

Control tags

Control tags Function Data type

ID The data record number of the user archive Signed 32-bit value

Job The following jobs are possible:

“6” = Read a data record from the tags in the user archive

“7” = Write a data record from the user archive to the tags

“8” = Delete a data record in the user archive

After the job has been carried out, an error ID can be

seen in “Request”:

“0” = No error

“-1” = Error

Signed 32-bit value

Field The specific field of the user archive Text tag, 8-bit

Value The value of a particular user archive field Text tag, 8-bit

Additional combinations of the control tags “ID” and “Job”:

ID Job = “6” Job = “7” Job = “8”

-1 Attach data record – Delete data record with the lowest ID

-6 Read data record with the lowest

ID

Write data record with the lowest

ID

Delete data record with the lowest ID

-9 Read data record with the highest

ID

Write data record with the highest

ID

Delete data record with the highest ID

Configure the User Archive control tags

You use the control tags to access user archive fields in a user archive. If you use control tags,

you always have to configure all four control tags.

The control tags provide two methods to access the user archives:

● You can use the control tags of the data record ID and job to read, write or delete specific

target values in a data record.

● You can use the control tags of the archive field and the value of the archive field to find a

data record. You can use the control tag of the job to write, read or delete selected data

records.

Procedure

Note

The data type of the control tags may not be changed.

1. Select the archive in the navigation area or in the table area.

2. Edit the properties of the archive in the “Control Tags” section in the “Properties” area.

3. Select a tag using the tag selection dialog. Pay attention to the data type you need to use:

– ID and job: Signed 32-bit value

– Field and value: Text tag, 8-bit

The control tags are created in the form @UA_[archive name]_ID, @UA_[archive

name]_Job etc.

Exporting data records WinCC

You can either export all data records of a node selected in the navigation area during export or only export the data records selected in the data area.

Exporting all data re cords of the node

Select the required node in the navigation area.

Select “Edit  > Export” in the menu bar.

The “Export” dialog opens.

Select the storage location and enter a file name.

Select a file format under “File type”.

Two file formats are available for the export:

“Office Open XML Workbook” format

“Text file” format

Click the “Export” button.

Exporting selected data records

Select the required data records in the data area.

For selection options, see Selecting cells, areas, rows and columns.

Select “Edit  > Export” in the menu bar.

The “Export” dialog opens.

Select the storage location and enter a file name.

Select a file format under “File type”.

Two file formats are available for the export:

“Office Open XML Workbook” format

“Text file” format

Click the “Export” button.

Create Edit and translate exported text files

General procedure

The exported TXT or CSV files are often edited e.g. in Excel, Access or in a text editor like Notepad. This chapter describes the method for editing in Excel.

Start by checking the settings for document export. For this purpose, select the project in WinCC Explorer and then select “Project properties” > “Options” from the shortcut menu. “Export Text files as Unicode” is about automatically by default.

Notice

Invalid file format

If you’re using “*.csv” because the export format, Excel converts the Unicode file into an ANSI file.

If you would like to edit the exported data with Excel, select the “*.txt” file format during export.

Please note the following:

Only permitted changes are often made within the exported files and before import to WinCC.

Impermissible Changes

The following changes are not permitted:

Structural changes to the export file.

Swapping, deleting or duplicate use of IDs or object descriptions.

Text changes in the header area. This text is usually identified by angled brackets: .

Text changes in WinCC if text is within the interpretation . New text are often added within the editors. If you modify exported text, it’s overwritten with the first text counting on the setting during import.

Line breaks

If language-dependent text contains line breaks, the placeholders {CR} {LF} are entered. Do not change or delete the placeholders. The placeholders must be included within the translated text at the identical positions.

Note

Editing texts with non-Latin fonts

To edit texts containing non-Latin fonts, use a software package which can save Unicode. Excel is not suitable for this purpose. Use Access instead or use the programming interface from WinCC to access picture text. Alternatively, use a version of Excel within the respective language.

Note

Information on the fonts of a language

Information on the font type, font size, etc. of a language are available in the “_Languages” file and in the export files of the “Graphics Designer” editor. Change the entries if necessary.

If a language wasn’t created within the Text Library before export, add the language entry for this language within the “_Languages” file.

Notice

Text Import Not Possible

Do not double-click in Windows Explorer to open the files. Otherwise the file are going to be loaded to Excel incorrectly. It is then not possible to import the file to WinCC.

When using Excel, open the file as follows.

Procedure

Open Excel.

Select “File > Open”. The “Open” dialog is displayed.

Select the trail where the export files are saved.

Select type “Text files (*.txt)” from the “File type” list.

Select your export file and click “Open”. The file is correctly opened in Excel.

Edit and translate the required texts. Note the aforementioned information.

To avoid changing the format of the file when saving with Excel, all of the specified fields must be marked off:

Mark all necessary rows and columns.

Select “Format cells” from the shortcut menu. Open the “Border” tab.

Click “Outer” and “Inner”.

Save the file in “*.txt” format again using the “File” > “Save As” command.

The TXT file contains the translated text. You can import the TXT file into the WinCC project using the Text Distributor.

Search and replace in the data area

You can find and replace text within the info records managed in Configuration Studio. You may also continue within the data area while the “Find and Replace” dialog is open.

Search area

The current selection within the info area specifies things for the search and/ or replace operation:

Select any cell to run the search altogether data records.

Select all cells of this area to seek out a selected area.

Search settings

You can refine your search using the subsequent search options:

Search option

Description

Matches search text

This search option only returns data records that match the search text.

Begins with search text

This search option returns data records that begin with the search text.

Use this setting to insert a prefix when replacing.

Ends with search text

This search option returns data records that end with the search text.

Use this setting to insert a suffix when replacing.

Contains search text

This search option only returns data records that contain the search text at any position.

This search option is set by default.

Note

No support of wildcards (* ?)

The search and filter functions in WinCC Configuration Studio don’t support wildcards. If an * (asterisk) or ? (question mark) is entered for an enquiry or filter, no results are displayed.

Inserting suffixes and prefixes using “Find and Replace”

You can use this function, for instance , to insert a server prefix ahead of multiple tag names.

You can use this function altogether fields that allow the entry of free text or numbers.

Select the following search options:

Search option

Effects

Begins with search text

Use this setting to insert a prefix.

Ends with search text

Use this setting to insert a suffix.

Additional settings within the “Find and Replace” dialog

The “Search for” and “Replace with” boxes allow you to enter special text, like control characters or Asian characters.

Click within the box and choose the specified setting within the shortcut menu:

Entry

Description

Right to left reading order

The writing direction runs from right to left.

Show Unicode control characters

Show or hide the entered control characters.

Insert Unicode control characters

List of control characters that mainly support the entry of non-Latin fonts.

Start IME / close IME

Input of characters from non-Latin fonts using the Windows Input Method Editor (IME).

Convert back

Conversion of characters back into Latin font.

Procedure

Text search

Select the range of cells you’d wish to look .

If the whole data area is to be searched, click on any cell.

Press the key combination .

The “Find and Replace” dialog opens with the chosen “Find” tab.

Enter the search text within the “Find what” field, or select a previous search string from the “Find what” drop-down list.

Select an enquiry option within the “Search result” field to refine your search.

If you would like to run a case-sensitive search, select the “Match case” check box.

Note

The data records are searched in descending order by default. To search the info records in ascending order, select the “Search up” option.

Click “Find next” to look for subsequent match.

The cell containing subsequent match found are going to be marked. Matches are highlighted in color.

Finding and replacing text

Select the range of cells you’d wish to look .

If the whole data area is to be searched, click on any cell.

Press the key combination .

The “Find and Replace” dialog opens with the chosen “Replace” tab.

Enter the search text within the “Find what” field, or select a previous search string from the “Find what” drop-down list.

Enter the string that’s to exchange the search end in the “Replace with” field.

Leave the “Replace with” blank if you simply want to delete the string defined within the “Find what” field,

If you would like to run a case-sensitive search, select the “Match case” check box.

Note

The data records are searched in descending order by default. To search the info records in ascending order, select the “Search up” option.

Click “Find next” to look for subsequent match.

The cell containing subsequent match found is marked. Matches are highlighted in color.

Click “Replace” to exchange only the marked match.

Note

A click on “Replace all” replaces all matches without the output of further messages.

Click “Replace all” to replace all matches.

Extending strings with prefixes and suffixes

Select the cells during which you would like to vary the string.

To do this, select a contiguous range of cells that contain equivalent information.

Press the key combination .

The “Find and Replace” dialog opens with the chosen “Replace” tab.

Leave the “Search for” box empty.

In the “Replace with” box, enter the string that’s to be added as prefix or suffix.

Select the desired option under “Search results”.

Insert prefix before the prevailing string: “Starts with search text”

Insert the suffix at the top of the prevailing string: “Ends with search text”

To extend the strings altogether selected cells, click “Replace All”.

When you click “Replace”, only the string within the first selected cell is extended.

Languages in the “Graphics Designer” editor

In the “Graphics Designer” editor, you can create text for graphic objects in the languages that are configured in the “Text Library” editor.

The text that you configure in the “Graphics Designer” editor is saved with each picture. You can export the text, translate it outside WinCC and import it again. You can export and import the text records with the Text Distributor. If you have configured only a few texts for your pictures, you can enter the translated texts in each picture as required.

The “Text list” and “AlarmControl” objects are special. With the “Text list” object, you can select whether you want to store the configured text in the picture itself or in the text library. The text is stored in the picture as default. With the “AlarmControl” object, the texts are stored by default in the text library.

Language switching in the “Graphics Designer” editor

When you open the Graphics Designer, the selected runtime language is set as the configuration language. If you want to check a translation or enter text directly in another language, change the configuration language in the “Graphics Designer” editor. The required configuration language must be configured in the “Text Library” editor.

To change the project language, select the menu “View > Language…”.

After changing, all configured texts are displayed in the selected language. If you have not yet configured a language, its texts are displayed with characters “???” instead of the text.

The current project language is displayed in the status bar of the “Graphics Designer” editor.

Displaying the text for the controls

The text display for the Controls in the “Graphics Designer” editor is based on the configuration language set in the WinCC Explorer.

Example:

The configuration e.g. in the “Graphics Designer” editor is in an Asian language. In order to display the text of an inserted control correctly, you must also select this Asian language in the WinCC Explorer.

Restrictions for WinCC <V7.2

National special characters from different linguistic regions (e.g. Western European and Asian) should not be used together in the same picture. When storing a picture under another operating system language, these characters can be changed based on the code page.

Remedy

• Option 1: Use different pictures for different linguistic regions. Edit and save the pictures with the appropriate language setting.
• Option 2: Select an Asian operating system language for Latin fonts, too. By modifying the registry, automatic font association can be manipulated in such as way that Latin national special characters can also be displayed. Further information can be found on the Microsoft support pages. Change the registry entry from [HKEY LOCAL MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlfontassocAssociated CharSet] “ANSI(00)=”yes” to “no”.   Notice Influence of the operating system Always carry out the changes in the Registry carefully because this can otherwise lead to unwanted problems with the operating system!

WinCC as of V7.2 supports the creation of picture texts in languages from different regions.

Multilingual messages

 Language-Dependent Message Objects

Multilingual messages,Translations in the WinCC installation languages are provided for messages and other message objects provided by WinCC during installation. You can change these default texts as you wish.

The Alarm Logging editor is where you can find texts which are stored in the Text Library immediately after input:

• User texts You configure the user texts yourself or you accept the default names:
  • Names of message classes
  • Names of message blocks ¹⁾
  • Names of message types
  • Message text
  • Point of error
  • Other user text blocks
• Standard texts Standard text records are delivered in the languages installed with WinCC. Standard texts and WinCC system messages are entered in the appropriate language column of the Text Library. Standard text records can be changed in the “Alarm Logging” editor or in the “Text Library” editor.
• Info texts Info texts are user texts which are not stored in the Text Library and whose language cannot be changed. Only use info texts if you are configuring just one language or enter the texts in a “neutral” language, e.g. English.
• Texts of the message system from the SIMATIC Manager are also stored in the Text Library during transmission

1) The following behavior applies on a client with its own project: The texts of the message blocks are applied from the text library of the local PC or from the properties of the WinCC Alarm Control. When the setting “Apply project settings” is activated, the text from the text library of the WinCC server is applied.

Compile message texts

You have the following options for translating the texts:

• External translation following an export and subsequent import of the translated texts in WinCC Configuration Studio. External translation is recommended for a large amount of text.
• Direct input of the translated texts in the respective language columns of the Text Library editor
• Direct input of the translated texts in the Alarm Logging editor

Entering the translated texts in the Alarm Logging editor

You select the input language for the editors in WinCC Configuration Studio using the menu “View” > “Input language”.

In the Alarm Logging editor, the texts are displayed in the input language and in the available translations. You can edit each of these properties.

Sorting in the data area

You can sort text in one or several columns by text (characters A to Z, or Z to A), by numbers (ascending or descending), or by data and time (oldest to most recent, or most recent to oldest).

The sorting order is inherited by all nodes in the tree view. You can modify or cancel sorting orders.

Numerical values are treated separately in the sorting order. This ensures that the numeral 1 is followed by the numeral 2, and not the numeral 10, in a sorted column.

Procedure

Sorting using the shortcut menu of the table column

Sorting using the table header

The data records are sorted in ascending order with double-click on a column header. The column representing the sorting order origin is marked by an icon next to the column header .     Click the column header once again to set the ascending sorting order.

Find/Search and replace in the data area

You can Search and replace text in the data records managed in Configuration Studio. You may also continue in the data area while the “Find and Replace” dialog is open.

/Find/Search area

The current selection in the data area specifies the location for the search and/ or replace operation:

• Select any cell to run the search in all data records.
• Select all cells of this area to find a specific area.

Search settings

You can refine your search using the following search options:

Inserting suffixes and prefixes using “Find and Replace”

You can use this function, for example, to insert a server prefix in front of multiple tag names.

You can use this function in all fields that allow the entry of free text or numbers.

Select the following search options:

Additional settings in the “Find and Replace” dialog

The “Search for” and “Replace with” boxes allow you to enter special text, such as control characters or Asian characters.

Click in the box and select the desired setting in the shortcut menu:

Procedure

Text search

Finding and replacing text

Extending strings with prefixes and suffixes

Fast search in data area

You can run a fast search of data records in the “Name” column. Matches are highlighted in color while you are entering the search text, while mismatching data records are hidden.

Performing the fast search

Click in the search box in the title bar of the data area.     Enter a search term. Data records that mismatch your entry are hidden in the data area. Matches are highlighted in color. Select the data record. You can return to the normal view of the data area by deleting the entry and clicking the icon in the search box.

Refining the fast search

You can refine the fast search using the following search options:

Open the search option by means of the drop-down menu. Left click the search option to select it. Enter a search string. The hitlist will be displayed.

Language support

Multilingual Configuration in WinCC

WinCC enables you to configure your projects in multiple languages. For this purpose WinCC supports the multilingual configuration of almost all objects containing text that is visible in Runtime.

In addition to direct text entry, WinCC provides you with user-friendly export and import options for translating your configuration with the Text Library and the Text Distributor. This is especially advantageous if you are
configuring large projects with a high text content.

Supported Languages

In principle WinCC allows you to create projects for every language installed on your operating system. During installation WinCC also offers you a set of languages that you can use to set up your WinCC configuration interface.

• German
• English (US)
• Spanish (Traditional)
• Italian
• French
• Japanese
• Chinese (Simplified, PR China)
• Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
• Korean

You can set up the WinCC Configuration interface in the installed languages. In addition, once a language has been installed all standard texts are available in that language.

If a project should be used on another computer, then WinCC must be installed on the target computer in the same language as on the source computer. You should always install WinCC with all available languages.

Standard texts

Standard texts are all texts that already exist in the languages installed in WinCC, e.g. default names of message classes in the “Alarm Logging” editor, WinCC system messages, and the title bar captions and column titles in WinCC
Control.

Configuration Scenarios

When configuring in other languages the following scenarios can occur:

• You are configuring a project for a language with which you are unfamiliar. Example: You are an English speaking project engineer and configuring for an Asiatic market: Display the project user interface of WinCC in your preferred language. There are two procedures for configuration:
  • Configure the project in a language with which you are familiar, export the
    texts, translate the texts externally and import the translated texts back into
    the WinCC project.
  • You enter all text for your project directly in the language that is intended
    to be displayed later in Runtime. Direct text entry is recommended only in cases
    where you have configured just a small amount of text in your
    project.
• You are configuring a project for a number of languages with which you are unfamiliar. Example: You are a French-speaking project engineer and configuring a project for a system that must be operated by Russian, English and German-speaking users: Display the project user interface of WinCC in your preferred language.
• Configure the project in a language you are familiar with and export all the text. Distribute the export files to translators for the respective language. Following translation, import the translated texts back into your WinCC project. Configure a change of language facility for the operators as well, so that they can use it in Runtime to select the desired language for the operator interface. 

Language-dependent properties of picture objects

Depending on the picture object, you have different options for entering text:

• In the object itself, such as in the case of static text
• In the Configuration dialog, for example for the label on a button
• Object Properties dialog: In the object properties, enter the major part of the text directly or in
  other dialogs such as tooltips, output text, text attributes.

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Additional information on configuring graphic objects can be found in the WinCC information system in section “Creating process pictures”.

Language-Dependent Object Properties

The objects of the “Graphics Designer” editor have different object property with different language properties. With the exception of the window titles of the “Picture Window/Application Window” smart objects and certain
properties of the WinCC controls, you can change the language of all object properties.

“Text” property

Objects: Static text, Text list, Button, Checkbox, Radio button, Multiple row text, List field, Combo-box

“Font” property

Objects: Static text, I/O field, Bar, Group display, Text list, Multiple row text, List field, Combo-box

“Tooltip” property

Objects: All objects except Picture Window and Application Window

Special Features: Tooltips can certainly be configured in multiple languages, but without any special setting for the font. When configuring tooltips in non-Latin fonts, you must set the corresponding font in Runtime in your
operating system’s Control Panel, for example Windows 7:

1. Select the “Advanced appearance settings” button under “Start > Control
   Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Change window colors”.
2. Select the “Quickinfo” element from the list.
3. Define the font.

Note that when you change the operating system language, the tooltips in all the other Windows applications are also changed.

“Window Header” property

Objects: Picture Window, Application Window

ActiveX controls

Certain ActiveX Controls have text properties such as Column Name, Window Title or Axis Label for which the language cannot be changed. In WinCC these properties are stored in all languages installed with WinCC and are correctly displayed in Runtime. If you are configuring in a language that was not installed with WinCC, these elements are displayed in Runtime in the Runtime
default language (English).

When configuring language changes to languages with non-Latin fonts, use a neutral language for these ActiveX Control properties, such as English without a special font. If you have configured a non-Latin font for these object properties, this font is used for each displayed language.

Import language-dependent texts

After you have translated the exported text, import the text to the WinCC project using the Text Distributor.

Example

During export, the text distributor creates several files that all begin with the same description. Enter the name “Mixing_station” in the “File prefix” field and “*.txt” in the “File format” field. The following files will be created
among others:

• Mixing_station_Languages.txt
• Mixing_station_AlarmLogging.txt

If you specify this name again in the “File prefix” field during import, all available objects will be listed in the left window. You can select from the existing languages and objects.

Languages available for export and import

The Text Distributor offers all languages that are listed in the Text Library. You can export and import languages that originate from different regions.

For example, if you want to export Asian text from WinCC < V7.2, the corresponding system locale (operating system language) must be set in your operating system. Only then will the associated languages be available.

“English” is always available.

Procedure

Result

The content of the files is written to the corresponding language columns in the Text Library or to the language-dependent objects in the Graphics Designer

Edit and translate exported text files WinCC

General procedure

The exported TXT or CSV files can be edited e.g. in Excel, Access or in a text editor like Notepad. This chapter describes the process for editing in Excel.

Start by checking the settings for text file export. For this purpose, select the project in WinCC Explorer and then select “Project properties” > “Options” from the shortcut menu. “Export Text files as Unicode” is set
automatically by default.

Please note the following:

Only permitted changes can be made in the exported files and before import to WinCC.

Impermissible Changes

The following changes are not permitted:

• Structural changes to the export file.
• Swapping, deleting or duplicate use of IDs or object descriptions.
• Text changes in the header area. This text is generally identified by angled brackets: <>.
• Text changes in WinCC if text is in the translation. New text can be added in the editors. If you change exported text, it is overwritten with the original text depending on the setting during import.

Line breaks

If language-dependent text contains line breaks, the placeholders {CR} {LF} are entered. Do not change or delete the placeholders. The placeholders must be included in the translated text at the identical positions.

Procedure

The TXT file contains the translated text. You can import the TXT file into the WinCC project using the Text Distributor. 

Construction of files with text records from the “Graphics Designer” editor

When exporting, the text records of the “Graphics Designer” editor are stored in file “<Description>_GraphicsDesigner”. If you have activated “One file per picture” for the export procedure, another file is created for every picture.

Per picture, the file contains a header, an object description and the objects.

Example:

• [Header] The picture name is entered here, e.g.: <PIC_1.PDL>
• [Object] Object description: Indicates what is contained in the respective columns.
  • Column “Object” Object name of the object that contains language-dependent text.
  • Column “Property” Language-dependent property of the object.
  • The language column, e. g. “English”.
  • Format information and text for every existing language in the columns: “FontName”, “FontSize”, “FontBold”, “FontItalic”, “FontUnderline”
• [Objects] The objects are defined with the existing text records and properties in the following lines. If the text does not exist, “??????” is entered.

Example: Export file “Example_GraphicsDesigner” with pictures PIC_1.PDL and PIC_2.PDL

The German text records are not translated yet and are entered as “??????”.

Line breaks

If language-dependent text contains line breaks, the placeholders {CR} {LF} are entered. Do not change or delete the placeholders. The placeholders must be included in the translated text at the identical positions.

Referenced texts of the “Graphics Designer” editor

The referenced texts from the text lists and AlarmControl are stored in the text library. The texts are exported to the following files:

• “<Description>_GraphicsDesigner” or respective picture file
• “<Designation>_GraphicsDesignerReferences”

If you import the file “<Name>_GraphicsDesignerReferences” again, make sure that the texts of the text lists and AlarmControl are translated exactly as in the respective export file of the “Graphics Designer” editor.

You can find mapping for the exported, referenced texts in the pictures and objects of the Graphics Designer in the “GraphTextRefs.xml” file located in the in the “GraCS” project folder.

Useful Links:-

• Delta Tutorials
• HMI Demo examples
• PLC Tutorials
• Rockwell Tutorials
• WinCC Siemens Tutorials
• Wonderware Intouch Tutorials