Display connection status
Status reports whether recent data has arrived for the assigned device or IP address. It monitors data freshness, not whether a register contains 0 or 1.
1. Insert Status
In design mode choose Displays (Anzeigen) → Status, place the object on the process page and double-click it to open its properties. The properties dialog is Connection status (Verbindungsstatus). Text / initial value supplies the fixed caption SPS-Verbindung. Without a device and IP address, the result is Not configured (Nicht konfiguriert).
2. Configure messages and timeout
Open Configure display. Set connected text Verbunden, disconnected text Keine Verbindung and timeout 5 seconds. Apply. New data for the device or IP address marks it connected. If no fresh data arrives for longer than five seconds, it becomes disconnected; detected connection errors can reset it sooner. A received value of 0 also counts as data reception.
3. Prepare the example symbol
Click Symbol → Edit table. Add a row or duplicate a suitable row and edit all relevant fields: device Modbus_Testserver, symbol Anlage_Status, address 40015, simulation value 0, UINT16, length 1 register, Holding Register. The example connection is 127.0.0.1, port 502, unit ID 1. Use no unit and description Status SPS Verbindung. The example contains fourteen valid rows. An existing symbol for the same connection also works: no dedicated 0/1 status register is required.
Validate the table, save it and close the editor. Use a free, appropriate address in your own project.
4. Assign the connection
Select the prepared symbol in the communication table, check the symbol information and click Apply at the bottom right. Device, IP address, symbol, physical address, data type and register information are copied together. Apply the object properties and save the project. Read access is sufficient for this display. The object now knows Modbus_Testserver and 127.0.0.1.
5. Test both states
In project settings select No communication driver – simulation only (Kein Kommunikationstreiber – nur Simulation). Save the symbol’s simulation value in the communication table and start test mode with F5. Since version 2.61.503, saved table values are loaded when Play starts in this mode. For each new test, leave test mode, edit and save the table value, then start Play again. No external Modbus server is needed. With a communication driver selected, the connected source supplies the value; editing a simulation value does not write to a PLC.
Initial simulated reception makes the border and left stripe green with Verbunden, even though the value is 0. Leave Play running without feeding more data to that device. After more than five seconds, the display turns red with Keine Verbindung. Restarting Play reloads simulation values. Green in this local test confirms simulated reception, not a real PLC connection. Further values from the same device or IP can keep refreshing the timeout.
Common questions
Not configured means device and IP are missing. Value 0 does not prevent green: reception is what matters. Simulation values are loaded on Play startup, so without further input the timeout expires. Other symbols on the same device or IP can keep it green; the object does not prove that register 40015 itself is still updating. Edit both state messages in Configure display.
Keyboard shortcuts
Apply or close property dialogs, select objects on the canvas and leave any active text field before using an object shortcut.
- Delete — delete selection
- Deletes selected simple objects without another confirmation. Check the selection first.
- Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y — undo / redo
- Undoes or restores an available object edit. This is not a recovery mechanism for deleted pages or files.
- Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V — copy / paste
- Copies the selection and inserts an offset copy. Check names and process assignments afterward.
- Ctrl+X — cut
- Copies objects to the internal object clipboard and removes them from the page. Paste with Ctrl+V.
- Ctrl+A — select all
- Selects unlocked objects on the current page.
- Arrow keys — move precisely
- Moves the selection one pixel in the chosen direction within the page bounds.
- Shift+Arrow — next grid position
- Moves the selection in the grid direction using the page grid spacing.
- Ctrl+L / Ctrl+Shift+L — lock / unlock
- Locks the selection; Ctrl+Shift+L unlocks all locked objects on the current page.
- Esc — end editor action
- Cancels an action such as placement or clears the current selection.
- Ctrl+S — save project
- Saves applied changes. Save again after deleting, moving or copying.
The fixed global alarm area cannot be deleted or copied. Structural objects with assigned contents can ask an additional question about those contents.