ST Editor

Overview

The ST editor is used to create programming objects in the IEC programming language Structured Text (ST) or extended Structured Text which provides some extensions to the IEC 61131-3 standard.

The ST editor is a text editor. Therefore, use the corresponding text editor settings in the Options and Customize dialog boxes to configure behavior, appearance, and menus. There you can define the default settings for highlight coloring, line numbers, tabs, indenting, and many other options.

The following functions are provided to ease programming:

Further Information

To select blocks, press the ALT key and select the desired text area with the mouse.

The editor will be available in the lower part of a window which also includes the declaration editor in the upper part.

If syntactic errors are detected during editing, the corresponding messages will be displayed in the Precompile Messages window. This window is updated each time you reset the focus to the editor window (for example, place your cursor in another window and then back to the editor window).

Searching for Strings

To perform an incremental search for strings in the editor, proceed as follows:

Step

Action

Results

1

Press the keys Ctrl + Shift + i.

An input field at the bottom edge of the ST editor opens.

2

Type characters.

  • The strings matching the characters are highlighted in the editor.

  • The number of matches detected is displayed on the right-hand side of the input field.

3

Use the arrow keys or the keyboard shortcuts Alt + Page up or Alt + Page down to navigate through the matching locations in the editor.

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